Out of Exodia Read Online Free PDF Page A

she pulls me along. I suck in my breath. I
have so many words stuck in my heart. Things I want to say. To
comfort her.
    I don’t know if I can say any of them.
I hold her hand tighter when we reach the spring.
    “ Well, that’s all twelve.
Barrett would’ve—” She doesn’t finish. Her breath takes a little
hop over her throat. She turns toward me and all I can do is hold
her while she sobs.
    The sun sinks a little lower. When she
finally steps back and wipes her face she acts like nothing’s
happened.
    “ Tell me about the
Suppression.”
    And I do. We sit near the spring on a
concrete bench and I tell her what I’d learned: that the new
government suppressed virtually everything in order to take
control. Communication, radio, TV, most phones. They closed
schools. Took away guns. Stopped the manufacture of anything the
tyrant, Bryer Battista, considered unnecessary. Transporting goods
was curtailed. It was politically incorrect to disagree with any of
his policies. Then there were the Suppression Uprisings. Battles. A
civil war. The nuclear fallout and the droughts were followed by
the horrible mutations. Then there were the wild animal scares. The
riots. More suppression. Some of this I learned from Barrett’s
friend, Vinn, the first time I escaped from Exodia.
    I talk more than I’ve ever done before,
but throughout my ramblings I’m thinking about Barrett, too. I
wonder how long she’ll grieve for him. Probably forever.
    My mouth goes dry. We spend several
seconds in a stiff silence. She doesn’t have any questions about
the Suppression, but corners of her mouth perk up just a bit and I
sense that she has something difficult to say. I want to take her
hand again, but my own have begun to perspire and the hard rock in
my chest is thumping like crazy. There’s a thumping in my ears too
and it feels like the earth is shaking. She leans toward me ever so
slightly and my shadow falls gently across her face as I move
closer too. Awkward.
    And then she gasps. “What’s happening?
Is this an earthquake?” She senses the tremors that I’d imagined
were my own. I jump to my feet and look toward the setting sun. The
pounding I’d felt materializes in the west as a thousand horses
gallop our way. There are riders atop every one of them. With the
red sun behind them I can’t tell if they’re wearing Exodian
uniforms or not. Could Truslow have had enough time to replace the
army that fell just a few days ago?
    We’re trapped here.
Defenseless.
    “ We can’t warn the others.”
She pulls on my arm, urging me to understand. I feel her thoughts
through my skin. She’s strong. She’s quick to evaluate, plan,
strategize, but she wishes I were Barrett. They’d been through
tough situations. “We’ll act like we’re the only ones.
Lost.”
    I shake my head. We both scan behind
us, making sure no one else has come outside, but I realize the
futility of such a plan–the evidence of hundreds of footprints, a
wide path that narrows toward the entrance, trampled weeds and
scuffed dirt. I have mere seconds to decide.
    “ Run back. Warn everyone.
Bar the doors.”
    I’m thankful for her quick
obedience.
    The dust that rises behind the riders
glows red. I stand taller and wish I had Harmon’s rod. I’ve a
fraction of a hope that these are Ronel’s people coming to guide us
to the place he promised, but more likely these are bandits,
Bluezools, though I never believed they’d band together in such
numbers.
    I glance back to make sure that Lydia
has almost reached the door, but two riders have come around from
either side, orange tunics catching fire in the sunset, scouts who
were sent ahead no doubt. A good plan. A better plan than any I
had. I barely leap two strides before one of them plucks her from
the ground. She kicks and screams, but a loud burst of gunfire
earns her compliance.
    I run toward them anyway. The horde
behind me slows and the cloud of dust swoops over their heads and
then mine and settles on