Revolution 19 Read Online Free PDF Page A

bushes and pulled on Jessica to follow.
    “If they find us, they’ll kill us,” he said. “Or worse, they’ll bring us to the City.” They’d been hearing tales about the Cities all their lives, mostly campfire talk passed from kid to kid. The nearest one, to the east, on the Atlantic Ocean, was just “the City.” It was a living hell, they had heard, run by the robots. Captured humans were brought there, enslaved, treated like animals, surviving in outdoor pens with only scraps of rotten food and rags for clothes. Forced to work—some said building new robots, others insisted just pointless labor, like breaking rocks or carrying bricks back and forth—until they dropped dead from exhaustion.
    Gapper pulled on Jessica’s hand again. “Please, I can’t go there,” he said urgently.
    Jessica pulled her hand away from him. “We need to rest,” she said. “I need to rest.” Gapper stood a moment, fists clenched, then nodded.
    All five crawled into the hedge, hoping to find a position hidden from the trail that wouldn’t scratch them too much. Inside, they discovered a perfect hollow large enough for everyone to lie in without touching the brush above and around them. They huddled together for warmth. Cass fell asleep immediately. Jessica began to cry silently, her shoulders shaking, and Gapper hugged her tightly until she stopped.
    Nick stayed awake to keep watch. Every few hours, to make sure she was just sleeping, he nudged Cass on the shoulder until she woke up enough to open her eyes and mumble a groggy “What?” before she fell back into darkness.
     
    Cass awoke at dawn with the others. She felt better, more clear-headed, although the lump that had formed on the back of her head hurt when she touched it. Nick was muttering to himself, angry that he had let himself fall asleep.
    “It’s fine,” said Cass. “You needed the rest.”
    “Not fine,” said Nick. “We could have been captured while we were sleeping. Your concussion could have gotten worse.”
    “No bots and no coma,” said Cass. “So forget about it.”
    They moved on, making good time now that they could actually see where they were going. Only once did anyone speak; Jessica said, “Did they kill everyone? Do you think they’re all dead?”
    “No, dammit,” said Nick quietly. Nobody else said anything. They kept walking.
    Around noon Kevin, taking the rear—Cass knew it was to keep an eye on her despite her protestations that she was fine—stopped to tie his shoe and then suddenly froze. “I hear something coming!” he said.
    Nick ducked behind a tree and motioned for the others to do the same. Cass and Kevin found two nearby trees. Gapper crouched behind a boulder, pulling Jessica down with him.
    All was silent. “I know I heard something,” whispered Kevin.
    They waited, and Cass was beginning to think Kevin had imagined it, but then they heard a hum, almost like a wind turbine beginning to crank. Nick held up his hand and whispered, “Don’t move.”
    “To hell with this,” said Gapper, standing up.
    “Gapper, no,” hissed Kevin, but Gapper took off running. After a moment Jessica followed. They disappeared east, off the trail into the trees. The hum grew suddenly louder and then a small silver sphere, about the size of a person’s head, shot past their hiding spot, following Gapper and Jessica. It floated in the air, bobbing slightly, sliding gracefully around tree trunks and under limbs as it quickly disappeared.
    Kevin and Nick and Cass looked at each other from behind their separate trees, wordlessly deciding what to do. Nick pointed in the direction the robot had headed and Kevin nodded, while Cass shook her head no —her brothers were going to get themselves killed, chasing after bots—but then a second silver sphere appeared, humming like the first, floating gently toward their hiding spots.
    Nick very slowly reached down and picked up a thick tree branch that lay at his feet. Kevin picked up a rock the