Fury of the Six (The Preston Six Book 5) Read Online Free PDF

All better.”
    “If you get these woozies again, you best tell us,” Edith said. “We can carry you.”
    “Thank you, but that won’t be necessary.”
    Edith walked over to Poly and held Evelyn out for her. Poly hesitated and then took her in her hands.
    “Mama,” Evelyn said.
    Poly brushed Evelyn’s thin hair back from her head. She remembered seeing a little baby bath setup for the kitchen sink, like a plastic lounge chair, and longed to use it. She couldn’t wait to get back to a civilized area. Her baby didn’t belong in a grinner infested world.
    In an hour, they had traveled far away from the village. The mutants kept their distance and Poly had to search for their movement in the trees to maybe spot a glimpse of their tanned skin. They never strayed too far away from their queen.
    With the thinning foliage, more light shone down on them; their perpetually damp clothes began to dry out for the first time since entering the jungle. The pace quickened as the underbrush diminished and the jungle loosened its grip.
    By mid-sun, an open field of swaying grass and saplings appeared, fighting their way to regain the stripped land.
    “Thank goodness,” Lucas said. “Another day in there and I’d go crazy. Look at the bow string on Prudence! It already has a few frays from all this jungle air.” Lucas inspected the minimal damage to his precious string. He rarely had a day where he didn’t mention something about Prudence not liking it here. For once, Poly agreed with Prudence.
    “You want me to hold her for a while?” Joey offered.
    “Sure.” Poly passed Evelyn over and took off the sling. She shook her arms and tried to loosen her muscles, feeling better with her arms free. She could use her blades at will.
    Kris ran up to them. “There’s a town not far from here. They are clearing it out as we speak, but I think we can use it for the night. There’s even a hotel.”
    “Sounds good, thanks,” Joey said.
    The idea of a hotel washed over Poly like a clean, hot shower. She ached for it. But Ryjack was still a crap hole, where nothing worked and the things that remained grasped for their original purposes with the narrowest of holds. Much like the saplings reclaiming the farmed land, they too would reclaim the houses, churches, cars, and roads.
    The last pockets of humanity would cling on, but nothing would ever be the same. She wondered what Ryjack would look like in twenty, or even a hundred years. Could those last pockets of humanity repossess the planet? Could the family from Cost Plus move on and start anew? They wanted a child for their daughter, but would they ever find a suitor?
    “You ready?” Joey asked.
    “Yeah.”
    They walked across the field and onto a paved road, if you could call it that. More like patches of pavement. Another mile and they reached the town. A decent sized one as well, which encouraged Poly as much as it terrified her. Larger towns held more grinners. They had only run into a few in the jungle, but each city held its own surprise.
    The mutants ran around the town, she saw them darting in and out of buildings and running across the few streets that made up the town. Poly pulled three knives from her side. She kept one in her throwing hand, ready to go as they walked down the main street. The town didn’t look as bad as she thought from far out. The buildings hadn’t collapsed and much of the concrete pavement still held its ground, housing only a few errant weeds in the cracks.
    A small group of mutants stood around the front of the only two-story building in town. In black letters, the word Hotel was painted near the top. It gave her hope the insides would still be intact, and it gave her greater hope the hotel would be vacant of grinners. Even if the mutants had cleared it, the stench remained strong.
    She nodded to two young men as they approached—brothers if she remembered right—Sergio and Juan.
    “We cleared it for you, Poly,” Sergio said with a bright