A Mutiny in Time by James Dashner Read Free Book Online Page A

family — albeit a stray family in strange clothing.
    The army had come into full view now, running down the slope to the area where Dak and the others had appeared out of nowhere. When they reached that spot, the soldiers were ordered to halt by a commanding officer. Then, without any kind of instruction, they lined up in three perfectly straight rows, still facing the direction in which they’d been heading.
    “I need to fine-tune some of the satellite grid inputs,” Dak’s dad whispered. “Everything dealing with location is based on how things are mapped out in the future by the GPS system, but it’s not quite accurate enough. And we obviously don’t have the satellites now. We were supposed to be about a mile from here so we could watch this from a safe distance.”
    “Where are we?” Sera asked. “And . . .
when
are we?”
    Dak jumped all over that. “We’re smack-dab in the middle of the Revolutionary War. Those are British soldiers and they’re obviously expecting a battle with some American militiamen. Keep watching and you’ll see how organized and rigid the British are, and how wild and crazy the Americans are. I can’t believe I’m seeing this!”
    His mom shushed him. “Quiet down!”
    Dak felt an almost unbearable thrill of excitement as it finally hit him what was going on. They’d just traveled through time! He’d just leapt back hundreds of years using a device dreamed up by his own parents and perfected by his best friend. Judging by the half-glazed look on Sera’s face, she was coming to the same world-altering realization.
    Movement out in the ranks grabbed his attention. Three red-coated soldiers were running toward them, guns raised.
    “You there!” one of them shouted. “American spies! Come out or we’ll shoot!” He and his partners kept coming at full speed.
    “
That’s
not good,” Dak said. “Do you know what they did to American spies? Because I do, and —”
    Sera silenced him with a glance.
    “What do we do?” Dak’s mom asked.
    “Don’t worry,” her husband answered with forced calm. He was pressing buttons on the Infinity Ring. “Keep your heads down. I’m almost there.”
    One of the soldiers fired a shot, smoke and fire flashing from the muzzle of his weapon. The ball smashed into a tree right next to Dak’s head.
    “Almost there!” his dad repeated.
    But it was too late. The soldiers crashed into the trees, throwing their weapons down and grabbing at the visitors from the future. The biggest redcoat pulled Sera by the shirt, ripping her off her feet. Dak moved in to help her but the man swung a fist, slamming it into Dak’s cheek. He fell to the ground, dazed. The other two soldiers tussled with his parents, pushing at them roughly. Dak caught a glimpse of his dad, struggling to hide the Infinity Ring and work on it at the same time as he was being roughed up.
    Dak’s mom tore loose and fell on Dak, pulling him into her arms. Sera ripped herself free at the same time and jumped toward them. They huddled as a group and backed into his dad, who still fidgeted with the device.
    There was a humming sound. The trees around them started to shake. Dak saw one of the soldiers pick up a gun he’d dropped. The bayonet on the end glinted in the sunlight, breaking through the branches above them. He lifted the gun like a spear and charged at their small group. Sera’s arms came up as if she could actually deflect the vicious blade.
    Everything around them turned into chaos and color and sound.
    Dak, his parents, Sera — all of them were ripped from the copse of trees, sucked into a wormhole. In that blur of movement and noise, Dak felt as if his body were frozen, but the others seemed to be moving. Dak’s mom had let go and turned to hug her husband, and the two of them looked as if they were dancing, the edges of their skin tendriling out like streams of their soul being torn away.
    Someone squeezed Dak’s hand — he forced his head to move as if through