Dauntless Read Online Free PDF Page B

I slowly spun to see a group of Nevermores approaching the beach. This day was not improving.
    The Nevermores circled Scout who cringed and tried to scuttle away from them. A single blow from one of the males and Scout was on the ground, whimpering and put in his place.
    Still treading water, my mind raced to solve this new set of problems. I couldn’t come up with anything. I could see that we were safe, but only as long as we were in the water. And once the bombs sunk the downtown core, we were in serious trouble. I shuddered, the water rippling out around me.
    “You aren’t safe,” Sebastian said.
    “Neither are you. You don’t smell right to them anymore. Scout would have attacked you if I hadn’t stopped him,” I said over my shoulder.
    “I can’t protect you from them anymore. You shouldn’t have tried to bring me back.”
    A ringing went off in my ears, the world around me flickering and swaying, and I thought for a brief moment that the explosions had started—but it was just his words that made me feel as if a piece of me was dying.
    He kept talking, ignoring the tears that started to trickle down my face. “At least as one of them, I could keep you safe, could keep the baby safe. Now, I can’t do that. I have nothing to offer you. I’m a liability, sick and you would be better off . . . “
    “But the sickness will pass, Bastian,” I said, believing the words and hoping I could make him believe them too.
    With the Nevermores in the backdrop, the sounds of the waves lapping at the shoreline and a lead weight in my heart, I understood that he didn’t want to live anymore. That this trek into the water wasn’t some misfire of the chemicals in his brain as he came back to me.
    Sebastian was back and he didn’t want to be.
    Tears streaked down my face, an uncontrollable fount of pain escaping me. “Please, I’ve fought so hard to have you with me. Please don’t leave me now.”
    “I will always love you Mara.” He turned away from me and started his death walk into the depths of the lagoon.
    I stared at his back and the pain slowly turned to anger, a burn that began in my belly and fired its way all through my body until it erupted out of my mouth.
    “You selfish son of a bitch! You think that this was easy? You think that I had a good time watching you become one of them? You know what Bastian, grow the hell up. This is our life and I don’t care how bad it gets, how hard it gets, we both have to live it. Period.”
    He froze in his tracks but didn’t turn to face me.
    “That’s right, walk away, run away from all the fear and pain and sorrow that you are leaving to me and our child. You think that I’ll have it easier without you here? That’s just your excuse so you don’t feel bad about leaving me in the biggest lurch of my FREAKING LIFE!”
    I started to swim to the edge of the lagoon; the manmade waterfalls were dried up now but still tiered in order to make the cement barriers look more aesthetically pleasing. I looked along the edge and sized up my route. It looked as though I could pull myself along the edge of the barriers, under the bridge and then continue on around the seawall, back to the spot where I’d slid down the grass. Hopefully, the Nevermores would have forgotten about me by then.
    Hopefully by then I’d have forgotten about Sebastian’s betrayal, though I doubted it. I reached the first tier and something tugged at my shirt. I slowly turned to see Sebastian standing neck deep in the water, his eyes full of pain.
    “I’ll come with you. For now.”
    I nodded but didn’t say anything, still too angry to give him anything more than that.
    The Nevermores ran to the edge of the lagoon and reached over the chain hand railing, howling at us, screaming their hunger. We were well out in the lagoon now where the water was deep and dark, but we clung to the edge, pulling ourselves along. A deep rumble in the distance slowed me for a brief second.
    “We have to hurry,”