End Stage by S. A. Magnusson

Author:S. A. Magnusson [Magnusson, S. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ASH Publishing
Published: 2019-07-01T22:00:00+00:00

10

I raced toward the nearest of the shifters. When I reached him, I checked his neck, searching for a pulse. There was none. I hurried to the next one, and the next, and all of them were the same. There was no pulse. There was no sign of blood, no sign of injury, and yet, all were dead.

I looked up at Ariel. Rage radiated from her.

“What happened here?” Barden whispered.

“The organization happened here,” she said.

“This wouldn’t be them.”

“Are you so sure?”

I walked through the clearing, checking on shifter after shifter. There were dozens and dozens. I stopped counting when I got to thirty, no longer thinking there would be any way for me to find anything more from them. How was this even possible? How had they been injured like this? The more I checked, the more certain I was there wouldn’t be anything I could do.

I wasn’t as convinced as Ariel that it was the organization. This wasn’t something John Adams would do. And though I had seen the way Matt was willing to attack, I didn’t think he would come in and destroy shifters, either.

“Is this all of your people?” Barden asked.

“Not all, but many,” Ariel said.

“Where would the rest have gone?”

“They would have gone to safety at the first sign of an attack,” she said.

“Why?” I asked, standing and turning toward her. “I thought they would stand and fight.”

“They would have, but if they realized there was a threat beyond them…” I could see it in her eyes, but Ariel was thinking that had she been here, she would have been among the dead. Had she not followed us, had she not raced out of the forest, tracking us, staying with us as we transported back to the warehouse, she would be here with them. So many gone.

“We could try to contact Kate,” I said.

Ariel growled. “No.”

“You understand what she is.” I wasn’t sure just how long Ariel had spent with Kate, but I believed they’d spent time together, and I believed Ariel knew what Kate was. Because of that, I believed Ariel understood Kate could bring some of her people back.

“I understand what she is, but her power isn’t meant to be used like that.”

“It is, if they weren’t meant to die.”

“And who decides who is meant to die?” she asked.

It was a brutal response, and it left me shivering. I didn’t know how I would respond if I were in her shoes, but I thought I would want to bring back my people if given the opportunity. Considering she knew someone capable of doing that, why wouldn’t she want to do so now?

Maybe she didn’t think using Kate in that way was safe. Maybe she had enough experience with Kate and the way she could use her power to know that if Kate were to try return her people from the dead, it would leave them changed. There was no doubt in my mind it would leave them changed. I had enough experience with Kate and dying – my own personal experience – that told me it would change things.

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