Cloak of the Light: Wars of the Realm, Book 1 by Black Chuck

Author:Black, Chuck [Black, Chuck]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781601425034
Publisher: The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group
Published: 2014-03-18T05:00:00+00:00

16

OFF THE GRID

There was something compelling about the city of Chicago, but as with every city, along with the glamor came the grunge. Those with money could insulate themselves from the dirty, desperate people who lived at the fringes of their wealth. And though it was tempting for Drew to stay suburban, he had learned from Jake that the best camouflage was in the dirt, grass, and muck. That was why the Rangers and the SEALs were so effective. They operated in places most people didn’t even want to look.

In Chicago, these places were the ghettos and the slums.

It was easy to drop off the grid into the wilderness and survive, but the city would be much different, since Drew was sure the invaders were drawn to the hubs of humanity. As much as he wanted to stay off the enemy’s radar, his mission was not just to disappear but to find Ben. Search and rescue while staying off the grid would be very difficult. He had to be careful, methodical, and thorough.

Drew got off the bus late in the night at the Greyhound terminal not far from downtown Chicago. A few blocks west of the station he found a cheap hotel and crashed. He slept the rest of the night and far into the afternoon of the next day. When he awoke, he downed a couple of granola bars and some water and clicked on the television. He surfed until he came across a news station doing a recap on the shooting at Drayle University, which had sparked a renewed effort by antigun lobbyists to propose a ban on semiautomatic handguns. The memory of the tragedy became fresh again as he heard the reporter state that nine students had died and seven more had been seriously wounded.

They replayed some of the interviews with the students—shock, disbelief, and tears filled the eyes and faces of the students. Drew’s heart sank as he remembered that day. Had he caused it? Were the invaders targeting him, or was he just caught up in a coincidental mass shooting? Why were the invaders fighting each other? All the hundreds of unanswered questions came rushing back. After an hour of fruitless effort to make sense of what had happened that horrific day, Drew pulled out his computer and deleted his Facebook and Twitter accounts and every other web account he could remember.

The disappearance of Drew Carter was complete.

As far as he could tell, neither the human grid nor the invader grid could pinpoint him now. His mind then turned to Ben. He web searched for the building where Ben’s International Science and Engineering Fair would have been held two years ago and found the Chicago Tech Center. Good.

That would be his starting point.

Jake had prepared him for wilderness, not the urban jungle, but he figured some of the same techniques with modification would still make sense and work. He located a few possible apartment buildings less than a mile from the Tech Center where he might be able to find a cheap place to stay.

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