The Preston Six Collection: (Book 1, 2 and 3)

by Ryan, Matt

  She looked through the hole as the soldiers in black dragged a woman and man to the fire pit area, making them lie face down in the sand. The man draped his body over the woman and the soldier shot them both, in one shot. Another soldier, holding what looked like a flare, set a hut on fire and moved on to the next to do the same. They were going to kill everyone.

  She searched for Paul and then saw him hiding behind a hut with his bow and arrow cocked. The soldier with a torch crossed his path and Paul shot him with an arrow in the neck. The soldier screamed and Paul ran out and fired another arrow into one of the soldiers dragging a lady across the sand. It bounced off his armor. He dropped the lady and fired an automatic gun at Paul, landing at least two bullets into his body. He fell, face first into the sand.

  Why did he do that? Was Paul still alive?

  Poly screamed again, hacking into the wood, creating a larger hole. She kicked it hard, over and over again, splintering and breaking the wood apart until she had a hole big enough for her to get through. The wood scratched her arm and thigh, but she didn’t care.

  Plunging through the hole, she landed on the sand. The smell of the fire hit her nose and the sounds of chaos around her mixed with gunshots. They hadn’t noticed her and she scurried behind the huts. Hugging the back wall of a hut, Poly peeked her head out. Just passed the next hut, a soldier kneeled over and was hitting a man repeatedly. Taking one of the thin metal throwing knives into her hand, she reached back and threw it, striking the soldier in the back of his neck. He slumped forward, on top of the person he was beating.

  She’d just killed a person. A man was dead because of her. She didn’t have time to think about it and pushed it away.

  Slipping to the edge of the huts, Poly peered around a corner to the center of town, where the fire pit was. She stepped from the hut and a soldier in black walked directly in front of her. His face didn’t have the surprised expression hers did. His was full of anger and disgust, like he’d just caught his dog taking a dump on the living room floor. His hand rose above her in a split second. She raised her hand to block his fist, but the man’s powerful hit knocked her to the ground behind the hut.

  The soldier then lunged at her and made the fatal mistake of giving her a second to react. She plunged a knife into his side and twisted it around. He coughed blood into her face and then made a gargling sound before the dead weight of his body pressed down on her. She pushed his limp body to the side. She’d killed another man and stared in shock at the dead body lying next to her.

  No, not now. She needed to keep moving, they were going to kill the whole tribe. She jumped to her feet and ran to the front edge of the hut. Another soldier had taken flare duty and walked by each hut, setting them ablaze. A person’s face appeared in the small window of a burning hut, the woman screamed for help. Without thinking, Poly stepped into the clearing toward the hut.

  “There she is,” a man near the fire pit yelled. “She’s the one.”

  Poly stopped and saw the person screaming in the hut break through the back wall and run into the forest. Good, she got away. She glanced at the man who spotted her and darted out of view from the MM guard and ran behind the huts, making her way back to the fire pit. With any luck, they’d think she was running away from them. In between huts, she caught a glimpse of the man directing everything. The man who killed Hatch. If she could find a way to get a bit closer, she’d be in throwing distance.

  Thicker smoke stirred around in the air and she pinched her nose. Shaking with anger, she hugged the wall of the last hut before the fire pit, twenty feet away from the three soldiers. Half the distance of the plates she broke the night before. She leaned her back against the hut and felt the three metal blades fanned out in her hand. She timed the throws in her mind and counted up the six steps she would need to kill them. Taking a deep breath, Poly stepped out from the hut.

  Something hit her hard on the back of the head.

  Dropping the knives, she fell to the sand. Her vision blurred and the world around her swayed in her dizziness. A black-gloved hand covered her face and pulled her to her feet.

  The soldier pushed her stumbling body toward the commander. “Sir, I found this one. She was about to stick you with this.” The soldier tossed her dagger into the sand.

  The commander turned and glanced at the Panavice in his hands, his eyes narrowed and he scowled at her. “So you think you mutants can kill us now? You think people like us deserve to die in this place?” The words spilled from his curled lips like rancid vomit.

  The commander stepped closer to her, grabbed her neck, and spun her around. Her back was against him and he used his other hand to lock her arms against her chest. She squirmed, but he tightened his grip, making her escape impossible.

  “She’s mighty pretty, sir. We could spend our time with this one,” a soldier said suggestively.

  “You make me sick. She’s a damned mutant. Who knows what you’d catch?” the commander said.

  They’d found her, she’d failed. She brought all the death to them, to Paul, to Hatch, for nothing. Her head pounded and tears built in her eyes. She still had a couple knives at her side— if only she could get to them. She kicked at his legs, but he tightened his grip around her until she couldn’t breathe. The man was as strong as Hank.

  “Oh, we have a feisty one here,” the commander said. “They just said ‘bring you in,’ but they didn’t specify what condition. I am going to make you suffer for dragging me here, bitch,” he hissed into her ear, spittle dusting her cheek.

  “Zac, hold her.” The commander pushed her into Zac’s arms. Zac turned her around and pinned her arms behind her back.

  Poly scowled at the commander, his pale blue eyes showing a hint of amusement and disgust. He placed one gloved hand on Poly’s shoulder and used the other to punch her in the gut. She leaned forward with the contact, heaving in pain. Her head swam and she struggled to stay conscious. He punched her again, this time his fist met the side of her skull. The impact sent a new wave of pain as her ear rung and her vision all but disappeared. She groaned and her body lost its will to stand.

  Zac let go of her and she slumped to the sand, a shadow spreading over her. She struggled to turn her face up. The bottom of Zac’s boot blocked out the sun, ready to strike. There was a MM logo on the bottom of the shoe.

  They made their own shoes?

  “Wait, she looks familiar,” the commander said. “Scan her.”

  Zac slammed his foot next to her head and pointed his Panavice at her face. “She’s one of the three.”

  Poly’s eyes went wide and she kicked the device from his hand. His face contorted with rage and he raised his fist to strike her. A breeze stirred up sand around her and then, a huge burst of air hit Zac, sending him flying into the air. The soldier and commander watched their friend fly into the sky and land in the jungle beyond.

  Poly pushed herself to her elbows to see the girl with breath running around a hut.

  “What the hell was that?” the soldier asked before screaming in pain. Two red hands smoked as they wrapped around his neck. The man screamed and fell to the ground, grabbing the sides of his neck. The girl with red hands, Maggie, stared at the fallen soldier. The commander punched the girl, sending her backward and into the fire pit.

  “No,” Poly yelled, struggling to get up.

  A loud, powerful yell came from behind. The large man that carried the flaming tree last night ran straight at the commander. The commander fired shots into him, but the man’s face was filled with rage and didn’t slow. He jumped in the air with fists raised. The commander raised his own hand in defense, but the massive fists crashed through his arm, crushing the commander’s head.

  The oversized man fell down next to the commander and then stumbled to the fire pit and next to Maggie.

  “Maggie, Maggie,” he said as he pulled the girl with red hands from the fire pit and held her in his immense arms. “No!” he bellowed at the sky.

  Why did she do tha
t? Poly pushed herself to stand up and gazed as Maggie stirred in the big guy’s hands. Her red hair dangled past his arm.

  Poly wished she could have stopped them. She wished she’d never chose the right path on the beach, maybe if she went left she could have died from exposure or something else. Then Paul would still be alive. The guilt hurt more than the hit to her stomach. She turned from the big man’s pain and let the smoke filled air surround her. Placing her hand on her head she swayed, attempting to stabilize herself. She blinked, trying to clear her vision.

  The sounds of fighting and screaming had stopped, and a more horrifying sound of moaning, crying, and begging filled the air. She picked her dagger off the ground and searched for any more soldiers.

  “They’re all dead,” she whispered to herself.

  Poly turned to face Edith, lowering her knife, trying to focus on the crying women’s face. She was Hatch’s wife and Paul’s mom.

  Poly rushed to Paul’s body and turned him over on his back. His blank eyes stared at the sky.

  “A few of our men ran into the ship as well and cleared it,” Edith said, coming up behind her.

  Closing her eyes, Poly lowered her head and let the tip of her knife stab the sand. “I’m so sorry, Edith,” Poly said. Apologizing seemed stupid and meaningless, the woman should be choking her to death for bringing this upon them.

  Edith’s lip quivered. Taking a deep breath, she steadied her voice, “They are dead, but we are still alive, cursed forever with their absence, blessed forever with their memory.” Edith looked over to her. “Your face is covered in blood.” She pulled a towel from her waist and started wiping her off. Poly didn’t have the will to fight her and stared at the red stains left on the towel.

  “I’ll be back in a second,” Edith said.

  Poly was dumbfounded. How could Edith be so together after losing so much? She must be in shock. Edith walked away, disappearing into the clouds of smoke, leaving her alone.

  She looked to the gray smoke covering the sky above, fighting the pain it caused her head, there had to be an answer to such death.

  The hut near her collapsed under flames and smoke billowed from the wreckage. She stared at the hut with her knees digging into the sand, Paul laid out in front of her. How could she ever move again? She wanted to let the smoke fill her lungs and asphyxiate her.

  Poly leaned forward to shut his eyelids, when Edith reappeared from the smoke, holding a blanket. She knelt next to Poly and draped it over Paul’s body.

  “Thank you,” Edith said as Poly tucked the white sheet around his body.

  “Why? I caused this. They wanted me. You should hate me.” Her voice rose at the end.

  Edith shook her head. “No, you didn’t kill him, you didn’t kill any of them. You saved us. We owe you.” Edith gazed at her with wise, elderly eyes. “You showed some of them we can fight, we can stand up to them. Who’s to say they wouldn’t have killed all of us if you weren’t here?”

  Poly shook her head. The woman spoke crazy. She wanted Edith to hate her, spit in her face, smack her—do something. Some kind of anger for what she had done. Telling her she was a hero just made everything worse.

  “I’m going to see Hatch now.” Edith patted Paul’s chest and disappeared into the smoke again. Poly eyed the swirling haze, noticing a dark figure moving beyond it.

  A silhouette of a man walked through the smoke, dressed in black. She grabbed her knife and raised it with a limp wrist. She would be an easy kill for the man and she didn’t care, maybe she deserved to die. The man cleared from the smoke and she found the strength to move—not from fear or anger—but from love. She ran to the man with her arms outstretched.

  “LUCAS.” POLY COLLAPSED INTO HIS arms.

  “What happened here?” he asked.

  “MM soldiers came and started killing people.” She pointed to Paul’s draped body.

  Lucas looked at the carnage around them. “How long have you been here?” his voice sounded raspy.

  “I got here yesterday.” She pushed off his hug. “Where have you been?” she demanded, suddenly upset.

  “We just got here—”

  “We? Did you come with Julie and Hank?”

  “Julie’s not here?” His voice hit a high note, searching around them, as if she might appear from the thick smoke. He shook his head violently, not believing what he heard. “I found two boats tied up together in the middle of the ocean.” He couldn’t hold it in any longer, tears welled up and poured down his cheeks. “They were empty.”

  Julie and Hank? She looked at the shore through the smoke, and saw Lucas’s single boat.

  “Wait. You’re here by yourself?”

  Lucas looked to the ground, wiping his face. “I came with Harris, he isn’t doing well.”

  Poly closed her eyes from the sting of the smoke. She fidgeted with her hands and wondered what happened to Hank and Julie. If they got their boats tied up, there wasn’t any way Julie would try and do something foolish.

  “They have to be okay.” She grabbed his shirt.

  Lucas looked at the ocean, a distant look in his eyes. “I hope so.”

  “You think Julie would let herself get killed?”

  He smiled. “She’d find a way out, I’m sure.”

  Poly took his hand and turned his arm, the sleeve was burnt and parts of his skin were blistered and red.

  “I saw the explosion, were you hurt?”

  “Yeah, a bit. Harris protected me from the brunt of the blast though. He saved my life, the crazy bastard,” Lucas said.

  Another cloud of smoke swirled into her face and she coughed. Coughing sent waves of pain from the blow to the head she received. Raising her hand to her head, she felt the lump. The pain made her wince, but she continued to feel the swelling.

  “You okay?”

  “I’ve never been hit before.” She pointed to her head.

  “Who the hell hits a small woman? Any woman?”

  “They thought I was a mutant. They treat these people like animals, sub-human.”

  A man holding a spear walked toward them. Lucas placed his hand on his bow, and stepped in front of Poly, shielding her. She put a hand on his shoulder and whispered, “He’s one of the mutants. He’s okay.” She recognized the guy as the man walking next to Hatch the day before.

  “Are you okay?” the guy asked Poly.

  “A little beat up, but I’m okay.”

  “I’m Kris,” he said looking at Lucas.

  “Oh, this is Lucas, a friend,” Poly said.

  Kris relaxed. “It’s unfortunate we have guests on such a horrific day.” He turned to face the flaming huts. “This is not the first time, and surely not the last. But we will move and rebuild, start over as we always do.”

  “Is Edith going to be okay?” Poly asked, seeing her bent over Hatch’s covered body.

  “As well as she was before, I am sure. She’s an original. Been here a long time . . . seen things the rest of us would wet ourselves just talking about. She is a woman of steel, all the way through.”

  Poly didn’t know whether to pity or admire her.

  “Look, we have new mutants to handle.” Kris said pointed to the aircraft. The smoked cleared enough to make out a straggle of people walking down the aircrafts ramp, covering their eyes from the sun.

  “Harris,” Poly remembered aloud. “Where is he?”

  “In the boat.” Lucas said. “He’s in rough shape.”

  Poly ran to the raft, pulling it up on the sand. The clean air on the beach filled her lungs and she breathed it in deeply, as she peeled the door open. Harris lay on the floor of the boat, not moving.

  She jumped in and Harris stirred, rolling to his side. Poly stepped back and gave him room.

  “Poly,” Harris’s weak voice said. “You made it.”

  She laughed. Had she made it? She didn’t feel like she had made anything, but death. With her back against the fabric wall of the boat she slid down, landing on her rear, burying her face in he
r hands.

  “I’ll get you kids out of this, I promise,” Harris said. “Are Julie and Hank here?”

  “No, Lucas said he found their empty boats in the ocean.”

  “We’ll find them.” He coughed.

  She lifted her head up to meet Harris’s gaze. Did he even know where he was? His pale face looked in contrast to his determined eyes. She wished for the strength he had, but all she saw around her was failure.

  “I don’t know what to do,” Poly said.

  “You’re a spectacular woman, Poly. You’ve done more than I could have ever hoped.” Harris struggled to get into a sitting position. “And I’m so sorry you’ve been brought to this world.”

  “But we’ve failed, and they have Joey,” Poly said.

  “We haven’t failed, not yet. In their arrogance, they will make mistakes and we will capitalize on them.” Harris started coughing. “You know, you’re just like your mom.”

  Poly took it as a compliment. What would her mom have done back in the village? “I can’t do this anymore.” She glanced at the village peeking through the flap of the boat.

  “I hear the motor of their ship and the smell of smoke, I take it they came for us here?”

  “I don’t know, they seemed to be after me, but they didn’t know who I was. They thought I was just some mutant. . . .” Poly stammered to get the words out and looked back in the direction of the village. “They saved me, the mutants.”

  Harris opened his mouth and then hunched over in a coughing fit. He covered his mouth with his hand and she saw the blood smeared over his palm.

  “How about we get you out of here?” Poly took his arm at the elbow.

  “That is the best idea I’ve heard in a long time.” Harris winced, grabbing his side as he tried to stand.

  Lucas pulled back the door and poked his worried face in. Poly figured he had been listening the entire time. “Here, Harris, let me help you out,” he offered. “I thought you were going to die on me, man.”