Read Online Code Breakers: Alpha by Colin F. Barnes - Free Book Online Page B

the horizon. He flicked through them in time order, the specks growing larger, until the later images showed what looked… no, couldn’t be… a group of women and men dressed in what looked like furs and leathers. Some sported riflelike weapons, while others had wires, antennae, and dish shaped objects mounted upon their person.
    People.
    Other people from the abandoned lands.
    Unbelievable. But there it was, right there in the AIA. Hard proof. This meant the Family had lied. Growing up, Gerry was taught that all the survivors from the Cataclysm—which was never fully explained—were in City Earth and there was no one left outside.
    What else was a lie?
    Gerry casually switched off the alarm system, exited from the AIA, and pulled the plug from his neck. He looked at Petal and Gabe, who in turn looked at him like feverish cats.
    “They lied,” Gerry said before slumping to the ground, clutching his head as a bolt ripped through his brain.
     

Chapter 8
     
    P etal shook his arm. “You okay, Gez?”
    He blinked, saw her face hovering over his, blotting out the sun. Her goggles were clear. Her eyes were bright violet this time. They shimmered like the surface of a lake. Before he could speak, her goggles turned opaque again, cutting him off from those amazing colours.
    “We don’t have much time,” she said with a whisper.
    Her skin seemed paler than usual. Her hand felt clammy against his skin.
    He wanted to ask what would happen if she could no longer hold the demons, but the pained expression on her face told him it wasn’t going to be anything good.
    “It’s done,” he finally said. “I managed to switch off the alarm system. But I—”
    “What is it?” Gabe said. He lifted Gerry to his feet and held him by his shoulders. He peered directly into Gerry’s eyes with fervour.
    “People. I saw pictures of… other people.”
    “Yeah, about them.” Gabe rubbed his face. “Not everything the Family has told you is true. Well, hardly anything at all, as it happens. There’s a few survivors out here. Ya gonna meet some real soon. ’Specially now you handled the alarm system. I’m impressed, man. That was slick. Ya picking this up quickly.”
    “Who are we going to see?” Gerry asked.
    “Some old buddies of a sort. Reload your gun. Ya know, just in case.”
    Petal took a piece of brain fragment from the corpse and tossed it against the filament fence. It just hit the wires and fell to the ground.
    “It’s all safe. We need to get going. I don’t think I’ve got much time.”
    Gerry reloaded his gun from the ammo pack in his bag. As they moved towards the fence, he bent and picked up the heavy shotgun from the guard and placed it in his bag. He wasn’t sure whether it would be any use without more shells, and he had little time to search for them, but it couldn’t hurt to take it with them just in case.
    Gabriel bent over, stepped through the gap in the wire fence, and Gerry and Petal followed. Up ahead on the horizon a rust-red cloud billowed up. A low growling noise rumbled on the wind.
    Gerry turned to Petal, who was now moving much slower, wincing at each step. “That your friends?” He pointed to the scenes of movement ahead.
    Petal nodded. “Kinda.” She extended the chromed spike from her palm and gritted her teeth. “Just watch your back, Gez. These aren’t the same as the people back in City Earth.”
    “Got it.”
    “Seriously,” Petal said. “Out here things ain’t so polite. You ain’t got security looking out for you either. It’s like the Wild West, Gez.”
    Gabe continued to walk onwards, setting a quick pace. They travelled for fifteen minutes until the cloud was no more than a few hundred metres away. The small, squat buildings Gerry saw before now held more detail.
    Plates of metal, wood, and wire mesh covered their surface. Spikes the size of a man extended out from their perimeter. A fence stretched for half a kilometre either side of this makeshift town. A tall