Read Online Reaper's Legacy: Book Two (Toxic City) by Tim Lebbon - Free Book Online Page A

apart, and the three of them rolling and scraping across the tarmac, slamming against vehicles or buildings, their broken, dead bodies eventually rotting where they came to rest. He did not believe they were destined for such a pointless ending, and yet he was only too aware of the vagaries of fate.
    The wheels struck the ground and they bounced, twisting to the left, striking again, and during the second bounce Sparky twisted them to the right, ensuring that the next impact took them past a bus slewed across the road. The front wheel struck the kerb, but by then their speed had drastically lessened.
    Jack let himself roll ahead of the hang glider. As he came to rest on the pavement he took a moment's pause, looking up at the clear blue sky and enjoying the brief silence.
    “Thank you for flying Sparky Airways,” Sparky said. “Please ensure you have all your belongings. Apologies for the bumpy landing. I can confirm that the pilot shit himself.”
    Jack sat up and grinned at his friend. Sparky smiled back, then shrugged as if it was nothing.
    “All in a day's work, eh?” Jack asked.
    Jenna was slowly releasing the strut and unwinding the strap from around her arm. She wiped absently at where it had chaffed her skin raw, smearing blood, then stood on the solid ground. Her knees bent a little, and when she reached out for balance Sparky grabbed her hand. She nodded, stood upright, and looked around, as if only just waking from a deep sleep.
    “Jenna?” Sparky asked.
    “Sparky,” she said, her voice a croak. “If you ever do that again, I'll slit your throat in your sleep.” Then she let go of his hand, turned around, and vomited on the pavement.
    Jack frowned and stood. And even though his girlfriend was puking, Sparky saw Jack's expression, and recognised that something was wrong.
    “What?” Sparky asked.
    “Ever feel like you're being watched?” Jack asked. He scanned their surroundings—the bus slewed across the street, other cars parked along the road on flat tyres, the silent façades of buildings onboth sides. Shopfronts were smashed, burnt out, or the windows were dusty and dirty, hiding anyone or anything that might be watching from inside. A pavement café was a mass of overturned timber tables and rusted chairs. Along the street, an Underground entrance was a burnt-out mess, as if a great fire had belched from beneath London. The taint of fire was still on the air. A breeze rustled litter along the street. Dark circles of chewing gum speckled the pavement around him. He saw and sensed all these things, yet the overriding sensation was of being observed.
    And it was not Nomad. Her memory in his mind was already a familiar feeling. This was something else. Something other .
    “All the time,” Jenna said. She seemed a little better, and was allowing Sparky to hold her upright, one arm around her waist.
    “No,” Jack said. “By someone particular.”
    “This one of your powers?” Sparky asked.
    Jack shook his head, though he was unsure. “Sixth sense.”
    “Prickly-neck feeling,” Jenna said.
    “Yeah,” Sparky said. “Tingly balls.”
    “We should be moving,” Jack said. “We covered, what, a mile?”
    “I reckon two,” Sparky said.
    “So we put more distance between us before we take a rest,” Jack said.
    “And you know how to find your father?” Jenna asked.
    “I'll figure it out,” Jack said.
    He saw the look passing between Sparky and Jenna, and turned away. He was already feeling more distant from his friends, and not because of their growing closeness. He was becoming more and more different.
    “Come on,” he said. “Let's run.” Jack led the way. They passed the bus and a wrecked van hidden behind it, and Jack caught a glimpse of a dead face following him from the driver's window. Hegasped with shock, then saw the hollow gaze of a skull. It had been picked clean by carrion creatures and it leaned against the window frame, grinning as they ran by.
    Perhaps the bus was full