Primal: A Dark Sci-Fi Reverse Harem Romance (Alpha Unknown Book 1)

by Penelope Woods

  “That’s what we assume,” I said.

  Adeline’s face turned red. “You’re not listening. I don’t want an exit.”

  He continued speaking. “I had a premonition you would bring an energy storage device. Please tell me it’s true.”

  Slowly, she turned and took her bag into her hands. She reached inside and pulled out a small battery. “Made from carbon fiber composites,” she said. “It allows for faster speeds and higher power.”

  I had never seen anything like it. I chuckled when I thought about all the hoops she must have had to leap through to get one of those things. Then, I realized she probably hadn’t. “Does your team know you brought that?”

  A faint smirk appeared on her face. “No, but I didn’t know what I’d find on the other side. I needed to come prepared.”

  Mag gave a sigh of relief. “Then, maybe some of the hallucinations are, in fact, guiding us, after all.”

  I took the battery in my hands and observed it to the best of my ability, sniffing at the rounded metal edges to digest the details. It looked like a capsule, or a small atom bomb, and it felt dense in the center. It felt like it was spinning. “There is a rotational device in the heart of this... machine?” I asked.

  She nodded and carefully took it back, placing it in the center of the room. “That’s what allows for its power, but I’m not sure how long it will last here. It could be as long as five hours or as short as fifteen minutes.”

  The three of us were silent, but Adeline was able to put things together in her head fairly fast. “Look, I’m guessing this battery needs to power a device you’ve found. I can help you with that, but I’m not leaving without you.”

  I took the battery and placed it among my things. It was so fucking weird. She didn’t give one thought to how we looked. We were massive. Men would find us threatening. Women would recoil and scream for help. When I was younger, I read Shelley’s Frankenstein more than enough times to get my fill of human vitriol. I didn’t need to experience the backlash of mankind.

  “They will kill us,” I said.

  “Not if we kill them all first,” Mag grunted.

  Cadmar did not say a word. After all, he was the architect. How could he leave the world he created?

  “My team isn’t like the others. They will help you,” she insisted.

  Adeline had a pure heart. She didn’t see us for what we looked like on the outside. But those scientists would not help us. There were only two paths for atrocities such as us. A life of experimentation or death.

  She was pure, but she wasn’t stupid. She lowered her head and sucked in a breath. In a way, we had been running from the truth. It hit me at the same exact time. We were stuck here. We would never find a way out, but she would. She could tell the world about what their government did. She could right the wrongs of the past, and eventually find love with a caring person.

  We were going to have to let her go. It broke me, but I had to accept it.

  “I suddenly feel very tired,” she whispered, cold and distant.

  I knew the truth would hurt her, so all I could do was hope time would heal her. She laid her head against my chest and closed her eyes. “It’s okay,” I whispered. “Everything is going to be okay.”

  She would not sleep in this eternal night zone, this wild reflection of a world gone wrong. If she saw any pictures, it was because the maddening effects of our dreaded home were strengthening around her subconscious. For now, we would keep her safe and hold our heads high.

  “I’ll never leave you,” she whispered, shivering slightly with fever.

  But she didn’t know it—she already had begun to.

  10

  Adeline

  Spinning into a starry cosmic pool, I felt my body give way and my soul set free. The feeling didn’t make much sense, since I didn’t necessarily even believe in a soul. But I was somewhere, and my body wasn’t present. Images flashed in front of me, hallucinations that normally would have scared the hell out of me had I not experienced them on a regular basis. In that dark ether, I swam directly to where I heard the voices call to me.

  “Adeline...”

  So familiar. So soothing. I knew those voices, but I couldn’t pinpoint who exactly they came from.

  Suddenly, I found myself walking through a mountain range. I turned back to see multiple rows of buildings. I squinted to see more detail and noticed the white tarps draped across the metal foundation. They were greenhouses filled with incredible plants. I could not see the vegetation, but I could somehow smell the life emanating from inside. Yet, instead of feeling good about what I saw, I felt a deep sense of longing.

  I turned back around and faced the rocky path forward. I was getting closer to my destination, a cave thirty meters away.

  “Adeline.”

  The voices called out to me again, and this time, I registered where they were coming from. In my hand, I held a device. My communications device!

  “Adeline, are you there? Come in. Adeline?”

  I was so excited I nearly dropped it. Hands shaking, I lifted the device and slowly pressed in the talk button. I pressed my mouth near the intercom and bit my lip before responding, “Joy? Is that you? Red? Colton?”

  The device responded with the sound of three bells. “Fuck.” The signal dropped, but it was common in rough terrain.

  One by one, I listed their names, more for my sake than theirs. It had only been about forty-eight hours since I came here, I thought. But even so, it felt like a lifetime. I listened intently as the radio played back silence mixed in with the occasional FM relay-switch noise as it searched for the lost signal. Finally, it reconvened, and I heard the sound of breathing.

  “Addie? Oh, thank fucking heavens. You’re okay. Uh, we’re going to need to triangulate your coordinates. Are you safe?”

  Although the responder sounded familiar, I still couldn’t recognize the voice. I searched by memory, but coming out with nothing, I simply responded with, “I found them.”

  I listened to the sound of their breathing, a mix of quiet celebration and an odd amount of relief, and guilt washed over me. Again, I was moving, but I felt like I was floating in some strange dream. I didn’t know what I was doing, but what was important was I felt like I was doing the right thing. I walked into the cave and saw nothing except a single mirror. It drew me in.

  “Addie, I need you to listen to me. When you reach the gateway to the portal, refrain from entering.”

  I heard the words, but I was fixated on the mirror in front of me. In the reflection was a little girl. It was myself, from years ago. “Refrain from entering,” I repeated, voice monotone and lifeless.

  It was as if there were two parts of me ripping in half. I knew something was wrong, but I just kept staring. At myself. Freaky.

  “We’re sending in...” At this point, the radio dropped off again, scratchy and abrupt. “Do you copy?”

  “What?” I asked. “Base camp, do you read? Come in, base camp!”

  “Sending...a team... rescue...emergency...”

  My heart dropped, and my blood pressure spiked. I didn’t get the whole memo, but I knew what they were trying to tell me. They were going to send in an emergency squadron to come get me out. This was an unprecedented act of heroism, even for the CIA. Normally, this would have been cause for a celebration. Only, I didn’t need any rescuing. I just needed some time.

  I dropped the radio and heard my name being called out, over and over again. I saw that little girl, the reflection of my younger self run into the distance as a team dressed in yellow hazmat suits flashed into this world. They wielded assault weapons, carried large detonation packs, and they pointed toward the area of the camp I had fallen asleep in.

  I reached out, touching the glass of the mirror, which easily washed around my fingers like a silver liquid or mercury. As I stepped through, I felt the heat of flames, the pounding of deadly bullets, and I listened to the cries of the men I had come to trust. The scientists torched the
place, leaving the land and everything that inhabited it to die. A trial by fire. It was so wrong...

  I stepped through the mirror. I heard my name from the radio one last time.

  “Addie!” It was my father’s voice.

  I opened my eyes to an empty cage and the cold wind that flowed through the valley wrapped around the curves of my body.

  Confusion took over. A rush of panic.

  Donovan’s voice echoed inside my ears. “Adeline, what are you doing?”

  Oh, no...

  I blinked and jerked awake. I was naked and standing in front of the cage they had put Zane inside. The door was open, but no one sat in front of me. “No, no, no,” I whispered, feeling frantic and misled as if I was a child who just spilled her dinner across the freshly cleaned carpet. “What happened? Where am I?”

  Donovan put his arms around me. He protected me from any harm I thought might be present. “It’s okay. Nobody is after you. You’re safe,” he whispered with no anger in his tone. He was there for me, even when he shouldn’t have been.

  I hugged him back, doing my best to calm myself. They were so right. The delusions this place gave me were returning, and they felt even stronger now. I didn’t know myself anymore. My old sources of comfort, my team and crew of scientists were part of something much larger and more sinister than I ever imagined.

  It wasn’t their fault. They had been fed the same lies about progress as I. I wasn’t sent on this expedition to save the planet. I was here so the government could destroy it.

  “He’s gone,” Mag said. He eyed the horizon, eyes shifting into different colors. He issued a sharp, clicking noise, but he looked dissatisfied and worn down. He wasn’t mad either, but I could tell some of his hope had worn out.

  Cadmar placed his big hand around his shoulder blade, squeezing his muscle. “Relax,” he whispered. “He will make another mistake, and we’ll catch him again.”

  Mag grumbled and turned back toward the tent. “He nearly killed Donovan and I. Maybe it’s about time we stop giving him the benefit of the doubt.”

  Maybe it was because of how he said it, or maybe it was the fact I knew I had been the one to fuck everything up, but I felt my cheeks heat with shame. I pushed away from Donovan and followed him to the tent, running to catch up. “Are you implying I meant to let him out?” I asked.

  “Didn’t say that,” he muttered.

  He barely turned his eyes to give me any attention. It would have been easy to deal with a few days ago, but I thought I had gotten to know him. He was the one who convinced me to meet his group, and I ended up taking every inch of his massive cock. I submitted and gave all I had to him. I couldn’t take this level of disregard.

  He unzipped the tent and crawled inside to be alone, but I followed to give him a taste of his own medicine. “I thought you cared about me,” I said.

  He groaned when he realized I wasn’t going to leave him alone. “Never said that either,” he said, digging through his belongings. “Battery is gone, too. He must have taken it. There’s only one place he could be headed.”

  I sat down beside him and nearly touched his chest to console him, but when I saw how fast and hard his pulse was going, I decided against it. “I know you’re angry. I also know how bad you want off this rock,” I said. He slumped and sighed. “But you shouldn’t worry about Zane. He’s practically harmless.”

  Even I knew the words sounded fake. He wasn’t harmless. He was calculating, but I never thought he was so manipulative he could help eradicate an entire realm of physicality. No, I wouldn’t believe it.

  “That man will destroy everything I have waited for. You. Our freedom. The chance to love and feel again. The chance to see sunlight. I am trying to be patient, but there is so much at stake,” Mag said, eyes full of hurt and worry.

  One by one, the others entered. I turned to them for guidance, so they might ease my apprehensions. Yet, both of their faces were blank, and they stood in silence. “I take it you agree?” I asked.

  They both turned to look at each other with hesitation. Donovan sat down and cleared his throat. “We have seen things you cannot see,” he said.

  I bit down and slowly dragged my teeth together, but I kept my mouth shut to listen to Cadmar’s thoughts, though I knew what they would be. “Maybe he was a good man, but people change,” he said. “I can’t claim to be able to understand the modern world, but I have seen more than I needed. His intentions aren’t decent. His motives come from a place of self-interest and greed. Worst of all, I think you already know this, but love has clouded your judgment.”

  They were harsh words, but maybe I needed to hear them. I was still trying to make sense of what I witnessed in that fucked up dream state. ”You haven’t told me everything,” I said. “I need to know. I’m ready to know.”

  Once they got done with their reluctant stares, they lowered their guards. Thanks to my insane brain and the images this place produced inside it, Zane had managed to escape, but if what they were telling me was true, I could track him down. Once I did, I would convince him to leave this place in peace. He wouldn’t hurt me. At least, I hoped he wasn’t that unhinged...

  Cadmar spoke first, going through their story in greater detail. He and Donovan were scientists during what they could only think of as the pinnacle of mankind. “It was long past the end of World War II. The flags fell in Germany, the red flags rose in the east, and our country saluted the flag of freedom while dropping bombs throughout every decade. Every country seemed to bow at our feet, the greatest place in the entire world. America.”

  Mag gave a tired chuckle. It seemed he disagreed with his starry-eyed definition of the country I grew up in. I had seen things that made me question that picture as well, but these men were from a different time. They didn’t grow up with cellphone towers and industry-poisoned crops, and they sure as hell didn’t groan over a bad tweet. No, their vision of the world was so clear, but so far off. Maybe Mag’s response was right. I couldn’t be sure. All I knew was I couldn’t choose where I was born, but I could choose what I did with my life.

  “Donovan and I were chosen to lead an expedition. Apparently, our government had some more work to do in South America, specifically Guatemala. They told us we were going for humanitarian work. I don’t know what historians write in the books now, but when we arrived, there were very few supplies. Instead, we were escorted to a facility. I should have known they’d targeted me for my work, but I was young and naive. Thirty-two, and I didn’t have a family. All I had was my work,” Cadmar said.

  Donovan carried on with the story. “We were told they had found an energy source. It was located in a small village, and, at the behest of the heads of our team, we were to demand entrance from the locals. It was all kept under wraps, of course. No newspapers or media source reported on the findings. And when we arrived wielding rifles and other weapons, the tribal leaders cowered in fear.”

  “I tried to warn them. I begged the privatized soldiers to back down,” Cadmar said with a grief-stricken heart. “The only person who listened was Mag.”

  “They were still fucking slaughtered. Hunted down like dogs. I’ll never forget the terrifying looks on their faces as they were gunned to fuckin’ pieces,” he said.

  Donovan cupped his hand over his eyes. “We all carry the blame for what happened.”

  “But you didn’t know what would happen,” I said. “You were tricked...”

  “This place does not care how things happen, only if they happened. Those images will be forced upon us until the day we die. I have no doubt about that,” Mag said.

  All of this was so horrible I didn’t think I could continue listening to the gruesome details. However, I had to keep asking, so I could know. So the future children of the world could know. Maybe I was a naive optimist, but I believed a country could overwrite its wrongs if they would just admit to and learn about what happened. “After they tricked you, what did they make you do?

  “You have to remembe
r how difficult it was to fight power back then. We tried to leave, many times. We staged our own coup, and some of the top scientists in the world joined our side. Of course, it was of no use to us. They hired more armed guards. Even the natives joined in once they realized they had no other choice,” Donovan said. “When you’re looking through the barrel of a gun, you can see how present death really is. It is always surrounding you. It wasn’t the fear that made me give up. I gave up because I knew my work was to be destroyed after my death. Hundreds of patents. Vaccines supposed to be wildly available in less than a decade. All of it would have been destroyed and covered up.”

  “None of us should have signed up to work for the government,” Mag said. “We turned our heads when our leaders promised hope to the world, knowing full well it wasn’t coming.”

  The CIA. There was a joke between the team and I that it stood for Clowns In Action. It was one of those dumb college jokes, but we would giggle anyway, and someone would always respond with another witty acronym, “Cash in Advance,” simply because it meant we could finally get some real, heavy-duty funding. These days, it was hard to come by.

  Hearing just the start of their terrible tale, it was apparent no joke was warranted. Government agencies were supposed to keep people safe, and I’m sure some people did just that. The only problem was they had a growing list of atrocities that had happened under their watch.

  “But you keep moving on. You do what you’re told. In spite of everything, we had a duty to discover more about the world, and we were hoping to lead the future and design something perfect,” Donovan said. “But after some time of testing the energy source on “willing” subjects, coupled with the deep pipelines that were to stretch across the oceans of the world, our team was given less and less access every day. Sure, we held the knowledge this wasn’t just another pipeline for fuel. This was something different, a portal that could potentially transport people into a different universe entirely.”