The Network ( Book One of the Grounders Series )

8

I sit next to the door of my old clan as the torches go out one by one. The Unified people who live in the darkest recesses of the Artery have said that the Hearth supplies light for the Network, and that once it's out for the night, there is no other light in the Artery.

They are right. The Hearth should be out and now all the torches lining the walls are black too.

I sit amongst the darkness, trying vainly to sort through my thoughts. Strange things have happened since I
was put into the prison, and I can't seem to get it all straight.

The world swirls around me, nothing but black. Blackness everywhere.

I wonder is Cicada or Jonah are worried about me on the inside, or if my Mother was worried before she died.

I feel no grief surprisingly. Not for Carter, or my Mother. All I feel is loneliness, anxiety for what the Lizard of Death, the Dragon, will do next.

Who is he? How did he penetrate my mind? How did he kill this people? How did he talk to us.

In my minds eye I see a village. This village is made of makeshift tents with cots inside them. There is a well in the center of the village.

Am I hallucinating again?

Soldiers in Verro attire circle the village, holding long black across their chest.

Rifles. The word comes to me immediately. They are holding the rifles at port arms.

For a second I think I'm finally having The Dream, but then I see the dark cavern's ceiling above. No stars, no sky, just rock. The soldiers mill around the perimeter of the encampment.

Then an alarm sounds. A high-pitched, blood-curling wail that reverberates through the camp. The people rush out of their tents, looking around, bewildered. Even the soldiers were seemingly confused.

"What's going on?" One man demands, jabbing his finger into the chest of a soldier. He wears a brown burlap robe. His white beard grows out mangled and unruly.

The soldier swats his hand away. "Get your hands off me, sir."

The man just stares at the soldier. And then his eyes glow red. They are like irises of blood.

The possessed man recites the prophecy to the people, his voice mimicking the Dragon's, scratchy as sandpaper.

The soldier draws his sword and slices vigorously across the chest of the man. Blood flows thickly to the ground, into the cracks in the stone. It runs through the cracks like veins, passing under the feet of every person. They all become possessed by the Dragon, their eyes shining scarlet as blood.

The soldier looks around, naked fear reflecting on his wife eyes. The bleeding man should be dead, but it seems as if his blood supply is endless.

You are no longer in control soldier. The Dragon's voice echoes though the cavern, seemingly with no source. With my new army I will rise and other throw the cowardly bastards that sit in the comfy chairs and pretend to rule. I will become King of the Network.

The bleeding my pulls back his leaps, revealing a set of gnarly looking, jagged fangs. The soldier crumbles his stony facade of toughness, and actually shrieks.

A second later the gangs are deep with in the flesh covering the soldier heart, blood is everywhere. Everything is red.

I know you can see this, Alaric. The Dragon's voice echoes. How can I make this stop? I am seriously off the rails! I'm going crazy. This is what happens to those who stand against me. Don't say I didn't give you the chance to survive.