The Neo-Spartans: Altered World by Raly Radouloff, Terence Winkless Read Free Book Online

the average person this site was hell on Earth, but for a bunch of crazed Neo-Spartan boys with tons of energy this was parkour paradise; hidden away from the sensitive eyes of the Eugenics.
                  An opening on a solo standing wall gaped in front of Quinn. She went through it and stepped into an inner courtyard. It was filled with remnants of crumbled structures—bricks, post-demolition rubble, junked furniture. She walked gingerly, avoiding the shards of broken glass, while scanning the buildings that walled the courtyard. It all seemed quiet and deserted. The only disturbance was caused by the crunching of her steps. She ducked under a half-broken balcony and stood still. Moments later they appeared. Nimble shapes darting from building to building like monkeys in an acrobatic dance over the canopy of a jungle. Quinn recognized Gabriel and his buddies as they speed-vaulted over crumbling walls, leapt from seven story buildings onto lower ones, slid on loosely hanging corrugated iron roofs, then palm-spun on the ledges of balconies. They were fast and precise and made it seem so easy and so much fun. Quinn knew she would have an impossible time catching up with Gabriel and forcing him back to the forest. This was his thing, his territory. Not that Quinn lacked in physical prowess. She was stronger and she knew how to perform more than the basic set of parkour techniques. After all, this was part of Neo-Spartan training: self-defense and street evasion. Unlike the cops who relied heavily on the latest techno-weapons, the Neo-Spartans relied only on physicality. Therefore, any form of sport and martial art that could save their skin was practiced and perfected on a daily basis. Quinn was great at many of them and applied effort and discipline to excel even more. Gabriel didn’t subscribe to effort and discipline. He was adequate in most of them, but simply brilliant at parkour. Pure joy and an absolute absence of fear merged with his physical ability to produce spectacular acrobatic skill. Good luck to anybody trying to catch him while parkouring.
                  Quinn focused on the group of boys. They had settled at the top of a tallish building at the far end of the court yard. She saw Gabriel and two other boys go over the balcony and spider their way down the drainpipe. They hit the pavement and lined up between the tall building and another slightly lower, half-demolished structure. Quinn knew right away that this was going to be one of those crazy contests where they’d run to the taller building and scale the façade by vaulting upwards from balcony to balcony until they reached the top. It was the ultimate parkour show-off—dangerous and exhausting.
                  Quinn’s only chance to catch up with her brother was to sneak to the building and get to the roof before Gabriel finished the race. She covered the distance in quick dashes, crouching behind broken walls to remain invisible to the boys. She didn’t have to worry much. The muscle fest had begun and Gabriel and the other two competitors were in their own world of speed and concentration. Their pals on the roof were shouting encouragement and clocking their progress. Quinn took her chances and sprinted in the open all the way to the back entrance of the building. The windows on the first floor were all gone. She leapt with ease through the window frame, and in seconds she was out of the empty apartment unit and running up the stairs three at once. She didn’t have much time. The boys must already have been halfway up the building. She cranked up her speed, and just as she was rounding the fifth floor landing, the boys vaulted past the missing stairwell windows. Quinn glued herself to the wall, trying to become invisible. Once the last one cleared, she picked up her pace and ran to the top.
                  It was a challenge to open the rusted door to the roof without waking the dead, but Quinn