Repossession (The Keepers Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF Page A

I’d stared back at them, wondering what loneliness must look like to that person.
    “Lonely?” I’d asked. “Lonely is being surrounded by hundreds of people and not knowing if even one of them really knows you exist.” The thing about loneliness is you can be seen by many, but heard by no one. “That’s loneliness for me,” I’d said. “And it doesn’t hurt. It scares the hell out of me.”
    I pushed the fact out of my head that I didn’t know the man towing me along, instead focusing on his movements as he’d instructed. “How can you tell if we’re getting closer? It’s so dark.”
    “We’ll know. They have security at each state border.”
    “Have you been out of the state since they attacked?”
    “You ask a lot of questions.”
    “You don’t answer any of them. At least tell me your name. You know mine—”
    His hand snaked out and wrapped around my wrist, and he pulled me down to the ground again. We both crouched low. His breath faltered. “Do you feel that?”
    “What?”
    “They’re close. Human patrol trucks. Ten, maybe twenty. Come on.” He yanked me to the left, and away from the road’s asphalt, until I heard dry gravel and dirt crunch beneath my feet. A flicker of light appeared in the distance from the direction we came, the sound of engines roaring as tires beat the highway with a low growl. We retreated farther and farther back from the main road, watching carefully while the headlights grew brighter, creating a tunnel effect down the highway. The first truck came into view, then the next, each one followed by another, all black as night with armored doors. The line moved past us quickly; my captor’s hand remained, pressed tightly around my wrist. “You holding up okay?” he whispered, his mouth close to my ear.
    “Yeah. I think so.”
    “As soon as they pass, we’ll—”
    A light and a chorus of laughter came from behind us. The sound of footsteps sent me on red alert and I stumbled back, tightening my grip on my gun. My captor shoved me behind him and I pressed up against his back to shield myself, steadying the gun at my side.
    “Well looky here, fellers, we got two er ’em.” I peeked around the tall wall of muscle I was clinging to and into the bright beam of a flashlight to find a pale, dirty man, his front teeth brown and cracked, his eyes wild.
    “Turn that thing off!” my captor yelled. “A whole brigade of Keeper Agents just drove by.” He reached for the man’s flashlight, but the man raised a gun, pointing it straight at us.
    “Put yer weapon on the ground, sonny,” he snapped. “Er I shoot the girl, first.” Three men joined him, all raising their guns on us.
    “We don’t mean any trouble, man. We’re just passing through. Put the guns down and I’ll lower mine.”
    “How do I know yer not one of ’em?”
    “If I was, would I be running around in the dark like this with a girl on my arm?”
    “ Hhhmm ,” the man grunted, running his tongue over grimy teeth. He didn’t move to lower his gun. “Where’re ya headed to, huh?”
    “We’re looking for a Black Hole. We need water and some cover.”
    “A Black Hole, nuh?”
    “Yes, sir. So we’ll be on our way now. Will you please shut that thing off? You’re going to get us all killed.” He started to back up and my feet mirrored his as he began to shuffle us backwards, keeping his weapon pointed at the men.
    “Hold it,” one of the others said, “how er we gonna show you to a Hole if yer run off, nuh?”
    My captor went still and I followed his lead, leaning to the left to get another peek at the men. “You have directions to one?”
    “Yer standin’ on one, sonny.” The man thumped his foot hard, and the ground gave out a low groan beneath us. He motioned for us to shoo a few feet left, then he shined his flashlight on the ground, running his hand along the dead grass and dirt, feeling for something. His hand stilled, and a snap and click echoed in the night. He rose to stand