Ruins of the Fall (The Remants Trilogy #2) Read Online Free Page A

to win over my people,” Jana says. She reaches into her waistband. I think she’s about to hand me a gun, but it’s actually a detonator.
    “What are you doing?” I take a step back.
    “They’re pissed at you, Luke,” Jana says. “Your brother, we loved him for giving us a chance in this world. Hope. And you took that all away.”
    “I was trying to fix things.”
    “Intentions don’t matter much on the plains. You took that HIVE source from our vault, and the world’s gotten worse for us. Simple as that.” Her finger hovers over the button. “But I think you’re right.”
    “Right about what?”
    “You’re worth a lot more than you’ve ever let on.”
    I don’t have time to process whether this development is good or bad, because her finger touches the button and a massive explosion erupts on the horizon, where the dirt bikes were a second before. Jana peers into the darkness with a stoic expression.
    “They’ve pulled this shit before, killing our people and impersonating them,” she says. “So I placed contingencies on the bikes.”
    “Just in case,” I say, one eye on the smoking horizon, the other on her. I don’t want to be on the wrong side of her. “How can I help?”
    “You caused our problems, hero,” Jana says, no malice in her voice. Just a world-weariness born of a life on the plains. “And you’ll fix them, too. End them.”
    She smiles, but I don’t. The emphasis on end is all-encompassing, total. Knows no bounds.
    Then her eyes flash with a hint of worry.
    Before I can react, she takes out a pistol, aims it right at my head, and fires.

3 | Tell Me About It
    “Stop being a little bitch,” Jana says, and hands me a handkerchief.
    “You shot me.”
    “You’re welcome.”
    I touch my throat, where the bullet grazed my neck. It’s only a flesh wound, but damn if it doesn’t bleed. I glance back where Jana put down the ambush party’s sole survivor. One of the explosives didn’t trigger, and he thought it would be a good idea to play hero.
    That never works out well.
    I could’ve told him that from experience.
    She disappears inside the execution chamber turned safe zone. A few rousing words later, and she returns.
    “What’s the plan,” I say.
    “We wait.”
    “That sounds like an awful plan.”
    “We have no transport,” Jana says. “The Hyperloop can’t make another run. We’re lucky we didn’t die on the way down.”
    Glad that the Remnants risked their most prized bargaining chip and the chief’s daughter on a rickety hunk of metal that could self-destruct at any moment. Makes me wonder about their chances of winning this fight. Sign of the times, I guess. Desperate plays suddenly become less risky than the status quo.
    “So we wait until Blackstone sends an army?” I gesture towards the horizon, where the half-lit monstrosity of Atlanta looms. “Need I remind you where we are?”
    “I know better than you,” Jana says with a slight growl. It’s the sound of someone telling me to back off, but I’m rusty in the human relations department.
    I kick at the dusty gravel and say, “Because your plans have been pretty good so far.”
    “A lot’s changed since you’ve been sleeping,” Jana says. I’m surprised she doesn’t take the bait.
    “I don’t see much.”
    “That’s the problem.”
    “What’s the problem?” I say.
    “You don’t look hard enough.” She disappears into the structure, leaving me outside. For the first time, I notice how cold the December frost is. I don’t know what the hell the hell all that ash did to the temperature, but I swear it’s colder than I remember.
    Then again, in HIVE, it barely rained in Seattle. Everything was just a little too good to be real.
    The aroma of torched metal rides on the gentle breeze. I shiver and turn to go inside. If I’m gonna wait to die, might as well do it beneath a roof
    Before I can reach the entry door, an electric-like surge courses through my nerve endings. I drop to one