The New Capital_The second book in the Human Zoo series by Kolin Wood

Author:Kolin Wood [Wood, Kolin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Unknown
Published: 2017-12-06T22:00:00+00:00

17

The mud sucked at his boots as Tanner trudged towards the offices of Braydon Enterprises. The morning was clear and bright, and a feeling of productivity filled the air. A boy and a girl, no older than about seven or eight, laughed and chased each other through the thick, glutinous mire, uncaring of the dirt and decay surrounding them. Smoke and smells filled the narrow walkways as people cooked whatever they could find for breakfast and readied themselves for the coming day.

A raucous sounding crowd up ahead forced him off the road and he ducked into a tent. Inside, people of differing ages and states of wellbeing sat on upturned crates on a floor laid with boards and wet cardboard, drinking tea from dirty, glass jars.

Somebody shouted an offering but he ignored it, passing through as quickly as he could before he was noticed and stopped in his quest. Since his second fight in the Pit, his celebrity and renown had grown considerably and, as a result, he had taken to wearing his hood up and a scarf over his face, much to his annoyance and discomfort on warm summer days such as these.

A short while and a few muddy roads later, Tanner left the tight confines of the main camp and moved into a more open space. Ahead of him, Teddy’s office stood out, rising high and alone, just inside the chain link fence of the Arena. A narrow walkway—kept permanently clear for the patrolling guards on fight night—circled the outside of the fence. It was heavily pressed in on for its entire circumference by tents and shelters; the space considered prime real estate for those wanting to exploit the opportunity that was Fight Night in the Capital. The law about infringing into this space was strict, but Tanner noticed a group of people pushing along the fence in the direction of the gate, and he stopped, his interest stirred.

Four people that he had never seen before—dressed in identical black and imposing looking clothing—trod in formation on either side of a stooped man with his hands bound behind his back. At the back of the troop, standing head and shoulders above the rest, walked Cole, the man Clara referred to as ‘the General’.

A hand clutched his elbow and Tanner spun aggressively. Directly before him stood a thin and wiry vagrant. In his hand, he held a buckled, plastic bottle. A big smile on his face showed a distinct lack of teeth.

“Tanner!” the man shouted loudly. “It is you! Tanner! Here! Drink with me!”

Immediately, the tempo in the tent changed from busy to frantic as everybody within earshot turned to snatch a glance of their champion. Tanner, annoyed that his cover had been blown so easily, violently pulled his arm away from the dirty hand and turned on the spot, exiting the tent quickly while tugging the dirty scarf higher up his face to cover his nose.

Affronted, the drunken man stumbled after him, still shouting his name. More people stopped to stare.

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.