Shadow Borne by Angie West Read Free Book Online Page B

the
fences–they began to fail one afternoon just as the sun was
setting..."
    I swallowed and gazed off into the woods
beside us. "The fence panels on the Lerna boundary were the first
to go." I bit my lip. "There were a handful of survivors, the few
people who were on the outskirts of town, the northern edge, when
the attack came. Those people had time to run, to get away, but the
rest of them," I broke off, shaking my head and feeling an acute
ache in my throat as pressure began to build behind my eyes. "There
wasn't time to get away."
    "Were you there?" Mike took a hesitant step
toward me.
    I took a deep breath and retreated a step
and he halted his sympathetic pursuit. I knew I had to get a hold
of myself and fast, it was just that, even after all these months,
talking about Lerna was still a little like ripping the scab off a
partially healed wound.
    So I stood there in my combat boots and lace
underwear and focused on one breath in, one breath out until the
bleeding stopped and it was safe to go on. "Not during the attack.
I showed up...after. Tara and Juliette and I were part of a rescue
team that went in the next day, at first light. It was the soonest
anybody could–" I sucked in another lungful of air.
    "The only thing we recovered that day were
bodies." I bit out, refusing to feel guilty when Mike flinched at
the brash talk. Lately, some of the other nymphs, and Juliette in
particular, seemed to be constantly chastising me for using what
Juliette dubbed my angry voice.
    I knew my tone was bitter right then but
didn't give a damn. Rage beat the hell out of despair any day of
the week. Rage didn't paralyze you in its tenacious grip, it didn't
turn you into a victim so as far as I was concerned, it was just
fine with me.
    I thought back to that nightmarish day and
welcomed the anger that rushed clean and bright through my veins,
bringing with it a hot tide of warmth that energized me and shook
loose the last remnants of a fear I'd sooner die than confess.
    "God, Aries I'm so sorry. I wish..."
    That it hadn't happened?
That you'd been here? Yeah, so did I.
Once. The words flitted through my mind but I didn't dare speak
them out loud. Instead, I shrugged and rocked back on the heels of
my boots.
    "It is what it is.
So...that's how I know the residents of Lerna hardly had time to
panic. People lay in the streets, slumped over their kitchen
tables, on their sofas, most of them were just sort of frozen in
whatever it was they had been doing before the attack. Like they'd
heard a loud noise and then the front door had crashed open and
those– things –were
upon them before they really had time to react. At least that's our
theory. We could be wrong, of course, since there aren't any eye
witnesses to contradict us, but only a handful of people showed
defensive wounds on their hands." I shook my head and kicked at a
few leaves that skittered along the ground between us. "By
nightfall, we had evacuated maybe a third of the town when we
realized we weren't alone."
    Mike took another small step closer. "What
was it?"
    "Retrievers. They were hidden throughout the
town, especially in the residential sections. More bodies." I
added, when Mike raised a brow. "They had been hiding, watching us,
and when the sun set they filled the streets and attacked. Several
search and rescue were killed. There wasn't much to do but run, at
that point."
    "Your family? Were they..."
    "No." I answered. "None of the nymphs were
harmed that day. We're faster than the dogs." My chin came up a
notch.
    "The warriors who met us today said Lerna is
secured now. The beasts don't try to come back?" Mike wanted to
know.
    "Retrievers? No." I tossed a section of
black hair over my shoulder. "Once the food supply was exhausted
there wasn't any reason for them to stay and they haven't been
back. The main problem now is the Coatyl. They keep trying to get
into the abandoned houses. But we're holding our own. So far." I
shrugged.
    "What are Coatyl?" Mike frowned