Shadow Caster: The Nightwatch Academy book 1 by Cassidy Debbie

Author:Cassidy, Debbie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-09-09T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

He’d called this place the barracks—a place to house soldiers. A place for us? Two long tables with bench seats filled one room. There was a kitchen and a dorm-like room with bunk beds and a communal shower room off to one side.

Cadets obviously stayed here.

My pulse quickened. Would we be expected to stay here? Lloyd and his troop said they worked sector two … was that deeper in the mist? Were there other barracks like this one?

Vince led us into a room with plastic chairs and a whiteboard. “Sit.”

Chairs scraped on lino, and when we were all seated, he crossed his arms and stared at us.

“You got the shit end of the stick. No doubt about it,” he said, his voice like gravel. “It ain’t no joke that not all of you will survive the next two years. Just how it is, I’m afraid. Me. I served my time. Fifteen years, I did.”

He pulled up the sleeve to his gloved hand and showcased a metal arm. “Lost my arm five years ago. So, here I am, relegated to sector one barracks master. But you ain’t here to listen to my story. You want to know what’s out there.” He grabbed a chair, dragged it to the front of the room, and sat. “I’m here to tell you. You see that mist?” He jerked his head toward the window. “It ain’t natural. But it ain’t fomorian either. It’s man-made.” He paused there to let that sink in.

There was a ripple of confusion which manifested into whispers.

“Yes, that’s right. The magic mist is not magic. We make it. It’s Winterlock Technology. They provide the Atmospheric Modifiers that are planted all over the place—twenty-five hundred acres of land between us and them. The AM posts churn out the shit that keeps the fomorians at bay, but”—he raised an index finger—“over the centuries some creatures have evolved to live in the mist. They call it their home, and those are the threats we work to keep off our land.”

Wait, what? The fomorians couldn’t get to us? We were safe?

“Hounds have adapted to the mist,” Vince continued. “They roam in packs—huge fuckers with massive tear-you-the-fuck-to-shreds teeth. There are fucked-up mutant bugs and snakes. You got your biters too—humanoid critters that used to live on the other side but have built hives in the mist.” He sat back with his hands relaxed in his lap. “The farther you go, the worse it gets. And then you have the raids. The fomorian bastards have found a way to withstand the mist for short periods of time. They send parties coated in some kinda fomorian clay to try and knock out the AM posts. They want to end the mist so they can swarm us. It’s our job to keep the mist alive and to keep the number of threats in the mist to a minimum. We cull, we fix, we plant, and while out there, we’re under constant threat.” He took a deep breath and scanned our faces.

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