Xenofreak Nation, Book Three: XIA Read Online Free Page A

both wearing boots, but Mia’s heels were too high to be practical and Bryn had to slow down for her. They’d only made it to the bottom of one of the three flights they needed to descend before she heard the stairwell door crash open.
    Mia swung around to the top of the next flight, lifted one leg and hopped up onto the rail. With her arms held out for balance, she slid rapidly down, allowing Bryn to move at full speed again. They beat their pursuers to the bottom and burst out into the empty lobby.
    “How far away is your car?” Bryn asked as she opened the main door, one eye watching for the thugs on their tail.
    “Six blocks. We should split up. I’ll just slow you down.”
    “Shut up.” Bryn grabbed Mia’s hand and pulled her along.
    The street was deserted, but even if it weren’t, she doubted anyone would help them. They made it to the end of the second block when the men caught up to them.
    Bryn was scared and angry, but she felt the quills on her head lift defensively and knew she wasn’t helpless. Her quills had saved her before and she was ready and willing to use them again. Panting from exertion, she spun around to face the men. Her voice pitched high from fear, she yelled, “Leave us alone!”
    The younger man was closest. He skidded to a stop several feet away, while the larger, older man bent over and put his hands on his knees, clearly winded.
    The younger man grinned and set the tip of the bat on the ground, leaning on it casually. “I’m not afraid of you. Savvy says only one in a hundred xenofreaks are actually contagious.”
    Savvy . The jacker Scott was out looking for.
    Bryn doubted she could reason with these men, but her instinct was to stall. “Then why attack us? We never did anything to hurt you.”
    “Savvy says all xenofreaks are immune,” he said. “And once the contagious ones kill off the rest of us, the world will one big xenofreak show.”
    “Why don’t you get a graft to protect yourself then?” Mia asked.
    He burst out laughing and turned to his friend, who straightened up and stuck out a sausage-like finger. “One, because there’s a big-ass demand right now. Every xenosurgeon in town’s charging ten times what they usually do and we don’t got that kinda cash lying around. Two, because it’s a sin against nature. There’s a reason you’re called xeno freaks .”
    “I told you I’m not a xeno.” Mia’s tone conveyed both reasonableness and scorn. “In fact, I’m a doctor, and I’ve been working to determine the actual cause of this outbreak.”
    The smaller man chuckled. “Yeah, right. Nice try. Now why don’t we all head back to your apartment so we can talk some more?”
    “Here,” Mia took her purse from Bryn and reached inside. Bryn thought she was going to show him her identification, but instead, she pulled out a slim, clear bottle and sprayed him in the face with an antiseptic-smelling mist. Bryn didn’t wait to see what effect it had; she charged the larger man, slamming her head into his chin and neck before he could react.
    Both men cried out, but Mia’s victim was clearly in pain, while the man Bryn had stuck full of quills sounded infuriated. She tried to duck away, but his hand shot out and he clamped down on her upper arm. His grip was like a vise, but she struggled against it anyway, shouting, “Let go or I’ll poke your eyes out!”
    “I’m gonna kill you!” he shouted back.
    The man Mia sprayed had dropped the bat to cover his face with his hands. While he was busy gouging at his eyes with his thumbs, Mia grabbed the bat and whacked the man holding Bryn’s arm across his lower back. He ignored the hit, ignored the quills sticking out of his neck, too enraged to feel pain. He twisted Bryn’s arm until she thought it would break, while grabbing for Mia with his free hand. Bryn tried to knee him in the groin, but his grip forced her to bend nearly double.
    Mia danced away and sidestepped around behind him. This time, she aimed