walker saga 07 - earth (17 page)

It was silent in the barrier, but as the fracturing loomed closer, my sensitive Walker hearing picked up a metallic screeching sound.
Great.
If the noise level was increasing, then it was definitely closer. My heart rate sped up. I craned my neck to see if there were any visible landmarks yet – where was the barrier taking me? The answer remained a mystery for a few more moments, but then finally I noticed that the ocean was tapering off and land was visible. Was this crazy ride actually coming to an end?

I mentally urged my body forward, and in some sort of strange jolt I actually started moving faster through the shield. Maybe I did have some control here. I tried again, and sure enough I surged even further forward. Narrowing my eyes against the sun and wind, I focused on the endgame target. Which was to get off this freaking ride-from-hell. I was suddenly mimicking an arrow, zooming through with the force of a projectile. At the start my flying speed had been slow and relaxing, now it was fast enough to have my stomach turning and swirling.

Lucy and I had attended a carnival once, when we were about eight. Back before it was quite so dangerous out on the streets. I hadn’t been a big fan of thrill rides then, but now I found something quite exhilarating as I flew through the air at hundreds of miles an hour.

The shield was over land now, but it wasn’t New York City. Somewhere more in the countryside, with lots of brown grass and even a few scattered trees. I had never seen trees within the downtown area.

Keeping my arms tucked in at my sides, I zoomed across the shield.

Behind me the barrier continued to destruct, but with my burst of speed there was now a decent distance between us. The shield curved around at this point and, just as I cleared the other side, my breath caught in my chest.
Shit!
I was out of space.

My exhale was nothing more than a wheeze as a structure loomed right above the barrier. It looked to be part of the shield, but also separate from it as it towered into the air. I blinked a few times, trying to figure out what I was seeing.

Made from thick steel pillars and interconnecting metal wires, the structure was familiar. Not something I’d seen before, but – I must have read about it in a book. Studied it in school.

It took me a few more moments, as my body continued to advance toward the gigantic metal monstrosity, to finally recall what it was. A power grid.

I couldn’t remember much about electricity, or how it really worked. Burning coal – and other fossil fuels. There had been some nuclear too. I did have a faint recollection of the lesson on this particular grid.

Power used to be generated, cycled and then distributed around the state from this structure. We learnt about it in history – we hadn’t had electricity in the city for most of my life. The compound and rebels relied on generators and some solar and wind turbines to keep us powered.

Was this energy transference shield the reason New York had no power for most of my life? Had it somehow hijacked the electricity to power itself? And could it actually be storing all of the gathered power in those cell-like panels that were scattered around?

Holy crap.
I was heading straight into the mouth of the beast. If this was the hub of the energy transference shield, then the Seventine were probably here also. Or if they weren’t, and for some reason were not aware of this, then the very annoying bond the first had with me would clue them in. I really hoped I hadn’t just led those creeps here. This shield had been accumulating power for eighteen years. I guessed there would be more than enough here to free the seventh.

I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when I hit the building, but I surmised that it would probably hurt.

So I prepared myself.

Whenever I knew something painful was coming, I thought back to how I felt when I severed the melding bond. The feeling of hot blades carving across my soul; the empty, echoing hollowness that devoured my insides and crushed my spirit. Not many physical pains could compare to that moment or all of the days following. That was my perspective when things were getting hard for me. All I hoped was that when I hit the grid, masses of electricity didn’t decide to run through my body. That would most probably kill me.

And I had to survive. For everyone that was counting on me.

The steel structure loomed even higher, and my trajectory slowed again. I no longer had any control over my speed. But slow was good; it gave me a chance to see what was coming. A gasp died in my throat as I was suddenly jerked to the right, thrown across to the other side of a building and slammed up against the tallest of towers in the center.

Yep. I had nailed it. That freaking hurt.

I couldn’t move, my entire body forcibly held on the grid. Metal and bolts dug into my spine. I struggled to breathe. Not only was the pressure constricting my airways, but I thought I might have broken a rib in that jolt.

The destruction of the energy transference shield continued, the shattering pieces looming closer. I was going to be stuck here until the shield hit me. I was still worried that I would shatter into pieces with it. Which I was totally not okay with.

I attempted to trace myself again, and this time I could actually sense tethers around me. My golden cord was finally free, but I couldn’t seem to find the strength to attach. I was still drained from when the barrier had stolen my energy.

Abby!
For just a brief moment, a shout broke through my mind.

Then it was gone.

I was pretty sure that had been Eva. But how would she have known to do that? And how could she do it on Earth without my help?

I took a few more painful but slowly drawn out breaths. Calming myself. Which was not as easy as it sounds, considering the splintering wall was just feet from me now.

I reached for my Walker girls, focusing on Eva, who was closest to me. I knew she was my best chance of a connection.

Abby.
She was with me again, her voice faint, but the connection held.

And then it was gone again.

I cried out as frustration gripped me. If I couldn’t reach the half-Walkers, whom I held an ancient bond with, then there was only one other. Brace.

Our melding was also an ancient bond, and my soul was his – basically every part of me belonged, in some way, to Brace. And he was also mine.

I drew from the depths of my soul, from the depths of my endless energy well inside. Gathering together every facet of love I held for my mate. The warmth filled me, the emotions flooding my body. Without him I would not survive – no, that wasn’t right. I would survive. But it wouldn’t really be living; it would simply be existing until I could join him wherever he had gone.

He was my everything, and I needed him right then. I expelled every iota of the energy I’d managed to regain on the trip here and, with a sucking pop – the sound of the shield releasing me from its grasp – I was no longer slammed against metal. I was free.

Chapter 9

Strong arms wrapped around me, and a familiar, tantalizing scent exploded across my senses and filled all the achy and empty spaces inside. A faint groan left me as my ribs protested against the firm grip holding me. Of course, Brace then loosened his hold and I was not okay with that. I grumbled as I wriggled myself toward him. I wanted to be as close as was humanly possible without actually living in his skin. Which would be weird – and gross.

I heard a soft, albeit strained chuckle, and then I was hoisted up and into his arms. I didn’t hesitate to wrap my legs around him. My body was suddenly flush against his. This was perfect. I wanted to stay here – here was home.

“You’re killing me, Red.” This wasn’t the first time he’d said that in his husky tones, and I would hazard a guess that I’d hear it many more. “Where the hell have you been?”

My face was pressed into the hard planes of his chest. I could see and feel the definition of his body through the fitted cotton shirt he wore. I knew he was waiting for me to answer his question, but I was distracted by the expanse of deliciousness surrounding me. Of course, in the back of my mind I knew now was not the time for me to be wrapped around my mate. We needed to get back to the power grid and cut the Seventine off. Now that the shield was down, they’d know, and they’d be trying to get their power.

I knew all that, but couldn’t actually pull myself from Brace. I was going to blame my weakness on the fact that I probably wouldn’t be standing if he wasn’t holding me up. I was still very weak, my body shaking.

“Should we all dive overboard and give you two a few moments?” Lucy sounded relieved, though the sarcasm was still strong with this young grasshopper.

We ignored her, although ignoring the tittering giggles of the other females was harder. What? Hadn’t they ever seen a grown woman climb her man? That was normal, wasn’t it?

Should be a daily occurrence,
he growled across my mind.

I finally lifted my head and stared out into the wash of ocean. As my mind intertwined with Brace’s, I ran smack bang into his thoughts. Starting from when I’d been sucked into the barrier. His emotions were still hot, the mental images tinged with red and edged with flames of fury. He had not been thinking very rationally during my absence.

Brace had tried to follow my path, swimming with me for some of the way. I’d actually lost him when I’d chosen to speed up my trajectory.
Shit.

Eventually he had returned to Colton and Lucy. They had remained on the boat to protect the females.

Brace had continued trying to reach me through our bond, not to mention alerting every Walker he knew. My ass was being hunted across the universe. The only reason that it hadn’t been worse was that he had known I was still alive. Which prevented him from completely losing his shit.

During my read of him, he’d also quickly flicked through my thoughts. He knew where the barrier had taken me and understood what that grid represented. He knew we had to go back there and figure out where that power was being held, and then we had to destroy it. Before the Seventine got their hands on it.

Brace had just set me back on the ground, although keeping me tucked into his side. I was still shaky on my own legs. We were about to turn to explain everything to the group when a siren blared around us. Brace pivoted and placed his body in front of mine. His thoughts were now calm and cold. He was working hard not to snatch me up and steal me away to somewhere safe. He was still recovering from my last little disappearance.

“We have company,” he eventually said. Relaxing minutely.

I realized that siren had been from a human vessel.
Shit!
Humans – like from the other side of the barrier humans. We were finally going to find out what the rest of Earth was like.

I shifted my gaze out to the left side of the boat as a white vessel approached. It was large, with spotlights and a megaphone system set up above the glassed-in cab. About twice the size of the Boston Whaler we were squished into.

“Your ship is not authorized in these waters.” The large megaphone was put to good use, the words blasting across at us. “Follow us into port.”

The word ‘Coastguard’ was stenciled on the side of the boat. They were like the authority on the water, right?

Brace fired up our boat again. The engines sputtered, as the gas was barely at usable levels. I hoped we had enough to make it the short distance.

Now that the barrier was gone, a large set of docks was visible on the horizon. We had not been very far out to sea; the barrier had prevented us from seeing that. The females huddled closer together, and I couldn’t blame them for their renewed fear. They’d just narrowly escaped a life worse than death, and now had to trust that by following this coastguard we weren’t putting them back into the same situation. Of course, they didn’t know that I would never let that happen to them. Not while we were here to protect them.

Eva and Chrissie were deep in conversation with some of the girls. I couldn’t hear what was said over the rush of the wind and waves, but it felt like they were working double time to reassure everyone that this would be okay. Chrissie had said that quite a few of the females were from her vigiladies group, so they’d look to the brunette as their leader. They would trust her.

The coastguard remained close to our vessel. There were three or four males on board, dressed in navy-blue polos and black shorts. I hadn’t seen anyone dress in uniform in New York for a long time. That would require a level of organization that had been sorely missing for the past few years. Well, that was if you didn’t count the identifying tattoos of the gangers, which were not exactly the same as a nicely pressed polo shirt.

Our boat engines died as we crossed the last few feet of water, but we had enough forward motion to slide into the dock. Everyone jolted when we crashed into the wooden planks. Well, everyone except me. I was still firmly planted against Brace, and not even an atomic bomb could move that man.

One of the guards, who was average height with perfect chocolate-colored skin, striking features and sinfully long eyelashes, threw us a thick rope. Colton caught it with ease before tying it across a T-shaped piece of metal on the edge of our boat.

Brace reluctantly let me go to help position the gangplank. As he moved gracefully across the tight space, my mate looked like he was a freaking pirate or something. Black hair shifted in the breeze, just long enough to be stylishly tousled. Add in his half-smirk – he was enjoying my thoughts – and tribal marks – well, let’s just say I wasn’t surprised by all the wary glances he was getting from the coastguard humans.

Colton got plenty of glances too. I suppose it wasn’t every day you ran into two huge dudes, both over six and a half foot, staring you down. Colton’s marks weren’t on display, but his wolfy eyes were and that was just as intimidating.

“Keep your hands where we can see them,” said a different coastguard.

This one was in the uniform, but was overweight. His gut strained against the fitted shirt and tailored slacks. It was rare to see an overweight human in New York. There wasn’t enough food, and too much ‘running for your lives’ going on in there to gain weight. Maybe things were better on this side.