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

comparison. My escape attempt failed. If not for the Skel, I’d be happily traipsing through the empty streets by now. Free from the town’s rules and regulations, free from living in fear for my life, free to choose my own destiny.
    Now, before I could even consider another escape attempt, thanks to leaving my backpack behind, I had to replenish my collection of fruit and vegetable seeds. And they took me years to collect. That meant I would have to go to the market and buy them, which created new problems. If I bought the seeds tomorrow, I wouldn’t be able to go to work as a forager. If I went out as a forager, I wouldn’t be able to get the seeds. Of course, I could get the seeds on the weekend, when the foraging teams didn’t go out. Except I had no money with which to buy seeds, unless I was stupid enough to go out foraging again tomorrow. If I did, I would be able to collect Brandon’s pay, since he got paid every Friday. My life seemed so simple this morning – why did those Skel have to go and throw a wrench in my plans.
    For now, though, I had to go back to Newhome, to oppression, my mother, and her endless tirade of criticism and condemnation. Not to mention the trouble I would be in the moment I stepped through the front door, since I had been absent all day and was wearing Brandon’s clothes. And if Mother caught sight of my bruises? I settled further back into my seat, crushed, sore and too tired to contemplate returning to that life.
    I wished Ryan knew what I’d given up to save him. I glanced at him, but then shrank back, uncertain and confused. He was looking at me, but not with appreciation for saving his life. His glance was wary, as though he couldn’t work out if I was a friend or an enemy. My face blanched with fear when I realised I may have given the game away that I was a mutant when I helped him dodge the bolt. I looked away quickly, heart thumping. I thought he’d thank me for saving him, not react like that.
    I stared out the window, wishing I was already home so I could put this behind me. I wondered if I’d ever have the courage to attempt to escape again by impersonating my brother. Today was a disaster, with Con’s attitude, Matt trying to leave Ryan behind, the Skel, and the injuries.
    “That was too close!” Jack said after we’d been driving for several minutes.
    “Too close doesn’t even begin to cut it,” Matt replied.
    “What the blazes are Skel doing in the northern suburbs anyway?” Con asked.
    “No reason for them not to be. They’re nomads, right? The foragers we’ve bumped into from other towns said they raid all over Victoria,” Matt replied.
    I had to bite my tongue to stop myself asking the question that immediately sprang to mind. There were foragers from other towns? Where were these towns and what were they like? Were they like Newhome? I recall Brandon mentioning there was a Japanese colony over near Inverloch, but surely that was too far away to send foragers to Melbourne?
    “You want to tell us what happened, Thomas? How come you knew where they were?” Con asked. I looked up to see him staring at me in the rear view mirror, his beady, dark eyes like twin holes to the abyss.

Chapter Nine
     
    “Hey, the kid just saved our butts. How ‘bout you cut him some slack?” Jack said.
    “Answer me.” Con said.
    “I was taking a dump–” I began.
    “TMI!” Matt protested.
    “–when these four Skel suddenly appeared next door and started planning their ambush. When they split up, I rushed back to the truck to warn you.”
    “Is that right? Care to explain how one moment we heard a Skel screaming and the next you come running out of the house with his crossbow?” Con growled.
    “I took a short cut through the house but bumped into a Skel. He tried to catch me, but I stabbed him in the back of the knee with a knife I found in the kitchen–”
    “You did what?” Jack asked, eyes wide.
    “Let him finish!” Matt snapped.
    “After that he