The Children of New Earth Read Online Free PDF

action?”
    “You didn’t think we were just gonna stay here for the rest of our lives?”
    “Of course not, my parents are still back at Sanctuary.”
    “Exactly, and it’s our job to rescue them.”
    “But from who? Who attacked us? And why?” How many—?”
    She raised her hand to stop me. “Chill out. Rest and we’ll talk later.”
    I reluctantly agreed.

Chapter 4
    I had so many questions, and lucky for me, this seemed like the place to get answers. Cora was quite informative; she would work on some complicated project in her lab while simultaneously answering my questions and attempting to suppress her obvious annoyance. I learned that she was a scientific prodigy, and her power was reading other people's minds. She was currently learning to push her own thoughts into someone else’s brain, though she wasn’t an expert with this ability yet. However, she could do something such as enter another person’s dream, like she did with mine.
    After learning her vague backstory, I asked her why I was attacked at my own sanctuary and the identity and motives of the people responsible.
    “Some people just don’t like the state of the world. Doesn’t matter if it’s a post-apocalyptic nightmare or a Golden Age, they will always find fault with the system and seek to tear it down. We call them, simply, anarchists. They were the ones who tried to kill you.”
    “I know the world isn’t perfect, but we’re still recovering from a war. How upset can they be that they would resort to murder?” I questioned as Aaron walked in.
    “Not everyone is lucky enough to be the child of the Sanctuary leader, friend,” Aaron responded. “You get a few perks the rest of us don’t. The difference between us and the anarchists is that we understand that times are hard and options are limited. Someone needs to lead, and an elected leader is better than a military tyrant.”
    “Privilege is usually invisible to those who have it,” Cora added.
    “I never really thought about it like that…” I said.
    “When communication was cut off among the Sanctuaries, each one kind of became an independent state.” Aaron explained. “But based on our scouting missions to nearby Sanctuaries, we know they were wiped out by anarchists.”
    “How do you know?” I asked. “Bullet wounds and ransacked camps?”
    “That,” Aaron began. “And they also left messages written on scraps of paper or painted on walls. Not the most discrete group of rebels.”
    “For now, we believe this - ideology - is contained to North America,” Cora said. “But we haven’t made contact with Europe or Asia or any other part of the world in almost five years, and things change.”
    “Do we have any idea about the source?”
    “Well your Sanctuary and this one are the only ones we know of in the New York area, so it couldn’t have been here,” Aaron concluded.
    “Our best lead is Philadelphia,” Cora turned to me. “That’s where my parents are currently investigating.”
    “Really?” I said, quite surprised. “Seems like none of us have Parents to turn to at the moment.”
    “All the Parents in this Sanctuary are on the other platforms, so for now we’re stuck waiting for new information and for the power to stabilize,” Cora grumbled. She then turned back to tinkering with some kind of circuit board.
    “Well, I’m sure I can entertain myself until then,” I said, adjusting my purple cloak and leaving the room.
    The door shut behind me, with Aaron still on the other side. Based on what I’d seen so far, this Sanctuary was actually inside the Tunnel. It was built as a network of train platforms, and drew power from solar panels installed on the surface. The train lines weren’t live, and the tracks were lined with lights to allow safe travel from one station to another. I hadn’t seen any other stations due to the recent power fluctuations. If the power shut off while I was en route, I would be stuck in darkness indefinitely. Cora