Dark Creations: Hell on Earth (Part 5) by Jennifer Martucci, Christopher Martucci Read Free Book Online Page A

But she had not been created to imagine.  She had been created for Lord Terzini’s purposes, a thought that sent a fresh wave of unease through her core.  Every purpose he had for her was revolting.  And his current demand, that she and her team storm the lovely house with the red door and kill the family that lived there, was no different. 
    She glimpsed over her shoulder a second time and inspected her team.  They did not flinch at her scrutiny, and why would they?  She was their commanding officer.  But she wasn’t checking their readiness or anything that official as they may have suspected.  She was simply noting that it was highly unlikely that any of the replacements looked like the people inside.  Everyone with her looked to be in their early twenties, at most, while the parents were nearing their fiftieth year.  Such details didn’t matter to her creator, though.  The members would occupy the home in a business-like capacity.  They would pay bills, answer phone calls, emails, and text messages, and fulfill employment obligations.  They would also deter visits from friends and family.  Day-to-day life would continue, at least, on the surface it would, until each home had been overtaken.  Then, to the rest of the country, the small town of Taft would carry on as it always had.  Only Lord Terzini and his members would know that Taft had been locked down, and under the control of a race intended to overthrow humanity.
    Overthrow humanity .  The thought sent another shiver through Amber’s core.  But she needed to push it back, back to the farthest niches of her being.  She could not risk getting herself killed.  She did not know why, but felt she had a purpose greater than what she’d been used for thus far.  She straightened her posture, rolled her shoulders back and widened her stance.  She took a deep breath and rapped her knuckles against the door a second time.  Terzini had explained to her, and every other member, again and again how perfect the world would be once human beings had been eradicated, yet she still shuddered at the prospect of slaughtering innocents.  Her maker had said no humans were innocent, and orders were orders.  She could not defy an order, not without facing torture then death. 
    When no one answered her second knock, she tried the doorknob before engaging in the standard system of kicking in the door.  To her surprise, it was unlocked.  She pushed it forward and the door opened inward noiselessly.  The others rushed in.  Amber stepped inside after them.  They moved silently, swiftly through the house in search of its residents. 
    The first was caught in a matter of seconds.  He sat atop the toilet, presumably the eldest male in t he family, the father.  His eyes were wide with fear and disbelief, his body utterly frozen.  But not for long.  Within seconds, Kit, the only other female on her team raised her gun and fired two shots, one to his head and one to his chest.  Amber felt her world go silent as she saw his body slump against the wall beside him before he tumbled forward, off the toilet to the tiled floor below.  His lifeless face judged her with an expression of abject fear.  She wanted to run, to flee to the van they’d arrived in and leave, leave the town, the state, the country, to get as far away from Terzini and Taft as possible.  But she could not.  She knew he’d find her no matter where she went. 
    Sound returned to her and she expected to hear screams of alarm and fright, yet the television still played and thumps still echoed upstairs.  Then she remembered that the silencers affixed to their weapons were the reason for the household remaining oblivious of the fact that a gun had just been fired in their bathroom. 
    A quick look at the faces of her teammates revealed exactly what she’d thought it would: nothing.  Not a drop of remorse, or any other emotion, registered on their features.  They remained stoic as they nodded