Xander vol.1 Transmutation by Jaz Johnson Read Free Book Online Page A

reasoned, crossing his arms.
    “ But you don’t have to
follow them,” Nora insisted. Richard scoffed.
    “ And then I’d be in your
situation. Which doesn’t look too good, might I add.” Nora grimaced
as he took a step forward. “Why don’t you just come back with me?
Maybe the doc can arrange a desk job for you. You wouldn’t have to
be in the field,” Richard seemingly sincerely offered. But Nora
took a step back, making him frown.
    “ And watch him make more
monsters? Kill more people? I’m not going back, Richard,” Nora
protested. Richard’s eyes narrowed as he took two more steps
towards Nora.
    “ Is that what you think
you are? What we are? A monster? Monsters?” Richard scowled, taking
another few steps, and making Nora take another wary one
backwards.
    Richard shook his head, a
grin appearing once again as he raised his arms. And as he did,
metal tentacles, along with some wires protruded from his back,
swaying and curling like serpents.
    “ We are superior. We are
the future,” he insisted.
    “ A future I no longer want
any stake in.”
    Richard glowered, stopping
his advance towards her. There was a moment of tense silence as
they stared one another down, each realizing the other’s decision
in their motives. And finally, Richard broke the
silence.
    “ What a waste. Suit
yourself. Allow me to remove you from it,” he cruelly offered. And
as he did, two tentacles went whipping towards Nora with the
intention to strike.
    Nora swayed and bent to
the side, avoiding the first slash of the tentacle, then swayed to
the other side, narrowly avoiding the second. She grunted as she
bent back, her back arching dramatically as her hands flattened
against the forest floor. Her legs flipped back, dodging the grasp
of another tentacle as her feet met the ground, allowing her to
stand back up. Richard chuckled as she exhaled, her body in a ready
stance, preparing for more evasive action.
    “ I see you took the
training courses seriously,” Richard commented. “I wonder if it was
to escape.” Nora secured her footing, her eyes saying that she was
prepared to put up a fight. Richard shook his head. “You were never
much of a fighter. Last chance.”
    “ I’m not going
back.”
    Suddenly, almost cutting
her off, two more tentacles came charging at Nora. Reacting two
late to physically dodge, she stomped her foot into the ground,
summoning a wall of compact dirt to spring up, colliding with the
metal and stopping them from reaching their target.
    Nora grit her teeth as she
gave a rough push against the dirt wall, charging it at Richard
while summoning another compact wall behind him. Richard glared
between the walls, his tentacles shooting out in both directions to
keep them from crushing him while Nora made a run for
it.
    The town was in her sights
now, and she had a spark of hope that she might actually succeed in
reaching the people. The police. But that hope shattered, almost
audibly when she heard her dirt walls crumble, followed by the
enraged groan of Richard, who was now racing to catch up with
her.
    She decided not to look
back at him, seeing how that ended up before. Instead, she poured
her energy into running faster. Concentrating as best she could,
she lifted roots from the trees behind her, hoping that one might
succeed in tripping, or at the very least, delaying
Richard.
    But he was ruthless. He
was using his tentacles to latch onto the trees and catapult
himself forward, closing the distance between then quicker than
Nora would have liked. And before she could use the same technique
to speed her escape, she felt the crisp, cold, hard metal of
Richard’s tentacle come clasping around her midsection.
    She felt the air be
knocked from her as her momentum was suddenly cut short. Her body
curled around the tentacle at the abrupt stop, her chestnut hair
swaying forward to frame her face. Her lips parted in a breathless
exhale of shock as she was dragged back towards her
captor.
    Her hands clawed