Dawn

Read Dawn for Free Online Page A

Book: Read Dawn for Free Online
Authors: S. J. West
what he asking.
    “My father wasn't down there when the bombs went off,” I replied, opening my eyes to look over at him.
    “How do you know that?”
    “Because she would have gotten him out of there before it happened. The queen will use whatever she can against me to bend me to her will. She wants her obedient daughter back. What better way to do that than to use the safety of the people I love against me?”
    “You think anyone else made it out alive?”
    “Yes.”
    “How do you know?”
    “Because Simon mentioned Kirk and Teegan. He knows them in the future so they had to have made it out. I think Doc Riley might have made it out too. Rose always seemed to have a lot of confidence in her, like she knew her.”
    Ian nodded, seeing the logic in what I said.
    It was mid-afternoon when we reached camp again. Sam had to land to refuel, but we could see from the air that the compound was deserted.
    “They have to be at the new camp by now,” Ian said as we sat in the helicopter waiting for Sam to fill the helicopter's tank.
    “I haven't been there yet,” I admitted. “How far is it?”
    “Shouldn’t take us more than an hour in the air.”
    I began to nervously tap a fisted hand against my thigh, running through scenario after scenario in my mind attempting to figure out the plans of a mad woman.
    “What are we missing, Ian?  I thought for sure we'd get here and find everyone dead or on the brink of it.”
    Ian sighed heavily. “I don't know what we're missing. But, let's not worry about it until we get to the new camp.”
    Once we were airborne again, I tried to do what Ian suggested. But how could I not worry?  I had a bad feeling things were very wrong, and it didn’t take long for me to find out that my instincts were right.
    Just as we reached the area where the new camp was, a pillar of black smoke welcomed us. None of us said anything. Sam circled the compound, but there was very little movement on the ground, just a few people scattered far and wide who seemed to be wandering around aimlessly.
    “I thought you said Michael killed all of the queen’s scouts,” I said to Ian.
    “He did.”
    “Then how did she find the new camp?” I asked, on the verge of becoming hysterical.
    Ian was silent as we both stared down at what was left of the compound Michael had moved his entire group to. Almost all of the buildings were damaged in some way and most had been set ablaze. We could see a few survivors on the ground helping the injured, but it was evident to me not many were left alive after the queen’s attack.
    Sam set the helicopter down in the middle of a street where a few people could be seen walking around. Ian and I jumped out of the helicopter to find out what exactly happened. I grabbed the sleeve of a wandering woman who didn’t even seem to notice we were there. When she turned to look at me, I could tell she was in shock. Her eyes were unfocused and glazed over.
    I slapped her.
    Her eyes focused on me.
    “What happened?” I demanded, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her.
    “The queen came,” the woman said, the glaze over her expression fading slightly.
    “Do you know who I am?”
    The woman nodded.
    “Do you know where Jace or Michael is?”
    The woman shook her head.
    “All I saw were the Harvesters,” she said, her eyes beginning to glaze over again. “There were so many of them. They looked like ants covering us. Ants. Thousands of ants.”
      I let her go seeing that she would be completely useless to me. She was too far gone. The woman turned away from us and continued her walk to nowhere.
    “Come on,” Ian said as he started to walk down the street in the opposite direction of the woman, “we should start in your new home. Maybe by some miracle Jace and the kids are there.”
    We ran down the street as fast as we could. I had to follow Ian because I had no idea where the house was.
    I wasn’t allowed to come to the new camp while it was being established.
    Some

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