Vagrants (Vagrants Series Book 1) by Jake Lingwall

Author:Jake Lingwall [Lingwall, Jake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pronoun
Published: 2017-09-17T22:00:00+00:00

23 SIDE EFFECTS

“IT WAS STUPID,” JEFF CONCLUDED. He broke a stick in half and tossed it into the fire that was reflecting into the stream by their camp—if it could even be called a camp. It was just the two of them, eating some supplies that Stefani had pressed in a few hours ago.

She had refused to press him a flight suit of his own, so he had held on to her as they flew farther away from the battle that had left Petra dead and the vagrants without their leader. Jeff told her about the rendezvous points, but Stefani insisted that if Jane was dead, then their group was finished.

“No, it was pathetic,” Stefani said. “No, it was worse than that. It was a class A attempt to remove yourself from what’s left of the gene pool. Actually, even that doesn’t seem to do it justice—”

“I get it.”

“I’m not sure you do. If Carlee had been foolish enough to follow after you, and you had gotten her killed, I would have put you down myself. What you did was dangerous—and not in a hot way. In a worthless way. Like handing a baby a gun or smoking in a pool of oil.”

“I thought I could help some people. I didn’t want to be a coward . . . and Horus killed my family. It killed everything that I knew! It pretty much killed me. In the moment, I felt like if there were even a one-in-a-million chance that I could tip the scales in Petra’s favor, it would have been worth it.”

“And?”

“And I was wrong.”

“And?”

“I’m an embarrassment to my ancestors and the gene pool at large.”

“Good. That’s the first step, acknowledgment.”

“What’s the next step?”

“Not doing that suicidal crap again. You can’t help people if you’re dead. And you can’t kill Apostles, especially when one that has a giant army around it.”

“Got it.”

A rock bounced off his metal arm with a twang, and Jeff lifted his eyes from the embers.

“Don’t lie to me, Handsome.”

“I wish I could kill it,” Jeff said. “I hoped I could learn to press like you guys and use it to try to avenge my brother, my sister-in-law, and their kids. But . . . I . . .”

“But you’re starting to realize that even when you learn to press, there is nothing you can do to change the past. And that sucks.”

“It does.”

“And even worse than that, you’re starting to realize that even with our abilities, this world is still rotten. No matter how much we do, we can’t change things. There are so many people, so many things—all making decisions and creating new paths—that what we can control feels so . . . petty.”

“I just wanted to do it for my brother . . .”

“Revenge isn’t for the dead, Handsome,” Stefani said. She stretched before rolling over and lying on top of her blanket.

“Why do you keep going? Why do you keep doing all of this, and don’t say it’s for the food. I want to know the real reason.

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