Broken World (Book 6): Forgotten World Read Online Free

has more to do with the questions circling through my head than the people in the hall. There are a million of them—questions, I mean—so it takes me a few seconds to sort through. Something about Jon’s statement has my stomach buzzing uncomfortably.
    “Who’s they ?” I ask, still not totally sure what part of all this is bugging me.
    “Us. Hope Springs. Atlanta. We’ll put a group together so Angus has plenty of protection out there, so I’m not sure who will go or how many men there will be, but I know they’re going to want to get Angus to Atlanta as soon as possible,” Jon replies.
    “That’s gonna be up to Angus,” Axl says, breaking his silence. “He’s gonna have a say in this. It’s his life.”
    “What the hell does that mean?” Ginny asks, looking directly at Axl for the first time in a while. Only the expression on her face isn’t friendly.
    Axl’s gray eyes hold hers, and they’re stormier than I’ve seen them since our first few days together. “Angus don’t gotta go if he don’t want to.”
    “We’re talking about helping the human race.” Hadley shakes her head. “You can’t leave it up to a selfish prick like Angus. You need to tell him to go.”
    Axl doesn’t blink. “Selfish prick or not, he’s gonna have a say in it.”
    Hadley glares at Axl and Jon shakes his head, but before either one of them can say anything, Joshua lifts his hand. “I agree with Axl. You’re talking about asking someone to become a science experiment. To sacrifice his freedom. It’s only fair that he should have a say.”
    My stomach flips, and that’s when it hits me: if Angus goes to the CDC, he isn’t going to have a say in anything that happens to him. They’re going to use him as a way to produce a vaccine, which means he’ll be giving up everything. It wouldn’t surprise me if they locked him in a cell and had armed guards watching him at all times. His life would be over, and just when he’d reached a point where it actually had some meaning.
    “So you’d just let humanity disappear rather than sacrifice one person?” Hadley spits as a little bit of the Hadley I knew sneaks her way to the surface. Even though she was a tortured person, I can’t help being glad to see her.
    “And you’d force him to give up his life?” Joshua asks, holding her gaze. “Is that what we’ve come to? This is still America, even if it looks different than it did a year ago. Angus deserves to know the facts.”
    Hadley scowls, but Jon stays silent. His eyes move across us, seeming to stop on Axl and Hadley longer than Joshua or me, and I can’t help wondering what’s going on. There’s so much intensity in his gaze and so much tension between Hadley and Axl.
    What the hell is going on with everyone?
    Corinne comes back out of the room, followed by Dax, who keeps right at her side. His chest is puffed out like someone who’s trying to make himself look bigger. Maybe even more important. He looks the group over, and when his eyes stop on me, he smiles. Something about it sends a shiver shooting through my body, and even though I think it’s stupid and I might be overreacting, I find myself moving closer to Axl.
    Corinne stops, and around us, the talking eases to a quiet hush. “We managed to get in touch with the CDC in Atlanta, and they’re quite eager to have your brother arrive. Would you like an escort to go with you and retrieve him?”
    Dax steps forward—almost in front of her—like he’s ready to volunteer.
    Before he can say anything, Axl shakes his head. “We’ll head on back to our place, but we’d like for you all to keep your distance. Give us a chance to talk all this over and decide what we’re gonna do.”
    Corinne blinks. “Excuse me?”
    “There are things to take into consideration,” Joshua says, stepping forward to stand on the other side of Axl. “Angus is the one who is going to be poked and prodded, and it’s only fair that he knows what he’s in for. It’s