Revenant Slaves Chapter 41: Chapter 40: Ash

Read chapter 41 of Revenant Slaves by Zee on NovelPedia.

Chapter 40: Ash Maya was there in an instant. She called for one of the others, and the rebel came running with a white metal case in hand. Ash recognized it vaguely; one of the cases he had carried from the city. The rebel snapped it open and took out a scanning device, passing it over Spring’s body, then over her belly. Another rebel knelt down. Then another. They worked quickly, their hands sure, tools unfolding, readings flickering blue-white across small screens. Ash hovered there like a ghost. “Tell me,” he said. “Tell me!” One of them finally looked up. “She’s lucky,” the woman said. “No serious physical trauma. Shock knocked her out, but she’ll live.” Ash’s breath caught. “And the child?” The woman checked one more reading, then nodded. “Alive and kicking,” the woman said, relief spilling out of her voice. Tears started flowing down his cheeks . He cried with relief so sharp it bordered on pain. He cried for Spring, and for the unborn child that had survived, and for Bluey and the child who had not. He cried because the loss of one mother would break his people, and the saving of another felt like a miracle they desperately needed. When the tears finally stopped, Ash looked around the settlement. No houses had survived. Not properly. The whole place was a flattened wound of twisted scrap and shattered synthetic walls. The larger factory buildings and the storage houses still stood in pieces, but even they had been mauled by the quake. Only one structure seemed untouched. The warden’s tower. It stood there in the distance, straight and whole and undisturbed, while everything around it had been reduced to rubble. Ash found the irony so vile it made him sick. Rain’s house had been the safest place in the settlement. The strongest. The one built to protect the mothers, the sick, the newborns. And today it had become the deadliest trap of all. Maya came back to him and patted his shoulder. She looked tired. More tired than he had ever seen her. “Anyone else in the house?” she asked. Ash frowned, thinking. “No one was meant to be. But I wouldn’t know I was locked in my room.” His heart lurched. Spark and Miru. Where were they? Knowing them, they would have run to him if they were fit enough to stand. Maya must have seen the thought hit him, but she spoke first. “Now tell me. Properly. What happened with Zain?” Ash swallowed. “He was protecting Ma and me. Then... we were just outside. I don’t know how. And our injuries...” He lifted his stitched hand and touched the bandage on his face. “It’s like they’ve healed weeks’ worth in seconds.” Maya’s eyes narrowed. She looked toward where Zain lay with Rain. “That faction he belongs to,” she said carefully. “They’re known for techniques. Special ones. Things that look like miracles. Maybe that’s what happened… Maybe he finally manifested.” Ash stared at her. Then Maya grabbed his shoulder tighter. “But do not repeat that to anyone else, not yet, we must be sure.” Before Ash could answer, a scream tore through the settlement. ‘Spring!’ She had woken. The rebels around her looked helpless as she thrashed and cried. Ash ran at once, Maya at his side. As soon as Spring saw him, she tried to get up. Ash dropped beside her before she could strain herself more. She clutched at his clothes with desperate strength, sobbing as if she feared he might vanish. “Ash—Ash—Ash—” “I’m here,” he said. “I’m here.” She wept into his chest. “Spark and Miru were with us in the house.” Something shifted under Ash’s ribs. He went cold. “They were waiting outside your room,” Spring choked out. “Waiting for Zain and Rain to leave. They wanted... they wanted more time with you...” Each word drove into him like a blade. He did not remember standing up, but he was. One second, he was beside Spring, the next he was moving across the wreck of the house like a mad thing, heading for the place where Zain had dug them free. He started tearing into the rubble again. Not careful. Not patient. Mad. He ripped loose pane