Read Origins (The Wasteland Chronicles, #2) for Free Online

Imperials camped out to the south. They’re torching the farms. Without that harvest, the city might starve come winter.”
    “What do we need to do?” I asked.
    “Char wants everyone at the front gates, pronto. You included, Alex.”
    My heart pounded. Here I was, not even a Raider, about to go fight their war.
    “Come on!” Anna said. “He wants us at the bottom of Bluff in ten.”
    Anna shot out the door. I looked at Samuel.
    “Don’t get yourself killed. Stay with Anna and don’t take any risks. Makara should be down there, too; find her and tell her the same. Our mission is greater.”
    I nodded. “I know that. I’ll find a nice rock to hide behind.”
    “Good boy.”
    I walked out of the room, Anna frowned.
    “You’re a Raider now,” she said. “You better fight like one.”
    “I could compromise, I guess,” I said. “Take out a couple Imperials and then find a nice rock to hide behind.”
    Anna shook her head. “The gate’s only a couple miles down the road. I suggest we run.”
    As Anna took off, I shook my head.
    “Great,” I said. “I love running.”
    ***
    B y the time we made it to the gates I was, unsurprisingly, out of breath. The fact that we went downhill the whole way worked in my favor, but still, two miles in ten minutes was not a good thing in my book. We had gone down countless switchbacks to get to the desert below. The whole time, smoke poured into the sky from the fires consuming the farms. There was still time to save the greater part of the crop, but a lot of damage had already been dealt. I guessed Rex had an ace up his sleeve after all.
    At the bottom of the bluff, Anna and I ran to join a group of about twelve Raiders. Among them were Char, Makara, and Lisa. Lisa held a sniper rifle, complete with scope, in both hands, and wore a grim expression to match.
    “Good, Anna’s here,” Char said. “Here’s the full situation. There are five or six Imperials trying to escape along the river. We outnumber them two to one, but there are still enough to do damage. It’s likely they’ll take cover and fire on us as we approach. You know the drill, so don’t do anything stupid. They’ve already killed several of the slaves who weren’t quick enough.” Char looked around at everyone. I wondered what “the drill” was, but was too afraid to ask. “Keep low, form a half-circle and flank them in. None of these Imperials need to make it home. Right, let’s go!”
    Char turned and ran for the river. Everyone followed.
    I ran beside Makara.
    “Samuel told me to tell you not to die.”
    Makara smiled. “I’ll try, Alex. Stick by me.”
    We ran for at least a mile. As we got closer to the action, I could smell acrid smoke in the cold, dry air.
    We ran up a small incline. Cresting the rise, we saw them beyond, waiting for us. There were five Imperials lying on the ground, rifles pointed at us. They fired.
    Bullets whistled above and beside us. The Raider on my right fell, hard. As I collapsed beside him, I knew he would not be getting back up. He had been shot in the forehead; blood trickled down.
    Makara pulled me behind a large rock.
    “I thought you were supposed to stay alive.”
    “I’m sorry,” I said. “Wasn’t expecting that.”
    She stayed on her stomach and kept her head below the rim of the hill.
    “Just wait here,” Makara said. “We can’t charge them or we’ll get killed.”
    Every Raider was planted on the safe side of the ridge. The gunfire had faded, leaving only the wind and the sand in their interminable dance. The sand hit my face, collected on the windward side of my body. I imagined if I lay out here for a few hours I could collect a lot of it on that side. Because, from the way it looked, we were going to be here for hours.
    And then...
    Crack .
    It was a single, distant shot reverberating through the desert. Whether it came from the north or south, east or west, I couldn’t tell.
    I heard screams. At first, I thought they were on our side. It