Wings (A Black City Novel) Read Online Free PDF

follows.
    “What about your treatment?” Father says.
    I hesitate. I haven’t thought this through. How long can I survive without my injections? Will it be enough time to find Ash and bring him back here before I get too sick? I’m not so sure.
    “Don’t do this, Natalie, please,” Father pleads. “Your mother and I have been through enough. We can’t lose you, and from everything you’ve told me about Ash, he wouldn’t want you to die for him either.”
    I stop. That did it.
    Elijah looks at me. “We’re not going, are we?” he says quietly.
    I shake my head and return to my bed, defeated.
    Just then, Dr. Craven returns from his laboratory, his eyebrows drawn together as he studies the results of my latest blood test on his clipboard. My stomach lurches, sensing something is up. Elijah’s fingers slip through mine. His hand is slightly calloused and warm. Comforting.
    “So, what’s the news, Doc?” I try to sound casual, my fingers tightening around Elijah’s.
    “Well, I’m sorry to say you’re still infected with the Wrath,” Craven says, and my stomach twists. “So we’ll have to continue with the course of injections—”
    “Am I going to die?” I blurt out.
    My father and Elijah look at Dr. Craven expectantly. We all hold our breath. It’s so silent, I can hear my blood swooshing in my ears. He takes off his glasses.
    “No, pumpkin,” Dr. Craven says. “Although you’re not cured, it looks like the virus
is
going into remission. The treatment’s working.” He smiles at me. “You’re going to live.”

4.
    NATALIE
    M Y FATHER AND CRAVEN discuss my results—apparently if we continue with the injections for the next few months, there’s a good possibility the virus could go into complete remission—but I’m finding it hard to concentrate. A sound between a laugh and a sob escapes my lips.
I’m going to live.
    Elijah engulfs me in his arms. “I knew you’d be okay, pretty girl.” I lean against him, grateful for the support, although a small part of me wishes that it were Ash’s shoulder I was resting my head on now. “We should celebrate.”
    I glance hopefully at my father. “Can we go to the surface?”
    He gives me stern look. “No, of course not. We’ve just been over this.”
    “Alpha Squad can escort us, so you don’t need to worry about us running off,” I continue. “We’re just asking to go to the surface for a few hours, Dad. It’s not an unreasonable request. We’ve been cooped up here for more than a week; it can’t be good for my health.”
    “A little bit of sunlight might do her some good, Jonathan,” Dr. Craven agrees.
    I flash a grateful smile at him and he winks at me.
    “What if you get spotted?” Father says.
    “We’ll wear disguises.”
    He sighs, his resistance melting. “Alpha Squad should be in command central.”
    Yes!
    • • •
    As its name suggests, command central is in the heart of the compound, at the junction between the hospital, admin offices and Mess Hall. Every minute or so a subway train swooshes past us as we wander down Main Street. The soldiers use the trains to navigate the city-sized military complex, but after what happened the last time Elijah and I were on a train—we were attacked by a gang of Wraths—we opt to walk. The amount of time and money that went into building the compound still astonishes me. I’m even more surprised that Purian Rose knows nothing about it, but it turns out there are more traitors in his administration than he realizes.
    The secret compound was built during the first war as a refuge for a bunch of paranoid government officials, who planned to hide here if the Darklings won the war. The Darklings lost, but those same government officials, headed by Emissary Vincent—the former leader of the Copper State, before she was assassinated a few weeks ago—continued to use the base to build an army against Rose, with the support of the Commander. They believed Rose was leading the country