Reclamation (Book 3 The Ravening Series) Read Free Page A

summertime. My heart rate accelerated but if I kept my gaze down I could almost pretend that I wasn't standing within a giant concrete tube with water flowing above me.
    Cade directed me with subtle pulls and tugs on my hand as his body against mine moved me toward the left or right. It's not so bad , I told myself. It's just darker that's all, that's the only difference . My eyes weren't nearly as good as Cade's in the night, but they had improved over the past few months either from his blood or from the fact we were almost nocturnal now. Either way, I was able to pick out subtle differences in the asphalt I was focused upon.
    "Lights." Darnell's whisper caused my head to instinctively come up. I immediately regretted the action. I brought my head back down, but not before the dim glow of the flashlights illuminated the walls around us. I was tempted to glance back at the front of the tunnel, I knew I would still be able to see the fading daylight, but I couldn't bring myself to move. It may be the last of the day I'd see for awhile, but I was too busy focusing on putting one foot in front of the other and not falling apart, to look back.
    Coward , I ridiculed myself. Childish, broken, coward !
    Tears brimmed in my eyes as I took a deep breath and forced my head up. The shadows that played over the walls gave the tunnel an even creepier feel that it did not need. Though there was no fog, there was an almost misty quality to the air that caused my skin to crawl and the air to shimmer oddly.
    It wasn't the misty air that held my attention though but the amount of vehicles clustered within. There were more vehicles stretching into the tunnel than I'd seen in months. They were bunched in the middle of the road and lined the sides of the walls. My mouth parted as I looked at all of the vehicles before turning to look behind me. There were a few cars stretching back to the opening, but it wasn't until here that they became thicker and more congested. We were going to have to zigzag through and climb over them in order to get out.
    "What is this?" I squeaked.
    Cade shook his head as he studied the confines of the tunnel. My claustrophobia was briefly buried under my growing confusion and uncertainty as we scrambled through the vehicles. Cade helped me climb onto the hood of a car as we reached an area that was completely blocked. Like a plucked guitar string, his body vibrated with tension as he landed next to me on the other side of the car. The fact that he was so unsettled by this new development did little to ease my anxiety as there was little that ruffled Cade.
    I pulled Abby closer to me and held her against my side. Her doe brown eyes were wide as she wordlessly gazed up at me. My hand entwined with her small one as Cade moved before us unflinchingly.
    "Wait." Darnell pulled up. He shifted his rifle and grasped it in both hands before him as his mocha eyes surveyed the crowded tunnel. His deep coffee colored skin gleamed in the flashlight beams as he crept forward. Beads of sweat had broken out across his forehead and trickled down his cheeks. He had recently shaved his head completely bald which emphasized his high cheekbones, narrow chin and handsome features. Years of being a soldier had honed his body into that of a well built killing machine, one that we all looked to for leadership.
    "Everyone get your weapons ready." I squeezed Abby's hand and reluctantly released it to pull my pistol free of my waistband. "Do not fire unless you have something to hit. Ricocheting bullets are just as deadly," Darnell ordered gruffly.
    I could sense Cade's displeasure as he watched Abby and I. He liked this even less than any of us, but what choice did we have? To double back now would take too much time and there was nothing to go back to. As of now there was no threat here, only haphazard cars.
    Another fifty feet into the tunnel things began to change even more. Whereas the cars had seemed to have a certain order to them before