Fugitive X Read Online Free PDF

there.” She began walking north.
    Nick hesitated a moment, then grabbed his backpack and Kevin’s and hurried after her.

CHAPTER 7
    THE ISLAND, ON THE INSIDE, REMINDED KEVIN OF HIS FREEPOST— scattered trees defining clearings and pathways, and clusters of small structures. The buildings had the Freepost’s same mix of materials—Kevin could see timber mixed with high-tech military plastics, concrete, even masonry using some sort of dull metallic bricks. Obviously these Islanders were a bunch of scavengers, just like Kevin’s Freeposters.
    The few people Kevin could see—two men, walking into a building in the distance; a boy, about Kevin’s size, stopping in his tracks to stare at Kevin for a moment, then dashing away down a tree-lined path—seemed normal enough. But the four patch-faced bots strolling along with him wereanything but normal. What was this place? They led him into a small one-room structure with a large window that looked out at the Island gate. The room looked like prefab military construction, with thin metallic gray walls and plastic slats for the floor. The only furniture was a roughly made wooden table and three chairs. Grennel led Kevin to a chair, then left when Kevin and the woman sat down. The bots waited outside. Kevin didn’t like being alone with the woman, even though she had given her rifle to one of the bots and was ignoring him, staring silently out the window. He was relieved when Grennel returned after a few moments with a canteen full of water, an apple, and a slab of bread. Kevin drank greedily, then began working on the bread, which was warm and buttered.
    Just as he was starting in on the apple, another woman entered the room. She had short brown hair streaked with white, and she wore a white apron over a pair of jeans and a green camouflage shirt. A small black case was slung over her shoulder. She set the case down on the table next to Kevin and looked at him appraisingly, her hands on her hips. “Broken, no doubt.”
    “Who are you?” asked Kevin.
    “Medic, obviously,” said the woman. She flipped a latch on her case and it slid open and expanded, revealing three tiered rows of glass vials, and steel and plastic tools. She pulled out a black cylinder, about the size of her thumb, a cotton swab,and a vial, then turned her attention back to Kevin’s face. He leaned away from her.
    “Don’t move,” she said, holding his chin with her left hand and peering at his nose. She swabbed a patch of dried blood, then slipped the swab into the vial and pressed a lid onto it before placing the vial into her case.
    She lifted the black cylinder up to Kevin’s face. “Close your eyes.”
    “What is that?” asked Kevin. “What are you doing?”
    “Fixing your nose. Now close your eyes, and your mouth. It’s better not to ingest the anesthetic directly.”
    Kevin shut his eyes and mouth, forcing himself to be still when all his instincts were screaming at him to jump out the window. He heard a hiss, then a moment of cold air on his face, and then the throbbing pain from his nose that had been with him all day was abruptly gone. He opened his eyes. “That’s wonderful!” he said. “Much better, thank you—”
    The medic reached out quickly, grabbed Kevin’s nose, and twisted. Kevin heard a loud click and felt the cartilage of his nose shift, and even though it didn’t hurt—his nose was completely numb—he still cried out and jerked away.
    “Had to straighten the septum,” said the medic. “All set now.” She tapped on the side of her case and it contracted and slid shut. She slung it back over her shoulder and left.
    Kevin gingerly felt his nose, but it was still anesthetized and all he could feel was a dull pressure when he prodded itwith his fingers. He looked at Grennel and the woman. “Okay, now what?” he asked.
    The woman smiled in that way that made Kevin nervous. “Now,” she said, leaning toward him, “we ask you a few questions.”

CHAPTER 8
    CASS