Tribe: The Harvesters (Tribe Series Book 4) by Kaelyn Ross

Author:Kaelyn Ross [Ross, Kaelyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-03-27T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“Get ready,” Kestrel whispered, flopping down on the floor and doing her best to look defeated.

Caleb cast about, eyes wide. “What … you mean now?”

“Can you think of a better time?”

In answer, Caleb eased himself onto the floor and spread out.

A rattle at the door. A blazing eye peered through the rusty slot. The eye disappeared, and she saw the top of a man’s head. Another rattle, then the eye reappeared, scanning the cell just as she had imagined. When the man looked down again, she sprang to her feet and padded to the edge of the door, her heart a thrashing lump of iron in her chest, her breath coming in tight bursts.

She waited for the door to crack open, for a hand, a foot, or a ghastly skin-mask, to ease through the gap. Instead, the door burst open in front of a roaring fiend.

Kestrel froze for a moment, then lashed out, her fist slicing toward the thick column of the guard’s neck. He batted away her attack as easily as if she were a child, and his boot thudded into her belly. The force of the kick drove Kestrel to her back, struggling for breath.

The Harvester closed in, his skin-mask flapping and fluttering. Its desiccated lips were sealed with a line of ragged stitches, and a dark glare appraised her through gaping eye sockets. When he reached for her, she tried to bury her hooked fingers into those eyes. He again slapped aside her attack, caught her by the hair, and yanked her to her feet.

Her breath came back in a whimpering rush, and the Harvester slammed his fist against the side of her neck. Alternating pulses of ice and fire raced up and down her spine, and spots exploded before her eyes like dark stars, then slowly withered and died. Her legs went out from under her, and he let her fall.

She hit the ground and lay curled and shaking, her wavering gaze on the mesh wall. Caleb was pressed deep into one corner. Blood covered most of his face. One eyelid was bloated and purple, his nose resembled a bloody potato, and his jaw hung loose.

“Wha ooo wan?” he screeched—What do you want? Kestrel’s dazed mind interpreted. His cry ended in a coughing fit that sprayed curds of blood over his mangled lips.

His assailant answered with his boots—four shuffling kicks that came so fast it looked as if he were performing an absurd dance.

Kestrel thought he was done, but she was wrong.

The Harvester reached down and jammed his fingers into Caleb’s gaping mouth and jerked him to his feet.

Bite him! Kestrel silently urged.

Caleb’s mind was elsewhere. He whimpered, but did nothing to free himself, nothing to make his foe suffer. The Harvester thrust him into the opposite corner and began hammering him with fists. Caleb raised his quivering hands in a warding gesture, but that only enlivened his attacker. The Harvester twined his fingers through Caleb’s hair and struck him once and again.

When Caleb slumped, the Harvester wrenched him upright and booted him in the gut.

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.