Outcast: A Corporation Novel (The Corporation) Read Online Free PDF

legs over the edge of the bed and rest my face in my hands, taking a few deep breaths. I try to forget what it was I saw in my sleep, even though it wasn't particularly scary, but something about it unsettles me all the way to my bones.
    In the dream, I'm little, no older than a Candidate. I'm hiding in the newborn light of day, trying to melt into the fading shadows. My breathing is scratchy in my ears as I press myself deeper into the depleting darkness. The dream is so vivid, it could be real, but it isn't any memory I can recall; and the level of fear I have—I've never felt it before, except in these past few nights.
    The diluted light of the early morning seeps in around me. I watch the puddle from the window spread, spilling across the floor and creeping over my toes. The sun isn't up all the way yet, but I know Eta will be starting her day, soon. The adjustment to becoming a part of Neech hasn’t been as organic as I had hoped. Getting used to the near—primitive lifestyle is taxing.
    I lie back in bed for a few more minutes, staring up at the ceiling, trying to make sense of the dream. When I finally admit to myself that nothing about it makes any sort of sense, I groan. There's no hope for sleep now.
    I get out of bed and pull a heavy shirt from my dresser over my torso. It's starting to get too cold to sleep in just sleep pants. When I got here, Eta had a handy stash of men’s clothes. I tried asking her why, but she shut me down. I still try to get an answer on the sly, but the old woman is sharp and not easily tricked.
    I sit down on the bed again, and the frame gives a deep creak. I pull my boots on over my socks. I decide I’ll go out and meet Dhevan in the fields. He has three heifers that are due to calve soon, an extra pair of hands couldn't hurt. Then I'll go and see if I can get any info from Déjà.
    While Karis and I were in Dahn, we got wind that my father was aware of some suspicious activity in the Lumber Mill and Steel Factory. Both Jeret and Déjà have remained silent when asked directly about it, but I intend on ferreting out the truth.
    I open my door a crack and listen. The house is quiet. Eta's either still sleeping or already out making her rounds. She doesn’t need me this morning since all she has scheduled are check-ups. I should be good if I meet up with her later today.
    Eta's house is smaller, cozier, than Karis' since it's just her. A single level with a small living room, smaller kitchen, and two even smaller bedrooms. What little space Eta has, she wedges with everything imaginable. Furniture, wall hangings, chairs, blankets, tables of every size, medical tools, herbs, and oils. Plants sit on any available surface and the result is what I imagine being a very aromatic jungle, if jungles still existed.
    Her backyard is as cluttered with green as her house, with mounds of dirt and flower beds muddled with different herbs and medicinal plants and flowers. At first, I thought her home was overbearing and the smell knocked me back a few steps. But after being here several weeks, it's come to feel like home. Comfortable, in a way. Sometimes I find being out in open space is a bit intimidating. I grab what’s become standard attire for me now: a duster, mask, scarf, and gloves.
    I have to pull the back door shut with a quick jerk; it sticks otherwise. Rubbing my gloved hands together, I step off the back steps and head in the direction of the fields. My breath comes out in white puffs around my face and the nip in the air helps me pick up my pace, like a man with purpose.
    Eta lives in a different area of town than Karis does, about ten minutes away. It's South End, closer to the abandoned sections. Eta could have had a nicer place to live, but she deliberately chose this location; said it was closest to the people who needed her most. Plus, she'd said, there was a little extra patch of dirt outside that allowed her to grow the herbs she needed.
    I get to the fields before the rest of