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Chapters (79)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. Twelve
  16. Thirteen
  17. Fourteen
  18. Fifteen
  19. Sixteen
  20. Seventeen
  21. Eighteen
  22. Nineteen
  23. Twenty
  24. Twenty-One
  25. Twenty-Two
  26. Twenty-Three
  27. Twenty-Four
  28. Twenty-Five
  29. Twenty-Six
  30. Twenty-Seven
  31. Twenty-Eight
  32. Twenty-Nine
  33. Thirty
  34. Thirty-One
  35. Thirty-Two
  36. Thirty-Three
  37. Thirty-Four
  38. Thirty-Five
  39. Thirty-Six
  40. Thirty-Seven
  41. Thirty-Eight
  42. Thirty-Nine
  43. Forty
  44. Forty-One
  45. Forty-Two
  46. Forty-Three
  47. Forty-Four
  48. Forty-Five
  49. Forty-Six
  50. Forty-Seven
  51. Forty-Eight
  52. Forty-Nine
  53. Fifty
  54. Fifty-One
  55. Fifty-Two
  56. Fifty-Three
  57. Fifty-Four
  58. Fifty-Five
  59. Fifty-Six
  60. Fifty-Seven
  61. Fifty-Eight
  62. Fifty-Nine
  63. Sixty
  64. Sixty-One
  65. Sixty-Two
  66. Sixty-Three
  67. Sixty-Four
  68. Sixty-Five
  69. Sixty-Six
  70. Sixty-Seven
  71. Sixty-Eight
  72. Sixty-Nine
  73. Seventy
  74. Acknowledgments
  75. About the Author
  76. Praise for Destroy All Monsters
  77. Books by Sam J. Miller
  78. Back Ad
  79. About the Publisher

At a wave from the Shield, his people brought out two figures in chains.

“Niv,” I whispered, recognizing him first, and then, “Connor.”

He was so little. And so scared. His clothes were filthy.

“Come out, Ash, or I will break these two in front of everyone.”

“You’ll come with me,” Ash said, grabbing my hand again. “Okay? We’ll try your idea—I’ll trigger something in you, something that will incapacitate them, and we’ll get Niv and Connor and get the hell out of here.”

“Okay,” I said, feeling extremely not okay. There would be no getting the hell out of there. Not alive. Not with so many angry people all around us.

I felt her hands grow sweaty. So did mine. We started walking toward the front of the big hall.

The crowd slowed us down, and by the time we got halfway there it had become impenetrable.

Ash took off her mask, carried it under her arm.

Someone gasped. No one else seemed to notice.

“Make way for your princess,” I said loudly.

The gasps spread. People turned, stared, cried out. Some shook fists. Some dropped to their knees.

I heard the rumor ripple through the crowd, watched a path open up for us. I heard the click of camera shutters, and wondered where mine was. When had I lost it, in the whole wild ride of the past couple of days?

A big guy stepped into our path. Tears in his eyes.

“No. I can’t let you do it, Princess,” he said.

“Step aside, brother,” she said, and touched his arm. And then she winked, and smiled. And he nodded. Stepped aside.

I watched it happen, how effortlessly she won over the crowd. Her fearlessness impressed even these people who a moment before had been perfectly okay with tearing down her mother’s government.

Courage does that. It transforms people. With a shiver, I realized: It takes a very special kind of crazy to change the world.

The Shield saw the change happen too. I could see him growing more furious, the closer we got to the front of the park.

“Seize her,” he said.

Connor saw me. He called out my name. Niv looked barely conscious.

A pair of Destroyers took hold of Ash, and I tried to fight, but three of them were on me and they wrestled me to the ground. My face was pressed into the filthy scuffed carpet, and I could barely see the scene as it unfolded. As they forced Ash to her knees. Turned her around so her back was to the Shield, her face out to the crowd.

“No!” I cried.

She was going to be broken. Maybe murdered. They all were.