Until We Break by Scott Kinkade Read Free Book Online Page A

can’t.”
          
    “You expect me to just stay here while Zero Grade butchers an entire town and threatens one of my students? I brought him here; he’s my responsibility.”
          
    “It’s more than that, isn’t it?” Bethos said. “You failed to protect so many potential gods from Belial’s scheme over the years. You can’t bear to watch another one die. I understand that, but you can’t just go charging in there in an emotional state. We all know they’ll be expecting us to make a counter-attack. They’ll slaughter anyone who goes to Upton without a plan.”
          
    “So what do we do?” Brandon said, desperation in his voice.
          
    The president mulled it over. Finally he said, “We mobilize the troops. Call everyone. I want all former faculty members and alumni brought in. We didn’t want it to come to this, but the next great war is here, and it’s going to take everything we have to stop the world from being destroyed again.
          
    They nodded, the pain of the last war still on their minds. Bethos hadn’t been around for that one, but he shared their desire to prevent another apocalypse.

Chapter IV
     
     
     
    Two hundred miles west of Seraphim City was the Morovian capital of Vinguard, and in the center of that city was the Vin House, home of President Joe Lambda.
          
    The nation’s leader sat inside one of the large white building’s conference rooms with his staff watching the broadcast from Upton. Despite the intensity of the situation, there was no sweat on his ebony skin. Nothing about his body language suggested he faced a crisis of epic proportions. “What does it mean?” he asked after seeing the message from the masterminds behind the day’s attack.
          
    “It’s a terrorist attack, pure and simple,” General Sem Haig said. He had a thick neck and a no-nonsense attitude. “This Zero Grade is obviously a group of radical extremists.”
          
    Lyra Connors, Lambda’s Chief of Staff, shook her head. “I’m not so sure. We have to face the possibility we’re looking at another attack by gods.” With her beautiful amber skin, the [resident couldn’t help but be attracted to her, even though he was a married man. The attraction always bothered him, but this was not the time for such thoughts.
          
    “There’s no such thing as gods,” Haig insisted. “Obviously the enemy has created some sort of chemical weapon and is using it to terrorize us.”
          
    Lambda furrowed his brow. “That seems unlikely. Just look at what they did in Stiftung, and then in the Tru Republic. We’re obviously dealing with beings that possess powers far beyond what humans are capable of. Right now we need a way to retake Upton and rescue survivors.”
          
    “It doesn’t appear that there are survivors,” Lyra said.
          
    “We can’t assume that,” Lambda said.
          
    Nevertheless, she replied, “We still have phone service in Upton; both cell towers and land lines are active. If there was still someone alive down there, we would have heard from them by now. In addition, thermal images taken by satellite aren’t picking up anything. I’m sorry to say this, but the town appears to be quite dead.”
          
    Lambda sighed and rubbed his face warily. “Why Upton? What’s so special about it that they’d attack there first?”
          
    Ben Hinsom, the Secretary of State, said, “Do you remember the satellite we launched last year? SatTech 5?”
          
    “It was filled with the latest in scientific instruments, wasn’t it?” Lambda said.
          
    “Yes, sir. It was designed to detect things never before seen by man. Well, not too long ago, our tech geeks began finding unusual energy signatures scattered around the planet. They hypothesize it could be a previously unknown fuel source. One of these so-called Hot Zones is located in