Fallocaust (The Fallocaust Series Book 1)

Home > Other > Fallocaust (The Fallocaust Series Book 1) > Page 36
Fallocaust (The Fallocaust Series Book 1) Page 36

by Quil Carter


  “I left you to go sentry right after you fell asleep. I had been hearing something electronic all day.” Reaver’s voice was a harsh whisper. “I’m sorry I had him bring you here. I thought you would go back to Aras but you started downing so many pills and fucking cutting yourself open, you crazy fuck. He’s had me here for days. He said he had you already. He fucking described you to me so I believed him. If I’d known it was just him I would have blown his fucking face off.”

  I couldn’t answer him. I tried but all that came out were chokes and sobs. I just closed my eyes and let him hold me. He wasn’t dead, Reaver was alive, everything else we would handle, Reaver was alive.

  Reaver pulled himself away from me and I wanted to gasp. He had been beaten badly. He had a black eye, a large bruise that darkened half his face, several nasty cuts on his hairline, and a cut lip. He also had something strange around his neck, a metal collar. That was all he was wearing save his ratty boxer shorts and a stained undershirt. “Are you okay? Say something? You need to get him to stitch your arm. Fuck, you’re such an idiot.”

  Am I okay? Reaver had been beaten to hell. I tried to talk to him, but my face just crumpled and I started to cry again. All I did was cry. I hated myself.

  Reaver bit his cut lip and held me again, his body rocking back and forth as he spoke softly to me. “I’ll get us out of here,” he said in a whisper so small I could barely hear him. “I will, I promise.” He stroked my hair, the cold chains touching my back. “He made me watch you, I watched you the whole time. You were such a brave little Killi Cat.”

  I cried, took drugs, cried, and shot all the bullets out of my gun… how could he see that as brave?

  I didn’t speak, I just liked hearing his voice. The charcoal growled angrily in my stomach, but my mind was starting to return as it absorbed the pills. After a few more moments, I found I was able to lift my hands. I put them around Reaver’s body and tried to squeeze him too. He had chains wrapped around his waist.

  “Hey, are you coming back?” Reaver asked sweetly. He pulled me away again. He managed a smile. I knew it was just for show, but it still made me feel better.

  I gave him a nod and I reached my hand up and stroked the bruise on his cheek.

  “I thought you left me,” I murmured. Reaver wiped my tears away with his thumbs. His brow creased as I said that him.

  “I was hoping you would know me well enough to think I just died, rather than left you.” He frowned.

  My eyes fell under his disappointed gaze. “You leaving is more likely than you dying.”

  He seemed to consider that for a moment. “I could see why you might think that.” I watched as his eyes flickered to something behind me. I hadn’t even had time to check the rest of the room out. “I saw you when you found the quad.”

  I didn’t know how to feel about that. On the one hand, he had been watching over me in a way, but in reality he had been forced to watch me in the constant state of turmoil that his disappearance had caused. What sort of sick person was this scientist?

  “Can he see us?” I murmured, looking around.

  Embedded in the walls behind me were dozens and dozens of colour TVs with switches and dials underneath them. One half I observed were feeds of the city, and the others showed what looked like the rest of the underground lab, including where I had been shocked.

  There was also a feed where I could see the scientist. He was cutting up vegetables in the kitchen.

  Reaver shook his head. “This is the surveillance room. I can’t see any camera feeds for this room, but I can see everything out there.”

  Everything…

  I looked at each feed, seeing empty road after empty road.

  “Each TV has a switch to four more camera feeds, and a dial to zoom in… it’s insane,” I heard Reaver whisper behind me. “You can see everything from here.”

  I swallowed the lump in my throat. He saw me wander around? He saw me at my worst, desperate and lost? Screaming for him until I spat up blood. Could he hear me too? I couldn’t hear any sound coming from the TVs, but what sound would come from them? The city was empty.

  I crawled back into Reaver’s arms, he put them around me again. I could see now they were both chained together. “He wants me.” I shuddered, and I felt his grip tighten.

  “I know. The only way I could get him to not kill us was to say you would like him. I had to tell him we weren’t together.”

  “What?” I pulled away again but he wouldn’t let me.

  “He’s been alone for a long time, he saw us on camera when we were scavenging. You’re the reason he hasn’t killed us yet. He wants to date you, he’s extremely lonely.”

  I burst into fresh tears. I knew what I had to do. “Just as long as you’re safe. Okay.”

  He drew back and stared at me confused. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’ll stay behind, as long as he lets you go.”

  He smirked. I wanted to punch him in the face for that stupid smirk. “No, you beautiful idiot. I’m not leaving you behind. I have you in here now. He’s not bringing you out and away from me. I don’t know what we’ll do yet, but I’ll think of something.”

  “I’ll bash his brains in and take his card key.”

  His brow knitted together. “It’s not that easy.” He brought a hand up and showed me the collar. I tried not to notice that the skin underneath his metal handcuff was bloody and raw. “He has a switch he keeps on him. If I piss him off… I explode. I almost got him too, but… well, he’s a manipulative fuck.”

  I looked at the metal necklace and this time I recognized it. It was a slave collar; I had seen them in Skyfall before. They were put on slaves when they were in danger of running away. With one push of the button, it would detonate around Reaver’s neck.

  This… this was bad.

  I looked behind me to see the metal windowless door and the closed blinds where the plastic wire mesh windows had been. “I’ll make him let you go, a trade for me… you can get Greyson and Leo and come get me.”

  Reaver gave out a dry chuckle. “I’m not leaving without you.”

  “He wants me, Reaver, he won’t hurt me… but he’s shown he’ll hurt you.”

  “He’s shown he’ll hurt you too,” Reaver whispered. He touched the sides of my lips and I winced. It felt like the clamps had left burn marks on the sides of my mouth.

  “Because I didn’t listen to him… I will now. Reaver… he’s crazy,” I whispered, not trusting that the scientist didn’t have some way of hearing us. “Please? What other choice do we have? Best case scenario, if we kill him… we’ll starve in here. Reaver, I can get him to trust me with the password and the collar switch. It won’t take long.”

  “No.” His eyes went hard. “I’ll think of something.”

  I was too tired and emotionally exhausted to argue. I crawled into his arms again and I let him hold me. Reaver put his chin on the top of my head. I could tell he was watching the TVs.

  I stared at the wall and listened to him breathe. I tried to sort out what was happening in my head, and what our predicament was.

  Then a cold realization swept through my burned-out mind. I nuzzled into Reaver and he squeezed me tighter. This was going to be up to me. Reaver couldn’t shoot or bomb his way out of this, not without killing both of us, or him losing his head. Like it or not, Perish had Reaver under his control.

  But not me…

  Perish was crazy, probably easily manipulated…

  I was smarter than him.

  “He’s coming back,” Reaver whispered. I raised my head and saw Perish walking out of the kitchen.

  I sat up quickly and looked at Reaver, he looked back… and his face was flat and emotionless. I leaned in and kissed him on the lips, he pressed back and together we kissed deeply.

  “Do you trust me?” I whispered.

  Reaver pulled away. “Don’t be a hero.”

  “I won’t be a hero, I’ll just do what I have to do to save us.” I gave him
one last kiss and stood up. I held his hand, and felt my heart break as he watched me get up. I realized then that his legs were also chained and bloodied.

  “I love you.”

  I couldn’t read his face, but I didn’t break eye contact with him. Bruised eyes, emotionless eyes. Before he could answer the door opened.

  Chapter 21

  Killian

  I dropped Reaver’s hand and turned towards the door, putting my bloodstained hands behind my back. I sat up straight, trying to make myself look as strong as I possibly could, though inside I was a wreck.

  Perish held the door open with his foot. I could see the tip of Reaver’s gun poking through. Gosh, that must be killing Reaver to see someone manhandling his favourite gun.

  “Get back, Reaver,” he warned.

  Reaver was murdering him with his eyes. I turned and with the light from the hallway shining in I saw just how chained Perish had him. He had the thick links wrapped around his waist, his ankles, legs, and wrists as well. Every place where the chains had touched were chaffed and rubbed bloody. He hadn’t gone down without a fight, that was for sure.

  “Perish, I want to make a deal with you, okay?” I said. Seeing Reaver chained like a wild animal had only intensified my faith that I could do this.

  Perish poked his head in and he looked at me warily over his wire framed glasses. “I can do deals, if you keep the deals.”

  “I will, I promise. I don’t look like someone who breaks promises, right?”

  I could see his brow crease as he mulled this over, or perhaps it was the dead radrat in his head trying to spin the wheel. Eventually, he nodded, eyeing Reaver with hostility and caution. At least he was smart enough to know my boyfriend was dangerous and stupid enough to think that I wasn’t.

  “I’ll be your boyfriend, as long as Reaver stays and is safe. Reaver is my mercenary and I like him. He stays and he’s not hurt.”

  The scientist’s light blue eyes widened, he looked shocked. I stepped out of the doorway and held the door. “Promise me, Perish. Please?”

  “He… he has a collar on, and chains, if he tries anything it will explode, if he leaves my underground it will explode. So if you’re… you’re trying something funny… I… I–” Perish looked around not wanting to make eye contact.

  I couldn’t waste time. I needed to gain his trust and keep Reaver safe. I would get us out of here, I had to do it.

  I walked out of the room, leaving Reaver behind and closed the door. I then threw my hands over his neck and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. It took everything I could muster not to recoil.

  I pulled away, feeling like I was going to puke. “I won’t try anything. Reaver is safe? I’ll stay with you forever, as long as Reaver is safe.”

  Perish looked over to the closed door. “Reaver is safe.” He nodded then he took my hand and smiled. “Food? Soda pop? I need to fix your injuries and you can clean too. Come, eat, hungry, you’re probably so hungry. I’ll get you back to normal, don’t worry.”

  He happily walked off, rubbing his hands together, and disappeared into the long white stretch of hallway.

  I followed him, looking behind me to try and memorize where Reaver was. This place seemed to just be white hallways and metal doors; I could get lost in here easily.

  He led me to an amazing kitchen. It had blue counters, two sinks, and a real working refrigerator with a small dining area off to the side. I felt like I had just walked into an elite’s house in Skyfall. Everything was new and spotless. The whole kitchen smelled like antiseptic and cleaning agents. It was amazing, there was no dirt at all. It made Aras look like a rat pit.

  I ran over to the fridge first and opened it up; a little light came on and illuminated fruits and vegetables and packages of meat. I felt silly but I gasped and started picking up different cold pieces of fruit.

  “Oranges!? Bananas? I know these fruits!” I exclaimed. I had seen pictures of them before but I had never touched one. They were cold, smelled wonderful and even had small blemishes on them too. The magazines only took pictures of the best ones. Even near Skyfall we never had anything close to real fruit. It was mind blowing!

  I smelled an orange and wrinkled my nose. “I found citrus in a can once, and cleaner, but this smells so much nicer!”

  Perish grinned at me and he looked shyly at his feet. “I grew them myself, I just got bananas last year. I have a few more in my garden, you can see if you like.”

  I couldn’t help but be impressed, though I felt guilty for being amazed at all of this when my Reaver was hurting and chained up. “Can Reaver have one?” I asked, picking up a peach.

  It was covered in a soft fuzz. It smelled like the peach candy rings Reno had. Wow, fruit did really smell like the candy. I bet it tasted better than the two hundred and thirty-year-old canned peaches too.

  Perish’s face darkened. I put the peach down, not knowing what to expect next, but he seemed to shrug it off. As soon as he looked at me he smiled. “Come sit, I have better.”

  I closed the fridge door with the hope that tonight, perhaps, I could sneak Reaver some food, and looked to where he was motioning. I saw what he meant by having better. The kitchen table was set with a Pepsi bottle, a plate full of very fresh looking vegetables and meat, and Twinkies on the side. Twinkies!!

  “Oh… my… god,” I gasped. I picked up the Pepsi, it was cold and covered in melting frost. I cracked it open and drank some. I almost spat it up as the bubbles burned my mouth. The scientist laughed at my expression and did the hand clasp thing again. After quickly downing half the bottle, I looked down at the food.

  Fresh carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, and ham, real ham!

  “I engineered a garden, not very much else to do when the splices are growing,” Perish said proudly. “Do you ever have this stuff before?”

  “No… not at all,” I sputtered. I picked up the cooked carrot, it was glistening in butter. I popped it into my mouth. My taste buds went crazy. I even felt a pang in the side of my mouth from the intense flavour. It had real flavour, not the tinny, old mush that we found scavenging. Or the chemical-laced faded carrots Dek’ko sold. I felt so guilty, poor Reaver… but oh god, it was so good! I could do so much with this with the spices I had been collecting. I wanted to show Reaver. I wanted Reaver to taste all of this wonderful food.

  “I picked the best for you. I was going to kill you and Reaver, I was going to food you, but he said you would like me. I said you were adorable and he said I could have you.”

  He did, did he? Reaver must have been really scared for me. “Well, you can have me.”

  Perish’s eyes lit up, I swear he was only a few years older than Reaver. He was younger than I had thought. “Yes, yes I can.” He put his hand out and motioned for me to sit down.

  “So why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself, Perish?” I said while eating some peas. They hadn’t turned into mush like the canned stuff did; we would need to ransack this place when we got out of here.

  “Oh, let’s see,” Perish said. He put a piece of meat in his mouth and chewed. He actually waited until he was done eating before he started talking again. “I have been here for eight years now, four of those years, the most recent ones, it’s just been me. Me and my splices and sometimes Joel and sometimes Nero. Nero soon to check on my progress with his order.”

  I turned to the potatoes. I couldn’t help but wolf down the food, I kept trying to remind myself to use my own manners. “What are splices?”

  The scientist seemed to vibrate with excitement. He clasped his hands together with a grin. He certainly fidgeted with his hands a lot, must be a part of his ticks. “Eat, eat! I’ll show when you are nice, cleaned, and not hungry.”

  I ate too quickly and found myself feeling sick again, probably from all the rich food being digested with the disgusting charcoal. I took a last drink of my bubbly pop and followed Perish as he very excitedly took me down another hallway. This one looked the same as all the other hallways. I wondered how
large this underground bunker was.

  I was following him for about two minutes before my stomach gave an angry churn. I felt a disgusting wave of nausea go through me.

  “Per-” I couldn’t manage his name before I turned and threw up all of that good food right on the floor.

  “Oh no!” Perish sounded worried. He grabbed my arm and pulled me forward, directing me into a bathroom. I made it to the toilet right in time before I started puking again.

  I threw up wave after wave of blackened food, with streaks of yellow from the pill remnants. It seemed to keep coming until I saw white in my vision with every dry heave. I felt Perish hold me up as I gagged violently. We both waited a full minute before I sat up and flushed the toilet. I hadn’t flushed a toilet in years.

  “Are you okay?” Perish’s voice was thick with concern. “I shouldn’t have fed a waster so much food.” He chastised himself.

  “I’m okay,” I rasped. I wiped my mouth with my sleeve and a moment later took a piece of papery cloth he handed me. I got up and used that to wipe my mouth and face.

  “I should’ve not fed you so much. I should’ve made you sleep.”

  “It’s okay, really.”

  “No, it’s not… I haven’t had any visitors in such a long time. It won’t happen again.”

  No one at all? No wonder he was so loony. I rinsed out my mouth in the porcelain sink and spat.

  “Why don’t they visit you? Do you have any family, Perish? Don’t they come and visit you?” I asked as he walked me out of the bathroom. This was actually an honest question. I know you forsaken a lot of your family when you joined the Legion, but the scientists of Skytech and Dek’ko workers were more free. I’m sure they must allow some day offs.

  Perish got out his keycard and swiped it. I made a mental note that he got it out of his left coat pocket, in case I had a chance in the future to steal it.

  Then Perish opened the door but let it close on his foot. I could see a sliver of light coming from another white room.

  “I have many many brothers, one sister, and one master.” The scientist smiled at me as he opened the door and walked inside. I grabbed onto the door myself, my arm throbbing. The dried blood was drying out my skin around the scalpel wound and pulling it.

 

‹ Prev