The Uprising (The Julianna Rae Chronicles) Read Online Free Page B

If he were to kick at a loose brick, he feared the entire building would come down on top of them.
    ‘Last time there was plenty for taking,’ she nodded for him to follow.
    Daniel double checked the street again. He searched every shadow, honing his every sense, for any sound or movement lurking in the darkness which would betray their position. The street was empty, but for the rain throwing itself against the disrepair of the road. The few trees lining the street, bowed to the storm front pushing in from the west.
    He lifted the collar of his jacket against the wind; following Devo through the break in the door proved more unsafe than he ’d anticipated. It was narrow, with long shards of glass jutting out, threatening to latch onto his arm with their sharp teeth. He needed to turn side-on, to squeeze through what Devo passed between easily.
    The lower level was trashed. Daniel scanned his gaze across the open room, using the streaks of light shining through the windows, as a guide. Devo ambled past him, walking down the center of the room, when he thought he heard movement coming from the next level. She walked, and he listened, staying close behind her, trying to determine if what he heard was real, or just the wind outside.
    ‘Devo, wait!’ Daniel grabbed her arm.
    She pulled herself free. Her steely gaze cut through him before she turned away, stepping over the broken debris one careful foot at a time.
    Daniel reluctantly follo wed with his instincts paranoid and his eyes squinting in the dark, trying to capture the shadows that lurked. His heart was in his throat, the pharmacy had been turned over all right, and judging from the fresh mud, it had been done in the last few days.
    He moved his eyes over the room in an ordered fashion, left to right, right to left. He scanned every corner, object, anything that offered a hiding place. There wasn’t a thing left between the broken glass and empty boxes strewn across the cluttered room. The place had been looted ten times over, and then trashed some more.
    The town was full of wild prets – renowned as unharnessed, untrained creatures, much like him, except he had Granddaddy Hal to steer him in the right direction. He once had a watcher too; he didn’t consider himself as one of them. He didn’t tear others apart for the sport of it. His crew, back at the Gatehouse, made sure his blood-lust was checked away from those who watched eagerly for him to make a mistake.
    From the corner of his eye, she was glancing in his direction . The open staircase leading to the second level was in front of her and shrouded in the grasp of night. ‘You hate him lots.’
    But he could feel the call of the wild prets outside. Beckoning him to join them.
    He grabbed her arm, stopping her from moving further into the dark herself.
    ‘Why’d you leave us? Caden said you went to the Militia again. Is it true? ’
    ‘We need to move,’ Daniel stepped away from the blood-lust seeping through him. He let her arm go to focus his pistol towards the thick darkness on the wooden staircase. Its gloom was impenetrable past the first landing where the moonlight was unable to reach. Shadows danced on the lower walls, teasing his watcher instincts.
    The sweat beaded across his brow.
    ‘All the good stuff’s up in the back room,’ she grumbled. ‘There’s nothin’ down here.’
    He flicked his torch. His watcher senses were settling down.
    The girl was pissed at him, he sense d that too. His eyes flickered at the shadows dancing on the walls. They were from the trees outside, casting their shadows in the storm winds.
    ‘Let’s get what we came for, and move the hell out.’ The first step creaked under his cautious weight.
    ‘Did you leave because of him, or because of us?’
    Daniel spun his stance on the first step, to glare down at the girl staring back. ‘Let it go will you , Sarah? Fuck, I had my reasons. Now, can we just do this? We can’t be wasting time with your silly