Dead Zone Read Online Free PDF

hand. “Do you think they can do it?”
    “That colonel thinks they can. The general is still sold on oil in Canada. But it’s not like either of those guys is making any of the decisions. Their job is to prep recruits to fight.”
    “Get a room.” Aubrey let go of Jack’s hand as Tabitha sat down next to her.
    “Jack,” Aubrey said, trying not to sound as annoyed as she was. “This is Tabitha. Tabitha, Jack.”
    Tabitha spoke, a coy smile on her lips. “I assume this is why you sneak out at night?”
    Aubrey didn’t answer.
    “Doing some extra obstacle courses?” Jack asked, and he winked at Aubrey.
    “Something like that,” Aubrey said.
    “Is it true you can hear anything?” Tabitha asked Jack, taking a big bite of stew.
    “I can hear a lot,” he said. “I can smell a lot, too, and this soup is making me a little sick. I think I’m going to find an apple or something. See you guys later.” He stood up and left, taking his tray with him.
    Aubrey hated watching him go. It didn’t feel fair—he always had a connection to her; he could always listen to her, or see her, or smell her. But her only connection to him was talking to empty air, hoping he was listening.
    “He’s cute,” Tabitha said.
    “Yeah,” Aubrey answered. “Too bad he won’t get to graduate with us. And that means we probably won’t be assigned together—which is stupid, because we’re a great team.”
    “You and I are a great team, too,” Tabitha said. “Think of everything we’ve done.”
    Aubrey disagreed. They were a good team, she thought. Not great. Tabitha was a telepath: she could talk to you with her mind. They’d been training together in a few field ops—Aubrey moving invisibly and Tabitha hanging back to relay orders. It was a useful combination, but not as useful as Aubrey being able to communicate forward—that could only be done by talking to Jack, or by using radios. With Tabitha, Aubrey felt like she was always being ordered around. With Jack, Aubrey felt like she was in control, like she could make her own decisions.
    “We’re fine,” Aubrey said, and took a bite of bread.
    “But you’d rather have Jack,” Tabitha said. “I can understand that. If you want my opinion, neither one of us should be here—in the army, I mean.”
    “Too late for that. We graduate tomorrow.”
    “Don’t remind me. Remember, we didn’t sign up for this.”
    Aubrey hated this argument. She’d heard it a hundred times—half the time she’d been the one making it. “We didn’t not sign up for it, either. I volunteered to fight the terrorists.”
    “It was coercion,” Tabitha said. “We were minors, and we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into. And besides, I wasn’t fighting terrorists—my assignment had me fighting our own citizens.”
    “The rebellion,” Aubrey said.
    “Yeah.”
    “And even after you saw what the rebels were doing, you still think being in the army is a worse alternative?”
    Tabitha thought for a long minute, taking a bite of stew and chewing slowly. “Why does it have to be one or the other? Why can’t we just go back to normal life and not fight anybody?”
    Aubrey laughed. “We have to fight because we’re being invaded. And it’s not like they’re coming in to free us from the shackles of an oppressive government. How many people have died since the first terror attacks? Two hundred and fifty thousand? And that number might get much higher. These are Russians, on our home soil.”
    “They can’t attack civilians. It’s against the Geneva convention.”
    “So you’re willing to live in a world where there is no America anymore, just as long as you don’t have to fight? What are you going to do when the Russians take control and find out about your powers?”
    “I don’t know, okay?” Tabitha snapped. “I have no idea. I just want things to go back to normal. I have friends and I have a family, and I wish none of this had happened in the first