The Last Hero (Book 2): Rise of the Ultras (22 page)

I
never thought
I’d fly above the world as it ended beneath my feet.

The morning sky was dark. It was always dark these days. Especially dark when Saint was on his way to a city, or when he’d just visited a city.

It was just after Christmas, but there hadn’t really been a Christmas this year. People were too terrified. Too afraid. Some of them imprisoned, as Saint led his trail of chaos and destruction from city to city.

He told the world that he was doing it for their own good. That the ULTRAbots would keep them safe, just as he’d told the world the very same thing when he’d masqueraded as Mr. Parsons. But I saw what this was. Everyone saw what this was.

Saint was taking over the world. He was breaking city after city, country after country, away from civilization, imprisoning everyone in their own little cell.

And he was moving fast.

“Are you ready for the next move?”

I heard Orion’s voice beside me. I turned to him. Looked at his dark, masked face.

I looked back down at the swathes of ULTRAbots below as we floated high in the sky. It was like watching an army of ants move between nests. If I fell right now, I could walk on the backs of them.

But there were too many to deal with. Way too many to deal with alone.

I looked past Orion. Looked at Stone. At Vortex. At Roadrunner and Ember, and at the one hundred and something ULTRAs who’d stood by Nycto’s side just weeks ago. We were together now.
We
were the Resistance.

Or at least what was left of it.

“We have a war to fight,” Orion said. “We have to be in it together. Completely. All of us. For better or for worse.”

The loss of Aqua and Slice left a bitter taste in my mouth. They’d been cast aside needlessly. Two pointless losses. Two good ULTRAs. Losses that would haunt us all forever.

I knew there would be more losses. We all knew there would be more losses.

But I was determined to keep those losses as low as I possibly could.

I wasn’t going to give up. I wasn’t going to let their deaths be for nothing. I wasn’t pretending anymore.

I
was
Kyle Peters. Not Glacies. Not some false identity.

I
was
Kyle Peters, and I was an ULTRA.

This was my life, whether I liked it or not.

“Kyle?” Orion asked.

I looked back at Orion again. Then at the rest of the ULTRA Resistance. I saw them all looking at me. Waiting for me to give the call. To say the word.

Then I looked back down at the ULTRAbots below.

“I’m ready,” I said.

T
he third book
in The Last Hero series, Battle of the ULTRAs, is now available to pre-order right
HERE
.

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T
he characters
and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any reference to real locations is only for atmospheric effect, and in no way truly represents those locations.

Copyright © 2016 by Matt Blake

Cover design by Damonza

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