Edge Walkers Read Online Free PDF

along them. They’re drawn to EMFs…electromagnetic fields?”
    A spasm of irritation tightened her face and Gideon welcomed it since it meant she was had started to come out of that frozen agony and disorientation left from the Rift crossing.
    “I know what EMFs are,” she said. “I’m a little surprised you do. And what do you mean these things…these…walkers are drawn to them?”
    “Yeah…uhm, that’s how we track them. Find out where they’re heading, or if another crack’s opened up for the Rift.”
    Her eyes narrowed again. “We? Them? As in...?”
    “Look, if I knew more…all I know is Walkers—they’re bad. They’re parasites. They use energy. Manipulate it. Need it. Most of what I know is limited to personal experience, and you don’t want a lot of that. Around here, you don’t tend to survive the process of acquiring it.”
    She nodded again, but he knew none of this made sense to her because she was still so wary and so tense she looked ready to break. Letting out a slow breath, he wasn’t sure he knew how to make her understand. “Your friends, I didn’t—”
    “Oh, I never—”
    “Yes, you did. I’d assume...well, they’re gone and you’re here and there’s blood. I know how that looks, but please—trust me. We didn’t pick up the spike in the readings until too late, and by the time we got there all I could do was grab you when you crossed and get the hell out. They already had the other guy we saw and we couldn’t do much to help. He’d become a husk…and now I’m going to have to explain that, aren’t I?”
    Shaking her head, she backed away. “You don’t have to—”
    “No, you need to know or you won’t stay, will you? I can see that. And if you go out on your own odds are they’ll get you.”
    She stepped to her left again. He moved with her to keep himself between her and what could be waiting outside.
    “Please,” he begged. “These things, they’re—god, you have no idea. They can’t stay here without—well, they prefer organically generated energy anyway. Meaning something alive. Like us. Survivors. We’re spread thin since anything over a group of about five will start attracting Walkers. There are a few other issues and…and this isn’t making any sense to you, is it?”
    “Oh, no. No. Seems very—well, I’m sure I understand everything.”
    She still sounded cautious and her face had blanked again, and he knew he’d said too much. Or too little. The information wasn’t even organized in his mind, and he was still high on the adrenaline rush from the last battle, about to bottom out from the aftermath and fatigue.
    God, what did he have to do to get her to stay? Would he have to let her read his notes? But there was too much raw and personal in there.
    He noticed she was shivering, too.
    “Cold?” he asked. Gideon moved a step closer, lifted a hand out to Carrie before letting it fall back to his side again.
    Watching him, Carrie rubbed her arms.
    She wasn’t sure which of them had to be the crazy person here—him with his energy-eating monsters, or her for having this…this breakdown. She needed reasonable answers to figure out what really had gone wrong in her lab and see what she could do about it. She wanted—needed—something familiar. She needed facts, dammit. And what did he mean the other guy—was Thompson or Chand here, or even Zeigler? Or was everything coming out of Gideon the delusions of some guy who’d been living on the street for too long? She could almost pity him now, he seemed that far gone, and she didn’t trust him for spit. But she knew one way to get herself out of here, so she said, “You know, I wouldn’t mind a blanket.”
    For a moment, the guy didn’t move.
    She willed him to believe her. But someone this lunatic—someone who could talk about other realities and things that ate energy—to stay alive and on the streets, that kind of person had to be good at reading people and playing them. She still