End of the World, Start of My Empire novel · Chapter 19 of 24
Chapter 19: Four
Haskell led us to it himself, in steel cuffs, with Tova's rifle between his shoulder blades.
We came back down the mesa road at dusk, with the Tax riding behind us unarmed and the Yard's trucks full of farmers singing.
Nobody slept.
By midnight we were standing in the dry canal outside Barstow, looking at the same cracked culvert where I had once crawled to die.
"There," Haskell said, and tipped his chin at the north wall of the hole.
"I found it in the first week. A plate in the rock, no seam, no handle.
"I tried explosives. It sat there like it was laughing."
"And now?"
"Now you're the key, Greer. It only opens for what's on your arm."
I put my palm on the wall.
The blue light ran across the stone.
A perfect rectangle appeared in the rock and slid inward with a long sigh.
Cold air came out.
It smelled of iron and clean water.
A stair went down into the dark, and at the bottom of the stair was a room.
It was not a pod room.
It was round and high, with a smooth black floor.
The walls gave off a faint pale glow that did not come from any lamp.
Around the edge stood three stone pedestals.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of End of the World, Start of My Empire are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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