Read Immurement: The Undergrounders Series Book One (A Young Adult Science Fiction Dystopian Novel) for Free Online Page B

still swaying to and fro. I clamp my jaw shut and steady myself on an old, wooden table, my fingers sinking deep into the mantle of dust coating it.
    Big Ed rubs a hand over his brow. “This weren’t no random killing. That sign’s around Reid’s neck for a reason.”
    Sweeper Snitch. I think back to the angry exchange at our bunker the night before Frank died. Was the traitor Reid all along?
    “Do you think Rogues did this?” I ask.
    Big Ed runs a hand across his forehead. “Ain’t no Undergrounder kind of killing.”
    Mason’s features are creased in concentration. He grabs Reid’s right ankle, spins it a few degrees as if he’s studying something, and then lets go with a grunt. He strides past us to the door, his face unreadable.
    Big Ed gestures up at the rafters. “Do you want to bury him?”
    I swallow back my discomfort and hoist my pack back on. “Not now. We need to find Owen.”
    Big Ed stares at me, owl-eyed behind his tiny glasses. He wants me to get out of the shadows and lead, but now that I’m beginning to sound calloused, I don’t think he likes it.
     
    Twenty minutes in, the trail curves down a narrow, rocky slope and begins to wind in a series of vicious switchbacks along the lip of a steep drop-off. We spread out, single file, Big Ed leading, Jakob taking up the rear. The lodgepole pines give way to an assortment of sagebrush and wild grasses worming their way through cracked granite boulders. Below, I can hear the crunch of rocks grinding each other into submission in the constant rush of the water. I concentrate on digging in my heels to keep from sliding on the slippery shale. Halfway down the trail, a chilling scream almost rips the hair off the back of my neck.
    Tucker bolts into the forest and disappears. I turn in time to catch the glint of an articulated steel tube thrashing backward through the undergrowth.
    Mason’s strapping forearm scoops me up from behind and we dive beneath a canopy of ferns. I lay there beside him, shaking like a dried-out sack of bones. The ferns part and Big Ed rolls heavily in beside us. “Sweepers,” he mutters.
    I sit up and rock gently back and forth. “That was Jakob screaming,” I say in a far-flung voice I barely recognize as my own.
    “Where’s Tucker?” Big Ed asks.
    I make an incoherent sound at the back of my throat. “He bolted.” I clamp my hand over my mouth, half-afraid I might start sobbing and never stop.
    Big Ed rubs my arm gently. “Tucker will be all right. He’ll head back to the bunker.”
    “I don’t understand how they penetrated the forest,” Mason says. “They need clearance to hover.”
    The knob in my throat shifts up and down. I blink, trying desperately to hold back my tears. How does he know that? Mason knows a lot about military stuff. Mason says it’s to absorb radiation. Somehow he’s connected to this. I’ve felt it all along. I just can’t figure out how exactly. I wipe my eyes and fix a steely gaze on him. “How do you know so much about the ships?”
    His features harden. “Educated guess. Hoverships need space to hover.”
    “Maybe they’re using longer tubes,” Big Ed says, frowning. “That way they could be operating from outside the timberline.”
    “We have to look for Jakob,” I say, scrambling to my feet. “He might still be out there.” I duck back out from underneath the ferns and begin making my way up the hill, shouting his name intermittently, swatting at the brush as I go by. Big Ed and Mason follow me, whistling on and off for Tucker. My vision blurs as my eyes fill with tears again. There’s no sign of either one of them.
    “Take cover!” Mason yells up to me.
    My heart jolts in my chest. I dive and roll beneath the brush, then watch with horror as a Sweeper ship glides overhead. After a few minutes, the leaves part and Mason and Big Ed throw their packs down beside me.
    “You okay?” Big Ed asks.
    I nod, glumly.
    “They must have extracted him,” Mason says, frowning.