The Soul Eaters (The Thin Hex Line Book 1) by Gwyndolyn Russell (100 best novels of all time .txt) 📗

If you’re real, then you’re probably listening to me right now. Maybe you’re talking, but I can’t hear you. You probably want me to go over everything. Maybe that’ll ease the pain. Reliving the memories. Some of them are pretty good. I’m going to miss everyone….

Like I said before, it was all a series of unfortunate events. It all started when we were attacked by pirates. See, our ship, the Syndicate, is a small class warship with some aftermarket modifications. It doesn’t look like a warship. It’s a cargo ship! On the outside, anyway. Six hundred people on board. There was a lot at stake, but those pirates had no idea they were walking into a bear's cave.

We killed all of them. The only good pirate is a dead one. I had a small team with me when we boarded the vessel. We rigged it to explode, but I decided to check out its database first. Found an interesting log about a recent shipment to an Apex facility. It twisted my stomach up. Something about it made me think something awful was happening there.

When I told Captain Phillips about it, he thought little of it. It could mean anything. A gut feeling was just that until better evidence came up.

Captain Phillips, or Reaper, as I know him best, was a war vet just like me. We actually served together in the First Contact War. He was just a Sergeant back then, in charge of a unit of newbies. We went through hell and back together. I wouldn’t follow another man into battle.

Despite his doubts, he took my gut instinct for what it was worth and set the course for Corona Ilioneus.

We never found out if I was right or wrong. When we got there, they treated us like the guests of honor. They toured us around, showed us how they operated. The commander must not have gotten many guests.

It was nothing more than a mining facility. I don’t know how they got so many people there. Probably trafficking. Could have even been a contract that ultimately screwed those poor souls over. Most were humans, but there were prisoners of war, and other non-humans working just as hard. Nameless. Faceless. Broken souls living for their next scrap of food.

It was uncomfortable. As a vet, I fought and sacrificed everything to keep humanity from becoming slaves to the eldiravan, or worse, wiped out from existence. As a Martian, I knew this life all too well and killed to get out of it. I knew their pain and their struggle. It made my gut wrench.

I could see the look on Reaper’s face. He hated it. If he were not duty bound, he would have shot the place up. Set them all free. I would have been shooting right there with him.

Luckily, the infuriating conversation and tour ended as quickly as it began. Gunshots rang throughout the hall. A red light started flashing, and a siren wailed. The screams only got louder. The door we had just come through exploded wide open.

One slave dropped dead at our feet from out of the smoke. Then some guy came out. Dressed up like some sort of soldier. Head to toe, he dressed himself in a jacket and random armor pieces he must have pulled out of an army scrap yard. What he had on would not protect him from anything but the elements. He had a sword in his hand and a pistol on his thigh. I could see his mouth frowning, the rest of his face covered up in a metal skull of a wolf, the lower jaw hanging down around his jaw while the top of the skull pulled down so low he could not possibly see.

He looked me dead in the eyes. No way that guy could see a thing. I’m pretty sure he was blind!

This was a guy with a bad attitude and a destructive impulse. He left a trail of corpses wherever he went. He liked to make them suffer. He didn’t attack us, though. He shot the commander right between the eyes and he never stopped staring at me! He waved us off, put his pistol up, and tried to continue his rampage.

I say try, because I would not let him kill innocent people, even if half of them aren’t so innocent at all. When he tried to walk down the hall ahead of us, I jumped in his way. Guy did not miss a beat. I stepped. He swung. I blocked and countered. He simply twisted his body and nailed me right in the nose. He moved like a goddamned ninja. Silent. Effortless. The coolest motherfucker in the room. It was like he knew exactly what I was going to do before I even knew what I was going to do!

My nose was pouring blood, bent sideways and throbbing as fast as my heart. My eyes teared up from the pain. Each breath stung. I was seeing stars, sitting there on the floor against a wall. I heard muffled voices. Couldn’t make out what they said. Probably “Stop! Freeze!” Or some other nonsense Reaper would choke out before probably suffering the same fate as me.

After I blinked enough times, my vision cleared up. That guy was standing over me. Sword pointed at my neck. That sword was made of titanium and carbon fiber. Self-sharpening, nearly black. A fancy blade with one sharp edge and the other a bar of plasma. He bent down real close to my face. Scruffy. Scratched lips. Permanent scowl. He was blindfolded! I could not believe this guy was blind, or blinding himself. He cocked his head one way, then the other. He nodded. Stood. Walked off. Not a word out of him. Not even a sound. I don’t think he made a noise at all. He was a bloody phantom!

Reaper had a pistol aimed at him the entire time