Metallic Heart

by Liahona West

  “One word, bird. Joy.”

  Eloise’s arms went slack. She stared at Liam. “Of course, she sent you. I should have known with the syringe and the attack aimed at Mason. She wants him out of the way. But that means…” She gasped and turned to Mason. He didn’t look off, but she knew something was happening.

  Maybe the serum doesn’t work right away?

  “I’m going to kill her!” Eloise's fury drove her to charge Liam.

  Mason yelled.

  The rock in Liam’s hand flashed across her vision.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Bannack

  He stood by the steps, flowers in his hand, waiting for Eloise. Alma helped him pick them out. He had been visiting her often, enjoying their simple conversations as they made blankets and clothing for Compound members. Her lack of speaking left Bannack relieved and recharged after each interaction.

  An icy breeze paired with thunder and lightning meant they’d have to do their date indoors, but he didn’t mind. When a second flash followed almost immediately by thunder, Bannack flinched. A child screamed.

  She’s going to be drenched, isn’t she?

  Mason came out of the forest first, and Bannack jogged over.

  Wait…Bannack slowed, noticing the limp in Mason’s gait and blood on his body.

  “Eloise?” He asked, fearing the truth.

  Mason blinked. “Who?”

  Bannack backed up and fell, his heart torn out of his chest. He couldn’t form words. The signs were all there: dilated eyes, uncontrollable shaking, balance issues, and memory loss. All the signs confirmed the serum ran through Mason’s veins. Eloise wasn’t with him. A stab of fear hit him when he saw the blood.

  Joy did this.

  “Do you remember Soora?”

  “Sure do.” The sideways smile on Mason’s face was new. “We made love all night. Ah.” He locked his hands behind his head and looked at the sky. “She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. You know, I’m going to marry her one day. Just watch me.”

  Bannack looked sideways at Mason. He nearly threw up several times as he helped Mason the rest of the way to the Compound.

  “Woah,” Mason said when he stumbled and nearly took Bannack down with him. “Exactly how much did I drink last night, Private?” He squinted at Bannack. “Wait…who are you exactly?”

  He thinks he’s back in the military. The serum is acting faster than I remember. This is bad.

  “Corporal Owusu, sir.” Bannack shoved the door of the Compound open. “Just got in last night.”

  “Ah, well, welcome to the fifty-fifth but I gotta warn you. It’s a shit show. Rumor is, Fade’s planning an attack and we’re charged with stopping them.”

  How close was Mason to the war?

  “Soora!” Bannack cried out, his back aching. “Soora! Get out here, now!”

  She appeared, a flurry of dark hair and white from her doctor coat, and the minute she saw Mason, she gasped and rushed to him. Before she could touch her husband, Bannack stopped her cold with a shake of his head.

  Confused, Soora looked at Mason. “Bring him inside.”

  Once they situated Mason on a bed and Bannack had dried the rain off his face and neck, Soora pulled Bannack aside. “What’s going on?” She asked and folded her arms. “Why does he look high and drunk?”

  He didn’t want to lie. She would find out eventually. Bannack pushed past the trembling hands and inhaled. He said, “The symptoms match Joy’s serum.”

  Soora blanched. She grabbed the doorknob. “Do…do you know what happened?”

  He shook his head. “Eloise is also missing.”

  “Something changed on Joy’s end.” Soora swayed then sat. “She would never have attacked like this if something hadn’t changed.”

  Tears welled in her eyes, and she looked at Mason. He knew the serum and its effects, and for Joy to wipe Mason’s memories could only mean one thing: She wanted Eloise. An overwhelming surge of fury hit him.

  “Hey, Mookie,” Mason reached for Soora and she walked over. He smiled slowly and ran a soft hand across her cheek. In a low voice, he whispered. “Have I ever told you that your mind is incredible?”

  She smiled and lowered her eyes. “Many times. Now, sit there and wait for me. I have to talk to Bannack, but I’ll be back to run a physical, okay?”

  “Oh. Agreed. Physicals are very important.”

  She chuckled under her breath and walked back over to Bannack. “He’s acting like a young man again. I’m not sure what the serum will do to him or how you even know of the symptoms it causes, but you have to get Eloise back. Make sure she’s safe. The weather is going to be a problem, though, so I want you to stay low, find shelter as soon as you can, and stay away from the forest if you can avoid it. It’s dangerous, but we can’t risk Joy getting to Eloise or she’ll die.”

  Bannack nodded. “It’ll be easier if I have a second pair of eyes. Who’s the best tracker here?”

  ***

  After following Mason’s trail, finding the location of the fight was easy. A dead man marked the spot.

  Bannack bent over him. He had a wide stab wound in his throat and blood turned the ground crimson around him. He was still warm.

  He must be the source of the blood on Mason.

  It made him feel a bit better, but he wouldn’t stop worrying until he could confirm his assumption. He found Eloise’s karambit and kukri discarded in different areas of the forest. He picked them up and put them in the pack he wore to hold basic medical supplies, food, and rope. His sword waited at his hip.

  “Here,” Sibyl pointed to a spot where a scuffle occurred. Smashed grass, pieces of ground dug up by boots. “Eloise landed there really hard. You can see the impression of her head.”

  Bannack’s chest heated. The fool had thrown her. He ran his fingers around the indentation Sibyl pointed to.

  Another body indentation was several feet from Eloise’s. Bannack walked over and crouched, staying away so he wouldn’t ruin the tracks.

  “He ran over here.” Sibyl joined Bannack. “Then picked her up. He’s got a bad right leg. See the limp?” Sibyl crouched beside him and pointed at a small but long mound of gravel. “It’s minor, but there. You can tell by the two-inch long disturbance of the dirt his toe made when he dragged it. That’ll work to our advantage. You know why?”

  Never having seen the man, Bannack shook his head. “It slows him down?”

  “Exactly.”

  Bannack ran some grass through his fingers. The textures ranged from thick and coarse to wispy and thin. He followed the trail the man left with his eyes, and it led past the end field and up to the gate.

  “This gravel…it’s disturbed. You see? Here.”

  “Yeah, I see.” Bannack crouched and lightly traced the impression of the footsteps and the tracks left behind by Eloise’s attacker’s limp. “He pushed the gravel with his toe again. Only this time, with the extra weight, it is more pronounced.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Unless this kwasia—eh, fool, I mean—has a good amount of endurance, he’s going to need to stop. We will get him there.”

  The rain pelted Bannack’s body. Sibyl made noise of agreement and glanced up at the dark sky. “We have to hurry. I don’t know about you but,” she glared at the trail left by the man who attacked Mason and Eloise, “I have a craving for scumbag.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Eloise

  “Run!”

  Ada shoved Eloise so hard, her armful of nonperishable food scattered. The popping of guns echoed through the store. People screamed.

  One man appeared around the corner, eyes flashing with malice. Eloise froze. He lifted his arm and brought a machete down across her face. She screamed, her skin ripped apart by the blade, and fell to the ground. Blood dripped into her eyes, burning them. Ada screamed, and Eloise spun.

  “Ada!”

  Eloise shoved through the crowd, de
sperate to reach her sister. Ada let out an unholy screech. Eloise's blood froze. A man, his gun clenched in his free hand, held onto Ada’s throat.

  He lifted.

  Ada’s legs flailed.

  “No!”

  Three pistol bullets ripped through Ada’s torso. She bucked backward, still held by the throat, then her arms went slack, and her head flopped.

  Bile rose in Eloise’s gut, mere feet from her sister.

  She wasn’t in time.

  They dropped Ada.

  Rain fell on her cheeks and her eyes fluttered open. The ropes on Eloise’s wrists dug into her skin. She flailed as much as she could until Liam’s burning slap against her rain-soaked cheek shocked her vision out of focus. Eloise stumbled, her knees squelching into the soft ground. It ran down her shins when Liam yanked her to her feet.

  Mason.

  Tears filled her eyes and rage replaced grief. “You bastard!”

  “What did you say?” Liam turned on her. His lips quivered and revealed his teeth.

  She stood her ground. “I know you heard me. You did something to Mason, and I’m going to kill you.”

  “That’s right,” the man growled. “I hurt him. But you’re tied up. Far as I can tell, you’re helpless.”

  “I still have my head.” Without giving him time to process her words, Eloise slammed her head into his face. He reeled backward, hand on his mouth, then wrapped the rope around his palm and yanked. Eloise’s shoulder smashed against a moss-covered boulder, pain shooting throughout her body. She wheezed as her captor grabbed her shirt collar. Breath snaked across her skin.

  “You will come nicely or Joy’s going to wonder why I came back empty-handed.”

  Eloise glared, the rain dripping down both their faces. She fought again. He slapped her, and her body lurched sideways.

  “Get up,” Liam said. “And don’t do anything stupid.”

  Blood from her top lip entered her mouth. Rain soaked through her clothing as she walked, always aware of the man behind her. The crying wind imitated Ada’s screams.

  Eloise blinked through the rain. She smelled Ada’s blood. Her vision flipped, and her stomach tightened. The world around her blurred.

  She did her best to ignore the voice carrying on the wind she knew only existed in her head, but that didn’t make it any less difficult to deal with. Augmented by her memories, the coarse ropes became like barbed wire on her skin, and she could hear Ada’s screams and the gunshots, smell the rancid breath of the man with Ada’s blood on his hands. Ada died point blank. Executioner style, in the middle of the dessert aisle of the abandoned store. They had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it cost Ada her life.

  The forest opened up to a clearing. Liam stopped shoving her. Eloise stood still, swaying as the wind pushed at her sore body. The rain cooled her skin, and she watched Liam stalk over to a shack. He knocked. The door opened.

  If she didn’t do something, her life would be over the minute he delivered her to Joy. But what could she do?

  He searched me. What can I–

  Then she remembered.

  My boot knife. He didn’t take that one.

  She dug into the top of her boot, grunting to get her fingers around the hilt, and sat with her knees spread so she could hold the blade with her boots.

  Eloise glanced at Liam. Good. He’s still distracted.

  The ropes around her wrists fell away once she cut through them. She ran. Liam’s screams followed her, but the soul-shaking thunder and bright lightning drowned them out. It wasn’t smart to be out during a lightning storm, and it sure as hell wasn’t smart to run into the forest, but she figured the trees offered a better alternative than the open beach.

  Liam slammed into Eloise. Her boot knife tumbled away when she fell, gasping for the air escaping her lungs. She punched Liam, making her knuckles ache. He dug his knee into her sternum. She grappled at it, coughing and wheezing.

  “Joy warned me you would be a handful.” Liam leaned in close and his breath warmed her cheek. He smelled of meat. “I’m going to enjoy giving you back to her.”

  The knee to her chest prevented her from speaking. It dug into her bones, making them sting and burn, and all she could do was pray his weight wouldn’t crush her ribs.

  She felt around for something, anything, to attack Liam with so she could get to her knife.

  “Yo, ass pastry!”

  The crack of a board against a body came immediately before Liam’s knee left her sternum. She gulped air into her lungs, snatched her boot knife from the grass, and ran. As she looked behind her, she saw a man in a cloak disappear into the forest. Liam stirred on the ground.

  “Get back here!”

  She squealed and began zigzagging through the forest, lightning flashing around her, thunder shaking the ground.

  Liam caught up to her when she reached a concrete structure. Most of it had crumbled, but a single wall remained. Liam slammed her so hard against it, she was sure the skin on her forehead split open. He let go, and she crumpled, crying.

  “Why can’t you accept your fate?”

  “Because,” Eloise wiped her face, “I’m not weak!”

  Liam picked her up.

  He had neglected to relieve her of her knife and when he set her on her feet, she drove the knife up into his ribs. His eyes flashed wide open, and he grunted.

  “Wh…” Liam’s words gurgled from his mouth.

  Eloise twisted the blade, metal grinding against bone, and Liam slumped against her, pinning her to the wall.

  As she moved to push him off, lightning struck, traveled through the metal rebar inside the wall, and into Eloise’s body. A thousand bees stung her at the same time. Her body locked. The knife in Liam burned her hand, and she couldn’t let go, powerless to move.

  Then the lightning left.

  Her palm sizzling, Eloise convulsed, gasped, and fell to the ground.

  Darkness swarmed.

  Water ran down her cheeks.

  Then nothing.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Bannack

  “Elle!”

  Panic pounded into Bannack’s chest and he thought his bones would crush under the power. He struggled to breathe.

  He followed the trail, right behind Sibyl, to a concrete wall amid rubble. Two people lay in a heap. Bannack saw red hair spread across the ground and his lungs tightened.

  “No…”

  They had found her.

  Singed human flesh sat heavy in the air.

  “No.” Bannack pulled her away from the concrete wall and looked her over. Clothes were a mess, smoking, singed, and completely shredded. He removed his coat and wrapped it around Eloise, unable to cover her completely, then he looked for injuries. Fractured lines tattooed onto her body in a lightning pattern, snaked down her neck and spread across her chest. Her hand clenched a bloody knife. As he pried her fingers open, small pieces of her skin peeled away.

  He heaved into the grass.

  He checked for a pulse. Nothing. Grief threatened to overwhelm him, but he pushed it aside and began chest compressions.

  Sibyl cried out and fell to her knees. “Please tell me she’ll be okay.”

  He ignored Sibyl and locked his elbows to push in rhythm. “Come on. Come on. Breathe!”

  Seconds ticked on.

  Her body convulsed, then she vomited. With her eyes closed, Eloise leaned into him, gasping, and Bannack intertwined his fingers with her hair, now coarse with rainwater and sand. He held her close, releasing the pressure in his chest with a heavy sigh.

  “Can you walk?” He asked when his tears calmed.

  Eloise’s head rolled back. Her open eyes were slits as she looked at the dead man on the ground, and when she spoke, her voice didn’t sound like her. It was coarse. Sickly. Weak. “…Did I kill him?”

  “Yeah.” Bannack clutched Eloise to his chest, aching so bad he struggled to stand. “You did good.�
�

  “We need to get out of the storm!” Sibyl yelled over the howling wind and thundering rain. Pine needles and branches flailed in the air.

  Despite her weakened state, Eloise managed a smile. “I’m now one in seven hundred thousand people to get struck by lightning.” She winced and held her hand. “Someone make me a plaque.”

  Sibyl stepped beside Bannack. “How are we gonna find a shelter in this? I can’t even see in front of my face.”

  Bannack shook his head, lifting the severely lethargic Eloise. She groaned as they wandered blindly, her head bobbing in rhythm with Bannack’s gait, and she soon developed a hacking cough.

  He turned to Sibyl. “We—”

  Out of the corner of his eye, when lightning flashed, Bannack noticed the figure of a hooded man standing amid the bushes. The small hairs on his body rose.

  “I see you!” Bannack screamed into the storm. For several moments, nothing happened. Lightning flashed again and then he really saw the figure, tall and hooded with a growling, waist tall, black and white dog standing next to him. Rain dripped from the rim of the man’s dark cloak and he gripped a bow notched with an arrow.

  “Please,” Sibyl pushed past Bannack. “We aren’t safe out here. Help us?”

  “Sibyl…” Bannack whispered.

  She turned to him, rain dripping from her eyebrows and water flying off her lips as she said, “Do you see any other options?”

  Mud squelched underneath Sibyl’s boots as she took a few more steps closer to the person in the grove. “We can pay you well. Back at our home, we have fresh produce and a few livestock we can give you for your troubles.”

  “I don’t need your bribes,” a voice barked from underneath the hood.

  Sibyl gasped. “Luke Varma!” She folded her arms and glowered at him. “You scared us, you asshole!”

  Eloise groaned and squinted into the darkness. “I know your voice.”

  “What?” Sibyl asked and stepped in front of her. “You know Luke?”

  “I…” Eloise grimaced, “I didn’t know it was him, but he hit Liam over the head to help me get away.”