Shadow Reaper (Shadowlands Series) (3 page)

“Comms on,” George said, and we all complied by flipping the switch on our earpieces.

Bernadette held up her wrist. “Thirty minutes, people. That’s all you get. I tug, you come. Got it?”

“Got it!” We all said in unison.

Ryder joined me in front of the Horizon. “You ready scamp?”

I nodded. “Always.”

We stepped through.

The first time I’d gone through the Horizon, I’d expected it to feel gloopy, thick, and viscous. I’d screwed up my eyes and pressed my lips together, afraid it would somehow get inside me. But it was nothing like that. Walking through the Horizon was like walking through air. It was like stepping from one point to another, and yet, the air on the other side felt heavier, denser. It was as if the laws of gravity were different here. Walking required more effort, and thirty minutes wouldn’t be enough. We all knew it, just like we knew that any longer and we risked detection by the Shadowlanders.

The sky here was the same, gloomy, grey, and low. A thin mist hung in the air, but it was the buildings that always amazed me. Twisted and bent, standing at impossible angles, they defied the laws of physics. Not that I knew any physics, but I’d heard Ryder use the phrase once or twice, and he’d kind of explained it to me. I’d nodded like I understood.

I’d seen the old maps, so I knew that this part of the city would have been Shoreditch. I knew what should be here. I’d seen pictures in old tourist brochures collected from gift shops in the place once called Trafalgar Square. This was a new London. It was their London now.

We still didn’t know what the Shadowlanders were.. I’d never seen one myself, but from what the Order of the Mother described, they looked humanoid, except they had other characteristics, animalistic and insectile, reptilian and amphibian. They were terrible and horrific and bestial, all except the Mother, who’d taken pity on our plight and saved us.

“Stop daydreaming, Ash, and let’s get to it,” Ryder said.

We began to trudge. My boots seemed to stick to the ground as gravity held us down. The sky was darker here, the clouds low overhead. It made me feel claustrophobic.

Ryder nudged me. “You okay, scamp?”

“I’m fine.” But I so wasn’t. I could feel the sweat breaking out across my brow—the nape of my neck was soaked.

Even though I longed to cross the Horizon, I couldn’t shake the feeling of claustrophobia that always gripped me upon first entry. I lived underground, you couldn’t get more closed in than that, yet here I was in an open space afraid of clouds pressing down on me.

I suspected Ryder knew, but he did a good job of not making an issue of it. I loved him for that.

Loved.

Shit, I mean, I liked him for it. Liked him a lot.

“I’m taking west, you go east,” Ryder said.

It didn’t matter. The ground could shift at any moment, and I could end up in the south and he could end up north or, as had happened once, we could end up side by side. Yeah, that had been weird. The ropes kept us tethered, though. The ropes were essential.

He held up his fist. I bumped it with mine, and we stepped away from each other. I’d gone two feet when my earpiece crackled.

“Keep to time, scamp,” Ryder said. “We don’t want to risk detection.”

“I know.” It was his protectiveness that made me think that there could be more between us, but he went through women like dirty socks and had recently begun recycling them—small population and all.

A building loomed out of the mist, tall, at least four stories. It leaned to the side as if it were thinking about laying down and taking a nap.

I approached and stepped through the black, gaping doorway into what once must have been a reception area. The walls had deep cracks running through them—the whole building looked like it was about to come down.

The grey was like a sickness crawling over everything, infecting it like mold. I contemplated making a hasty exit, but something caught my eye: a flash of brightness in the monochrome environment. To the left of the large front desk was a waiting area with comfy chairs, a low table, and a pile of colourful magazines untouched by the crawling shadow, as if somehow immune to the darkness. I loved magazines, and these looked to be in great condition. I slung my backpack off my shoulders and scooped up a couple before putting them in. I eyed the pile. I really wanted to take them all, but I needed to save room in my pack for more important things. I sighed and turned away.

An archway to the right of the front desk led to a stairwell. One look told me I wouldn’t be exploring any higher. The stairwell had been turned upside down, twisted and cracked. There was a lift but it was useless without power.

I stepped back into the reception area and took the arch to the left of the waiting room into a long corridor lined with doors.

Time to do some scouring.

A thorough, but quick, examination of the downstairs rooms told me this used to be some kind of clinic. There were charts on the wall showcasing images of the human body and its inner workings. I found a first aid kit in one of the drawers and some syringes, but anything else that may have been of use was gone.

My earpiece crackled.

“Exit time, people!” Bernadette’s voice cracked with static.

Great. My heart plummeted. I hadn’t found anything of real use.

“Scamp, you there?” Ryder’s voice was tight and clear as a bell.

My veins filled with ice. I knew that tone. He was in trouble.

“Ryder? You okay?”

“Yeah, just making sure you got Bernadette’s message. I’ll see you on the other side.”

My earpiece went silent.

I stood there for a long beat, my heart racing. Something wasn’t right. He’d sounded off.

My earpiece crackled again, and I was on the move even before I heard Bernadette’s impatient voice on the other side.

Finding my way out was easy. I just followed my rope, and I was at Horizon in no time. My rope swung in midair, vanishing into the shimmering veil. There was only one other line still out. My stomach knotted.

I tapped my comm. “Hey, anyone there? Ryder?”

“Ash? Where the fuck are you guys?” Bernadette said.

“I’m here, Bernadette, just coming through. Is Ryder with you?”

“Negative. Thought he was with you. We’re all here, good to go.”

Something was wrong. “Have you spoken to him?”

“He checked in about—what the fuck!”

I gasped as the other rope, Ryder’s rope, went crazy, bobbing and swinging from side to side and then going taut.

Bernadette cursed through the comm. “I can’t detach and haul. There’s too much resistance.”

Fred’s voice cut through her curses loud and clear. “Fucking cut him loose!”

Ryder was in trouble. My eyes went to his rope and then to the Horizon. Protocol was clear; in the event that a Reaper was compromised, they were to be cut loose. Protocol was there for a reason, but this was Ryder.

“Don’t you fucking dare, Bernie!” I said.

“Dammit, Ash! You think I want to do this?” She yelped and then she was emerging from the Horizon, her hands wrapped around Ryder’s line, holding on for dear life, her heels skidding on the blackened earth. “Fuck, it’s too strong I have to let him go. If I don’t, he’s taking me with him, or he’s leading whatever has him right to us. We have to let him go, Ash.”

She was right, so right, but I couldn’t let him go. I
wouldn’t
let him go. I acted without thinking. I grasped Ryder’s lead at the port, twisted, pulled and slammed the flat of my palm into Bernadette’s chest hard enough to send her flying backward through the Horizon.

Then I was flying; being yanked away from the Horizon toward whatever shit Ryder was in.

I should have been terrified, but there was no time to let fear in as the dismal landscape rushed past in a blur, stealing my breath and making my eyes sting. I hit the ground, rolled, came up on my feet, and narrowly avoided tripping on Ryder’s rope. It lay limp on the ground. The resistance was gone.

My chest ached with foreboding.

“Ryder!” I knew it was stupid, drawing attention to myself like that, but I was past caring. The thought of Ryder being hurt, being . . . dead. It felt as if someone had gauged out my heart leaving a gaping hole filled with pain.

“Ryder! Please!” I fell to my knees, my vision blurred as hot tears stung my eyes. I saw the empty, gaping buildings shimmering through my tears. Residential buildings, once home to humans, home to us. There were lampposts lining the streets, bent and twisted at odd angles as if someone had begun to melt them but changed their minds.

I jerked as the rope attached to my harness grew taut.

Bernadette.

I hit the comm at my ear. “I’m okay.”

I was rewarded with static. Shit, I was probably out of range, which meant . . . I swallowed and pulled myself off the ground. It meant that the Shadowlands proper was just ahead. Now that I was looking closer, I could see it, the change in the air. The purple hue in the grey mist that indicated the second veil, the Beyond, was way too close.

Shit! Shit! Shit!

I took a step forward and dug in my heels.

A groan, so low I almost missed it, drifted on the air.

This time there was no digging in. I ran toward the sound, toward the building where I was sure the groan had originated. I entered through the gaping maw that had once been a doorway and skidded to a halt to allow my eyes to adjust to the dark. It was pitch in there. The air was almost viscous. I raised a hand and held it before my face and could barely make it out.

“Ryder!” I whisper-hissed. My heart was doing that hammering again. The flight or fight response was kicking in. Some primitive part of me, some sixth sense, knew that I wasn’t alone in the darkness, that there was something else in there with me—and it wasn’t just Ryder.

I reached for my baton and grasped air. Damn! “Ryder!” I whisper-shouted.

“Ashling? Dammit. Get outta here. Ouch! Fuck!”

“Ryder? Where are you? Keep talking so I can find you.” I began to move farther into the building.

“No. No talking. Get out. There’s something—”

Hissssssss.

I froze.

Something rustled to my left, too close for comfort. I held my breath—waiting. The rustle moved around me, coming to a halt somewhere in front of me. It, whatever it was, was circling me. I needed to find Ryder and get the hell out.

My lungs ached and I realised I was holding my breath and let it out in a rush. The darkness before me exploded as the thing lunged at me. I caught a glimpse of yellow reptilian eyes and lethal fangs as I dove out the way. I hit the ground hard, jarring my knee and stumbling as I got up and scrambled away. I could hear it behind me. It could have pounced, could have taken a bite, but it was toying with me. That frightened me more than anything. If it had the sense to toy with me, then it had some level of intelligence, and what the hell could I do up against an intelligent monster?

Ryder’s rope was gone. I’d dropped it. I battled with my own rope, trying to avoid getting tangled. Shit, I could cut the link, pull off the harness and—

Hissssssss.

All rational thought fled as I felt it. Scaly and dry and oh, Mother, it was wrapping itself around me. I was too frightened to move, too frightened to fight back because critters were one thing, but this . . . this was something out of a nightmare.

“Hey! Over here! You don’t want her, you want me!” Ryder called out from somewhere above us.

The monster paused for a brief moment in its movement, and I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. A diversion! If it let go of me, then maybe I could find a weapon. Maybe with its focus on Ryder, I could beat it, save us both. Ryder was obviously hurt bad. If he could have come to my rescue, he would have done so already. It was up to me. I could do this. I could fight. My pack. I just needed to get to my pack, which was squished up against my back. Dammit!

The bands around me tightened, swift and sudden. I was airborne, dangling like a piece of string. A breeze ruffled my head and yellow eyes blinked down at me. Jaws opened wide, showcasing fangs dripping with some kind of clear fluid.

I screamed.

Clay tapped the dead UV grow light. There was something wrong somewhere in the wiring. Somewhere, a fuse was blown, but damned if he could find it. He clung to the ladder as he examined the circuit. He was high up, higher than he felt comfortable with, but he was fine as long as he didn’t look down.

Shelter had been equipped by the government to house three hundred people, mainly government officials, scientists, and the like, for up to fifteen years. It had been stocked with medical supplies, a fully equipped laboratory, food, and an underground greenhouse fitted with UV grow lights. It was a safe house that was meant to ensure that the government survived. As it stood, not a single government official or scientist had made it in. The event had occurred so suddenly and without warning that by the time the government realised what was happening and rallied troops, it was too late. So it was a bedraggled, frightened bunch of civilians who followed the Mother to Shelter, four hundred civilians, who had swelled to over five hundred during the last nineteen years. The reaping of the Cusp had helped a little, taken the edge off, but it wasn’t enough. They relied more than ever on the greenhouse for fresh produce, and now it looked like that was failing them too. The last cow had died six months ago. They were out of fresh meat, milk, eggs—the lot. This was not good.

He tapped the light and sighed. What was he going to tell Blake? What were they going to do? With one UV light dead, more would surely follow.

He couldn’t breathe; his chest ached. He quickly climbed down the ladder and leaned forward, hands on knees as he fought the panic attack. He’d never had one like this before. The only time he’d felt anything like this was when he got close to the Horizon and the thought of the Shadowlands beyond. It frightened him like nothing else. It was why he hadn’t wanted to become a Reaper. The excuse about wanting to keep his promise to their parents had been just that—an excuse. The truth was too embarrassing. No one, not even Blake, knew the truth.