Fear My Mortality Read Online Free

of exploded buildings, shards of glass and wood whirling around them.
    The people of Evereach roared. “ Our children do not die .”
    Suddenly, my parents were beside me, each of them holding one of my wrists. I tried to pull away from them, and they shot me alarmed looks. Nobody else was trying to run. Nobody else was afraid.
    They each held a knife in one hand, gripped one of my wrists in the other, pulling me close. I tried to wrench myself away from them, but the image of the woman and her daughter ghosted through me, leaving me cold and frozen. Above us, the drones swarmed, buzzing like a thousand insects, capturing the flash of steel, exposed skin, determined eyes.
    When I died, I’d find out whether my soul floated or whether it left me or whether there was no such thing as a soul at all. I tried to take deep breaths, tried to stop shaking. We were strong, and we had to show the world that we could never be broken.
    The woman’s voice whispered into the silent dark. “You will never defeat us, for our children do not die.”
    Blades bit my wrists.

Chapter Two

     
     
    My skin tugged and pain pierced me.
    I screamed, yanking out of my parent’s hold, desperate to get away from them, but suddenly there was another explosion.
    This one wasn’t an air screen.
    With a mighty force, it shook the walls and smoke filled the room. A light in the ceiling flashed, a siren wailed, and then I wasn’t the only one shouting.
    Someone screamed. “Bashers! They’ll bury us!”
    People clambered and rushed around me, all shouting into the chaos, tripping and stumbling in the near dark and the flashing red lights, the fear of being trapped alive driving them to the exits.
    A second explosion rattled the ceiling and there was a ripping sound like the walls had come apart. Bashers in full-body brown camouflage gear appeared like dark shadows among the throng. To my right, the white-cloaked kids took up their parents’ swords and slashed at the attackers while their parents fought with their bare hands. For a moment, there were blazes of white through the darkness, falling bodies, and then Mom shouted my name. She grabbed my arm and my parents were beside me again.
    A glowing shape flew near us and with it came the hum of a hunting insect. The Hazards and their wasps were fighting back. They’d clear a way through for us. But before I could blink, the wasp sped, not outward, but toward me and whipped to a halt. In the next second, it fired a dart at Mom and she dropped, a dead weight making me lurch.
    Stunned, I reached for Dad, but he crashed to the floor as the rapid fire continued, two darts protruding from his chest.
    Shock pinned me in place. The wasp’s thin stripes were visible in the flickering light. It was the wasp belonging to Aaron Reid’s brother. I couldn’t understand why he would send his drone to tranquilize both my parents. Before I could move, it swung to me, still firing. In another moment, I’d be a lump on the floor.
    An object flew past, smashing the whirlwind of sound and movement. Pieces of gold and black tore around me as the drone exploded. At the same time, somebody grabbed me up from behind, snatching me into a run.
    A distorted voice spoke into my ear. “It’s not your time to die.”
    My heart withered. My rescuer was a Basher.
    A motley brown and yellow camouflage suit and a face mask concealed his identity. A voice modulator was fitted to his mouth so his words were intelligible but inhuman. Every instinct in my body screamed at me to struggle away from him, but he pounded across the room, taking me with him.
    We were running straight for the wall. I tensed as I expected him to thrash me against it, debris crashing around us, burying me under the weight of wood and concrete. I was scared to die—I was worse than a slow healer. Once he buried me, I wondered whether I’d be strong enough to claw my way out or whether I’d be pinned, trapped in darkness where the Bashers thought the weak