Darkness Fades (Darkness Falls Series, Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

direction. He’s wearing a
dark grey hoodie, the hood pulled over his head, and his hands
tucked up in the sleeves. He crosses his arms with a stoic look on
his face, staying in the shadows on the hill.
    I step towards him with caution, rocks
slipping down the hill. I have to put my hands on the ground to get
my balance. “What do you mean the Highers haven’t found them?” I
question. “Are they looking for them? And how do you know
this?”
    “Of course the Highers are looking for
them,” he says, glancing at the land over my shoulder. “How else
will they keep themselves in control if they allow other colonies
to exist? The Highers are greedy and they want to control the
entire world, so they’ve been tracking down other colonies and
eliminating them.”
    I eye him over as I fold my arms. “How do
you know all this?”
    He shrugs. “Because you weren’t the only
reason I was sent out here.” His blue eyes land on Nichelle. “The
Highers also sent me to find others.”
    Before I can react, he leaps down the hill
and smashes into Nichelle. Their bodies crash together and they
fall to the ground, legs tangled, arms gripping onto each other as
they tumble down the steep slope. Dirt flies up from the ground as
they punch and hit each other, kneeing each other in the gut.
Nichelle even gets a handful of Tristan’s blond hair.
    I dash down the hill after them as Nichelle
lets out a shout and tries to take a swing at Tristan with her
knife aimed out, but he knees her in the stomach and jumps on her,
pinning her to the ground. He tips his head back with his hands
around Nichelle’s neck as she struggles to breathe, kicking her
feet up at him.
    “Tristan stop!” I cry out as I slide down
the hill towards them. Nichelle’s gasping for air as Tristan only
tightens his hold. Before I can get to them, there’s a loud grunt
and then everything gets quiet as Tristan slumps over.
    Oh God. I know before I reach them what has
happened, but when I get there, I still feel a little shock.
Tristan’s body is on top of Nichelle, but not moving, and there’s a
pool of blood on the ground next to them. My hand tremors as I grab
his shoulder and flip him over, not surprised to see Nichelle’s
knife sticking out of his chest.
    Nichelle places her hands over her head and
flips her body into a standing position. Reaching down, she pulls
the knife from Tristan’s chest and wipes the blood off on the
sleeve of her shirt. Then, with zero emotion on her face, she tucks
it back into her pouch.
    “I’m sorry,” she says. I can tell she’s on
guard, worried I might retaliate. “But he would have killed me if I
didn’t kill him first.”
    I’m taken aback by the fact that Tristan is
dead. I feel the slightest bit of aching in my chest, especially
when I stare down at him. Yes, he’d gone bad since he’d been put
out into the Real World, yet at the same time, I can’t forget the
sweet, kind Tristan I knew in The Colony. Besides, he came back
here and told Aiden about me being trapped in the cell. He’s done
both good and bad stuff, which makes me feel conflicted about his
death. I’m not sure what to do, how to react, although I feel like
ramming my fist into Nichelle’s face.
    “I’m sorry, Kayla,” she says, her expression
softening. “I really am, but in this world, you can’t hesitate…
it’s a matter of life and death.”
    I understand that all too well, but I still
can’t speak. Staring down at Tristan’s body, I struggle to sort
through my thoughts on whether or not I should hurt Nichelle.
    Nichelle walks back to Tristan’s body and
squats down beside him. She reaches over and gently closes
Tristan’s lifeless eyes then, standing back up, she glances over
her shoulder at me.
    “It wasn’t his fault he was that way. He
couldn’t help that they changed him,” she says softly.
    “You knew what he was?”
    She nods. “I could tell the second he spoke,
but still… I wouldn’t have killed him if I didn’t