The Wizard Killer - Season One: A Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy Serial by Adam Dreece Read Free Book Online Page B

being hungry. I feel like I owe them some kind of apology. It’s one thing if you mean to double cross people, and another if things just crash and burn. “For what it’s worth, I didn’t think it was going to work out this way. May you be well on your journey.” Staring at the ground, I think about what happened for a moment, and then my hands do a wave that seems to come naturally but I don’t recognize. Just who am I?
    Taking a few steps, a worry hits me. Ania could show up with some friends and cause me real trouble. Maybe I should hide the bodies? No, I don’t have time. Plus, there’s the levi and it’s not going to be easy to hide. Best to just get moving, and fast. I’ll deal with Ania if and when she shows up. For all I know, it could be years before I see her again. Hopefully, I’m just one more person on her hate-list. But the carn, that’s different. That’s two encounters with the scarred one, and as the saying goes: there’s never a second without a third.
    Looking up at the dark sky, I decide it’s best to try and sleep in the forest, hidden as best as I can be. I find an old oak tree whose roots create an alcove below it. Breaking the trunk into three pieces, I use them to shield me from obvious view. Given the distance from the road and the foliage around, hopefully I won’t wake up to another kick in the head, or worse. With a reluctant sigh, I try to relax with my body as contorted as it is, and fall asleep.
    The wet chill of morning comes too quickly. Rubbing my face and scratching my beard, I finally come out of my hole and stand. My joints and muscles ache, but I’m alive. “Time to get moving.”
    By the time I come to a wooden sign post, the sun’s drooping lazily in the sky. Like a kid seeing dad return from months at sea, I run to the sign. I don’t care that the words are too faded to read, it’s got an arrow. I pull out my map and confirm it’s the right direction. “Maybe we’ve got some luck after all, Randmon.” I check my shoulder, he’s gone. Probably crawling around on me somewhere. He’s a weird little guy.
    Coming over a hill, I smile as I see rectangles of color and recently sowed fields. “Now we’re getting somewhere.” A barn comes into view and I yell and punch the air in triumph. But as I get closer, I realize its back side is burnt, and it’s empty. A farm house comes up next, but that looks like a giant smashed it with a tree, if giants existed.
    Sighing, I keep going. After a sparse forest, I come upon grassy fields to the south of the road and bare field to the north, with some crops growing in the distance. To my surprise, there’s a person moving. He’s wearing a large brimmed hat and clearly working.
    “Hey!” I yell, waving a hand. Instead of waving back, he looks up and stares at me. I’m too far away to see clearly, but a chill runs through me. I glance around, catching sight of a few others standing in the field, all of them looking at me. I tighten my grip on my pistol and start moving again.
    Given that they haven’t run at me already, I’m fairly certain they’re not ghouls. Mind you, there are more than a hundred other, worse things they could be. Part of me just wants to turn around and leave, but stubbornly I keep going. Maybe they’re just normal people working. What type of an idiot would run screaming from normal people and into the flaming arms of carnu? Maybe they even know the way to Banareal. They’ve got to have heard of it.
    Throwing a glance every now and then to the sides, I count twenty or so people working, all of them showing the same reaction. Maybe no one’s just walked up to this place in a long time.  
    I come up to several buildings clustered together, eerily empty of people. “Welcome to the center of town,” I mutter to myself, shaking my head. Standing there, I slowly notice that there are indeed people around, it’s just they are standing so still, and in tight clusters, all of them dressed so