Evadere by Sara V. Zook Read Free Book Online

impressing its hideous ideas into my imagination of the terrible things that I was going to have to endure here with the Scaves. Perhaps the contributors would see that I looked more like them, and I could talk some sense into them. Surely someone somewhere could tell me how I could get back to Earth or point me in the right direction of someone that knew.
    Karn let out a hissing sound mixed with a growl as he looked the contributors over, sniffing them as he got his face very close to their bodies. “What do you have to say for yourselves, contributors?”  
    One of the captives’ head shot backwards at the odor coming from Karn’s mouth as a Scave removed his gag.  
    Karn let out a satisfied chuckle at his intimidation over these poor men before him.  
    “Who sent you?”
    “We were just looking the land over.”
    “Why?”  
    The contributor and his friend exchanged nervous glances, which infuriated Karn as he poked the contributor with his staff. “Don’t make me repeat myself,” he warned him.
    The contributor looked as if he were going to cry. “For the possibility of a new beginning there,” the man stammered.
    “Which group?” Karn pressed on.
    “Water,” the contributor answered quickly.  
    Karn looked up at the other Scaves who had brought the captives to him. He squinted his eyes making his entire face wrinkle. “You’re lying.”
    “No,” the man cried. “I’m not.”
    “She sent you, didn’t she?”
    The contributor raised his eyebrows, not understanding.
    “Don’t play stupid with me,” he roared. “The queen. She sent you to spy on us, to see what we’re up to.”
    “No …”  
    “You expect me to believe that water contributors would live so close to us? That’s absurd,” Karn went on. “No, you’re a liar. She’s getting scared, which means …” He looked up, satisfied by some idea that had just entered his mind. “He’s nearby.” He got lost in his thoughts momentarily before looking back at the contributors. “Get rid of them,” he ordered.
    The Scave men grabbed hold of the contributors who cried out. What were they going to do, kill them? Surely the Scaves would have pity knowing that royalty used to kill them and hadn’t turned into killers themselves.  
    “Please!” one of them begged. “Don’t hurt us. We’re telling you the truth. We wouldn’t spy on you. We don’t even know the queen.”
    “Have mercy on us,” the other squealed.  
    “Mercy.” The word rolled harshly off Karn’s tongue. He grinned, exposing his jagged teeth further, most of them blackened with decay. He placed a finger up to his chin, amused by whatever it was that was going on inside his twisted head, the beard still attached to his wrist as it was raised. “Perhaps we will have mercy on these two contributors. We’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.”
    Jo glanced my way and gave me an uneasy stare. I lowered my eyebrows at her and then returned my attention to Karn.
    A Scave woman joined the crowd now carrying an elderly woman in her arms. She dumped her ruthlessly onto the ground. The woman groaned in pain as she made an attempt to sit up. I instinctively rushed over to the poor, old woman, and got down on my knees to help her up.
    “Are you okay?” I whispered.  
    The sickly creature extended out thin arms and pushed me away from her. She moaned some more but then was able to get herself into a sitting position. I assumed she was paralyzed by the way her legs were wasted away and limp at her side.  
    “Who is she?” the woman shouted. “Get her away from me.”  
    I quickly backed away, realizing that everyone’s eyes were on me.  
    “What are you doing?” Jo asked angrily.  
    “I thought she was hurt,” I replied, feeling color rush to my cheeks.
    Jo glanced toward the old woman. “Of course she is. She’s dying. Leave her be.”
    The paralyzed woman seemed like she was in such agony, yet still had that ferocious beast of being a Scave within