The Cloudy Skulls (Cloudy Sandbox Book 1) by Eva Harper Read Free Book Online

fence.
    The walls were floor to ceiling glass so you could see in any direction, but we were a bit high up to see the ground properly, so I had to crouch down too and squint, especially in the early morning darkness. A tower light was trained on the fence, though, and I could see what Lucan was pointing at. There was a hole in the fence, just large enough for a victim to pass through.
    ‘Kuso,’ I swore, and banged my fist against the reinforced glass. ‘How did they manage that? Shouldn’t the fence be electrified?’
    ‘It should be,’ Lucan said, his red eyes watching as another victim tried to navigate the hole. It was hard work for it, since its senses weren’t as sharp as they had been in life, but it managed to get through after tearing its skin on a jagged edge of wire.
    ‘I’m going to find out why the hell it isn’t, then,’ I said, and pushed myself to my feet. Without waiting for him I ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time, and then ran back through the corridors toward the control room. I was looking for Parker, but he wasn’t there. To my delight Keswick was.
    I didn’t give the little weasel a chance to say anything, instead I kicked the rolling chair he was sitting on into a wall and then stormed over and slammed my foot against his chest, pinning him against the wall.
    ‘L-listen-’
    ‘If I wanted to listen, then I’d have asked you to speak,’ I said harshly, pressing my foot harder against his chest. ‘I’ll go first. We seem to have a victim problem, and I’m told that you were the one that was supposed to be manning the cameras. Did you not notice our pasty little friends entering the base?’
    ‘No, I wasn’t-’
    My boot ground in harder and he grunted in pain. ‘I have a theory, you see. You didn’t tell anyone they were here, because you were the one that let them in. You stopped the power to the electric fence so they could get through. Maybe you even cut them a hole, I don’t know yet. But I’m going to find out.’
    ‘That’s not it at all!’ Keswick said, and he lifted his hands to push my boot away. He wasn't the biggest guy in the world but he was a lot bigger than me, and the force of the push toppled my balance so I had to pull my foot back to stand up properly. He instantly stood up and rolled the chair between us to stop me attacking him further. ‘Just listen, for five god damn seconds, alright? I didn’t turn off the electric fence, I didn’t even know there was a hole in the fence, alright? And Parker said that he was going to watch the cameras, I have no idea why you think I would do that. I’m not security, I’m an engineer.’
    I watched him for a few more moments, I didn’t like the way he always avoided my eyes. I quickly moved forwards, grabbing the chair and pushing it into him. He yelped out in surprise and raised his hands to protect his face as if I were about to attack. ‘I didn’t do anything, I swear! Why the hell would I want those damn things anywhere near me again? I just want to get your damn base finished and then I want to go home. That’s all.’
    ‘What about before we got here, though? You’re really telling me that your whole team was taken out by victims, but then they all disappeared just as we got there?’
    Something flashed in his eyes at that, but he remained stubborn. ‘We opened the gates for your airslicer, but before you got there a bunch of victims came in and caused chaos. We tried to fight them off but there were too many of them. I don’t know how they got in there, but all I know was that Sanderson wanted to close the gates to stop more of them coming in, but I knew your airslicer was coming, and it seemed stupid to close up the gates with some of the bastards still inside. So I tried to open them, he fought me, I had to kill him. It was me or him. Then you came crashing in and by the time I knew what was going on the victims were gone and I had you yelling at me. Really, this has been the worst job