Rise: The Complete Series: (A Post-Apocalyptic Alien Invasion Boxed Set: Books 1-3) by Nathan Hystad & Devon C. Ford

Author:Nathan Hystad & Devon C. Ford [Hystad, Nathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sort4
Publisher: Aethon Books
Published: 2021-08-09T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Cole

They moved slowly, ever cautious of hidden surveillance or other human-catching devices left in the ruins of the old world by the aliens and their traitorous underlings.

Slowly didn’t mean covertly, however, because the last thing they wanted to do was to sneak up on the people they were there to find.

“Why?” Cole asked, out of a genuine need to learn instead of in the annoying way that younger people nagged their elders for detailed explanations.

“We want them to prepare for our arrival so that it isn’t a surprise.” Soares explained the tactics without condescension. “Think about it; we want them to feel in control, so sneaking up on them and basically saying we can beat their defenses is a poor way to open negotiations.”

Cole mentally shrugged to accept that he had a valid point, even if it seemed a simpler explanation than he was expecting.

As if to make his point, Soares’ pace faltered fractionally before he recovered and walked confidently beside Cole.

“You okay?” Cole asked, confused by the misstep.

“Yeah, sorry,” Soares answered. “You… you feel that?”

“Feel…?” Cole began to say, stopping his mouth from moving until his mind caught up. He did sense something; something tickling the edge of his consciousness that couldn’t be defined. He’d felt the sensation before, too many times to be comfortable, and he usually trusted the instinct enough to run for cover as fast as he could.

“They know we’re here,” Soares said softly, confirming Cole’s feeling of being watched. “Keep walking until they decide it’s time to talk, okay?”

“Mmm hmm,” Cole answered, his lips clamped tightly shut, realizing that they weren’t only being watched but were being tracked as they moved through the subterranean tunnels, making no attempt to hide.

“You think they’ll try to kill us?” Cole asked loudly.

“I hope not,” Soares answered, also speaking in a louder voice than he needed to. “I pray they let us speak long enough to explain we’re on the same side.”

“And that we can help them,” Cole added.

“Yeah, kid, that too.”

They walked on in silence as they descended deeper into darkness and Soares produced a long string of thin plastic tubes from a leg pocket. Each was about the size of Cole’s little finger and he watched as Soares tore one off and cracked the plastic before shaking it and tossing it to the dusty ground. The glow grew from the tube until a haze of fluorescent green radiated from it.

Leaving a lit trail was suicidal from a tactical perspective, but Cole guessed he wasn’t the only one feeling the stress and wanting the impending confrontation to happen sooner rather than later. Without taking out the tablet and reviewing the data from their hijacked Tracker, there was no way to be sure how much further they had to travel before reaching the Roamers.

Once they were so deep below the surface of the deserted and ruined city, they couldn’t see a thing without artificial light, and unnatural noises began to echo around the claustrophobic tunnel.

The man-made burrow fashioned

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