The Machine Awakes by Christopher Adam

Author:Christopher, Adam [Christopher, Adam]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781466851344
Publisher: A Tom Doherty Associates Book
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

24

Cait’s eyes flickered open. She jerked awake, then winced as pain shot across the back of her neck. Gingerly feeling for the bandage, she sat up and looked around.

She was behind a stairwell that stunk of dusty damp concrete and other things. It was morning, light pouring in through the huge open squares in the wall opposite.

She was in her old building, at the bottom of one of the stairwells on the north side.

She sat up, then stood, leaning on the wall for support. She felt better, having dragged herself under cover before passing out again. Whatever crap had been in her system felt like it was clearing. She took a deep breath, pleased at how her entire body didn’t ache. Her neck was stiff, but that was to be expected. She needed to get someone to take a look at that, somehow. To find out what her captors had done to her in the warehouse.

There was movement nearby, someone or something shuffling on the rough concrete of the building’s floor, heading in her direction. She needed to move, now, find a new position so she could consider her options.

Cait ducked out from under the stairs, heading toward the main entrance, but then quickly moved behind a pillar as a group of four large men, dressed in ragged, mismatched clothing, walked into the doorway and stopped. Cait watched them from her cover, willing them to move on. They were scavengers, lowlifes who went from building to building, pulling out people, looking for money, drugs, anything. This building had been hit before—the man Cait had sent tumbling from her twelfth floor window had been a scavenger—but it was impossible to tell whether it was the same group or not. And it didn’t matter. They were dangerous. They were thieves and killers, and worse besides.

She couldn’t stay here. She waited, listening with her mind, but Glass was quiet. Not for the first time, she wondered if he really had spoken to her, or whether it was just her own mind breaking down under the stress.

Her brother’s voice was silent, as well.

The only way out of the building was past the scavengers. But she was near the stairs, which meant she could go up. Her old nest was burnt out, but she’d scouted the rest of the building. Plenty of places to hide out temporarily until the coast was clear. She knew the scavengers would scour the building, but they were unlikely to head too high up. That was what had made her old hideout ideal—apart from that single visitor, she had been undisturbed by scavengers, their attention spans fried by the crap they smoked or sniffed or injected, so they rarely made it past the first half dozen or so floors of what tall buildings Salt City had. She could pick a spot and wait until the group got bored and left.

She checked the doorway again. The gang of four were still there, talking, smoking something sweet and sickly, but they were all facing away from her.

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