The Future Without Hope by Nazarea Andrews Read Free Book Online Page A

we sent our soldiers into
the East, to facilitate evac, and kill the dead, and try to reclaim what we had
lost.
    Another
twenty million were killed in the ten-year Battle for the East. The numbers
were devastating, and no one—not a single person living today—could say that
they walked through the apocalypse unscathed. Everyone had dead. Every child
was an orphan.
    “She
knew her odds when she went to war. She knew them and so did your father. Blame
me if you’re too stupid to realize anything else, but don’t forget that Kelsey
never allowed anyone to make her fucking choices, and I followed her into that
fucking war to keep her alive.”
    Fury
twists his face. “And you failed.”
    I
go quiet, because I can’t argue with that. I did. I walked away from the East,
came home haunted and a hero, and she—didn’t.
    “Where
is Nurrin?” I ask quietly.
    “Let
it go, O’Malley. Take whatever the fuck you think you have a right to and go
crawl back in your hole. She’s gone, and 1 doesn’t want you.”
    “Fuck
you, Kenny,” I say, my face blank. Then I let my gaze drop, back to the gun in
my hand, completely dismissing him. Kenny knows me well enough to know that
it’s an insult.
    There’s
a tense moment, and then, “You know they will never tolerate you murdering your
way through their priests. Even you aren’t above the Order.”
    I
look up, and give him a bleak smile. “I’m sure whoever is doing these killings
has considered that. If I had to guess, I would say it is probably motivating
his actions.”
    Kenny’s
eyes widen but he doesn’t say anything else as he leaves me alone.

 
    The
knock pulls me from my light sleep, and I snatch up a weapon, rolling from my
bed to flatten against the wall. The knock comes again, softer than I expect.
Lower. I relax a little, and pull open the door. It’s a street urchin,
bedraggled and dirty. “What?” I demand.
    “Miss
Claire needs you,” he says, and I nod shortly. Claire has always been fond of
using the orphans to do her fetch and carry. She pays them in baked goods and
fruit, and they bring her more information than any haven official. She gives them
a warm place to crash that isn’t the state run orphanage.
    It
works for everyone.
    “Tell
her I need a few minutes.”
    “You
will come? She doesn’t like it when I don’t deliver,” the boy says, and I nod.
I was one of Claire’s street rats, once. I understood too well this kid’s
desperation.
    “I’ll
be there.”
    I
dress quickly and buckle on my weapons belt, snatching up my crossbow and
katana before I leave.
    The
streets are quiet and empty. Even Walkers have deserted them in favor of the
Wall—no one has been murdered on the Wall. No one will, if things go according
to plan. I have no desire to see the citizens and defenses of 1 decimated. I
just want Nurrin back.
    I
glance up. The moon is hanging low and heavy in the night sky, and I wonder if
she’s somewhere she can see it. “Where the fuck are you, Ren? We’re going to
lose Collin.”
    And
there it is—the fear that I don’t want to acknowledge. I can’t abandon her—he
wouldn’t want or expect me to. Finding her will be my first priority until I
have her safely back at my side, snapping with anger and demanding answers I
can’t give.
    But
every minute I spend looking for her is one I don’t spend looking for him.
    Collin
will die because I have to find her, and she might never forgive me for that.

Chapter
4. Old Allies

 
    CLAIRE
IS WAITING FOR ME ON HER PORCH, blowing on a cup of tea and staring into the
dark. I notice her long before she notices me, and I swallow my irritation. She
has spent too many years in 1 to remember that it’s dangerous to stand like
that—backlit, smelling like a fucking buffet.
    “Even
1 has the occasional breach, Claire,” I say, stepping out of the darkness. She
flicks a look at me, and I see the knife in her hand, the tension in her body.
I dip my head, a smile tugging my