Zero Trilogy (Book 2): Day One Read Online Free

magazine. The dull flicker of candlelight illuminated the walls.
    Elle waited until Sienna was asleep, and then she made her move.
    Elle moved silently. She stuffed her backpack with a pile of protein bars from the shelves, shoving as many water bottles as she could into the rest of the space. She took a box of Band-Aids and a small bottle of antiseptic. There was nothing else she needed. Nothing that she could find
here
, anyway.
    She cinched her backpack tight around her shoulders.
    She held her breath, pausing at corner of the general store. She felt a twinge of guilt. She was, after all, taking off into the night without saying goodbye. Elle curled her fingers into fists.
    Why do I have to suddenly have a conscience about this?
    Behind her, a row of glass-paneled refrigerator doors lined the wall. Elle bit her lip.
Hmm. This might work
. She dragged her finger through the thick layer of dust over each door, concentrating. She stood back and admired her handiwork.
    HAD TO GO. TOOK SOME STUFF. WILL COME BACK WITH A PROPER TRADE FOR YOU AND BOB. I PROMISE.
- THE GIRL WITH THE SWORD
    Yes. That was fine.
    She glanced one more time at Bob and Sienna’s sleeping forms.
    “See you,” she whispered.
    She slipped through the hallway in the back of the building, pushing an emergency exit door open. The cold, biting air slapped her cheeks. She pulled her hood over her head and quietly shut the door. The flat landscape of the Central Valley lay around her. The safety of Sacramento was north. The warring gangland of Los Angeles was due south. And the Slavers…. well, they were southeast, bringing their prisoners to the San Jacinto Mountains. Elle would have to travel through the smaller highways to reach the mountains. Her supplies wouldn’t last long. She would have tocatch rainwater and eat whatever she could find; rats, lizards, bugs. She might perish in the desert. Her body might be left in the desolate wasteland, dissolving into the nothingness of the plain.
    Elle sighed.
    She knew what she had to do. It wasn’t going to be easy.

Chapter Four
    The highway stretched on endlessly, curving southeast out of the Bakersfield area of California. What might have taken an hour to reach in a car would take an entire day on foot. The fog had finally lifted, and the golden brown of the grassy land was illuminated. Elle just stood there, in the center of the southbound lane of Highway 58, taking it all in.
    It looks like velvet
, she thought.
Miles and miles of golden velvet
.
    It
was
beautiful, but daunting. The road was completely deserted. Unlike the roads in and out of Los Angeles, this highway was empty. There was no sea of cars, no evidence of catastrophic vehicle collisions. It was just…abandoned. It was wide and lonely. A strong, cold wind whipped across the valley floor and tossed Elle’s short black hair.
    “It could be worse,” Elle muttered.
    Elle tucked her head and began walking. It was a boring, monotonous march. The scenery was breathtaking. The rolling, golden mountains spread out in every direction, making Elle feel little more than an ant, a speck in the universe. The weather was clearand cool now, and the endless quiet and openness of the region seemed to make Elle’s thoughts echo loudly in her brain. She struggled to quiet her doubts and fears, so she began searching for patterns in the hills and pictures in the clouds to soothe her overactive mind.
    The map that Sienna had given her was tucked firmly into the inside pocket of her jacket. She had memorized the route in case she lost it. Highway 58 to Highway 14, to Highway 215 to Highway 10. It was a convoluted route, one that she had mapped out in order to avoid traveling in the up-and-down, steep terrain of the mountains all the way to her destination. It was the easiest way. The entire journey would take about a week if she stayed on schedule.
    What are you going to do when you actually find Jay and the others?
She mused.
You’re not dealing with the Klan