Refugee (The Captive Series Book 3) Read Online Free Page B

“It will
be,” he promised. The way she smiled up at him would have made him
promise her the moon too if she asked. “It will go the way of the
automobile and guns.”
    “Guns?” William inquired.
    “They were weapons,” Ashby
answered.
    “And these weapons would kill
you?”
    “Not necessarily. They fired metal
bullets, but we know you’re ingenious little critters.” Ashby
informed William as he nudged his shoulder. “It was only a matter
of time before you designed some type of wooden bullet. The king
seized all guns and had all manufacturing plants razed. You’re
deadly with those bows and arrows, but they aren’t nearly as fast
as a bullet was.”
    “They sound interesting.” Aria bit on
her bottom lip as her eyebrows drew sharply together.
    “I guess you could say that.” Braith
soothed the taut line in her forehead, tracing it with his finger
until she smiled once more.
    Even though he began to whistle,
Ashby’s eyes were hooded and guarded as he moved away from the
building. They walked across the sand coated streets that had once
been ribbons of asphalt that wound through the abandoned town. He
remembered what it had been like before the war but he’d never seen
the aftereffects of what his father had done until now. Beyond the
acres and miles of woodlands and towns, there was nothing left of
the earth, nothing inhabitable anyway.
    He’d heard the rumors of the
aftereffects of the war, the whispered talk of the empty lands, but
he’d honestly thought that a lot of it was just rumor. Looking at
it now, he realized just how wrong he’d been. The extent of the
damage that had been done was devastating, and as he took in the
vast Barrens he began to realize that his father had not shut down
technology and advancements because he didn’t need it, but because
he had taken it and ruined the world with it. The king had been
terrified that the same technology would one day be used against
him.
    For the first time he wondered if the
rumored aristocrats were even still alive, or if they had perished
in these forsaken lands as his father had intended.
    “Was it better?” William pondered out
loud.
    “Depends on who you ask,” Ashby
replied. “Some vampires preferred the way things were, others
wanted more.” Ashby had preferred the way things were, while
Braith’s father had wanted more, much more, and he had gone to
great lengths to get it. “I don’t think there were many humans that
preferred the way things became, but it wasn’t all roses and candy
back then either.”
    “Candy?” Aria inquired.
    Ashby shook his head. He shoved back
strands of shaggy dark blond hair as it fell across one of his
bright green eyes. “Just something humans used to enjoy
eating.”
    “Oh. Did you like it back then?” Braith
glanced down at Aria as she gazed up at him from beneath the
hood.
    “I never really minded it.” In fact,
there were a few things he actually missed.
    “I’ve heard stories about it,” William
mused. “It seemed wonderfully extravagant. I’ve heard there was
plenty of food, homes everywhere, and that people had everything
they required.”
    “Depends on who you were, where you
lived,” Ashby informed him. “Not everyone was so lucky, but there
were many people that had such things, and many that didn’t. Like I
said, it wasn’t all roses and candy.”
    “But it was better,” Aria
pressed.
    “It was,” Ashby finally
agreed.
    Braith stopped abruptly; pulling Aria
up beside him he searched the stark landscape. Dilapidated
buildings dotted the desert area. They were hollowed out remnants
of what they had once been, with gaping windows and doorways. Most
sagged beneath the weight of disuse and abuse.
    The wind howled around them, blowing
sand up, coating his glasses with fine particles of dust. They were
deep into The Barrens now, far from the fertile lands they all knew
well. Survivors out here were unpredictable and
remorseless.
    And there was something out there