Extinction by Sean Platt

Author:Sean Platt [Truant, Sean Platt & Johnny B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sterling & Stone

CHAPTER 26

By the time they were two miles north of the city, by Kindred’s estimation, rain was pounding upon them in a relentless deluge. It was like standing under a waterfall. There was little shelter along the way save abandoned lean-tos, and no point in standing beneath them for longer than it took to catch the group’s collective breath. Either Jabari hadn’t planned on driving rain when her think tank had made these plans, or she liked getting wet. Because even if they’d had umbrellas and didn’t mind drawing attention, they would have been useless. Rain seemed to come from every direction at once. He was soaked through to his skin, his heavy clothing pulling at him like divers’ weights.

They were back in the upper edges of the lowland Nile valley, trudging well east of their intended course to keep clear of the river’s rising floodwater, when Piper took his arm.

“Where are we, Kindred?” She’d raised her voice to be heard over the pounding, like projecting in a noisy restaurant.

“North of Ember Flats.”

“How long to the Cradle?”

“I don’t know exactly. Jabari programmed everything into the tablet.” He looked up. Rain on his face was like a high-pressure showerhead. The downpour came in fat drops. “What do you think? Should we get the tablet out right now?”

“So you’re working from memory.”

“Yes.”

“And fortunately your memory is infallible.”

He hesitated a second. Then: “Yes.”

Piper’s eyes went to the others. Peers and Meyer were in the lead, the soaked dog plodding in the mud beside them. Lila was a dark shape in the rain behind Peers, stalking closer than Piper liked.

“Luckily you have Meyer’s mind on this, too,” Piper said.

“Luckily.”

Again Piper watched him. Kindred didn’t like her gaze. Irritation had been stewing in him for days, but his reaction to Piper now was something else. Logical wariness, as if something deep was calculating a chance of danger.

“I can hear your thoughts, Kindred.”

“Don’t. My head is my business.”

“And I notice how Meyer isn’t there nearly as strongly as he used to be.”

“It’s more complicated than that.”

Piper gave an if you say so sort of nod. She probably sighed, too, but Kindred couldn’t hear it in the rain.

“We shouldn’t pretend, you and me. We shared a life back in Heaven’s Veil. When did we become such strangers?”

“Maybe when you took up with Cameron?”

Kindred regretted the jab as he said it. Piper’s eyes registered a cheap shot, and Kindred was left wondering where it had come from. Once upon a time he’d been Meyer Dempsey in full, sure of himself even when unsure of what to do next. But that was no longer true. Now he was a ball of loose ends. The Ark’s opening had changed something.

Piper seemed to shrug it away. The topic changed as they trudged on, looking ahead, the Nile valley overfull to their right, down a gently sloping line of land.

“I know something is different with you,” she said. “I can feel it.”

“Nothing has changed.”

“You’re angry. You’re confused. It’s like you’re becoming a hole in the air.

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.