Read Online The Wanted by Lauren Nicolle Taylor - Free Book Online

didn’t think it had a chance of working.
    Everyone nodded solemnly, except for Bataar, who spat and joked with a knobbly grin on his face.
    We held onto our hope and made the descent towards Birchton.
     

     
    Soft ground gave way to sharp rocks as we stepped off the edge and down. Eyes always ahead, scanning the top of the walls of the rocky town for movement. It was hard to see though as the sun bounced off the rocks and snow blindingly.
    The slope was gentle but slippery with ice. Dark caves stared at us as we carefully made our descent. It was easy to lose yourself and your friends in all this white. It would be easy to disappear…
    We moved slowly, picking our way between loose sheets of rock, hiding, checking, and slipping on the growing ice. My nose was numb, and snowflakes clung to my eyelashes. I focused on what was just ahead of me and nothing more.
    Desh clapped his hand on my shoulder and breathlessly said, “Well, it’s certainly different to Bagassa.”
    I nodded, saving my breath for the climb. I felt bad that I wasn’t talking to him very much, but the words stuck inside my mouth were not good ones. Until I could let go of my anger at him for pushing me to leave her, it was better to say nothing.
    Rash came up by my side and slammed into me with his shoulder. “Move,” he muttered.
    I stepped aside for him, watching his dark head bob further down the rocky surface. “Rash,” I said. He turned and glared at me, I leaned back from the razorblades emitting from his eyes. Not because it scared me, but because there was something of Rosa in him, and it cut me. “Put a hat on. Your hair stands out too much against the snow.”
    I caught him mumbling as he shoved a white cap over his head. “Yours doesn’t, you blond jerk.” I was no longer beautiful blond man. I shouldn’t have been relieved, beautiful was much better than jerk, but jerk was what I deserved right now.
    “Why do you let him talk to you like that?” Desh asked as he skidded on some ice and flew past me. I caught his arm and pulled him up.
    “It’s nothing less than what I deserve,” I said, dusting snowflakes off his jacket.
    Desh shook his head sadly. “That’s not true, Joe.”
    I shrugged. He wasn’t going to change my mind. Even if I had managed to save her, the ghosts of the men I killed and… Este… I gulped, feeling nauseous; they had a hold on me. I couldn’t forgive myself for that.
    I stopped moving. Frozen like their blood-spattered faces.
    “Joe?” Desh shook my arm.
    The image melted away as the glint of metal blinked at us from the top of the compound ahead. The walls of Birchton were before us, built out of huge bricks rather than one large concrete piece, as the rings lay over several levels, perched on the side of a mountain.
    Matt halted us with an outstretched arm. “This is where we stop,” he said, jerking his head towards a cave opening. He motioned to the two guys going into Birchton. “You two go on.” They tipped their heads silently. “You know what you need to do.”
    Desh handed them their projectors and the small explosive device for the wall. They patted their packs and waved. We wished them luck and filed into the cave to await their return.
    It was late afternoon when they left. It would only be a few hours and we would know if it had worked.
    We took turns sleeping.
     

     
    The cold never bothered me. But the others were shivering and huddling together. Rash especially.
    The cave was quite deep, but we stayed near the entrance, ready to watch the show. The snow piled up in front of us and every now and then, the watch would kick over the pile so we weren’t trapped inside. I liked the noise snow falling on snow made, like pouring sand.
    I took off my jacket and leaned forward, wiggling it in front of Rash’s glaring eyes. “Here, take this. You’re shivering.”
    “Piss off,” he snapped. I let the jacket hang there for a few more seconds and finally, he sighed and snatched it