The Ruins Book 4 Read online

  A shout ripped Kirby's attention thirty feet away.

  "Kirby!" Drew yelled.

  Blood streaked his face and his shirt as he came toward her. Lifting the weapon he had claimed from a guard, he pointed past several fighting groups toward the gate. Kirby followed his gaze. Most of the field was engaged in battle, but through the pandemonium, a cluster of guards ran toward the gate.

  "We can't let them get out!" Drew yelled. "Who knows who is alive in the tower?"

  Alarm coursed through Kirby. Drew was right. They couldn't let the guards escape. They might have the upper hand now, but that would quickly change if the mutants got in.

  "Come on!" she shouted, running behind Drew and heading for the guards.

  They skirted around several grunting people engaged in hand-to-hand combat, desperately trying to get the upper hand. In the distance, a few more groups of slaves headed up the pathways, chasing more guards who fled for safety. She scanned quickly for Bray, but couldn't find him.

  Finishing their skirmishes, a few Shadow People watched Kirby and Drew.

  "Come with us! We have to protect the gate!" Kirby shouted at them, pointing to the northwest side of the courtyard.

  A few hesitated only long enough to glimpse the scenario in the distance. The guards were almost at the entrance. And if they made it, who knew what might happen?

  Chapter 64: Bray

  Unholy shrieks echoed over the din. Bray looked around the narrow, dirty alley, watching clusters of men and women battling the guards for their freedom. He didn't know where Kirby had gone.

  He didn't have time to find her.

  The revolt was on.

  Clutching the bloody knife that he had ferreted away from the first guard he killed, he charged another enemy, plunging the weapon into the man's gut. The guard reacted in surprise, staggering backward and clawing at the embedded blade. Bray kicked the man in the legs, sending him tumbling and retrieving his weapon.

  A shout echoed further up the alley.

  A young male slave fought a Head Guard. The young slave lunged fruitlessly with his small weapon, avoiding a parry from the guard's sharp blade. Bray ran to help.

  He managed to get a few steps from the scene when the guard stabbed the slave in the gut. Blood soaked the young slave's belly as he dropped his shiv and stepped back, clutching the open wound.

  Bray's rage turned into a battle cry as he plowed into the guard, toppling him sideways. Screaming with the anger of all his scars and bruises, and too many days toiling in the fields, Bray reared back and plunged his knife into the side of the man's head, pulling it out. He returned to the young slave, who had shrunk down against the wall of the house, obviously in pain, but trying to keep a strong composure.

  "He stabbed me," the slave whispered, as if Bray might reverse the awful action.

  "Hold on to your stomach," Bray instructed, grabbing the young man's bloodied hands and placing them more firmly on the wound.

  The man nodded, as if the simple act might cure him. The injury was clearly fatal. Of course, no healers could help.

  "Bray!" a voice shouted.

  Bray looked from the wounded slave to an intersecting pathway, watching a familiar man run in his direction. Teddy's face was smeared with blood as he said, "Some of the guards are going to their houses! They are locking themselves inside!"

  Bray nodded as he looked from Teddy's hardened, determined face to the fallen slave. The young man's head had already rolled to the side; his eyes looked skyward. New fury drove Bray to his feet as he followed Teddy's bloody finger.

  "This way!" Teddy instructed.

  Bray ran next to him, heading up the path toward the frenzied mob.

  Two frightened guards veered toward a home with a door, managing to get inside and slam it shut. The slaves pounded with furious fists, bashing the door, or clanging their weapons against it. After a while of pounding, they managed to crash the door inward, rushing inside and finishing off the cowardly guards.

  A loud shout drew Bray's attention to a nearby house, which a guard had managed to reach, but not in time to unlock the closed door. His keys fell from his hands. Three slaves ripped him away. He spun and lashed out, catching one of the slaves in the leg with his blade. The man cried out and fell back, clutching his bloody wound. The others lunged, grabbing the guard's hands and confiscating the weapon before he could injure anyone else. They pulled him further from the threshold, throwing him to the ground and pummeling him with angry fists.

  "I hear someone inside!" one of the slaves yelled, retrieving the keys.

  He unlocked the door and pushed.

  He met resistance.

  Grunting, he tried harder. Bray and Teddy joined a few other tenacious slaves, fighting until the door gave way. A surprised, scared woman with two children leapt back, holding up a sword that was much too big for her.

  "Leave us alone!" she screamed, waving her oversized weapon.

  Bray looked from the woman, to the children, to the hovel in which they lived, which was larger than any the slaves occupied. An angry handful of slaves pushed past Bray and Teddy. A look of malice spread over their faces as they saw an outlet to their repressed anger.

  "Kill them!" a slave shouted, rage in his voice.

  "Death to the guards and their families!" shouted another.

  The woman and the children backed into a corner. The woman's sword wouldn't last long against an angry mob, once an attack started. A few slaves took offensive steps into the room. Before they could get further, Bray shouted, "Stop!"

  There was enough power in his voice to make even this bloodthirsty group pause.

  The slaves in front turned to face him, surprised.

  "They are not responsible for our slavery," Bray yelled. "They did not beat us, as the others did."

  He traded a look with Teddy.

  "Let them live," Teddy said sternly.

  A few slaves stuck out their chins in defiance. One or two looked at Bray and Teddy angrily.

  "They live their lives with more food in their stomachs than we receive all week," one man argued.

  "They did not ask for it," Bray said. "If you kill or touch them, deal with me."

  The slaves looked at him with intensity. Seeing the combative look in both Bray's and Teddy's eyes, they backed down and left the house. The frightened, shaking woman and her children remained in the corner, watching Bray and Teddy, as if they still planned something awful.

  Bray plucked the keys from the door, throwing them toward the woman's feet.

  Motioning toward her heavy sword, he said, "My knife will fit your hand better. You can barely hold that sword. Trade me for it."

  "The sword is my husband's," the woman said, with tears in her eyes.

  Losing some of his patient tone, Bray said, "Hurry. I won't ask again."

  With hesitant steps, the woman crossed the room and traded the sword for Bray's knife. Bray hefted it. The sword was old and didn't feel as good in his grasp as his old one, but it was better than a shorter weapon in a fight like this.

  "Lock the door when we leave. Don't come out until this is over," he instructed.

  Together, he and Teddy departed.

  Behind them, they heard the woman frantically locking the door.

  Chapter 65: William

  William stood at the threshold of The Library Room, unable to pry his eyes from the gory scene. A few of The Gifted—the first to be attacked—were reduced to mangled carcasses, bloody bits of flesh hanging around arms and legs. Others kicked weakly as the demons took the last of their life from them.

  Those who hadn't been knocked through the windows probably wished they had. Their misshapen, bulbous heads bled from various bite wounds. Their robes hung in tatters. One or two pleaded to William as the demons ate them, but he ignored them. None had listened to Cullen's cries, when the demons ate him alive.

  Fifteen feet from where William stood, Amelia lay on her back as demons gnawed on her legs and torso. To his surprise, he
r eyes were still open and looking at him.

  "William," she whispered, her voice shaking with pain. "Help me."

  Looking at her, all William saw was his friends being beaten and pulled into that city all those weeks ago. Any sympathy he might've had was stripped away because of her lies.

  Soon, she would be a ghost, just like Cullen, or the people trapped in her glass windows, now scattered over the bottom of New City.

  Spitting a mouthful of blood, her eyes left his face and turned toward the window. "You could have been one of us."

  William shook his head. "Never."

  He listened as her last, gurgling whisper went quiet.

  Loud commotion drew his attention from the feeding demons to the windows, where shouts floated up from the city. Something was going on outside.

  He needed to get down and help his friends.

  He turned, ready to head down the stairs.

  And stopped.

  Two staring, frightened guards stood on the landing, looking from William to the gun in his hand. The blades in their hands were wholly inadequate for a roomful of demons and a boy with Tech Magic. William pointed his gun. Neither advanced.

  Finding a moment of mercy, he said, "Go!"

  He nodded to the stairs below them.

  A vengeful thought passed through one man's eyes.

  "Come on!" urged his friend, shutting down the man's suicidal fantasy.

  They took a last look before darting down the stairs, their footsteps echoing down several flights. William was surprised, but probably shouldn't have been, to hear them screaming a moment later.

  The demons in the room weren't the only ones in the building.

  He'd left the door open.

  **

  William headed down the stairs, away from the gnashing of flesh in The Library Room. With each flight he descended, the cries from the city outside grew louder.

  It sounded like a war.

  The actions he'd taken up here had sparked something below. Or maybe something else was happening.

  His friends were in danger. And staying in a lofty tower would do nothing to help them.

  Heading fast down the stairs, he tensed as a few snarling demons came up and toward him. Building off of the power he'd reclaimed with the demons in The Library Room, William said, "The food up there is all gone. Come with me!"

  The demons watched him with red eyes.

  They listened.

  Blowing a breath of relief, William continued down the stairs with his new brothers. Some of the twisted men had bashed down the doors on the other levels, searching for more food, exploring a place in which they'd never been allowed. They dug through the bureaus and tore up the bed sheets, turning a place of luxury into a place of ruin.

  The Gifted would never occupy those rooms again.

  Commotion from the next landing startled him. Holding up his gun, William approached slowly as a cluster of demons feasted on more human bodies. He recognized the stone-faced guard who had given him meals, and his comrade. Demons gnawed on their skin, pulling out their entrails. Next to one of their bodies, William saw a set of keys.

  "It's okay," William said to the demons, using a soothing tone. "Keep feasting, my brothers."

  He skirted around the bloody scene, carefully retrieving the keys without disturbing the twisted men.

  On the bottom floor again, William paused. The noise from over the city walls had become a vicious roar. Shouts and pained screams wafted through the open doorway and to where he stood.

  He looked down at the gun in his hand, which only contained four rounds. He needed more weapons, along with the demons he'd collected.

  One chance to save his friends.

  He spun, facing the locked door he hadn't had a chance to go through earlier. Finding the right key from the guard's key ring, he unlocked it.

  Chapter 66: Kirby

  "Hurry!" Kirby screamed to the running slaves next to her, as they chased the guards toward the front gate, cutting through the bonfire area. Up ahead, Drew managed to tackle one guard to the ground.

  "Help!" someone screamed, pulling Kirby's attention away.

  She looked over to find a woman struggling with a guard. The woman swung her bloody shiv with weak arms as the guard overpowered her. Momentarily diverted, Kirby raced over to assist.

  "Keep going!" she yelled to the other slaves, who kept bounding to the gate.

  She surprised the guard, plunging her knife into his back, sending him sprawling. Looking over at the woman, she found her on the ground, clutching a severe, bloody wound.

  "It's over," the woman whispered, opening and closing her eyes as she held her chest.

  Someone slammed into Kirby.

  Losing her balance, Kirby hit the dirt and rolled. Her weapon flew from her grasp. Warm blood trickled down her face as she stopped on her belly, robbed of breath.

  In the distance, she heard the cries and shouts of Drew and the others, clashing with the guards by the gate.

  Kirby blinked and found the strength to turn her head sideways.

  A shadow loomed over her.

  Ollie.

  Ollie smiled through the blood on his face. In his hands was his bloodied blade. Reaching down, he grabbed hold of her shirt, pulled her up, and slammed her back to the ground.

  "Filthy forest-dweller!" he sneered.

  Pain shocked through Kirby as he booted her in the ribs.

  She rolled with the blow and kept going.

  Ollie stomped after her as if she was a bug he might squash underfoot. "You aren't going anywhere," he snorted.

  A dam of violence seemed to have broken loose inside him.

  Perhaps he realized the same thing as Kirby: whether they lived or died, New City no longer belonged to him.

  Kirby pushed herself up on her hands, but another kick from Ollie's thick boots sent her back down. Her eyes watered with pain. Grunting, she lifted her head, noticing a few slaves who had fallen at the start of the battle, their expressions pale in death. Far in the distance, she saw the stomping boots of slaves and guards as they battled the guards by the gate. Screams and shouts penetrated the air. Slaves fell. Others cried out in pain.

  Her life was a barrage of those images, because of the people in her homeland.

  Because of people like Ollie.

  Kirby rolled and jumped to her feet, avoiding Ollie's swiping knife. She backed off a few steps and caught her breath.

  Ollie faced her with a snarl.

  The expression on his face was clear: she was the obstinate slave he had beaten all those weeks ago outside the cell and pulled through the alleys of Ashville. She represented the death of a system that had provided Ollie the power to punch, kick, and rule.

  And she would never forgive his beatings.

  Kirby rushed past Ollie, trying to reach her dropped weapon, which had skittered to the other side of him.

  Realizing her intention, Ollie slashed at her, hitting nothing but air.

  Kirby leapt back.

  "You want your weapon, forest-dweller?" Ollie spat, his eyes lit with rage. He kept between her and the knife as he jabbed in her direction with bulky, fat arms. "Come get it."

  She scanned the ground for something else that might give her more advantage. Slaves had scavenged most of the available weapons from fallen bodies. Of course, they had.

  She wasn't fleeing.

  Kirby clenched her fists as Ollie came closer. She felt as if a courtyard of people watched her, cheering for blood. But the shouts she heard now were from the other slaves, fighting for their freedom by the gate. No one was in a position to help.

  Forcing logic through her anger, she recalled the battles she'd fought as a soldier. Ollie had a weapon. She didn't.

  She needed to get it from his hands.

  "Come on, forest-dweller!" he roared again, losing his patience.

  Ollie lumbered toward her on thick, meaty legs. She waited until he got close, turned sideways, and darted next to the blade, getting i
nto the zone where he couldn't stab, as she had done so many times in battle. Kirby dropped a closed fist on his knife hand, knocking the weapon from his fingers. Rearing back, she punched him in the gut. Ollie grunted, but managed to plow forward, pushing his blubbery body against her and knocking her backward.

  Kirby landed in the dirt on her face. A crack and a flash of pain told her she'd broken her nose. Blood dripped from her nostrils into the dirt. She looked for something—anything—to help her.

  The fire pits.

  Kirby crawled, spitting dripping blood from her mouth as she made for the charred remains of the previous night's blaze.

  "Get back here, bitch!"

  Ollie recovered from her punch, found his weapon, and went after her. Kirby's breath heaved as she crawled fast. Her fingers stung from the blows she'd landed. The blood from her nose felt as if it was choking her. A fat hand grabbed hold of her boot, but she kicked it off, buying enough time to heave herself over the circle of stones and into the fire pit's center.

  She got hold of a handful of ashes and spun, throwing them into Ollie's face. Ollie cursed and staggered backward, clutching his eyes.

  Kirby pushed herself upright.

  She grabbed one of the more intact logs from the middle of the fire, turned, and faced him.

  To relent was to die.

  Ollie tried to wipe away the soot covering his eyes. She ran toward him, wielding the log in a double-handed grip, and swung. Ollie screamed out as the log bashed his fingers, and he lost his weapon again.

  "Filthy bitch!"

  Kirby swung again, as Ollie ineffectively tried to block with wounded, ash-covered hands.

  "Stupid forest-dweller!"

  He blinked through the ash and blood stuck to his face as he fought to see and defend himself. Kirby didn't stop swinging.

  She couldn't.

  She reared back, throwing her revenge into another swing of the log as she battered his face, knocking Ollie's jaw sideways. Blood erupted from his nostrils as she hit him again, and again, breaking his nose, as he'd done to her. Sharp ends of the log splintered into his face as Ollie screamed, and Kirby kept hitting, until she caved in one of his eye sockets.