Read Hope (Book 2, Harvester of Light Trilogy; Young Adult Science Fiction) for Free Online Page B

for over exaggeration.  Whatever she did up front instantly caused an
almost free fall effect.  I involuntarily grabbed the harness criss-crossing my
chest as the light from the Southern Kingdom was lost, plunging us into a darkness
so thick I thought it might suffocate me.  The force of the fall made me feel
like my stomach had suddenly been lodged inside my throat. Our landing must
have been cushioned by water but it was still jarring.
    “Everyone all
right?” My father yelled through the pitch black.
    Everyone
acknowledge they were fine in mumbled “yeah”s and “yes”s.
    “Dude, where’s the
light?” Kale asked. 
    “This is only the
first step of our journey,” Doc Riley called back.  “We’re in an aqueduct underneath
the mountain.  It will take us to a neighboring lake.  I have to use night
vision goggles to see where I’m going so we can’t have any lights on.  Sorry
for any bumps along the way, children, but it can be a bit tricky driving
through a hole as narrow as this one.  Just make sure your harnesses are
secure.”
    I tugged on my
belt to make sure it was still buckled.  As Doc Riley weaved us back and forth
through the tunnel, the motion of the vehicle made me feel like a bobble head
doll. I could only presume she was doing her best not to run us into the rock
walls of the tunnel but still get us as far away from the blast zone as quickly
as she could.
    Suddenly, we all
felt the vehicle vibrate and zoom forward by an unseen force.  It had to be an
aftershock from the bomb going off in the Southern Kingdom.  I prayed Kirk and
Teegan made it out in time.  I couldn’t afford to lose any of my friends.  They
kept me sane in a world which was anything but.
    I felt Zoe grope
in the darkness trying to find my hand but finding a leg instead.  I placed my
hand on top of hers and squeezed it reassuringly.  To say I felt protective of
Zoe was an understatement.  Since she had entered my life, I felt like she was
my responsibility to keep safe and out of harms way.  She may have looked older,
but I knew the frightened seven-year-old I first met was still inside her.  We
held hands in the dark allowing our human contact to reassure us everything
would turn out all right even if it was an illusion.
    I’m not sure how
long we were in the tunnel but my guess would have been at least half an hour. 
Finally, it felt like we were angling upward.  The vehicle lurched forward to
break the surface of the water allowing murky rays of moonlight to enter
through the front glass.  After being in total darkness for so long, the light
felt like the sun glaring into my eyes forcing me to let go of Zoe’s hand to
shield them.
    “Over there,” my
father said from the front.  I peaked between my fingers to see him pointing to
a spot to our left.
    “Hold on,
children,” Doc Riley said.  “Almost there.”
    The gentle sway of
the vehicle on water was soon disrupted as we emerged onto dry land. We rolled
on an incline then came to a flat spot before coming to a complete stop.
    I heard my father
and Doc Riley unlatch their harnesses and took that as my queue to do the
same.  Everyone else in the back followed my lead.
    Doc Riley emerged
from the cockpit first with my father standing slightly behind her securing the
black briefcase he brought with him firmly behind his seat.
    “Time to see who
else made it out alive,” she said, walking to the hatch and unhooking the latch
to open the door.
    Ash took my hand
when we stood giving me a quick, reassuring wink.  Whenever things seemed their
bleakest during our travels through the Eastern Kingdom, Ash would sometimes
wink at me, squeeze my hand and say, “Come on.”  It was his way of giving me
hope. 
    By the time we all
made it out, a dozen other vehicles like ours were in different stages of
making it to the same spot.  As people emerged, Doc Riley took on her role as
physician and made sure the others were physically unharmed.  My