“You’re exhausted,” he says. “We shouldn’t be going here. It’ll only bring us more hardship.”
The plane is still unstable. Ruby seems to struggle.
“Vash, shut the fuck up,” Killian cries, face as pale as Ruby’s.
Ruby looks at Vash if she would do anything to get him to stop talking. “This is the last chance you’ve got, Vash,” she says. “Rae’s inside the Iron Eye. That is one statement you can trust from me.”
Vash fought against hope for ages. But she has an air of honesty that’s hard to ignore.
“How can you be sure?” he asks.
“Because I helped build it.”
Killian leans into the cockpit. “I’m sorry sweetheart—what was that?”
Ruby swings the plane to the side, avoiding a large set of snow-covered mountains. She dips into the canyon to regain stability, but the weather has become less than ideal.
The children shriek. Vash makes sure Killian grabs them and keeps them safe.
“Is now really the time?” she mutters, pulling the plane back up to reliable levels.
Killian tightens his grip around the edge of the cockpit. “Spill it, honey.”
Ruby swings the plane out of the canyon. “The first Republic needed help with getting the particle accelerator off the ground. I showed my support. I stood with Severin, Cassian and other powerful alphas. I stared at my maker. Upon having the chance to kill him, I let him go.”
“Why?” Killian asks.
“Back then, there were treaties between alpha tribes. They considered our group of betas outsiders. We wanted to position ourselves accordingly before another war fell. We knew he’d succumb to his own desires.”
“Get to what you built,” Killian says.
“Everyone had different reasons for building the particle accelerator. Rumors that Cassian wanted to build a time machine. Severin said we had to be a part of the initiative. It was groundbreaking science. We put it underneath the ground so no one would get hurt,” she says.
“But people got hurt. And the world fell apart. We, the Ouroboros took control,” Vash says.
Ruby brings the plane back over the canyon. “He rigged the accelerator to explode. And when it did, he took control. He sent his men to gather the natural-born omegas. And he made sure he wouldn’t lose.”
Vash’s brother is dead. Was this part of his plan? “That’s where the tank went. He knew she’d end up there.”
“It’s a doomsday device,” Killian says.
A warning sign flashes on the dashboard. The weather is getting worse. Increased wind pressure coming from opposite angles.
Vash stares into the darkness of the clouds, the sound of thunder rattling his bones. Lightning flashes, scrambling the plane’s data. They drop and Ruby battles to regain altitude.
“I’m going to be sick,” Killian groans.
Vash looks through the side-window and sees a desert covered in snow. They’re headed right for it.
Killian pukes as the plane struggles to rise.
“We’re going down, aren’t we?” Vash asks.
Ruby pulls back on the throttle. She isn’t saying a damn thing.
“Ruby, are we crashing?” Vash shouts.
Ruby turns, scrunches her face as the inevitable comes rushing toward them.
“Hold the children!” Vash screams.
They slam into the snowy desert sands.
A migraine wrecks Vash’s head. As he opens his eyes, he half expects everything that’s happened to be a dream. He moves his arms, not to unbuckle himself and get to safety, but to hold Rae.
But as time has shown him repeatedly, there is no reward for effort. There is only an abrupt and aching pain.
He opens his eyes and sees the wreckage. Broken glass spills over them. He thrusts his body to see if he’s injured.
He’s lucky. Spare for a few cuts and some stiffening whiplash, he’s okay. It could have been much worse.
Unbuckling himself, he tries to turn his body, but his neck won’t let him. “Everyone okay?”
He can see Ruby in his peripheral. She isn’t moving, but she’s breathing.
The children’s cries carry through the plane. “The kids,” Vash calls out. “Are they okay?”
“Fuck,” Holger grunts and vomits across the back. The stench is overwhelming.
“Answer me,” Vash growls.
“I’ve got the kids. They’re safe,” he says.
“Thank Alpha. We’re lucky,” Vash mutters, breathless but finding his energy.
With the last of his strength, Vash pries the door open. He falls out, tumbling onto the snow-covered sand.
He goes to Ruby, opens the door and tries to pull her out. But she’s stuck.
With little energy, she opens her eyes. She gives a brief smile before closing them again. “Oops,” she says.
“Ruby, we have to get out of here,” Vash says, neck starting to really fuck up his day.
Ruby glances at her chest.
Vash takes a step back and pauses for a breath. She’s hurt. A thin beam from the plane has punctured above her right breast.
“I need to find her,” she says. “I need to be the one to fix this.”
Vash looks at her injury. He feels Killian’s presence come up from behind them.
“Don’t leave me,” she says.
Killian holds up a set of bolt cutters. “We’ll get you out of here,” he says.
It takes some finesse, but Killian cuts both ends to get her free. Once outside, they position Ruby against the side of the plane.
Vash bites the inside of his lip as he examines her wounds. “We need to get this out of you,” he says.
She tenses up but can’t move to her defense. “How?”
“We’ll pull it out,” Killian says.
Ruby’s eyes widen. “You pull this out of me without pain killers, and I’ll make sure they hang you,” she says.
Vash sighs and sucks in his lip. “After, we’ll stitch the wound. If we don’t, you’ll die long before you get to see Rae.”
Ruby gasps in pain. “You bastard. I’ll be dead either way.”
Blood spreads down her body. “Want to find out?” Killian asks.
He pulls out a small first-aid kit from the back of the plane.
Vash grabs a blanket and lays it on the ground. “On your back,” he says.
Ruby laughs. “Are you coming on to me, alpha?”
With his hand underneath her shoulder blade, Vash lowers her to the blanket. “At least you still have a sense of humor,” he whispers.
More thunder cracks over their heads. So much rain falls on Vash’s head, making it harder for him to see or concentrate. The bitter cold has set in, and he knows he has to act fast, but he’s not a skilled surgeon. He couldn’t read a medical handbook to save his life. He has to shape up and work a few tools if he will save Ruby.
Blood is soaking through the fabric. Ruby is pale and shivering.
Killian puts his mouth near Vash’s ear. “Any idea what to do?”
“Apply pressure. We need to get it out first,” he says.
Ruby finds her hidden strength and bucks forward. Her military boots hit Vash’s solar plexus, forcing him back. She gives them no choice but to hold her down.
Though she fights it, she has to give in to the weight of their hold. “No, no, no.”
Vash knows she will not calm, so he doesn’t wait for her to loosen. Placing his palm around the thin beam, he grips the solid metal in between each ridge of finger. He doesn’t ask if she’s ready.
He pulls.
Like it’s a tooth that’s ready to come out, he threads the metal bar out of her chest. Once out, a pool of blood collects.
“Pressure,” Vash says.
Killian jumps in, pressing a towel against the wound to stop the bleeding. He snaps his fingers as she closes her eyes. “Stay with me,” he says.
“I want to be cremated,” she says.
“Nobody’s dying,” Kill
ian grunts and tries not to center his attention on how much blood is leaking.
Vash runs with the rest of the kit. Sewing needles, thread disinfectant, and a bunch of bandages is what they got. “Almost done, Ruby. We will sew you up,” Vash says.
But as Vash tilts his head to the side, he sees something that causes him to freeze. “No fucking way,” he mutters.
A pack of alphas appear over a snow-covered hill, holding weapons and torches of fire. They stroll, as if they know they’ve already got the win on them.
Vash looks at Killian.
Killian looks at Vash.
“Perfect fucking timing,” Killian mutters and rolls to grab his rifle.
Vash grabs the children and buckles them back into the plane. “Don’t move, okay?”
When his children look at him, it breaks his heart. They’re more aware than he thought they would be. And the more he shares this carnage with them, the worse they could turn out.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “This isn’t the world you deserve.”
And then everything speeds up. It feels more real. There is the understanding that it doesn’t matter how far they get; they could lose this thing.
Without Ruby, they won’t be able to find the Iron Eye. At least, not in time.
The leader of the alpha pack stops about fifty yards from them, the crisp wind blowing his tattered cape around his chest. “I’ll recommend you relinquish your weapons, scum,” he growls.
His men froth at the mouth. Their weapons are crude, but their eyes hold a deep ferocity. They look like they have lived through five detonations.
“Vash...” Killian growls.
Vash prepares the stitch kit. Hands shaking, he holds the needle above the small flap of skin in between her arms and chest. “Hold them off, dammit,” he shouts. “Dear God, hold them off.”
If there’s one thing he didn’t expect, it was to die out here. If coming here is to his detriment, then the entire world is fucked. The rumors he’s been hearing make him wonder how far his brother came with his team of scientists. He believes in an extinction gene, a crafted bomb that uses matter and energy to harness the power of the universe.
Cassian wanted the world to burn. Maybe he got his wish.
The needle pops right through Ruby’s flesh. Weaving the stitch across, he repeats the same tough movements, without pausing for her to gather her pain.
He looks up, sees the alphas coming closer.
The rain beats against their bodies. Ruby’s lips turn a light shade of purple.
No time. No time, at all.
Killian takes a step forward, against the three alphas. “There’s three of us and three of you. We don’t want a fight,” he says.
The head alpha wears an eyepatch. Pockmarks and scarring cover his face. The front of his skull is slightly misshapen. He wears a necklace of omega teeth.
Saliva hangs off his lips as he opens his mouth to laugh. “One of you is injured,” he grunts, pointing at Ruby.
To the best of Vash’s ability, he stitches another row. It’s harder than it looks, and he wonders if he’s not just making it worse. “The bleeding won’t stop,” he shouts.
He applies pressure.
The leader alpha tests them. He takes another step forward as Killian points his rifle and holds his ground. “Not another step,” Killian says.
Hurried, Vash makes the last stitch. And when he does, Ruby takes a shallow breath and whispers. “Give them hell.”
The fight starts so fast that Vash doesn’t even expect the first move. He just hears the hammer crack, releasing the fire pin into the cartridge. He smells the propellant as a bullet flies from someone’s gun.
Vash looks up and sees Killian on the ground. He’s hit on his shoulder, but he has rolled to lower ground.
Vash has the fucker in his scope in less than two seconds. He takes the shot and blows the alpha’s brains across the snow.
With their leader out of the way, Killian ducks up and charges the alpha on his left. With an undeniable fury, he tackles the alpha to the ground and drives the butt of his rifle against his nose.
The alpha grabs the rifle, using it as leverage to push them into a roll. Together, they tumble down a tall dune. Their grunts echo and evaporate.
As Vash watches this unfold, something primal in him unlocks. It’s a feeling he hasn’t felt in years, since they first found Rae in the breeding facility.
The feeling is blood thirst. It’s a quest for vengeance. These assholes thought they could sneak up on an injured party, but they didn’t expect one thing. Vash and Killian need a scapegoat; someone to blame for losing their mate.
They are perfect candidates.
They’ll bury them for this. Any alpha that wants to stand in their way, they’ll break and own. They built an army once. They are still warriors.
Scorn flows through Vash’s veins. The alpha on his right is ten times the size of him. He throttles two automatic rifles.
One grin before he pulls the trigger and lets out a hundred bullets per second.
Vash dives behind the plane, bullets cutting through the metal. Lying low, he takes a deep breath and brings the revolver to his chest.
Ruby coughs out blood. “I’m… keeping… my eyes… open...” she stutters.
Vash locks one more bullet into the chamber. “Just hang in there.”
It’s simple. Really fucking simple. To win a war, relinquish yourself to nature. The more you focus on yourself, on your body and what you’re feeling, the easier your death comes.
An Ouroboros always makes the first move. Surprise is key. But when all else fails, it is in his nature to disappear. To wait. To listen until that moment of doubt hits the opponent.
So Vash waits. He listens to the bullets hitting the plane. He visualizes where the alpha is standing. And as soon as the idiot runs through his clip, Vash jumps up and says, “Your eagerness to kill has left you with one choice. Death.”
Vash’s aim is superb, the best marksman the Ouroboros had. All it takes is one bullet to the heart to take the brute down.
He falls into the snow, grunting and huffing. Vash walks toward him, Revolver pointed at the twitching body.
With what little strength he has left, the brute aims the rifle but cannot make the shot. Vash watches as the life drifts out of him.
The rain clears, and the snow that’s left turns red with blood. Splattered like a cruel modernist painting.
When he was a warrior, he slayed thousands. Innocent lives bowed before him. But everything has changed. There’s a cruelty to death that Vash can’t ignore. The normal alphas can’t have another life like the clones. Cassian never got that far.
He almost just lost the only life he had left.
With the children to carry, they can’t continue this path of bloodshed. They can’t keep taking on the feral alpha tribes. This fight was far too risky.
He envisions a different life, one where he can toil the land. There are other places out there, entire villages that exist on the peripheral of violence. They could find their place. They could find the way to override the extinction gene.
Optimism isn’t one of Vash’s crutches, but he holds onto it like a strange memory of something better.
Vash hears a noise and witnesses Killian climbing over a hill. He collapses against the ridge. “Got him,” he moans. “Left him dead in a ditch.”
“He got your shoulder,” Vash says, breath white against the wind.
“Bastards nicked my shoulder,” Killian curses. “Tend to Ruby. I’ll grab the children and pull out the bullet fragments myself.”
When Vash returns to the wreck, Ruby’s body has sunk into the blanket. From his bag, he grabs a towel and dries her.
She forces a smile. “I told you I wouldn’t close my eyes,” she says.
“You did great, kid,” he mutters and looks toward Killian.
He doesn’t have the heart to tell her she doesn’t have much time. The wound will probably infect, and her
body will turn on her. If she doesn’t find a doctor, she’s a goner.
But where can they find a doctor out here?
Killian searches the bodies. Vash watches him take whatever ammo he can find, alongside an emergency medical pack. Pulling out a syringe, he says, “Liquid antibiotics. They’re expired, but they might help.”
Vash nods, mind racing. “Give it to her,” he says. “Quickly.”
Killian pierces the syringe into a small glass bottle. Upon sucking up the liquid, he looks satisfied.
He injects it into her arm.
Miles behind them is a rocky, barren landscape. Rising out of the center of the earth is a massive cylindrical machine. “The Iron Eye,” Vash mutters.
They’re not close. It’ll take them another day to get there.
A shiver runs through his spine.
This is it. It’s the moment he has been dreaming about. So why does he feel so worried?
A mist has fallen over the landscape, shrouding their visibility.
Knowing they will have to carry Ruby and the children, he looks inward for some kind of magical wisdom, anything to untether them from this burden.
But then he looks back at Ruby. His will solidifies, and the world feels winnable again.
He scoops her into his arms. He squints his eyes, ignoring the wind that freezes each limb. The exhaustion that wears on every joint. All of it, he throws aside for the chance at a better future.
He doesn’t know if it’s possible, but he knows one thing.
This is more than pack blood. This is family. This is the alpha-omega bond.
He won’t let either of them down.
Right when he thinks this will be his energizing moment, another set of alphas appear over a hill. Red beams shine over his eyes, and an ear-cutting alarm sends him to the ground, screaming.
“There’s more of them?” he asks.
Vash checks his ammunition. He isn’t sure he has enough bullets to win.
But he has to keep pushing.
Lucas
“Rover’s pushing eight hundred miles,” Aden says.
Lucas opens his eyes, wind whipping across his face. He had been dreaming of Rae, lying near him in bed. She gazed into his eyes, laugh lighting up the entire room. The kind of dream you never want to end. But when he wakes up, everything has disappeared from him.
Broken Angel: The Complete Collection: A Dark Omegaverse Romance Page 41
