Sisters Of Glass by Dave St.John

Author:Dave St.John
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: action, romance, scifi, sf, technopunk
Publisher: Dave St.John

• • •

Fear hangs metalic on Romy’s tongue.

In the bathroom, she tears through a closet, draws out jeans and a shirt for Erin. She hurries her into them, goes back to see Willy, the fool, playing with the dog. Bit of cloth in Bink’s teeth, they fight over it, Bink tugging at the prize, growling low in his throat. Even now, he can play. Turning, fear knifes through her.

Hands open, palms up, mouth gaping, Karl sprawls on the bed. Without him, they’re dead, she knows that. Kneeling by him, she hears something, shushes Willy and the dog with a wave of her hand. Frozen, Romy listens to boots barely a meter over her head. Terror pulsing through her, she yanks Karl up, slaps him hard on his unshaven face—so odd a man’s face with its bristles—talks to him, coaxes him back.

Slowly his eyes focus.“What?”

“You were out,” she says, dragging him to his feet. “Come on, we have to go!”

He looks at her blankly, “Go,” he says, threatening to drag her down, breathing as if he’s just run, “go where?”

“This isn’t going to work, Willy, help me.” They get him to his feet, Willy holding him erect by the hair on his head, one arm circling his chest. She raises a hand, hesitates, slaps him hard yet again, sees awareness come into his eyes, points upward. Afraid to talk, she whispers, “Listen.”

Boots—a lot of them, and a sound like bodies being dragged over carpet. His eyelids sag. She slaps him again.“Wake up, dammit!”

“Hey!”

“Hold him, now.” In the bathroom she finds Benzedrine, puts them in his mouth one at a time, makes him drink water.

He nearly chokes, swallows, rubbing his eyes hard with the heels of his hands. “You can let me go now.”

Willy releases him and only has to catch him once before he stays up. Romy watches him closely. Any second now they should hit him. She knows how it feels, the tightening when they kick in, the rush of lucidity.

He looks around, “Had a nap, huh?”

Throat tight with fear, with relief, she nods.

“They’ll be looking for us,” he says, checking his gun, snapping it open, then closed.

“Willy can get us to the stairs.” She reaches for his arm and he pulls away. How can anyone live without touch? It’s more than she can imagine.

“I’m fine.” He opens the door to the hall, checking outside, “Let’s go.”

Trying not to think about what’s happening over her head, she follows Erin out. Sisters she’s known all her life. They trusted her. Now they are dying an arm’s reach over her head, and she runs. Guilt, self-loathing well, bitter as bile in her throat, leaving her sick. Weak, wanting to vomit, she follows blindly down the corridor.

Karl… She hates the name. Also the guns, the way he talks, acts. So tough, so cold. Why do men have to be that way?

Him she can’t hate, him she wants, maybe the way women want men in books, in vids, she doesn’t know, has no way of knowing, no way to judge.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.