Read Online Impersonator (Forager Impersonator - A Post Apocalyptic Trilogy Book 1) by Peter R. Stone - Free Book Online Page A

for lunch.
    “Where’s Ryan?” I shouted.
    Con was already in the cab, turning the key in the ignition and pumping the accelerator as fast as he could. Jack ripped open the passenger door and flung himself inside.
    “Forget him!” Matt snapped. He reached for me, eyes wide. “Get in!”
    I stepped back, shaking my head. “Which way did he go?”
    “Just get in!”
    Con was already backing the truck out of the driveway.
    I saw Ryan then, emerging from further down the driveway from between two bushes, pulling up his zipper. He realised something was amiss, because he was running full pelt towards us. He wasn’t going to make it, though. Weasel and Jingles chose that moment to spring their ambush, jumping out of shrubs on the other side of the road, sighting down their crossbows.
    “Look out!” I called out to Ryan while lifting my stolen crossbow and firing it at the Skel. The bolt went wide, but they ducked their heads down all the same.
    Ryan realised the danger he was in and ran faster. As though watching in slow motion, I watched the Skel lift and sight down their crossbows again. One aimed at Ryan, the other at me.
    I threw my weapon aside and ignoring the stabbing pain that accompanied each step, darted for Ryan. I echolocated as I went, singing out staccato musical notes, hoping to detect the speed and direction of the bolts when they fired them. Ryan ran towards me with his head cocked to one side, completely baffled by my actions.
    When I was only a few paces away, the Skel fired. Jingles wasn’t following his leader’s instruction to wound us, either – his bolt was going straight for Ryan’s head. Weasel had fired at my legs.
    I realised I had only one chance to get this right. Even the slightest miscalculation and I’d be down and Ryan would be dead. I considered calling out to him to duck, but if he didn’t duck low enough...
    Intercepting Ryan, I grabbed him and pulled him one way while at the same time leaning backwards so that there was a gap between us. One bolt flew past me, the feathers brushing against my leg as it did so. The other passed between us, missing Ryan’s head by an inch.
    “What the...” Ryan stammered when he saw the bolts fly past and he realised what I had done.
    “The truck!” I yelled. The Skel had already reloaded their bows and were frantically winding back the strings.
    Ryan and I reached the truck a moment later. Matt leaned out and gave us a hand into the back seat.
    “Go that way!” I shouted to Con, pointing at the road where Weasel and Jingles were still winding their bows.
    “Are you nuts?” he shot back at me.
    “There’s another Skel waiting for us back the other way. If you go that way he’ll have a shot at the windshield – at you,” I said.
    He didn’t need to be told twice. He floored the accelerator and the truck lurched up the street. “Get down!” he said as we passed the Skel. Just in time too. A couple of bolts hit the side windows, shattering them and showering us with splinters of glass. Con kept driving.
    When the Skel were far behind us, I sat up, brushed off the glass, and sank back into my seat, utterly spent now the adrenalin rush was over. The pain that had been clamouring for my attention at the edges of my consciousness sprang to the forefront with such intensity I had to concentrate on my breathing to ride it out. My stomach felt like it had been hit by a pile driver, and my ribs were worse. Every breath sent waves of pain stabbing through my back.
    My leg was starting to stiffen up too, so I slowly stretched it out and rubbed it, gritting my teeth as agony shot up and down the limb. I couldn’t let it seize up. If I couldn’t walk when we got back to Newhome and Con insisted I got my injuries checked out, I’d be spending my next few birthdays behind bars for impersonating a man.
    Back to Newhome. The implications of that thought hit me with the force of a sledgehammer, causing the physical aches and pains to diminish in