Endurance by Ann Aguirre Read Free Book Online Page A

them from surrounding me? Genius.”
    “You’re big enough to block the doorway. It was a good guess.”
    “You knew it would work.”
    “I hoped.” She’d watched the Hunters train more than once, because that had been her friend Deuce’s favorite pastime. During those sparring matches, Thimble often predicted the winner from analyzing fighting styles. Sometimes she’d plan counter strategies in her head.
    “Bah,” Boy23 babbled, waving his arms in the air. “Bah bah bah. Bah!”
    A single step sent anguish shooting up toward her knee. The long hike the day before had taken its toll. Exhaling a staccato breath, she knelt to fasten her brace, though her ankle was nearly too swollen for her to secure the straps. Determined, she ignored the pain and tightened them further.
    I won’t slow him down. He needs me. I have to be strong for Stone and Boy23.
    He slung his pack over his shoulder, and then hers, before she could protest. Then she decided not to make an issue of it. He was stronger; she was smarter. If they played to their strengths, they would make it. So better not to insist when it would be all she could do to keep moving her own weight forward, let alone her share of the supplies. Stone set his weapon against the wall as Thimble moved toward the doorway. Without asking permission, he wrapped an arm around her waist, lifting her as if she weighed nothing at all. He spun her out of the closet and into the tunnel with the sheer physical power that had made him a popular Breeder.
    “I don’t want you stumbling over those,” he said softly.
    Ah. The corpses in the dark. She was just clumsy enough to do it, too, and wind up face-first in reeking blood. Then her stink would draw all Freaks within sniffing distance. Best not to test her luck. But she also luxuriated in his strength; the arm curled around her felt sure and safe.
    Too soon, he let her go. It took the pleasurable chills much longer to die away, and at least good feelings distracted from the steady throb of her weak foot. Crippled. Malformed. Flawed. Once, she’d overheard the Wordkeeper discussing her with Whitewall. It had been just before her naming ceremony, and she’d been so excited that she had sneaked up on them during a private meeting to discuss her prospects. She’d never forgotten his words.
    “I think she’s worth her keep,” the elder had said. “Our predecessors chose well.”
    The Wordkeeper had nodded. “Her deformity doesn’t affect her hands, so she’s able to work. Useless as anything but a Builder, of course.”
    “At least she shows aptitude and desire,” Whitewall had said.
    “Unlike most brats. Do you think she knows how close she came to being Freak food?”
    She hadn’t, until that moment. Thimble crept away, cold with terror and shame. In silence, she wept with her knuckles jammed against her teeth. Thereafter, the scene of her birth haunted her. She could see it in her mind’s eye, as if she’d been watching, gazing down on the squalling little red-faced thing. The elder who ruled before would have studied her foot, turning it this way, and that. She saw the discussion that took place, an argument, really, and then someone with a modicum of kindness prevailed. They decided not to leave her out in the tunnels to die.
    Which made it so ironic that her life had come to this.

Ten
    You’re such a Breeder.
    Though they had countless other things to worry about, Stone kept thinking about that kiss. He wanted to ask her about it, but if he read too much into it, she might feel awkward, given they only had each other now. I shouldn’t have done that. He wasn’t allowed to lie down with Thimble and touch her as he had others.
    But those rules don’t exist anymore.
    And she made it more. She made it better. Sometimes, in breeding, there was kissing, but with her, his whole body caught fire. A tremor ran through him, just remembering her soft lips.
    So he kept thinking. The days passed in endless monotony.