Children of the Mountain (Book 3): Lightning Child

by Hakok, R. A.

  We make our way up to the control tower and fill our packs with the MREs. When there’s no more space left we strip the HOOAH!s from the cartons that remain and start stuffing them into the pockets of our parkas, as many as will fit. As we open the last of them I catch Mags flexing her fingers.

  ‘Is your hand okay?’

  She nods.

  ‘It’s fine, just a little numb. The battery was old, probably lifted from the fire truck. Between that and the cold I figured what little charge it still held wouldn’t be enough to do me serious harm.’

  I close the snaps on my pack.

  ‘They have no right to banish us. We should go back, make them let us in.’

  She doesn’t say anything for a moment, but then she reaches over, grabs my hand.

  ‘I’ve had longer to think about this than you, Gabe.’ She looks over at the kid, then back to me again. ‘The truth is the Juvies aren’t going to get used to the way we are now, no matter how much time we give them. I wish it were different, but it’s not. So you can go back inside if you want to. But I’m not sure it’s for me, or Johnny. We just don’t care to go on living with people who don’t want us there.’

  When we return to the portal the tunnel’s deserted. Marv’s map’s waiting at the foot of the guillotine gate, wrapped in a Ziploc bag. I pick it up, transfer it to the inside pocket of my parka. Mags and the kid start back up the path, but for a few moments I just stand in front of the bars, staring into the darkness.

  There’s a crack of thunder, louder than the ones that have gone before, and I glance up. Lightning shudders through the thunderheads above, a warning of the wrath to come. Mags told Jake we could survive out here, but I have less confidence in that than she does. She and the kid are the only things left in this cold, broken world I care about, however, so I take one last look into the tunnel then turn around and follow them.

  By the time I reach the gate they’re already waiting for me on the other side. Mags holds the wire back and I squeeze through to join them. She pulls her hood up, turns to look at me.

  ‘So where are we going to go?’

  The remains of the tracks we made coming up stretch off into the trees. We could go back, but what lies that way is already known to us. None of it is any good.

  I let my gaze follow the ridge in the opposite direction, the road I came up when I first arrived here. There are places on Marv’s map that way, places I never thought I’d have to visit. I know little of them, but I’m not sure what other options we have.

  I reach up for my goggles, slide them down.

  ‘North.’

  I hope you enjoyed the latest Children of the Mountain adventure.

  I’m currently working on The Last Guardian, the fourth book in the series. If you’d like to be notified when it will be available, or indeed if you’d just like to say hi, please get in touch through the contact page at www.rahakok.com. I love getting emails from readers.

  If you’d like to read the newspaper clippings Gabriel collects to try and figure out what happened to the world, or follow his progress on the map Marv gave him, you can download each free at www.rahakok.com.

  But before you go…

  It’s hard to overstate how important reviews are to an indie author, so if you enjoyed Lightning Child and you have a moment to spare could I ask you to post one? If you flip to the last page you should automatically be prompted to give a rating. I think Amazon wants twenty words or more, but if you click either of the links below you should be able to make it even shorter. A sentence or even a couple of words will do just fine!

  Amazon (US)

  Amazon (UK)

  Thank you!

  Life is too short. At least for some.

  A brilliant young geneticist, desperately seeking a cure for the disease that took her father. A Nevada sheriff, charged with solving a crime that threatens the very existence of his small desert town. But when an unmarked van crashes in sleepy Hawthorne, Alison Stone and Lars Henrikssen find themselves looking for the same man.

  Only Carl Gant is not what he seems. And they are not the only ones looking for him.

  Download it on Amazon

  The world lies in ruin. Outside a thick layer of ash-filled snow shrouds the frozen ground and through the long winters violent storms rage. A nanovirus that devours metal has wreaked havoc. Bridges and interstate exchanges lie collapsed in rubble; buildings list and crumble under their own weight. The virus attacked people too, leaching the metal from their bodies, turning them into bloodthirsty furies. Nobody knows where it came from.

  Only a handful survived. When Washington was attacked, the President, Kane, and a Secret Service agent, Peck, fled with a visiting class of first graders to a mothballed mountain bunker they now know as Eden. Kane tells the children they are the Chosen Ones. Soon the last of them will turn sixteen and he will reveal their matches. Then it will be their job to repopulate the planet.

  But after so long inside the mountain supplies are running low. One of the children, Gabriel, and the troubled soldier, Marv, are sent outside to scavenge for things they need. They carry steel crucifixes that allow Peck, and the handful of children he has appointed Guardians, to check whether they’ve been contaminated when they return.

  Gabriel searches the places he scavenges for books. Most of the children can’t read, but he and the rebellious Mags remember how. Books aren’t allowed in Eden, so Gabriel relays the stories he finds on the outside to Mags when he returns.

  One day while Gabriel’s outside scavenging he comes across the body of Benjamin, a soldier who was in Eden when they first arrived, together with a bloodstained map that shows the way to a place called Mount Weather. When Kane learns of the map he sends Gabriel and Marv out to find Mount Weather, even though winter is close and the storms are coming. On the way Marv becomes infected with the virus and starts to change into a fury. Before he kills himself he explains to Gabriel everything that’s wrong with Eden. Benjamin had been trying to get the children out but Kane uncovered his plan and sent Peck to kill him.

  Gabriel continues to Mount Weather where he finds another bunker, stocked with supplies. He returns to Eden, only to discover that Kane had never intended either he or Marv to return. He sneaks back in through one of the vent shafts, intending to free the Juvies without Kane knowing. But Kane has brought forward the ceremony where the children will be matched, forcing Gabriel to rethink his plans.

  While searching for a way to get the children out of the mountain Gabriel discovers stockpiles of the virus, proving that it was Kane who was responsible for releasing it in the first place. Gabriel interrupts the ceremony and confronts Kane, threatening to contaminate Eden if he won’t let them leave. The children are scared to go outside but Gabriel convinces them. He holds Peck and the Guardians at bay while Mags and the others escape into the tunnel that leads to the outside. As he’s running after them Gabriel is shot but Mags and one of the others, Jake, come back for him and drag him out. Together they seal the tunnel and Gabriel leads the children to Mount Weather.

  The Juvies have spent the winter in Mount Weather, but Gabriel knows they’re not safe there. Soon the storms will clear and Kane will send Peck for them.

  The Juvies are reluctant to leave without a destination, however, so Gabriel sets out with Mags, looking for another home for them. He has the map Marv gave him, with all the bunkers that once were part of the Federal Relocation Arc marked on it. The closest is in West Virginia, a place called The Greenbrier.

  On the way Gabriel and Mags run into a group of soldiers from The Greenbrier led by the wiry gunslinger Hicks. They follow them back to a once-luxurious resort where they meet the detached Dr. Gilbey. Gilbey is a scientist; the resort conceals a huge underground bunker she has been using as a lab while she works on a cure for the virus.

  When two of the soldiers, Truck and Weasel, attempt to sneak into Mags’ room that night Hicks suggests she would be safer in the bunker with Gilbey, but she ends up becoming infected by
the virus. Hicks explains that Mags’ only chance is for Gabriel to help Gilbey in her quest for a cure. Gilbey needs furies that are still active on which to test her work. Hicks and the other soldiers search hospitals, looking for specimens hiding in areas that might have been shielded from the effects of the pulse released when Kane scorched the skies.

  Gabriel joins Hicks and the other soldiers on a visit to a hospital in Blackburg. They find a fury, but Gabriel freezes when it attacks Ortiz, one of the soldiers, and Hicks has to kill it, along with his comrade.

  When they return to The Greenbrier Gabriel insists on seeing Mags. Unbeknownst to Gabriel it was Gilbey who infected Mags; she has been kept in a cage in the basement with a young fury, Johnny 99, since. Gilbey threatens a similar fate for Gabriel if Mags reveals this, but when they bring her out Mags manages to warn Gabriel that he has to flee.

  That night Gabriel escapes The Greenbrier. He knows that Gilbey will send the soldiers after him; he intends to lead them away so he can double back and rescue Mags. His plan is to bring her back to Eden and put her in the scanner, to remove the virus from her system, but a storm blows in and he ends up collapsing in the snow outside The Greenbrier’s gates. Hicks rescues him and brings him to a nearby church. He reveals that he was infected when the furies overran the last of humanity a decade before and has been surviving on medicine Gilbey gives him. The medicine slows down the virus, but its effects are dwindling. He agrees to help Gabriel free Mags and bring her back to Eden if he can come along.

  Gabriel and Hicks break Mags out of her cages. When Mags refuses to leave without Johnny 99 Hicks stays behind to try and get more of Gilbey’s medicine. The three set off but Gabriel and Mags are both injured and Johnny 99 is too small to move quickly. In an attempt to evade the soldiers Gilbey sends after them, Gabriel leads them into the Appalachians.

  Mags insists on sharing the medicine Hicks gave her with Johnny 99 and it quickly runs out. She and the kid both become sick. Hicks catches up with them, but when he sees Mags he explains to Gabriel she doesn’t have long now, even with the medicine he’s brought. Hicks convinces Johnny 99 he’s holding them up, so the kid leaves. When Mags finds out she grows angry. Gabriel goes off to try and find him while Hicks takes her on.

  Gabriel finds Johnny but then they run into Truck and the other soldiers. They manage to evade them and catch up with Hicks, but Mags and the kid are very sick now. They make it back to Eden with the soldiers hot on their heels. Gabriel gets them inside, where he learns that Peck has taken most of the Guardians to Mount Weather. He brings Mags and the kid to the scanner, leaving Hicks to close up the blast door, but Hicks double-crosses him, letting the soldiers in.

  When he finds out Gabriel aborts the scan, but the scanner has fried Mags’ and the kid’s circuits, rendering them both unconscious. Gabriel hides Mags in the armory and goes back out to confront the soldiers, hoping to bargain with Hicks’ for his help saving Mags’ life. Hicks offers to let him go if he’ll give up the Juvies at Mount Weather. Hicks wants to take them back for Gilbey to experiment on. But then Mags bursts out of the tunnel and overpowers the soldiers. She, Gabriel and Johnny 99 make their escape, leaving them tied up in the chapel with Kane.

  They set out for Mount Weather, hoping to get there ahead of Peck. Mags seems better but Gabriel has doubts about her sudden transformation, worried that the work of the virus is not yet done.

  Ready to begin?

  Table of Contents

  recap

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