Read Online Like Veins of Red Rubies (Most Precious Book 1) by Nicolas Abel - Free Book Online

the drill before him and
continued.
    "You are going to doom
us," Victor said. "When will it have been enough? When the blood of
our wives and children are spilled because of you? I will not allow it!"
Victor lunged forward and switched the drill off.
    "No!" said Stanley. He
shot his fist toward Victor and knocked him back. "Get away from me! If
you cannot see this to the end, then I will do it myself." Stanley turned
and focused on drilling again.
    "You will not drill out of
here," said Victor. He turned and slid down the tunnel.
    Stanley continued drilling, this
time more empowered. His arm muscles pulsed and his legs stood boldly upon the
ledges. Every ledge up, he seemed to push the drill farther into the earth,
thus speeding his progress. This burst lasted for a good ten ledges until his
arms shook. They weakened and almost dropped under the weight of the drill. He
set it aside and fell to his chest and gasped. He lay there for a while, but
even his legs trembled. He quickly rolled over, brought the drill to his chest
then slid down.
    He crashed down with a forceful
thud on his feet that incited a shock through his legs, up his spine, and to
his head. He clutched his head and massaged it, hoping to numb the pain. He
clawed at the feet of the tunnel, but he felt only air. He looked down and saw
that his bag was gone.
    "Where," he started,
half gasping. Voices rang from the town, then settled then rose again. Stanley
balanced himself and ran to them.
    The morning crowd had gathered
around Victor, who stood on a bench, holding the three metal sticks and plastic
tube in one hand raised above. Stanley’s torn open bag hung from his other.
    "What are you doing?"
Stanley said.
    "Exposing your
schemes," said Victor. He turned to the crowd. "These are the weapons
that this man has been hiding. My word is not the only one you can trust, but
also Buckner’s!"
    "It is true," Buckner
said, pointing at Stanley. "That man was carrying them around last
night."
    The crowd erupted in
unintelligible demands.
    "Why were you keeping these
weapons?" most of the crowd said.
    "They’re not weapons,"
said Stanley. "They are tools. Like the drills we’ve been using for so
long! They are tools! I’ve spent last night at the archives, looking through
our history, far back. I discovered that these were tools, once used to eat
food and administer medicine."
    The crowd laughed.
    "When would a man ever need
such a thing to eat?" said Victor. "Tell me. When would a man need
such a thing to take their medicine?"
    The crowd mumbled in agreement.
    "Have any of you visited the
archives?" said Stanley. "I’ve seen a list of the people who have.
Out of them, I only recognized Mr. Albertson."
    "That man is a liar,"
said an old man from the crowd. "His claims are false. Ever since I was a
child, I have taken pills. My father and his father ate pills. Never did we
require such tools."
    Mr. Roberts stepped forward and
raised his hands. "Refrain from making accusations. The council will hold
a meeting and discuss this matter."
    "Before we do that, I
believe we should reveal the severity of Stanley’s actions, right here for all
to see," Victor said.
    Ailey walked up and presented a
long box. Victor opened it and withdrew the long, red rusted stick with the
point on top. The crowd scowled and some recoiled away.
    "It all started with
this," Victor said. "When Stanley was snooping around in those caves,
all alone, against our regulations. He found this weapon. Only when I took
notice and bombarded him with questions did he share his information.
Otherwise, he would have kept it, along with these other weapons."
    "Now listen, Stanley isn’t
like that. He’s a good boy," Mr. Albertson said. "I’m sure he had
good intentions."
    "Shouldn’t you be cautioned
the most out of all of us?" said Victor. "You’ve almost met death
yesterday. You’ve had one of these weapons fall on you. Are you not worried,
even a single bit?"
    "What happened yesterday
happened