Free Tremor: If your world was falling apart, how far would you go to save it? (The Tremor Cycle) by Ryan Mark

Without pausing he took another folder and opened it. He trembled when he read the name.
    ‘What’s up?’ said Althea, moving closer.
    ‘I–I… just take a look,’ William said, passing her the file, his hand shaking.
    ‘Sarah Oakenwood,’ Althea breathed in sharply. ‘My mum…’ She quickly picked up the next file. ‘Greg Oakenwood.’
    William reached out to hold her, but she shoved him away.
    ‘This can’t be right; I wasn’t told they’d been abducted! I went to the Peace Station and reported that they’d not been in touch in a week, and after that I was told they’d been attacked by bandits and…’ She took a breath. ‘Do you think whoever’s behind this is abducting people, doing whatever they’re doing with them and putting them back where they found them to try and cover their tracks?’ She grabbed her mouth.
    ‘Yeah, I think you’re onto something there. But why would Terrafall and the Peace Force keep this from you?’ said William.
    ‘The farm they worked on was owned by Terrafall, Will, and most of the population certificates we’ve seen have Terrafall all over them.’ Tears fell down her pale cheeks and she tightened her grip on the paper. ‘It’s obvious.’
    ‘Terrafall’s our link.’
    Could his father have been abducted then? William shook his head. His father was found in the rubble of his geology station. It’d been during one of the biggest tremors recorded. No, he couldn’t have been. It was the tremor that killed him.
    He looked at Althea. ‘You OK?’
    She didn’t answer, her eyes fixated on the paper.
    He tried a different tack. ‘Someone’s either targeting Terrafall, or Terrafall’s more involved in this than anyone thought, and if that’s the case, we won’t be able to trust anyone, not even the Peace Force,’ said William, taking the file off Althea and dropping it to the dusty ground. ‘Are you OK?’ he asked again.
    She rocked on the spot.
    ‘Alfie?’
    Her answer was interrupted by footsteps, then loud voices. ‘Someone has been through the index! Call the guards, call the guards at once!’ screamed a crackly voice.
    ‘We shouldn’t have left this place unguarded,’ said another voice. ‘Why did I let us leave for the tremor shelter? I was meant to be in charge of this bloody place and now look what’s happened!’
    ‘Alfie, we’ve got to go now,’ whispered William, pulling her sleeve. ‘Terrafall has to be our next target, so we’ll go to their headquarters at the power plant. I think that’s our best bet.’
    ‘If Terrafall are involved, we’ll make sure it doesn’t get away with it.’ She stared directly ahead, eyes narrowing.
    William dragged her to the floor and together they moved on their hands and knees down the main aisle. William could hear oncoming footsteps vibrating through the marble as they shuffled through the dust.
    ‘Here, over here! Look, the gate has been tampered with!’ screeched the voice. ‘And by the gods, it’s the worst possible section of shelves! We should dig our own graves now.’
    ‘The fire exit.’ William indicated a door to their left, beyond one last aisle of shelves. It felt as though their footfalls were on top of him now, pounding on his back.
    They crawled forward. William bit his lip when his knee hit the marble too hard, sending a sickening pain through his leg. He held in the sick and managed to roll through the door, followed by Althea.
    ‘Come on!’
    The alley where they landed was filled with stinking rubbish. William scrambled forward. Brilliant: they could use it as cover; he didn’t care if he ended up smelling of muck. He scrunched his nose and they dived under a large pile of bin bags, just as the fire door opened again.
    It seemed like an eternity before someone spoke. ‘They’re not here, damn it, they’ve gone!’ shouted the voice. ‘They must have escaped through the front.’
    William gripped Althea’s hand. ‘As soon as the door closes we move. Let’s go back