THE SECOND CRADLE - BOOK TWO OF THE IRON CRADLE SAGA Chapter 20: CHAPTER TWENTY - The Survivors

Read chapter 20 of THE SECOND CRADLE - BOOK TWO OF THE IRON CRADLE SAGA by JE PAYNE on NovelPedia.

CHAPTER TWENTY The Survivors She moved through the ground floor of what used to be an office building on the outskirts of downtown. Cautious and quiet, the way she always moved now, one hand pressed flat against the wall and the other wrapped tight around her daughter's wrist. The little girl was three, and she'd learned the hard way what quiet meant. "Shh," she breathed, barely a sound at all. She squeezed her daughter's wrist gently. The little girl pressed her free hand over her mouth, the way she'd been taught, her eyes tracking her mother's face. The air inside tasted like dust and rot. A sweet, sickening smell had worked its way through concrete and tile walls, masking hidden horrors. The light filtered into the structure, thin and orange, through particulate that never fully settled. Their clothes were a patchwork of whatever they'd been able to find and layer. She had strips of fabric wound around her face from the bridge of her nose down, her eyes the only thing exposed, red-rimmed and dry from the air. Her daughter was wrapped similarly, a scarf and two separate sleeves from different garments tied around her small head. She had found half a box of protein bars on the second floor three days ago, shoved behind a collapsed partition and still sealed. They were almost gone now. She'd heard movement from somewhere above them yesterday and hadn't gone back up since. She was looking for the supply closet. She'd seen it on her second day here and hadn't risked it yet because the exterior wall on that side had a gap in it. But they were out of options. She heard the drone before she saw it. The sound came from outside first, a low rhythmic whirring that rose and fell in smooth oscillating pulses. Her whole body pulled tight as she dropped into a crouch and brought her daughter down with her, pressing them both behind the shell of an overturned desk. The drone came in through the gap in the exterior wall. It was roughly the size of a large microwave, smooth-bodied and dark, with four articulated fins that adjusted constantly as it moved, tilting and rotating in a way that almost made them seem alive. It swept the lobby in long, methodical arcs, its faint blue light pulsed from its undercarriage, and washed across the floor. She could hear the heavy rhythm of bipedal constructs moving through the streets outside, their footfalls carrying clearly through the open walls. Two of them, maybe three. The drone drifted closer. Its light swept across the top of the reception desk, inches above her head, and paused. The whirring shifted pitch, rising slightly, and she felt her daughter's fingers dig into her arm through layers of fabric. The light suddenly shut off, and the drone moved on. It took another two passes before the drone slipped back out through the gap. She waited until she couldn't hear it anymore before she moved. She went careful and low, cutting across the lobby, her daughter tucked close against her side. The bipedal constructs outside sounded like they were moving away, with each passing minute. She let out a slow breath that she'd been holding and she felt the tension in her shoulders ease a little... The supply closet was right where she remembered it, the door mostly intact, and the frame was only slightly warped. She eased it open and her stomach dropped. The goddamn thing was empty. She stood there with her hand on the doorframe, staring at the empty shelves, and when she turned around... The spider construct was five feet away from her. Roughly the dimensions of a large dog, its six-bladed legs splayed wide and low against the tile. It had come from beneath a collapsed section of dropped ceiling she hadn't thought to check. All at once, it began to spray caustic poison. The spray hit the wall beside her head in a wide arc, iridescent blue-green, stuck to everything, and the smell of it was sharp. The chemicals burned the back of her throat. She grabbed her daughter and ran. She went the only direction that w