Page 20 of Bonds of Starfall

She took a deep breath, staring up at the dark trees above her, and then, before she could think it through, she jumped into action.

Her grip on the Echogun was steady as she held it in front of her. One hand cupped under the butt of the gun, with her other hand firm on the grip. Her finger hovered over the trigger, ready to fire.

The Rogue’s head was tipped up toward the sky as it howled, blood streaked across the Nova-infested ground behind it. Adead deer lay behind, its guts ripped out and strewn on the ground.

It was gruesome.

And she?—

Remembered.

The haunting calls and trills of the Rogues as they had broken into her house, the screams of her parents, the gurgling cries that haunted her. She had hidden in her closet until a lowlevel Rogue had broken down the door and dragged her onto her carpet. Her heart clenched in memory of claws ripping through her stomach.

Rin blinked.

And the Rogue was charging right for her.

"F-fuck!" she stammered, raising her Echogun—she hadn’t even been aware that she had dropped her aim. She squeezed her eyes shut and fired.

Pop, pop, pop.

The recoil jarred her, but she held on, eyes opening as she stared down the Rogue.

The bullets ripped right through its flesh, blue blood splattering the ground as it gave a low warble, and finally fell over.

Rin sagged. "Oh my god," she whispered. She was better than this—better than slipping up. It almost cost her life. Her hands were shaking. She didn’t holster her gun; she kept it raised as she slowly inched toward the fallen Rogue.

It didn’t move.

The deer’s blood was coated around its maw, fur and bits of intestines stuck in its jagged teeth.

Safe for now, she knelt, using the butt of her gun to prod at its side. It was large. This was no lowlevel Rogue. This had to be a midlevel.

Why would the Academy send her here?

A twig snapped behind her.

Rin whirled, gun raised as she stood, facing the treeline.

The gleam of a silver blade was the first thing she saw.

Then a face, shrouded in shadows.

Not a Rogue.

"Who’s there?" Rin called.

From between the trees, a person emerged.

Rin’s eyes trailed up from the tip of brown boots, coated in mud, tracking over white pants, a white shirt, and a white hood, pulled up over a face. The person’s frame was tall, shoulders wide—a man.

Rin pointed her Echogun right at the stranger’s head. "Who are you?" Her tone was hard.

In one gloved hand, the man held the base of a long, beautiful scythe. His grip was loose and non-threatening.

Rin couldn’t see under his hood. Just because he had a scythe didn’t mean…

"Show yourself," she demanded.