“Once. And then the passer dies.”
It takes all of my remaining energy to snatch my hand from his. “No,” I whisper. “You’ll explode.”
Danny shakes his head. “I’ll fade out. And that’s okay. If it protects the last of us, I’m willing to give it up.”
“I’ll be fine after I lie here.”
“You’re going to pass out and won’t wake up for days. It’s a side effect.”
I feel defeated. It’s a feeling I’ve not experienced before. There are no options to weigh. I can lie here and let the world go to hell. Or I can get up from here and fight for everything that’s right. The complete opposite of what I was designed for, going against our leaders.
“Sometimes,” Danny says, “ends have new beginnings. And I’m not saying you’re the beginning, but maybe you’re the cure for the end.”
I lift my left arm from my elbow, fingers spread, flexion circles already activated. Danny meets my hand, and with every beat of his pulse, I feel the energy flow through me. My chest swells as I heave a lungful of air, and though my body doesn’t heal, the pain is bearable.
Danny goes pale. I try to take my hand away, but he grips it tighter. “Don’t,” he says. “It’s…better to…have it all…than…” He slumps over.
“Danny.” I jump to my knees and shake him with my free hand. “I’m sorry.”
“Shh.” He squeezes my hand, and a slight shock zaps between our palms. His arm goes limp, and his body rests against the floor.
Chapter Twenty-Three
*Marc*
“Marc! Are you alive? Have you found her yet?” Sean shouts through the earpiece.
I throw my hand over my ear to block out the whistling of the wind rushing through the tunnel. “I’m alive. We were deterred by these children with colorful hands trying to kill us.”
“Aww,” he sings. “I bet they’re adorable.”
“Shut up. They’re not. They’re killing off Creations.”
“Well that’s a bummer. Where are you?”
“We came upon another group of Creations who also live underground. They’re going to show us to a tunnel that leads directly under the Guidance Inn.”
“Cool. Keep us updated.”
Beams from flashlights held by a few of the nine Creations leading us down another tunnel flash over the rugged walls and bulging rock. Seits and I follow behind them, avoiding slicing our arms or legs on the walls. The tunnel opens up to a square space with a lantern sitting in the middle of the floor.
“It’ll be getting dark soon,” the girl with the pink nails says. She extends a greeting hand, saying, “I’m Ellie.” I shake her hand. “Marc and Seits, right?”
“Yeah. You’re connected to that other underground Creation group.”
She nods. “They warned us to look out for you.”
The bunker isn’t as flashy as the others. Rugged concrete makes up the entire space, and it’s one large area. No cots or cases. They lie on the ground on pallets or blankets. “Aren’t you all uncomfortable down here?”
Ellie shrugs. “We’re used to it.” She waves for me to follow her, and I trail her steps to a pile of blankets stacked against the wall. She grabs a couple and hands them to me. “Take a load off for a few hours, at least until the sun rises.”
I sit on the ground and stuff one of the blankets behind me to prevent the sharp edges of the rock from stabbing into my back. Seits sits beside me, and I hand her the other blanket.
“I’m going to shut my eyes for a couple of hours. Then be back at it. Is that okay?”
Her eyelids droop over her eyes, and her shoulders slump against the wall. I nod. “We’ll take the night to regroup.”
Ellie sits on my other side. She brings her nails to her mouth, and a soft clicking sound alerts me to her actions. I look down at her from the corner of my eyes. She spits the nail bit across the ground and moves to her middle finger.
“Hey,” I say, shooing her with the flick of my hand. “You’re going to need to get away from me.”
“I bite when I’m bored. I don’t eat them.”
“I’ve noticed.” Unlike the other bunker, they don’t have water, so I know she’s not washed her hands. We’ve climbed through rubbish and crawled through the tunnel, every inch of us is covered in dirt. I grimace and look away from her.
“You’re not a people person, are you, Marc?”
“No.” Snores and the biting of her nails drown out the silence. Silence is my comfort zone. I need the world to slow down so I can become one with my thoughts. I reach over to Ellie and pull her hand away from her mouth. “I’m sorry, I can’t take that. I can literally hear you chomping off your nail.”
Ellie chuckles and sits on her hands. “So this friend you’re after, she’s worth risking your life for? I mean, you don’t seem like that nice of a guy.”
I snort. Under any other circumstance, I wouldn’t. I especially wouldn’t leave Sean for another. But I’ll put my life on the line for Kylie, and it feels like I don’t have a choice but to do this. “Yeah. She’s worth it.”
Ellie lifts her shoulders near her ears and offers a soft smile. “So you’re not as heartless as your maverick personality implies.”
“Don’t try to read me, Ellie.” She leans against my shoulder, and I scoot away from her. “Please don’t touch me.”
Ellie moves from my side to sitting on her knees in front of me. “Have you ever thought that what’s sending you after your friend is more than just hope for her well-being?” Her blonde eyebrows lift to her hairline as she waits for my response. It won’t be nearly as interesting as she hopes.
“How do you mean?”
Her voice drops to a whisper. “Mine was Zyan. I’d cross every valley for her. I lost her eight months ago. And I miss these weird feelings she gave me where the hairs on the back of my neck would stand on end when our eyes would meet, and this creepy feeling would attack my stomach. She mentally took me to so many places all while I stood still, and I miss it.” She nods, looking away from me. “When a Creation sticks their neck out for someone other than their twin, I know why.”
I shrug. “What’s your point?”
“Because of my carelessness, I lost Zyan and my brother Odin. He tried to kill her, so I killed him, and she was taken by the Guidance.”
I prop up my leg and rest my arm against it. Annoyed with her stalling, I roll my eyes. “Still waiting on you to get to the point, Ellie.”
Deflated, Ellie sighs. “Fine. I thought incriminating myself would help you to open up, but I see you’re stubborn.”
“Or you should say ‘thank you for not blowing my head off after I recklessly admitted I’m an implant.’”
Ellie’s eyes grow wide. The thought just now crossing her mind.
I lean my head back against the rock and close my eyes. “Go to sleep, Ellie.”
She continues, and I grumble. “The attraction and affection were completely accidental.”
“Do people fall in love on purpose?” I say in an uninterested tone. I was finished with this conversation as soon as it started.
“I don’t know, Marc. I just want to know if she’s still alive.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. The Creation allows a few tears to fall. She throws her face in her hands. It could all be an act. Like she said, and she was likely telling the truth, she’s wanting to incriminate me. I’d never admit my feelings to anyone, but Kylie. So that’s out of the question. But I don’t know why she’s here, bothering me with this. “Are you going to be okay?” The tone of my voice comes out deep and heavy with my head still laid back.
“Would it be okay if I traveled with you? I’m not much of a fighter. I mean, I’ve held a gun like, once. I just want to know if Zyan is still alive. I won’t be much trouble, I promise.” She holds up her right hand as if to pledge her allegiance.
I look away from Ellie, wondering what about me would make her feel comfortable enough to expose herself. Why she thinks I wouldn’t
slit her throat on the spot for admitting to the feelings these domestic Creations believe deserve death. For this Zyan, maybe for her, death is worth it. She’s willing to put her life on the line at the cost of what may be the inevitable, if only to make it back by Zyan’s side. That’s what loves does. It convinces you to make stupid decision, like run into a herd of Zombies, plot to take on the Guidance, just to feel peace in your heart, on a planet peace will never exist.
I nod at Ellie and say, “Come here.”
She scoots closer as I pull out my handgun. I eject the clip, unload the round in the chamber, and hand it to her. “Holding it is different from firing off a round. There’s a kickback you won’t expect when you fire it, but now, you can say you’ve held a gun twice, and Marcain taught you the proper way to hold it.” I adjust the handle in her palms and pull her index finger from the trigger. “You don’t need your finger on the trigger unless you’re about to shoot.” I turn down the corners of my mouth and shrug, saying, “It prevents you from accidentally shooting yourself.”
She chuckles and rubs her fingers across the barrel. “Thank you.”
I teach Ellie the handgun from holding it to shooting. After she’s relaxed, I agree for her to join us. In fact, we’ll need all of them to make it through the Guidance’s soldiers.
I wake Seits, shaking her shoulder. “We need to get a move on.” It’s been four hours, and I can’t sleep a wink, not yet.
Seits rises and rubs her hands over her head then her eyes. “Yep. Let’s do it.”
Ellie’s at my side, quiet now that she knows she’s coming with. Had I known when she started biting her nails and mumbling over nail bits that all she wanted was to talk me into coming with us, agreeing to it would have been the first thing out of my mouth. She knows the way through the tunnels anyway.
The lantern on the floor is turned down, casting a soft yellow hue over the underground cave, shining light upon the sleeping Creations. The other eight lie on the hard rock, blankets thrown over them.
Seits steps to my side, looking over the Creations as she shakes her head. “This is no way for us to live. Hoarding underground like Zombies. When did we become the monsters?”
I shrug. “Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe the day they put targets on our backs and turned us against each other.”
“But why?” Ellie asks. She doesn’t wait for an answer and hustles across the floor to a large bag next to one of her sleeping friends. She scrambles through it. “I’ll pack us some water and snacks.”
I huff. “We don’t need that stuff, Ellie.”
Seits bumps my arm with the back of her fist. “Just let her get it.”
I bash my fist against my palm as I say, “Every minute we aren’t moving is a minute wasted. We don’t know how much time we have or even if she’s okay.”
“When we get there, and if we get snatched, there won’t be a way for us to get out,” Seits says in a calm, unhurried voice.
I take in a lungful of air and huff out the words, “I’m not worried about that.”
We watch Ellie take items from one bag and stuff them into another. I want to tell her to hurry up, but I try to have patience, seeing she’s doing her best to help.
Seits stretches. She closes her eyes and tilts her head back, yawning. After a thought that appears to keep her eyes closed a little longer, she straightens her neck and looks over at me. “If the shoe was on the other foot, Ky would be looking for you too.” She takes a pause. “I’ve never seen the type of elation in someone that I did in Ky that day she was trying on dresses. It sparked something in me I’d never acknowledged before.”
“Like what?” I ask.
The muscles in her jaw twitch. She rolls her shoulders and simply says, “Not exactly sure yet. But I want to know. I want to experience it again.”
My left brow reflexively rises. I’ve never heard anything like that before, a Creation’s behavior having such an influence over another, it intrigues me. Her involvement was completely unnatural. If Kylie had revealed any desire for my joy or her affectionate emotional state, Seits should’ve reported her immediately. But she encouraged it.
I don’t question it. Not yet.
Ellie comes back to us and tosses me the backpack. I catch it and ask, “You’re ready now?”
Ellie gives me a tight smile and winks.
Static alerts me to a distant voice coming through my earpiece. “Marc.” The voice comes in choppy, buried under the noise. “It’s Kylie. Marc…there?”
I drop the backpack and race for the tunnel, hurrying to the spot I was able to clearly hear Sean before. “Kylie?” I say when I make it a quarter-mile from the bunker.
“Yeah. Can you hear me?”
I throw my fists in the air before cupping my hands at the back of my head.
“I found you first.”
I huff a laugh, shaking my head. “Yeah. You did.” The static has lessened greatly, but the noise in her background is overpowering. “It’s a war out there, Ky. They’re killing Creations. I—we—thought they had you.”
“The general told me. You and Seits make it back as fast as you can. Gather as many willing-to-fight Creations as you can find. We’re going to war against the Guidance.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
*Marc*
I look over the nine Creations, circled around me, eagerly waiting for me to continue. I gesture around us, at their hole. “We aren’t supposed to live like this. You were created for the taking, not,” I emphasize with an aggressive point toward the ground, “to be hunted down as savages or hide away like Waulers. I understand you all think you weren’t made for the fight, that you all may believe you’re not strong enough, but you were created just like us.” I gesture to Seits and myself. “So I ask each of you to leave this indecent refuge and fight with us.”
All nine of them shake their heads. A tall woman, with her hands on her hips and her head hung, takes two steps forward. Short ginger hair hides her face. She says, “You’re asking us to fight against the Guidance’s army.”
“Damn right, I am,” I say, nodding. “And don’t let their numbers intimidate you. We don’t need numbers to match them; we need courage.”
The nine Creations, except for Ellie and the woman who stepped forward, disperse, going back to their pallets on the ground. I rub my hand over my chin as I consider a different approach.
“They guide and guard,” the woman with the ginger hair says as she steps to me with her hand extended. “War isn’t their thing. Hi. I’m Elizabeth.”
We shake. “I see. What’s the best way to get through to them? If we’re going to make it through this, we’re going to have to do it together.”
Elizabeth grabs her shoulders, hugging herself as she looks up at the rock. “We want to be needed again. And I think you telling them we have to do it together, is exactly what you need to say. Especially coming from you two.” She flicks her gaze to Seits at my other side.
Nodding, I say, “Thanks.” I sit on the ground and clear my throat to grab their attention. With a gentler tone, I say, “I understand your reluctance. But frankly, we can’t do this with you. You all have seen what’s out there. You’ve studied their techniques and know the way around Highrum, from above and beneath. Help us, so we can help you.”
“How can you help us?” someone lingering in the shadows says.
“The Guidance wants us dead, right?”
A few sitting nearest me nod. “Yes,” Ellie says.
“Then it’s simple. We kill them first. They created us just for missions such as this. I’m not asking you all to do the dirty work. I’m asking for you to go to war with us against those babies and the Creations who fight back. Yes, it will be hard. And we may lose a few. But a life lost today is one saved tomorrow. Without Creations, this world is going to shit. Aliens are going to try to take over our planet. And,” I stand up, “I don’t know about you all, but I’m not going to allow that to happen. This,” I point toward the ground, “is o
ur land. Help me make sure it stays that way. Please.”
They each swap glances with the person beside them. Slowly, one by one, as though the gesture were contagious, they begin to nod. “Let’s do it,” Ellie cheers, throwing her fists in the air.
I look to Elizabeth. “Thank you,” I say.
She nods and moves to a spot in the corner to gather her things.
Seits and I wait near the entry to the tunnel as everyone loads up. They’re ready in less than five minutes, lining up behind us. Fear lines their trembling brows, and many chew on their bottom lips, but they stand tall and that’s good enough for me.
Ellie leads us out. We take two right turns and enter a sewer line. There’s light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s from a sewer drain none of us are small enough to fit through. We come upon a ladder drilled to the side of the wall. Above it, a manhole cover, which will likely lead to the middle of the street, either right in the middle of a Zombie herd, or in front of the child Creations. Ellie begins to climb, and I grab her hips to stop her. “Let me go first.”
She nods and comes down so I can take her spot. I ascend the ladder, making it to the rusty cover. I give it a push with my hand, and it doesn’t budge.
Shit.
I want this to be quiet, but it doesn’t look like that will happen. I ram my forearms against the cover, working the rusty metal loose blow by blow. After the fourth hit, my arm is bruised but the cover is loose enough for me to push up and away from our exit.
Sunlight bursts through the hole along with the barrels of four shotguns. Blinded by the light, I’m unable to see who’s caught us.
“Wait,” a boy says. “Marcain?”
I squint my eyes and proceed to climb the ladder. Someone grabs my shoulder to help me, and when I’m above ground on my feet and my eyes have adjusted to the sun, I look over the familiar faces. I throw my hand out to shake Marshal’s.
“We thought you were dead, brother.” He turns around and sees General Seits coming up next. He goes to greet her.
The Separation Trilogy Box Set: Books 1 -3 Page 79
