Read Taken Over (Book 2 The Ravening Series) for Free Online Page B

frowned at him, confused by his words. “But you are the stronger one Aiden.”
   “You saw dad die, and you never cried. You saw Cade die, and you never cried.” I winced at his words, shying away from the awful memories they aroused. “You are the stronger one Bethany.”
       I bit on my bottom lip as I shook my head. “No Aiden . T hat just makes me the colder one.”
       The sadness in his eyes was almost more than I could bear. I embraced him tightly, knowing that I had to leave before I couldn’t . “I love you Bethy,” he said, cradling my head gently.
       “I love you too Aiden. I’ll see you soon.”
       “I know.”
                 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 4
     
     
       With just the four of us, we ma d e pretty good time. If the terrain allowed , there were times we were able to jog for a couple of miles at a time before having to take a break. Lloyd would have been able to make even better time without us, b ut he never became irritated with our slower abilities . According to the GPS it was a little over twenty miles to the hospital. I wished that we could do it all in one day, but I knew eventually we would become tired, hungry, and more than likely come across some form of danger.
       I still held out some small hope that we wouldn’t run into anything . The sooner this was over and done with, the happier I would be. Jenna was the first to tire. She had changed a lot from when the aliens had first attack ed , but she had always been a girly girl and some habits were hard to break. Physical exercise was still not one of her favorite things, but she had been trying to adapt to our new world. That was the only reason I didn’t become annoyed when she asked for a break after only five miles.
       She settled onto the ground, panting slightly as she wiped the sweat from her brow. I still didn’t understand why she had insisted on com ing with us in the first place, but I wasn’t going to push he r . There were things I preferred to keep secret also. Maybe she had simply wanted to escape the warehouse , and the people , for a bit. I had a feeling it had more to do with wanting to stay near Bret, but she surprisingly hadn’t pursued that relationship as aggressively as I ’d thought she would after our break up. Though I suspected she had stayed away because Bret was mistakenly convinced that we would still get back together again one day .
       Bret handed Jenna and I each a bottle of water and a power bar. The sun was moving over the horizon, it was getting closer to lunch. “I think we should rest for a couple of hours now. We’ll move again later on in the day,” Lloyd said softly.
       “We can’t move as fast at night.”
       “We can’t move as fast in the heat either ,” Lloyd informed me.
       I frowned but nodded my agreement. He was right, it was September but the day was unseasonably warm. The heat would drain our energy , and our water , far faster than any of us wanted. I settled down against a tree and closed my eyes. I hadn’t slept much last night, but I knew I wouldn’t sleep now. Sleep was a lost commodity to me, one that I had given up on a long time ago. I had actually gotten quite good at dealing with the depravation, though I would have welcomed at least a couple of minutes of rest . Anymore time than that and the dreams would start. D reams that , while comforting at the time, left me lost and broken and aching for something I couldn’t ever have again when I awoke .
       I listened to the sounds of the birds and squirrels moving through the trees, reassured and lulled by their presence. I had learned in the beginning that when the aliens were near , the anim als became eerily quiet. A pparently they were even terrified , and scared off by the monsters lurking about. I listened to them jump and play, smiling softly as one squirrel yelled angrily at another before skittering down a tree.
       It was all so