Shadowed Ground Read Free

sister loved the cub with all her sixteen-year-old heart. Some girls dreamed of ponies. Charlotte loved big cats. The unfortunately named white tiger cub ensured her instant, undying devotion to the three Smith clones. Only a snow leopard could have topped it. Alex was pretty sure a snow leopard, endangered almost into extinction, was beyond even the Clone’s abilities.
    He hoped.
    Rajah was one of the few things that made Charlotte smile. She gained animation when she played with him, free of Clone intervention. He heard her calling the tiger cub’s name from the sun porch, where she usually played with him after breakfast.
    Then she started screaming.
    He bolted, covering himself in even more orange juice. He found her sobbing, the lapful of white spotted fur curled in her lap. “Rajah,” she sobbed, barely getting the syllables out. “He won’t wake up. He won’t move. Help him, Alex!”
    Alexander stood there, staring, helpless. He didn’t give a damn about the tiger cub nearly so much as he did his sister. For her sake, he would try. He went to her, putting an arm around her heaving shoulders, and put one hand on the cub. Just how the hell do you take its pulse, anyway? he wondered. The beast’s fur was still warm. There was slight movement under his hand. The thing was still breathing, at least.
    “Shh, Charlotte,” he whispered into her blond hair that was so exactly like his mother’s. “He’s not dead. He’s still breathing. We’ll get him help. We’ll get it all sorted out, and it will all be ok, right, sweetheart?”
    They were both in tears at this point.
    Alexander turned to the shadows where he knew, just knew, the Smith clones waited. “Fix it, dammit,” he growled. ”You did this. We both know you did. Fix it.”
    Two nearly identical faces wore twin expressions of bliss. “Poor little Charlotte Ravenwood,” one of them crooned. The other was busy inhaling, drawing closer and closer to his sister as Alexander clutched her protectively. He hissed, actually hissed, at the Clones.
    “That’s close enough,” he snarled. “Where’s the one of you that can take care of this thing?”
    “Oh, I’m afraid he’s away. Business. Bringing more of our associates over.”
    “Of course,” Alexander snarled again, alarm coursing through him. “Of course.” He turned to his sister. “Don’t worry, Charlotte. I’ll call the vet in Spring Valley.” He gritted his teeth.
    “Oh, yes, that,” a Smith clone said, taking deep breaths from his spot in the shadows. His eyes widened in anticipation. “There are problems with the roads. They’re impassable, for some reason.” He smiled delightedly when Charlotte sobbed harder. Alexander finally exploded into Smith’s face with rage.
    “You bastard,” he spat, struggling to maintain control of his fists.
    “I must admit, I had my doubts about you,” the Clone said, his face upturned in sick ecstasy. “You have managed to resist us so well. It’s quite extraordinary. But this rage of yours… it’s exquisite, in its own way. Not as delicate, perhaps, as sorrow, but still quite nice.”
    Alexander turned to see the other Smith clone actually sniffing his sister’s hair, his hands buried deeply in it while she sobbed over the cub. She acted as if the second Smith clone didn’t even exist. Perhaps, for her, he didn’t.
    That was the exact moment when Alexander knew, in his bones, that his hometown was being taken over by monsters.
    He didn’t know what kind, exactly. Sometimes they acted like emotional vampires, literally drinking people’s fear and hate and sorrow. Sometimes they were more like dark magicians, or aliens, with their strange language and endless money and slowly building force of personnel and weapons and their ability to hide how wrong they were from almost everyone.
    His blood ran cold as pieces clicked into place. Personnel. Building. Weapons.
    Monsters were taking over his hometown and building an army. An army of