The Starborn Saga (Books 1, 2, & 3) (70 page)

“Just once…just once do I wish that you could teleport us near the location we intended,” Evelyn griped. 

Jeffrey walked silently beside her as she went on her rant. The night was eerie and the winds didn’t help anything. The moonlight gave them just enough light to walk without fear of tripping over something and twisting an ankle, but did little to help them see possible greyskins in the distance. Both of them held rifles in their hands, ready to fire at anything that might come out at them.

“How far out do you think we are anyway?” she asked. 

Jeffrey didn’t know. “Maybe a mile. Two miles.”

She didn’t say anything to his answer, but she scowled at him as she held tighter to her gun. She knew she had no right to scold him. His ability to teleport had proven its value more than a few times in her life. She was just frustrated because the group that had gone out from Salem to help one of the regional villages had been missing for a week.

The Salem group had been headed by Robert and Isabelle. When word had reached Salem about a terrible greyskin attack in a village called Springhill, they were the first to volunteer to help. They had gathered enough people and filled trucks with food and medical supplies to help the survivors. 

Evelyn had thought it was a stupid idea considering the village of Salem barely had its own flimsy walls. Salem needed all those supplies too. But she had kept her mouth shut. She wasn’t about to get the reputation as a person that didn’t want to help others. She had already caused enough trouble trying to convince the village leader, Heinrich, to stay away from Jeremiah’s help. Just saying that he was a man that couldn’t be trusted had done little to persuade Heinrich, though he still held tightly to Salem’s independence.

But then there was this matter with the relief group set up by Robert and Isabelle. When they left, they had maintained communication with Salem for several hours. But then all communication simply stopped. Heinrich had just decided that something simply must have been wrong with their radios and that it would be fine to proceed.

Days went by. 

Most people started to wonder if the attack at Springhill had been so huge that it had also taken over the relief team. Robert and Isabelle had two sons back at Salem. There were plenty of people to watch the boys, but it was unlike Isabelle to be away from them for so long. 

Now, a week later, Evelyn told Heinrich that she and Jeffrey were going to investigate. He didn’t stop them, but only told them to be careful. They had left early in the evening. Jeffrey had known where Springhill was, but he had never been there before. He had taken them within a mile or so and it was late when they had arrived there.

One of the village elders had let them know that there was no relief team that had come to Springhill. The situation was odd. Surely they hadn’t run into too much trouble on the way. Evelyn had supposed it was possible to have car trouble. And that only meant being exposed to the greyskins. 

It had been tough for Evelyn to see Springhill. The devastation had taken its toll and all Evelyn could think about was one of the villagers that she had spoken with. Such a grief-stricken young girl made Evelyn hate Jeremiah all the more. Evelyn knew she would never forget visiting the village on that night. 

They walked through the darkness, hoping they were going in the correct direction to get back to Salem. Evelyn remained frustrated at Jeffrey, but she knew that it took a lot of energy to travel such long distances. 

The minutes went by. to Salem.Eventually, Evelyn’s grip on her rifle wasn’t so tight. She felt at ease. She didn’t sense any sort of threat ahead of them. Besides, if there were greyskins around, Jeffrey would be able to zap them out of there in a blink. 

“I’m sorry,” she finally said. “I didn’t mean to bicker. If you weren’t around, investigating at Springhill would have taken two days of travel altogether.”

“I just wonder how we’re going to explain to Heinrich that we actually investigated but we’re back already,” he replied. 

Evelyn had thought about that too, but she knew it was getting close to the point where she was going to have to tell Heinrich everything. She needed him on board with her cause. She didn’t know what she would do if Salem became a colony of Screven. It would make things more difficult, she knew that much. 

As they walked, Evelyn couldn’t help but notice several flashing lights in the distance. They seemed to be moving, maybe bouncing around in no particular pattern. Jeffrey saw it too and held his gun ready. 

“What is it?” Evelyn asked. 

“Looks like flashlights to me,” he answered. 

Looking at the lights again, Evelyn agreed. There were several of them moving around what looked to be a large covered truck. They kept marching until they were only a hundred or so feet away. Evelyn turned her head to try and listen to what they were saying, but all she heard were worried whispers. By aid of the flashlights, the two of them saw smoke rising out of the front of the truck. It seemed to have overheated. 

Evelyn motioned for Jeffery to follow closely behind her as she moved forward. They would never be seen unless the flashlight beams landed directly on them. Once they were about fifty feet away, Evelyn was able to recognize the type of vehicle it was. It obviously belonged to Screven. She couldn’t help but wonder what they were doing so close to Salem. From this distance, she was able to hear them more clearly. 

“How was I supposed to know it needed water?” one of the men said. 

Evelyn counted three of them, each wearing a standard black, Screven guard uniform. 

“Because you’re the driver,” another one said. “Your job is to drive and to maintain the vehicle. Now, thanks to your ignorance, we’re stuck out in the middle of nowhere.”

“Could you two keep your voices down?” the other one said. He stood away from the vehicle, gun in hand. He looked nervous. “I don’t want to attract attention.”

The other two looked at him, but otherwise ignored his request. 

“Usually they are serviced before a long trip like this,” the driver said. “I couldn’t have anticipated the truck overheating.”

The other guard shook his head. “I’m just glad we released the greyskins before we had engine trouble. Can you imagine having a load of those things and being stuck out here?”

“Well, you heard me call the blood truck,” the driver said. “They’re finished and on their way to pick us up.”

Blood truck?

“Salem doesn’t know what’s coming to them,” the guard next to the driver said. “Jeremiah is ruthless.”

Evelyn turned her head to look at Jeffrey. The look on his face matched what she felt inside. Horror. Salem was in trouble, and these guards were somehow responsible.

“Will you two please shut up?” the guard away from the vehicle said. “I think I heard something in the tall grass over there.” He pointed to an area far to Evelyn and Jeffrey’s left, so he couldn’t have been talking about them.

“The only greyskins we have to worry about are already on their way to Salem,” the man next to the driver said. 

“You don’t know what could be out there,” the guard came back. 

In almost an answer to his warning, a greyskin stumbled onto the road from out of the brush. All three of the Screven soldiers pulled up their guns and shot the creature in the head. But then there was a second one. They shot it down too. 

Evelyn couldn’t help but look back and forth from the guards to the field beyond. There was no telling if a greyskin had caught their scent. They had probably been attracted to the lights and sounds coming from the guards at the truck, but it wouldn’t take much for the greyskins to catch wind of the two standing far away in the shadows. 

Where there were two greyskins, there were usually more to follow, but a couple of minutes of dead silence passed and nothing came by. 

Finally, the guard closest to the driver whispered harshly. “If we don’t get this truck running soon, we’re dead!”

Evelyn leaned in to whisper to Jeffrey. “I’ll take out the one standing away from the truck. You take the driver.”

“What about the other one?” Jeffrey whispered back. 

“I’ll aim for his hand or leg or something. I want information.”

Jeffrey nodded at her and the two brought their guns up, aiming at their selected targets. 

“Got it?” Evelyn asked. 

“Yeah,” Jeffrey said. 

“On three,” she said. “One…two…three.”

The shots boomed out simultaneously and two of the bodies fell to the ground, lifeless. The last remaining guard ducked to the ground, screaming out in terror at the sight of his bleeding comrades. He had dropped his flashlight, but held up his gun in front of him. Evelyn looked down the barrel until she felt like she had the perfect shot. When she pulled the trigger, another loud bang exploded into the air and the guard dropped his gun and grabbed for his head. Evelyn had been aiming for his arm, but had apparently shot too high. 

Jeffrey and Evelyn ran to the truck. The man frantically tried to grab his gun, but Evelyn kicked it away from him. Jeffrey bent down and picked up a flashlight and shined it on the man’s face so he couldn’t see anything but the bright light. He couldn’t help but squint and whimper as the blood drooled from the side of his head. The top of his right ear had been sheered off by the bullet. He had been lucky. A couple of centimeters more and he wouldn’t be moving. 

Evelyn made sure the barrel of the gun was visible in the light so the man wouldn’t dare to move. “You’re going to answer my questions,” Evelyn said. “If you don’t, I won’t hesitate to blow your brains out. Look at your friends.”

The man stared up at her with hatred in his eyes. She looked down to the front pocket of his uniform, then at his face. “What were you ordered to do with this truck, Private Green?”

“Pick up and carry greyskins,” he answered flatly.

“Pick them up from where? Specifics. I want specifics.”

He glared at her, clutching the side of his head. Blood dripped out between his fingers. “We learned about your little relief team from Salem going to help Springhill. Well, we’re the ones that set the greyskins on them before they could get there. Then we were ordered to gather them all up. Wait a few days. Set them loose on their own village.”

“Why?”

“To send a message,” Green said. “Jeremiah has a goal and he can’t afford to have villages helping each other out.”>

Evelyn wanted to pull the trigger then and there, but she didn’t. She felt nauseated that Jeremiah would stoop so low as to set greyskins on innocent villages. 

“Were there any survivors?” Evelyn asked. 

Green shook his head. 

“What’s a blood truck?”

“Leaves trails for the greyskins to follow.”

“Trails of blood?” Jeffrey asked. 

“Yeah,” Green said. “That’s why they call them
blood
trucks.”

“It’s on its way here,” Evelyn said to Jeffrey. “We’ve got to get to Salem.”

They turned away from Green and started picking up the other guns from the ground. 

“You’re not going to leave me here with a weapon?” Green asked. 

Evelyn wanted to laugh in his face, but she knew it wouldn’t be genuine. She couldn’t muster a laugh if her life depended on it. 

“There are greyskins creeping around here,” he said. 

“Then you better hope you can find another way to defend yourself,” Evelyn said as they started walking away from Green. “If you follow us, we will shoot you. This time I won’t miss.”

Evelyn looked back and kept walking away from the truck. Where there were one or two greyskins, there were usually more. She hoped there were more so Green could see what it was like to be defenseless against those monsters. 

They walked for a few more minutes before Evelyn stopped Jeffrey. “We’re not too far from Salem,” she said. “It’s just north of here. Do you think you can get us closer?”

He sighed and nodded. “I just hope I don’t take us farther.”

“I believe in you,” she said. 

He reached out and held onto her. “It’s not going to be pretty,” he said. 

“Just take us.”

Jeffrey closed his eyes and in a whirlwind, they were standing only a few feet from the outskirts of Salem. 

The two of them looked at each other when they heard the screams from inside the village. It only took them a few seconds to sprint inside. Gun blasts and greyskin grunts were everywhere. Neither of them knew where to go or what to do. So many people were bitten or scratched. 

They ran through Salem firing at anything that resembled a greyskin. Evelyn had thought about seeking refuge in her house, but there was no hiding from this. Jeremiah was going to get his way because of this attack. Assuming Heinrich survived, this would be the last straw. There would be no convincing him that Jeremiah had organized this. She doubted she could prove any of this to Heinrich - the Screven blood truck would likely remove any evidence of their work around Salem. Unfortunately, after tonight’s attack, she knew that it would take a long time to persuade Heinrich to forget about Jeremiah’s help. Salem would become a colony before she could convince him otherwise. 

It was good that her hopes didn’t rely on Heinrich, however.

As Evelyn ran, someone ran into the side of her, knocking her to the ground. It was a teenage boy. As Jeffrey helped her to her feet, she couldn’t help but let her face drop when she noticed who the boy was. It was one of Robert and Isabelle’s sons. Connor. 

“I’m sorry,” the boy said. “I’ve got to get to my house, I can’t find my brother!” He sprinted away toward the back house in the village. Evelyn watched the boy run toward it. The front door was wide open and she couldn’t help but have a terrible feeling about what Connor might find inside. eking re

But before Connor reached the door, several bright flashes of blue light coursed through the house. It was so bright for a moment that Evelyn had to look away. She looked at Jeffrey, but his eyes were elsewhere.

Evelyn knew that if they survived the night, she would have to look in on Robert and Isabelle’s boys. They had been orphaned because of Jeremiah and his cruelty. Much like the girl Evelyn had met earlier in the night.