Read Online Darkness Falls by Jessica Sorensen - Free Book Online

grumble, lips crack, bodies ache, and even through the smoke and clouds, the sun’s heat manages to gleam down.
    “I’m tired,” Maci says after a while. “I need a break.”
    Bernard’s got the hood of his jacket tugged over his head, his hands up in his sleeves.
    “Aren’t you hot?” I ask. “And thirsty.”
    He shakes his head. “Nope.”
    But I am and so is Maci. The puddles are becoming scarcer and I decide it’s time to take a break. We move beside into the shadows of the rocks, concealing ourselves in the shade, and drink from the puddles. All except Bernard.
    I wipe the water from my chin. “Do you have a death wish?”
    He only smiles through his hood. “Death doesn’t seem so bad, really.” He turns his back on me, hikes off to a cluster of rocks, and sits down.
    “Don’t worry, Kayla,” Maci whispers, wiping the water dripping from her lips. “He won’t die without water ‘cause he’s already dead.”
    My hands slip apart and water spills to the ground. “Bernard’s going to die … did you see that?”
    She shakes her head. “No, he’s already dead. He stole one of those vials of medicine last night and injected it into himself, so now he’s dead forever.”
    I quickly check my pockets and only find two black vials and two syringes. “Maci, you have to try and remember what’s in theses. Did the Angel say anything about what would happen when we injected it into us?”
    She nods. “He said it’d save us.”
    “Save us from what?” I pause as I hear it.
    A heartbeat.
    My ability has returned. At first I think the heartbeat’s either mine or Maci’s, but when I realize it’s not, I turn to Bernard. But he’s gone.
    “Did you see where he went?” I ask and she shakes her head. I scoot her up against the rock. “Don’t move until I get back, okay?”
    Drawing out my knife of my jacket, I walk vigilantly toward the collection of rocks where I last saw Bernard. The heartbeat knocks louder and I hold my breath as I climb onto the rocks and peek down on the other side. But it’s empty. And the heartbeat’s vanished.
    “I don’t get it,” I mumble and turn to Maci. “Are you sure you didn’t see where he went?”
    She shakes her head, but then her eyes snap wide. “Kayla, look out!”
    The heart strikes deafeningly against my eardrums as a pair of hands wrap themselves around my waist and jerk me back. I slam my head back, knocking it against the persons face and we both tumble off the rocks, hitting the bottom hard. I’m on my feet in a matter of seconds, but I’ve lost my knife. Where is my knife?
    “Looking for this?”
    My eyes rise to the unfamiliar voice. His eyes are the color of honey. His dark hair sweeps across his forehead and runs scraggly down his ears and neck. He’s tall and lean and has this funny white line running below his eye and down his left cheek. I’m not sure what it is, but it has me curious. So does the feeling that I know him.
    He’s holding my knife and I don’t like it. “You dropped this,” he says and tosses it to me.
    I catch it effortlessly, without taking my eyes off him.
    “You seem confused,” he says with a sparkle in his honey eyes.
    I wrap my fingers around the handle of my knife.  “Who are you?”
    “Well that’s a weird coincidence,” he says with a smile. “Because I was thinking the same thing.”
    I eye him over. “You’re unarmed.”
    He spreads his arms out to the side of him. “Which gives you all the power.”
    “You knocked me to the ground,” I say.
    “You slammed me in the head.” He touches his forehead. “You’ve got a tough head, you know that?”
    I step to the side, keeping my eyes on him and my knife out. “You’re the one who grabbed me first.”
    “Only to protect you.” His pulse is consistent, never faltering, never wavering, which would indicate he’s telling the truth. But my thoughts whisper otherwise.
    “Where did you come from?”
    “Did you find them yet?” A girl jumps