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

knee, eyes clamped shut. The Space Needle floats into view followed by a huge dog. Evelyn’s deep, endless brown eyes stare back at me, mirthful, smiling, waiting for me to kiss her.
    I scramble backwards and fall into the dust, trying to blink everything away.
    “What the hell?” The sensation is like being drunk, but I haven’t taken anything. I try to stumble to my feet, but nothing works right. Instead, I kneel in the ruined soil, the world spinning.
    “Don’t let Ramses get too far,” I hear. “He’ll go in the street.”
    The dog lumbers forward, away from the grass. I feel my body lifted upwards, and I’m running, running, running, chasing down this annoying pet of mine—of ours , that belongs to me and Evelyn. I have to go home, get groceries. Make sure I don’t get a ticket.
    The scene disappears, and I’m back in the dust, sweating like crazy.
    I dig my knuckles into the cracked earth until the rough surface tears into my skin. It’d be nice if this was enough to tether me to reality, but it isn’t.
    This time, I’m taken to a much nastier looking world. This memory doesn’t belong to me, though. Almost like I’m looking over someone’s shoulder. I recognize the trappings of the Western Stronghold, pre-Yellowstone eruption, pre-quake.
    The person’s hand brushes off a sign.
    GIFTED MINDS RESEARCH INSTITUTE, WESTERN DIVISION
    Then the person whispers, and I hear Matt’s voice, “If anything happens, here’s the failsafe.”
    When the scene evaporates around me, I topple into the dirt. The cold whips against my skin, but I’m not shaking because of the wind chill.
    I’m shaking because I’m losing my fucking mind.
    A minute later, an hour, a day—hell if I know—I feel a sharp toed boot in my ribs. I manage to get one of my eyes open, but I don’t trust anything. That’s what happens when you’ve been conned—by people, by the system, by a computer program. You develop serious trust issues.
    “No,” I say, pushing the boot away. “You’re not real.”
    “Like fuck I’m not real,” Jana says, and this time she kicks me. The pain is nasty enough that I believe her. I grunt, trying to catch my breath. “The hell are you doing, Luke?”
    “Getting a tan,” I say. “After all that time in HIVE, I’m pasty as hell.”
    Her eyes glow with a radioactive annoyance that tells me to get it together. I can’t be sure, but I feel that she was less serious three years ago. And more talkative. Although that might just be circumstance.
    “You were screaming,” Jana says. “You trying to get the wolves on us?”
    “Actual wolves?”
    “That’s not a metaphor, no.”
    I swing my head around to scan the landscape. We’re still alone, with the Hyperloop platform in the distance and the uninviting execution chamber a stone’s throw away.
    “I’m not going in there.”
    “No one wants you inside. You sound like you’re dying. Worse.”
    “Help me up,” I say, flailing my arm out, still disoriented. She doesn’t give me a hand, but I manage to get up anyway. My jeans and thin shirt cling to my skin like I’ve just been submerged in a pool of water.
    After I’m sure that I won’t fall over if I try to walk, I lean into Jana’s ear. “I saw something.”
    “I bet you did.”
    “Listen to me,” I say between gritted teeth, the hiss and venom of the words making her eyes stand bolt open. “I mean I saw something that can save our asses. End things.”
    The hum of a motor on the horizon cuts our little détente short. Jana raises her rifle and peers through the scope. Then she nods.
    “It’s a messenger,” she says, walking away. “We stick with the plan.”
    “What’s that,” I yell after her.
    “You’ll be the last to know once we start moving,” she says.
    I give her the finger as she sprints across the empty plains to greet the coming bike.
    HIVE or not, it’s the same as it’s always been.
    I’m on my goddamn own.

4 | Bluffs
    I’m not cuffed again, but