A Hero Rising Read Online Free PDF Page A

everything to save the life of a kitten.
    If I’d made it on the ship, would we have married?
    Another second passed, and the glinting silver speck winked out. Ignoring the hole aching inside him, James pulled himself up, collected his backpack, and descended to the lower levels. Night—or what was left of it—approached quickly. Thanks to Mestasis, he had secured three hundred of his people a place aboard that ship.
    Now he needed to tend to the rest.

Chapter Four
    Break In
    Carly shook a box of soycaroni. “I’m hungry.”
    “Go back to your room.” Half hearing her, Skye crouched on the floor of the apartment, hugging her knees with both arms. Footage of the assassination attempt flashed on the wall, replaying over and over like a movie with a bad ending.
    The newscaster, a young man with a crew cut and a perfect dent in his chin, spoke with a careless, monotone voice. “Although Governor Grier survived the attack, her two children and her husband are still missing. Several members of the Razorneck gang are credited with the assassination attempt, and”—he actually smiled—“I’m hearing reports that none, I repeat, none of the gang members survived.”
    Razornecks lay dead from burns or laser wounds. Fire crews struggled to control the blazing heaps of desks and broken wallscreens, and newscasters shouted over the hissing flames. So much death, and no sign of Grease.
    “Don’t worry, Skye. Daddy got away,” Carly said.
    That got her attention.
    Skye tore her gaze from the holoscreen. Carly stood sucking on a large plastic spoon. She sounded so certain. Was it denial?
    Skye sighed, taking the box from her. “Okay, I’ll make dinner.” How could she tell her that if Grease hadn’t come home by now, he must be dead? The government wasn’t taking prisoners.
    But the world had to go on. Dinner needed to be made. It was about time she got up and faced reality. Skye left the screen on and dragged herself into the kitchen. She pressed the panel on the stove and the burner heated up.
    An expiration date six months past was stamped on the back of the box. She opened the cabinets and found a few soy wafers, old rice patties, and a bottle of gelatinous ketchup. Why couldn’t Grease bring home more food and less moonshine?
    Figuring expired soycaroni was better than nothing, Skye filled a pot with water, making sure to use only enough to soften the soycaroni, and watched it rumble to a boil. Soon she’d have to search for food the only way she knew how: pilfering the garbage heaps in the alleys every morning when the higher-ups threw down what they didn’t want. The thought of it made the soycaroni seem like five-star-restaurant fare.
    The holoscreen flickered from the other room, and Skye wondered if it had dimmed forever. She had found it in a recycling chute a year back, so any picture they received was a miracle.
    After stirring the water, she ducked into the living room. A primly dressed reporter with blond bombshell curls and wearing a pink pencil skirt spoke into a microphone in the darkness. A rusty subway train loomed behind her.
    What would a high-rise person be doing in the underground? Skye had never even gone down that far.
    “We interrupt this program to bring you a breaking newscast. Crazed vagrants believed to be moonshiners have broken into the city using the old sewage drainpipes. They’re crawling up to the lower levels and attacking anyone who gets in their way. Recovering after the assassination attempt on her life, Governor Grier has issued an advisory asking everyone on Levels One through Twenty to stay in their homes and lock their doors.”
    Skye froze, watching as the camera turned to guards with gallium lasers blasting a darting shadow in the distance. It moved too fast to be a normal person, careering off walls like a monkey, and Skye wondered if the stories she’d heard about the moonshiners were true.
    “The water’s boiling!” Carly’s voice startled her, and she whipped