Read Drifters' Alliance, Book 3 for Free Online Page A

sub-basement working on a project we’d been putting together in secret. He was always messing around down there.” Tam sighs heavily. “Anyway, when the OSG did finally arrive to clean the place up, they found Gus in shock, our parents annihilated, and me barely hanging on.”
    “That sucks,” Baebong says, his posture relaxing a little. “I’m sorry to hear that, man.”
    I want to point out that this thing in front of us, if he is a shadow, isn’t a man, but I don’t have the heart to do it anymore. Or my heart is suddenly back online. I don’t know; I’m so fucking confused right now. I grit my teeth to keep from saying something I’ll regret, and keep on listening instead.
    “When the OSG came in, people started grumbling about how it was their fault that all of it had happened. That they’d neglected us and failed to do their duty. Gus told me this stuff later; I was too far gone to realize what was going on. Anyway, it pissed them off … the OSG commanders. They didn’t like pissants like us telling them they’d screwed up. So they just left before everything was back to rights. Before we even had the ability to feed our community, before anyone was really treated medically. They took off and left us to rot and die.”
    I have a hard time swallowing as the memory of my father ranting over the comm to someone comes back. “What the hell do they want us to do over there, anyway? Turn back time? Forget what they’ve done? Maybe if they’d been more focused on defending themselves instead of asking us to take care of their problems all the time, this wouldn’t have happened. No. We leave it as is. Let them sort it out. ”
    “That’s when the Outlanders came.”
    My ears start ringing at that word. Outlanders!
    “Outlanders?” Baebong’s all perked up now. “For real?” He laughs like a crazy person and then stops, all of a sudden looking scared. I can hear him gulp from where I’m standing.
    “Yeah, they are for real, thank goodness. I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for them.”
    “The Outlanders are a myth,” I say from between clenched teeth. He must think we’re crazy to believe that crap. First he wants us to swallow the idea of him being a shadow and now this? Outlanders? Untraceable transmissions. Unexplained phenomena. Any and all sightings of anything weird always gets credited to the Outlanders — the little green men living out in the Dark.
    Tam shakes his head like he pities me. “The Outlanders are real, and they helped us when the OSG wouldn’t.”
      “Bullshit.” I’m fuming, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. This is the most ridiculous story I’ve ever heard, so I should be laughing instead of getting angry and defensive.
    Tam holds out his hands. “Believe what you want, but I’m here, and I’m living in this host body as a shadow while Gus safeguards my Self. You can’t deny what you see in front of you, can you, Cass?”
    I stare at him for a few seconds and then smile, everything becoming crystal clear for me in an instant. Fucking Outlanders. Yeah, right. Fucking gingers is more like it. Damn, he really had me going too. I’m seriously losing my touch.
    “Man, I’ve been conned before, but this is pretty damn good. I have to give you credit for that, anyway.” I shake my head in amazement. “How’d you fool Adelle? That’s what I want to know.” I roll my eyes as it comes to me. So simple. How did I miss it? I bang myself on the side of the head with the heel of my hand. “Oh, right. Brilliant. You fucked with her programming. Duh.” I step back a few paces. “You really had me going there, Tam. Nice one. Big joke on Cass, eh?” I look up in the air. “Gus, you listening in? Why don’t you come on in here so I can punch you in the face?”
    “It’s not a joke,” Tam says. He looks really sad. “I’m a shadow, and I’m using a host body that had an extensive amount of MI done to it so it could look as much like my