Ascendant Saga Collection: Sci-Fi Fantasy Techno Thriller by Brandon Ellis (best novels to read in english .txt) 📗

went flying across the room, slamming into a control panel. Sparks shot out of the wall, dying down a few seconds later.

A snap, and all of the lights in the cabin came on.

Drew squinted, his eyes adjusting to the brightness. He looked around the room. Mya was crouched and in the same place she was before the lights went out. She was breathing heavily, her eyes wild and full of rage, sweat dripping off of her forehead and hair.

She slowly stood, her fists still at her side.

And to Drew’s complete surprise, a dozen men and women were on the ground, out cold. T-hacker and Anderle were among them, sleeping or dead. Drew didn’t know, didn’t care. He just wanted out of this flying vehicle.

“Megan,” he gulped, remembering his injured friend in the bar. “We have to help her. She’s dying.”

Mya dipped her head. “You will rule with her.”

Drew furrowed his brow, cocking his head to the side. “Rule with her?” What an odd thing to say.

Mya rushed to him, quickly unstrapping him. “Help me with the other children, Drew.”

He unstrapped his ankle restraints and hurried from cot to cot, child to child, freeing the confused, scared kids.

“Go, run to your mommies,” Drew said, pushing one child after another to their feet, watching them hustle down the ramp and into the darkness of night.

Mya grabbed Drew’s hand. “They’ll be safe.” She jerked him toward the exit. “We have to make it to the one who will rule with you.”

“The one who will what?” He ran down the ramp, picking up Mya, holding her on his hip. She grabbed a hold tightly.

He ran as fast as he could, dashing across the park. Megan was down and hopefully still alive. Drew slowed for a moment, feeling Mya shivering.

“Are you okay?”

She was crying. “I don’t want to kill anyone, Drew. No more.”

“What do you mean, Mya?” Drew took a left between two buildings, his feet taking him across the concrete and toward Megan’s bar.

“I have killed a lot of bad people, and people not from Earth. They are still trying to get in to this place, but I keep hurting them, keep killing them.” She rested her head between Drew’s neck and shoulder, sobbing.

“You’re protecting us, Mya. You’re protecting your dad, too.”

She shook her head. “No, my dad wants me to keep doing this. He says I’m the only hope for Earth, and it’s not true.” She cried even more, her words almost incoherent. “There are others. There is you. There is another that you know.”

“Who, Mya, who?”

“Jaxx.”

Drew almost stopped dead in his tracks. How did she know about Jaxx? And how could Jaxx possibly be able to do what Mya does, or help Earth? Was Jaxx even alive?

“My dad wants me to do it all. It’s impossible. He doesn’t trust anyone else. He doesn’t think others are like me. We have to get Jaxx here. We have to.”

“How? Where is he?” Drew jumped over a curb and onto a sidewalk. He could see the bar up ahead.

Mya shook her head, her tears wetting Drew’s neck. “I don’t know.” She tensed, her body curling into a ball as Drew held her. She let out another scream.

A loud blast and a massive ball of heat pressed into Drew. He stumbled and fell off the sidewalk, dropping Mya. He landed in the street, sliding on his side. He glanced up at a ball of fire erupting behind several buildings. It was in the direction they had come. It was in the direction of the ship he had just been on.

He pushed himself up. Mya was on the ground, her eyes closed, her body perspiring even more.

He scooped her up. He wanted to peek around the corner to see if it was indeed the ship that blew. In a way, he hoped it was. It would be another thing off his chest. Having a gang of people chasing him around the city, along with weird aliens trying to blow up the city, was too much.

He held Mya in his arms and sprinted to the bar. He pushed open the door, glad to see the lights were still on, and Megan in the corner breathing.

Or was she?

A pang hit his heart and he cautiously moved forward. The last thing he wanted was Megan to be dead.

“Megan?” he said.

No answer.

Her face was pale, her lips blue.

She was dead. She had to be. He looked at Mya, who he still had in his arms. She was fast asleep. Maybe she could bring Megan back. He wiggled Mya, tapped on her head, and poked her ribs.

No response.

Drew exhaled and sank to the floor, his forehead against his palm, his other arm holding Mya. “Mom, for once, answer me. Tell me what to do when I actually ask.”

He waited for a few seconds. But no whisper, no sweet words from beyond the veil came to him. He was alone.

A creak came from the stairs that led into the basement. He craned his neck. Another creak, and a hard boot landed on a stair. Someone was coming up.

Metallic laughter came from the staircase. No, it was robotic laughter. Another step up and a louder creak, and a man came into view. He was bald, had blue-ashen skin, his lips gray, his eyes dark. He wore a jumpsuit with chords and wires coming out of the suit and attaching to his neck and head. He was smeared with blue blood, or perhaps it was paint.

Most importantly, this guy wasn’t of this world.

Now, and most definitely now, a big-ass blunt was in order.

26

J-Quadrant, Solar System - Nearing Namuh Farms, Callisto

“This guy is like a damn kid without his candy,” said Fox, pressing his gun under Okbak’s chin. “Now, tell your troops to open up the walled city that we’re coming up to and to hold fire.”

Okbak, laying on the ground, his leg uncomfortably strapped into a seat, shook his head. “You give me more credits, and I’ll make that order.”

Fox pressed harder into