I AM LOST (I AM MAN Book 2), page 17
As if reading her thoughts, Bastion reached into his breast pocket and retrieved a tiny data chip. He held it up, a smile forming on his lips. “As long as we have this, we’ll be alright.”
Clora stood. “What … what about Exfive?” She hadn’t wanted to address the issue before, but that was when she’d thought Bastion had been angry. She’d expected him to question her about her Guardian, try to blame everything on X5. But he hadn’t. Bastion had crawled from the rider and got right back to work, planning a route to the Rebel headquarters. Business as usual. His casual demeanor made her anxious. His decision to ignore their very big problem made her want to discuss it now.
He put both the chip and his smile away. “What about him?”
“He’s still out here, Bass. We can’t just leave him.”
“Clora. He tried to kill me.”
She shook her head. “He wasn’t himself. You know he would never try to hurt you—or anyone.”
“But he did. And he’s out here in these woods with us.”
“That’s why we have to find him,” she said, trying to keep her voice from rising.
Bastion’s eyes darkened. “That’s why we need to get moving. Exfive is a high-class Guardian who just went rogue and tried to kill us. He is still out there, Clora, and something is still wrong with him.”
She hugged herself, shaking her head as if that could make all the wrongs right. “He said he saw Helios when he was fighting. Maybe he did something to him. Maybe he changed him.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
She lost it. “How does it not matter!? How can you say that about someone you called your friend?”
“It isn’t easy for me to say!” he snapped at her. “But you admitted it yourself—Exfive would never try to hurt us. Yet, he did. That means you’re right, he wasn’t himself. Something is gravely wrong with him, but we are not in the position to go looking for him to find out what’s going on. He’s dangerous, Clora.”
“So, we’re just supposed to leave him out here?”
Bastion’s expression softened and he exhaled a sigh. His green eyes gazed over at her, moving slowly to the debris lying in the grass, then to the destroyed rider, and finally to the line of trees. She could hear something rustling in the brush around them, and though she felt a slight breeze blow over her skin, she wasn’t at all certain the wind had caused the movement in the woods.
Bastion spoke quietly, his voice barely more than a whisper. It sent a shiver up her spine. “We won’t be leaving him, Clora. Not at all.”
“I don’t understand,” she whispered back.
“I’m sure wherever we go, Exfive will follow us.”
“What makes you think that?”
His eyes glanced up at the shimmying treetops, then down at the trembling bushes. The rustling was louder now, all around them. Goosebumps formed on Clora’s skin, despite the humid heat.
“He tried to kill me,” Bastion said. “And he failed.”
Clora swallowed the urge to reach for the prybar and hold it out in front of her, protecting herself from whatever seemed to be watching them. Coming closer.
“He’s hunting us, Clora. That’s his mission now.”
Continue the series…
I AM BROKEN
More books by Valicity Elaine & TRC Publishing!
Christian Fantasy
Cross Academy
The End of the World series
The Scribe
Christian Romance
Withered Rose
The Living Water (Coming Soon)
Christian Children’s Fiction
Too Young
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Hey! You made it to the end! First, a big thank you to Jesus Christ for blessing me with yet another book. And thank YOU for reading this book! If you’ve made it here, you’ve probably read the first book in the series—I AM MAN. It has been quite a journey! I hate leaving things on a cliffhanger, but that’s how the story came to me, haha. I’m so sorry! Thankfully, the third book is now available! Enjoy the next installment, I AM BROKEN. I’ll see you there!
Many blessings!
The Rebel Christian Publishing
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Original Author’s Notes
Chapter One
Another reminder to any confused readers that this is Book Two in the I AM MAN series. You can find book one on Kindle Vella or look for it soon in the Kindle store as a traditional eBook as well as print. Thank you for reading! I truly hope you enjoyed!
Chapter Two
I just want to say that my little sister absolutely loves the Balpur Aliens lol! She thinks they're "so cute" which made me crack up! Maybe we'll see more of them in this book???
Chapter Three
So, I really enjoyed writing X5's memories. This is a part of him we've never seen before and I had to approach it carefully because I felt whatever I wrote down would really define his character. He was once human and now all those traits and memories and habits have come flooding back to him. It will be an interesting journey, watching him learn to be human again. Will he enjoy it? Will he like who he was before, versus whom he has become?
Chapter Four
Oh boy... I hate writing action sequences, I feel they are one of my weaknesses. But God is good, practice makes perfect!
Chapter Five
I have been WAITING for this big reveal. Ahh ... it feels good to finally get that off my chest XD
Chapter Six
I have to admit that I'm genuinely happy about keeping the Balpur Aliens in the story. Originally, Zaust wasn't supposed to make it past the first two or three chapters so I'm excited to see where this goes.
Chapter Seven
This is by far my favorite chapter in the series thus far. Admittedly, this chapter was a bit of an experiment just to see if it fit the rest of the style of the book. I fell in love. Writing from Leo's perspective was an adventure. I feel like I've personally gotten to know and understand his character better than before. His narration was new and interesting and challenged me as a writer.
Chapter Eight
What do you think of Annie?
Chapter Nine
Exploring X5's lost memories is probably one of my favorite things to do in this story. I hope you enjoy reading these scenes as much as I enjoy writing them! God bless!
Chapter Ten
Sooooo much information was revealed in this chapter. I was honestly left dizzy after writing it, but I hope you weren't confused! God bless!
Chapter Eleven
Wasn't that kiss adorable???
Chapter Twelve
Hmm... I guess there's more drama to come? Are you looking forward to see what happens with Prince Helios and X5? Both of my sisters hated this chapter, haha, but that's because they are die-hard X5 fans. Anytime something bad happens to him, they get upset. I hope you enjoyed.
Chapter Thirteen
I love writing Leo's chapters, I just hope you love reading them too!
Chapter Fourteen
Oh boy...
Chapter Fifteen
I hope you enjoyed this book! I knowwwww I hate cliffhangers too! But don't worry! Book III will be available soon! Keep your eyes peeled for I AM MAN BOOK 3, titled, I AM BROKEN. See you soon and thanks for reading! God bless!
Elaine, Valicity, I AM LOST (I AM MAN Book 2)
