Ash Princess (The Deviant Future #6) - Eve Langlais Page 0,7

I’m going,” he said with a wry chuckle. “I like that you’ve made it a hybrid machine. Is water plentiful in the Diamond Kingdom?”

Riella frowned. “You know what? That’s a good question. Better make sure we pack some shit to burn.” And she meant that quite literally. Animal poop when dried into pucks made a good, if smoky, fuel source.

“Steering, acceleration, brakes.” He checked out the controls, making sure he recognized them.

“I wonder if I’ll be given enough time to equip it with guns?” Riella muttered.

“The faster I get going, the better. How much work is still left to do?”

“Since electronics probably won’t work, I can skip those and outfit the tank with other things.”

“Such as?” To him, it seemed ready to go. A few packs of food, gallons of water, and his own arsenal would make it perfect.

“I was planning to add a drop-down bed over here.” She patted the wall in the open area behind the driver seat. “Evacuation unit for waste. Oh, and a heater. I hear it used to get really cold in Diamond.”

As Riella made notes and discussed some of the things he might encounter, Cam had to wonder at his sanity. How could he be so calm about going into a place none had returned from?

If you don’t cede, then all of Ozz will die.

Chapter 2

Rather than get caught up in any fanfare over his departure, two days—and a few heated arguments with his sister—later, when Riella told Cam to take Burton for a spin and see how it felt, he did more than that. He drove it to the stash of supplies he’d been gathering, loaded the tank, and headed northwest via a trail through the marsh that took him to the cliffs. Over a hundred feet high, the bluffs overlooked an expanse of water that astonished.

When he lived in Emerald, the concept of a body of liquid as far as the eye could see seemed ludicrous. But oceans did exist, along with their dangerous denizens. He stared a tad too long, delaying the next step of his journey, wondering if he’d see one splashing the surface.

It was one thing to be brave in the safety of Eden. Quite another out in the open on his own. But Cam wasn’t a coward, and he’d not left Eden to sightsee.

Having stretched his legs, he and Burton followed the track north, the path more and more unkempt. He saw no signs of recent passage. He slowed only a little when he drove past an abandoned village of a dozen houses. Not a single piece of laundry flapped on a line. Only a lone door banged open and shut in a light breeze.

The air appeared clean, and plants still grew. No sign of the poison and yet the people had chosen to flee. He took it as a sign he neared the trouble spot. He made sure all the seals were tight on the truck, and then he kept driving.

As he neared the border between the kingdoms, he couldn’t help but notice the start of some fuzzy gray substance coating the ground and frosting stunted trees. The hearty, scrubby grass in this area grew in patches, but even that appeared sickly. He didn’t see any signs of life, not even insects.

As he drove through the undisturbed layer of ash, the motion agitated it enough the very air began to swirl with the particles. He eyed the windshield and checked the seals on the vehicle for signs of corrosion. The good news was he didn’t hear any worrying hisses. The bad? Time to put on the damned suit. He wouldn’t want to get caught inside a tank that decided to stop responding or began decaying at a rapid rate.

First, he peed. Ate. Drank. Did everything he could, only to realize he once more delayed. Perhaps he shouldn’t have run off. Casey would be pissed. He’d not even left a note.

What would it say? Sorry I was a cling-on. Have a happy life.

Best he made a clean break. And quickly because she might just decide to come after him to kick his ass for going without a goodbye.

The protective outfit fit over his garments, minus his weapons. Not that they would do him much good tucked inside. It zipped up, and then over the zipper, there was a magnetic flap. The ankles cinched tight around his boots and wrists. The material of the suit crinkled when he moved, which would get annoying quick, not to mention it would