Ascendant Saga Collection: Sci-Fi Fantasy Techno Thriller Brandon Ellis (ebook reader for comics txt) 📖

the front seat, her hands around the wheel, staring at Drew like he had half a brain.

“Get a hold of yourself, Drew. She’s a child. Comfort her, and for God’s sakes, stop lying to her.”

Drew lurched back a tad.

Laura gave Drew an understanding nod, one that said you know what to do and that she didn’t raise an idiot. Then his mom faded away.

Drew scratched the back of his head and looked down at Mya.

The breeze blew again and Mya squeezed tighter around his leg.

He placed a hand on her back. “Your dad is working. He’ll join us when he’s done. Might be a few days, a week, and hopefully not more than a month.”

She glanced at him. “He’s here?”

Drew looked around. “I don’t think so.” He eyed the store. He’d have to break in, find a tube and shove it into the truck’s gas line and siphon the gas out. The store better have a gas can.

“What’s that?” Mya unwrapped an arm from Drew’s leg and pointed behind him.

A small drone hovered above and in front of the trees that lined the property. It was the buzzing sound he’d thought he’d been hearing. It dipped to the side.

It dipped again.

Drew furrowed his brow. “Get behind me, Mya.”

Drew walked slowly, taking short steps so Mya could use him as a shield, just in case this small drone was Chinese and had a gun.

“It’s really neat,” said Mya, pulling out from behind him and running toward the drone.

Drew reached his hand out, doing his best to grab her. “No, Mya.” He chased after her, imagining automatic rounds blasting out of the drone’s nose, Mya getting hit, taking the blunt force into her chest, vibrating as each bullet pounded her like he’d seen in movies.

None of that happened.

Mya made her way beneath the drone and attempted to grab it out of the air. She giggled like any six-year old who’d forgotten about her mommy, daddy, and anything else in the world except for the joy of the moment.

“Don’t, Mya.”

The drone lifted in the air, and turned around. It dipped another time.

Where the tree line met the pavement, the terrain had a slight decline—almost a hill, but not quite. The drone avoided a tree, moving into the woods, and down that decline.

Drew picked up Mya, her legs wrapping around his waist, her hands grasping his coat. She jabbed a finger at the drone, her lips downturned. “Did I scare it?”

“No. I think it wants us to follow it.” He patted her heart. “What do you think?”

She gave a slow nod, her eyes as innocent as a baby. “I think so.”

Some teenage techy was probably flying that thing, seeing what was going on in his town.

Drew stepped over a downed branch, then around a stump, heading a few yards into the wooded area. The drone bucked right, changing its direction.

Drew continued to follow, Mya in his arms.

The wind picked up and they rounded another tree. Looking up, gray clouds came in fast. Rain was on its way.

The drone hovered ten yards. Then moved up and down several times, dipping left and right, left and right, over and over again until Drew could see why.

More than a dozen 5-gallon gas cans sat around the base of a tree.

Drew stopped and set Mya on her feet. “Stay here.” He slowly took a step forward, hearing the leaves and branches under his shoes. He surveyed the area, wondering where the trap could be. He picked up a heavy rock, then threw it near the can, half expecting a net to rise from under the leaves and carry the gas cans, and anyone else who may have gotten caught.

He looked back at Mya. She was gone.

His heart about hit his knees. He heard the leaves rustle and spun on his heels. Mya ran to the gas cans.

He let out an exasperated breath. “Don’t touch that.” He walked to the cans and took off one of the caps. A stream of fumes punctured the air. “It’s fuel.”

The drone lowered, then dipped a few more times. A stream of light came from its belly, then a man stood in front of them. He wore a tie, blue suit, and had his hands on his hips. He almost looked like his uncle Jaxx, but a bit older, wiser, his eyes confident.

“Hello, Drew.” The man smiled. “I’m President Jefferson Kennedy. We need your help. Continue your course.”

The man disappeared and the drone lifted upward and over the canopy of trees. It sped off.

Drew put his hands over his mouth. “Did you see a guy standing there by chance?”

“Yeah.”

So he wasn’t hallucinating again.

He grasped the handles on two cans and picked them up. “You think you can lift one?” he asked.

Mya tried, then shook her head.

“Alright. Stay with me. No running off. Uncle Drew has another place to the east to show you.”

37

J-Quadrant, Solar System - Flood of Dawn, Callisto

A day after her crazy flight to East Rise, the invasion-laden city just east of Flood of Dawn, Rivkah was bunked up with the maximally-annoying Katherine Bogle. They were in a clear dome with nothing but beds and crystal walls.

What was worse, she couldn’t get her mind off of the girl and those kids tortured by those monsters, the Kelhoon. She knew about the Kelhoons ambition to rule the galaxy, and while in the SSP she experienced it first hand. Yet she didn’t see the behind the scenes version and what the Kelhoons did to the survivors. She never wanted to see it again. In fact, she wanted that entire Kelhoon race exterminated. She’d love to do her part now.

“You’ll be able to do your part very soon, Rivkah. But, it will come at a price,” said Bogle.

Rivkah sat. “What did you just say?”

Bogle looked off in the distance, staring at something Rivkah couldn’t see. “I am the web that keeps you and the two together. I won’t steer you wrong. Only you can steer you wrong.”

Rivkah crossed her arms. “What in