A Fractured World: A Post Apocalyptic Adventure (Gallen Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Were they coming for him? Had his crimes been uncovered? Was he to be arrested? He tried to calm his breathing, not make eye contact with them. The soldiers gave him a passing look, no more, and then melted deep into the throng. Theo took a deep breath and shook his head at Bex. Without saying a word, he scooped up his belongings and stuffed them back into the satchel.
    “Maybe you should have kept your job,” said Bex. “All you had to do was make checks.”
    Theo stamped away from the stall, cursing.
    “And you couldn’t even do that right,” called Bex.
    He watched Theo disappear into the crowd and turned to her.
    “Happy?”
    No one troubled her as she strode through the citizens and continued to observe Theo. He stopped at stalls he had never used before, attempting to obtain a coveted pass into Hamble Towers, but her presence alone was enough to temper any dealings with him. Her straight blonde hair flowed behind her, trailing down her back, fixed with a decorative clasp. The sides of her head were shaven and dark glasses covered her eyes. Her polished black boots kicked up dirt as she followed him beyond the market.
    His pace had slowed to a dejected shuffle, his head down, careless, guilt rolling off him in waves. He collided with a woman who shouted at him but Theo seemed oblivious to the cries. And then he bumped into a rough faced man who drew a blade on him but Theo didn’t even flinch. He stared blankly at the knife wielding man who simply laughed before sheathing his weapon.
    The crowds thinned and the noise receded as Theo approached the river where empty buildings looked out across the choppy black water and white lights blinked in the night sky above.
    He hurled the satchel into the water and then punched his fist against the side of his head before allowing tears to fall from his eyes.
    She emerged from the shadows, softly calling his name several times until he turned around, regaining his senses, shock that his name was being called and being called by a woman, a woman who wasn’t Luna.
    “We need to have a brief conversation,” she said.
    Theo seemed dumb struck; his brain was unable to process anything. A moment ago, he had been standing at a stall trying to trade his life partner’s underwear for a night of luxury. He felt ill with disgust. He was contemptible. Bex was right; a checker’s job at the recycling plant was an easy position to have and he had managed to mess that up and men were dead because of his ineptitude. It was the only job he had held since leaving the Red Guard and he had fouled it up. He had thrown the bag into the water and, if this woman had not appeared, would have tossed himself in as well. And then it would be finished. At last. Because every child knew the truth of the river. The river kept man. The river ended man. Man could not survive the river. The river gave water but to raise the anger of the river by entering it, by defiling it, and your life would be forfeit. Every child in Chett knew this. This was the answer. This was the only answer. He knew it. Bex knew it. Luna knew it. Why didn’t this young, athletic and beautiful woman know it?
    “I can repair your life,” she said, her voice firm, but sympathetic at the same time. “Life passes for you and Luna. A life pass, Theo. Do you realise how difficult it is to obtain a life pass?”
    There was an authority to her tone. He felt he should salute her. In his scrambled thoughts he realised she was military and important military because she had to have power and influence to offer a life pass.
    “I know of your past. How good a soldier you were. How good you still can be. One final operation.”
    “No one will miss me, do you not understand? If I’m gone no one will miss me. The river ends man.”
    The woman eased off her glasses, revealing large blue eyes.
    “I know you,” he said. “Major Nuria.”
    “The river is not the answer,” she said.
    She handed him a package from inside her jacket. He