Lost Horizon by Michelle Hercules

Author:Michelle Hercules [Hercules, Michelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Infinite Sky Publishing
Published: 2019-06-13T16:00:00+00:00

20

Reo

Seething, I cut through the forest with the fury of a thousand men. I knew that snake of a woman wouldn’t relinquish her power over me so easily.

When my evacuation pod had landed on this planet, I had been lucky to land on a field of tall, soft grass. Despite the pod’s parachute, the impact transformed the small vessel into a mess of mangled metal. If I hadn’t already been part-robot, I wouldn’t have survived.

My employer found me. I’d landed on her property. She nursed me back to health, and in my weakened condition, I was naive enough to believe she had saved my life out of the kindness of her heart. I should have known better.

Quickly, I found out she had plans for me. Oz was a planet divided by war, and my cyborg abilities were something she was quick to exploit. Having lost everything, including my freedom, I accepted her offer of employment without a second thought. At least I’d had a false sense that I was in control.

Knowing how my employer operates, she must have similar plans for Dorothy. Use the girl’s abilities to gain leverage on the war. I accepted my new mission without disclosing that I had already met with her. My soul might be corrupted beyond repair, but that doesn’t mean my conscience has departed. Sometimes, I wish it had been erased when the Game Masters turned me into a killing machine.

I follow the tracking device I planted on Dorothy’s clothing before I parted ways with her. I had every intention to rejoin the group once I took care of my shady business. What I didn’t expect was for them to veer so off course. I didn’t stop to consider that none of them would be able to navigate this forest on their own. The odd thing is that they haven’t moved since I began my journey back to them. When I pull up a view of the map, a field of poppy flowers fills the small screen in front of my bionic eye. I immediately recognize their kind.

“Son of a bitch.”

I break into a run, hoping I’m not too late. Bad things seem to follow Dorothy everywhere she goes. It’s the only justification I can come up with to explain how they wound up in a clearing filled with poisonous flowers.

A low beep alerts me that the tracking device has changed position. I bring the grid map to the front of the screen once more. Dorothy is moving again. This doesn’t make any sense unless she’s been taken.

Fuck me.

I run as fast as my legs can carry me, jumping over rocks and exposed tree trunks without slowing down. Night has already fallen by the time I reach the poppy field. The scarlet flowers are now purple under the glow of the crescent moon. I switch to night vision, and with ease, I’m able to locate the path of flattened blossoms created by something being dragged over them. I was right. Dorothy and the others had been knocked unconscious by the flowers and then captured.

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