Fragments
Fighting to stop a war that could destroy everyone alive…Kira Walker nearly died searching for the RM cure, but the battle for survival is only just beginning. The genetically-engineered Partials are inextricably bound to a greater plan that could save both races and give Kira the answers she desperately seeks.Venturing deep into the wasteland, Kira’s only allies are an unhinged drifter and two Partials who betrayed her yet saved her life – the only ones who know her secret. Back on Long Island, what’s left of humanity is gearing up for war. But their greatest enemy may be one they didn’t even know existed.It is the eleventh hour of humanity’s time on earth; this journey may be their last.
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First published in hardback in the USA by HarperCollins Publishers Inc. in 2013 First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Childrenâs Books in 2013 HarperCollins Childrenâs Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd, 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF
Copyright © 2013 by HarperCollins Publishers
Dan Wells asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of the work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780007465231
Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2013 ISBN: 9780007465583 Version: 2017-05-18
This book is dedicated to everyone who ever admitted they were wrong. Itâs not a sign of weakness or a lack of dedication, itâs one of the greatest strengths a personâhuman or Partialâcan have.
CONTENTS
DEDICATION
The room came alive with the clink of glass and the roar of a hundred voices. âCornwell! Cornwell!â The men tipped their mugs and bottles and drained them in gurgling unison, slamming them down or even throwing them at the floor when the booze within was gone. Samm watched in silence, adjusting his spotting scope almost imperceptibly. The window was murky, but he could still see the soldiers grin and grimace as they slapped one another on the back, laughed at ribald jokes, and tried not to look at the colonel. The link would be telling them everything about Cornwell anyway.
Hidden in the trees on the far side of the valley, well outside the effective range of the link, Samm had no such luxury.
He twisted the knob on his tripod, swiveling the microphone barely a fraction of a millimeter to the left. At this distance even a small change of angle swept the sound across a vast portion of the room. Voices blurred through his earbuds, snatches of words and conversations in a quick aural smear, and then he was listening to another voice, just as familiar as Hectorâsâit was Adrian, Sammâs old sergeant.
â. . . never knew what hit them,â Adrian was saying. âThe enemy line shattered, exactly as planned, but for the first few minutes that made it all the more dangerous. The enemy became disoriented, firing in all directions at once, and we were pinned down too fiercely to reinforce him. Cornwell held the corner through the whole thing, never flinching, and all the time the Watchdog was howling and howling; it nearly deafened us. No Watchdog was as loyal as his. She worshipped Cornwell. That was the last major battle we saw in Wuhan, and a couple of days later the city was ours.â
Samm remembered that battle. Wuhan had been taken almost sixteen years ago to the day, in March 2061, one of the last cities to fall in the Isolation War. But it had been one of Sammâs first enemy engagements; even now he could remember the sounds, the smells, the taste of the gunpowder sharp in the air. His head buzzed with the memory, and phantom link data coursed through his brain, just enough to stir his adrenaline. Instincts and training surfaced almost immediately, heightening Sammâs awareness as he crouched on the darkened hillside, prepping him for a battle that existed only in his mind. This was followed almost immediately by an opposite reactionâa calming wave of familiarity. He hadnât linked to anyone in days, and the sudden feeling, real or not, was almost painfully comfortable. He closed his eyes and held on to it, concentrating on the memories, willing himself to feel them again, stronger, but after a few fleeting moments they slipped away. He was alone. He opened his eyes and looked back through the scope.
