He presses two fingers against her neck, and …
Relief sweeps across his face, a tear running down his cheek. Picking her limp body up off the ground, he turns back to the Hunters behind him. “She’s alive.”
With rapid fire, the Hunters finish off the last of the Chimera, and Alex returns to the SUV with Silver in his arms. Not wanting to broach the subject with the Deputy Commissioner, one Hunter waits until he’s out of earshot before whispering to another of his colleagues.
“Why didn’t they kill her?”
True enough, the starving Chimera should’ve slaughtered her the moment they found her.
In any case, just minutes later, the convoy passes back over the City Bridge. From the watchtower, Maydevine and the Governor watch with bated breath as Alex steps out of the SUV with Silver’s body in his arms.
Awaiting him is an ambulance, and the coroner’s van. Nobody was sure which one to send, so they sent both.
Alex delivers Silver into the ambulance, and Maydevine reminds himself to breathe. As the ambulance speeds off to Western Point, its sirens blaring, the Governor sighs with that seems like relief.
If Maydevine catches it, he doesn’t press her on it.
“I can’t do this anymore,” he announces. “You’ll have my resignation on your desk in the morning.”
Unwilling to enter into a dialogue with her, he tosses his cigarette over the edge of the tower and makes his exit, leaving her dumbfounded.
*************************
For the second time, Alex keeps a vigil by Silver’s bedside. A doctor stirs him from an uncomfortable half-sleep when he comes into the room to check on her, and Alex recognizes him as the same doctor who saw her the first time she was admitted.
“She’s going to be fine, you know.” The doctor smiles at him.
“Yeah? I’ve heard that before.”
“She lost a lot of blood and she was badly dehydrated, but her blood pressure’s stabilized and she could wake up at any time.” He flicks through her chart. “She shouldn’t sustain any permanent damage, although she will need to take it easy for the next few weeks.”
“Good luck with that.” Alex smirks.
“Nothing was broken, but her left ankle was badly sprained. If she doesn’t keep off it, and let it heal, she could do more damage to it.”
“I’ll let you be the one to tell her she’s on bed rest, because she’ll be thrilled.”
“I’ll remember to get an armed guard.” The doctor drops her chart back into its slot at the foot of her bed. “I do need to borrow you for just one moment, though. If you wouldn’t mind.”
“What for?”
“There’s some paperwork in my office that requires a signature.”
“Can’t it wait?”
“Not really.” The doctor shakes his head. “I need someone to sign off on her aftercare so that I can start preparing her discharge papers.”
Eager to get her home, Alex nods. “Okay.”
He follows the doctor out of the room, glancing back at Silver over his shoulder.
No sooner have they left than the Governor slips into the room, watching to make sure she hasn’t been seen. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, she reaches out and lays a hand on Silver’s shoulder, gently shaking her.
“Silver.”
Silver doesn’t stir.
More shaking. “Silver.”
Silver begins to move in the bed, trying to roll away from the shaking, but the Governor holds her firm, forcing her into consciousness.
“Silver, we have very little time.”
Silver opens her eyes and looks around the room, trying to fathom out her surroundings. “What happened?” She searches the room for a familiar face. “Where’s Alex?”
The Governor tries to settle her. “He’s fine. He found you and brought you back here. You need to listen to me, Silver.”
“Where is he?”
“He’ll be back soon, but I need you to pay very close attention to what I’m about to tell you.”
“Why? What is it? Where’s Ethan Raine?”
The Governor has a poor bedside manner, and can’t hide her frustration. “He’s dead,” she snaps.
Silver tries to sit up, but the Governor holds her down with surprising force.
“What do you want?” Silver eyes her potential assailant with caution, caught off-guard by her strength.
“I know that Alex hasn’t told you because he’s scared and he doesn’t know how, and he doesn’t know what it means. None of them do.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s in your medical file: the truth about what happened to you when you were infected.”
“No …” Silver shakes her head, not wanting to listen. “I want to see Alex.”
The Governor continues to hold Silver against the bed with a firm and steady hand. Averting her eyes from Silver momentarily, she removes her contact lenses.
Silver almost dies on the spot.
The Governor’s gleaming, bright violet eyes are shining back at her.
Undoubtedly Fusion.
“You’re a part of this now.” The Governor exudes such great pride.
Silver tries to back up, but she has nowhere to go and the Governor leans in closer, forcing her full attention.
“Welcome to the dawn of a new age, General.”
EPILOGUE
CHAPTER Ø
A Prelude
The Sentinel District
Amaranthe, 2349 CE
– One Year Later
A Sentinel District apartment.
A bedroom.
In it: Silver and Alex.
Silver, bedraggled and tired, is standing at the foot of the bed while Alex, beaten and bruised, his knuckles and his wedding ring smeared with blood, lights up a cigarette.
Silence.
Then, a noise.
A buzzing.
A distant hum, growing closer; growing louder.
A strange vibration gently shakes the floor beneath their feet.
Silver and Alex share a look.
“What the fuck is that?” she asks the engineering expert.
Alex shakes his head.
Moments later, stepping out onto the balcony, they look up into the sky.
Above the city, below the clouds but above the rooftops, three Old World military helicopters—Chinooks, with large Union Jack flags spray painted on their undercarriage—are approaching at great speed. Silver and Alex turn to each other, Silver already striking conclusions in her head.
“This can’t be good.”
OUT NOW
About The Author
Keira Michelle Telford is an award-winning author with a love for the gruesome, the macabre, and the downright filthy. She writes dystopian science fiction, erotic lesbian romance, and other lesbian fiction.
Website: www.keiramichelle.com
Twitter: @mylostanddamned
Facebook Page for KM Telford
Goodreads Author Page
Amazon Author Page
Works by this author:
The SILVER Series
The Amaranthe Chronicles
The Outlier Trilogy
www.ellacross.com
www.facebook.com/thesilverseries
The Prisonworld Trilogy
www.carmenwild.com
Standalone titles:
Cadence of My Heart – an erotic lesbian romance
The Housemistress – an erotic lesbian romance
Hoar & Rime (A Short Story) – lesbian fiction
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ZERO
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEE
N
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER Ø