Free The Uprising (The Julianna Rae Chronicles) by Aral Bereux Page B

yer own blood?’
    Taris flicked the cigarette into the fire and lifted his rifle again. Elizbeth returned to his side. The rifle swung around, collecting Hal’s chin on the end and sending him crashing into the floorboards.
    It stopped his lecture.
    ‘Talk too much, old man,’ Taris turned to Elizbeth and rested a hand dutifully on her belly. ‘Get yourself to safety now, you shouldn’t be in here,’ he stroked her gently. ‘Don’t make me angry.’
    Elizbeth took his hand, and they both looked down at it. She agreed, she needed to leave quickly. The fire was starting to take hold.
    Taris knelt to lift the old man across his shoulders. He wasn’t heavy – age had been cruel, and his once brutish stature had been robbed. His men waited at the gapping doorway, and Elizbeth disappeared up the stairs. He gave them a nod and parted ways along the narrow stairway.
    Flames licked around the side of the building.  Taris ambled across the road to the car where Elizbeth sat patiently with her hands in her lap. The hover drones frantically buzzed above them. He slung Hal heavily into the backseat under guard, slammed the door and straightened. Onlookers watched with narrow eyes, distrusting their commander and the New World Order.
    Why would he destroy such a harmless gathering ?
    He hear d their thoughts.
    He turned on the balls of his feet and lit another cigarette, feeling the power surging through him. The fire engulfed the old multilevel building, and the precarious sign melted on its hinges. His thoughts provoked the fire’s anger, enraging it further, with the onlookers retreating from the intense heat expelled. Taris glanced again and it burst outward, showering the ground with what little remained.
    Long overdue , he thought. Hit them hard.
    The first of many explosions rattled the buildings on either side. He felt the tremor through his feet as it stretched along the road, and all the while he stood to admire his work. He would take Hal to the camp.
    He smiled, closing his lips around his cigarette, he drew the smoke in. Finally, a full-blood for the trials , he tossed the thought around, and an attack on the safe house.
    The day is beautiful after all.
                 

CHAPTER 8
    3rd May, 2018, 1900 hours.
    7 miles west of Camp 2.2.1
     
    The bikes were moving deeper into the woods when they heard the hover drones fly past. They were far enough between the trees that their heat signatures weren’t traceable, but close enough to the highway to hear the unmistakable humming.
    Caden stopped his bike to listen, holding his fist in the air to signal for everyone else to follow. Julianna propped beside him. The heavy prisoner lulled forward between her arms, and she struggled against his broad shoulders, to center him into the bike again.             
    ‘Go on.’ He said with a grin. ‘Tell me I made the wrong move.’
    She cocked her head certain her expression was pissy enough that she needn’t say anything. Caden’s method of punishing the insubordinate was effective, and though she had been deathly sick the night before, he wasn’t considering that now.
    He helped lean the prisoner as the noc slumped again, before returning to the distant sounds.
    The Jeeps engines passed along the highway, more drones, and she could hear a faint trace of a dog barking; they were breaking out the canine unit for a second time. She counted three Jeeps and knew Taris drove the last one as a safety precaution, always having the minions go first.
    Caden nudged her foot with his. He was frowning, and he mouthed “ what is it” for her to see. She knew he’d missed the occurrence which had led her to death’s door the evening before. The stabbing which stirred up the fever, the very moment she thought she had greeted death itself – he had no idea about their bond.
    The IDM, the movements into the woods, the doubling back from the caves. As long as she was with them, their situation was a murky one,