New Bloods Boxset

by Michelle Bryan

  "Ben! It's me. It's me!"

  There’s a moment of vague confusion before his eyes clear and alight with such joy I think my heart will burst.

  "Tara?" I can barely hear him through the wall. He sits up, brown eyes staring at me like I'm some sort of hallucination. Then he stands and limps to the wall, placing his palm against mine. His eyes stare at me, unbelieving, like he cain't truly trust that I’m really there.

  "It's me," I say again and cain't help the hot tears that fill my eyes as a single sob of relief escapes him, and he lays his forehead wearily against the plastic.

  "You came," he says.

  I nod, unable to speak at the moment as my fingers itch to touch his beautiful face. Instead, I make do with laying my own forehead against his, the cold unforgiving plastic keeping us apart. I’d found him.

  "Really hate to interrupt your reunion but we don't have time for waterworks." Jax's harsh words are like a splash of cold water on my overheated emotions. I’d forgotten he was even there.

  "Let's get golden boy outta there and get the hell outta here."

  He's right. Dashing away a stray tear before Jax can see it, I search the metal door to Ben's cell. It’s very similar to the one we’d just passed through, and I'm relieved to see the same kinda metallic lock on it. I hope the card key worked on this one as well. I frantically jam it in, almost dropping it in my haste to get the damn door open.

  "I told you there was something fishy about those two."

  The voice echoes down the long corridor, and we freeze in place. Someone is outside in the room we’d just come from, which means they already found the unconscious guards. And it ain't gonna take 'em long to figure out where we are. Desperately, our eyes search for somewhere, anywhere to hide, but there ain't nuthin' in the open corridor other than us.

  I can see Ben's worried puzzlement at our panic-stricken faces. He cain't hear what we are hearing, and I mouth the words 'guards' at him. His eyes open wide in fear.

  Jax points silently to the door at the end of the corridor and whispers, "There."

  I know right away what he’s thinking. We have nowhere to hide, no option. Our only hope to wait by the door we had just come through and tackle them head on, hoping we catch them off guard. And hope that Mack's training was good enough.

  Pulling my mask back into place and hiking up my cumbersome dress, I run. Both of us run on padded feet trying to get behind the door before it opens. Almost there. Just another few steps—

  Bang! The door hits the wall with a deafening crash, and we come face to face with the two guards Jax had bribed earlier. I skid to a stop as the shooters they aim at us scare me something fierce, but Jax don't stop. With a roar of anger, he lunges at 'em as they come through the door, barreling one right into the wall. The other spins slightly to avoid Jax's attack, and he raises his shooter to take aim at Jax's head.

  I don't think; I just move. I jump on the guard's back, wrapping one arm around his neck and jerk my whole body back as hard as I can so we both go down. We fall with me on my back and the guard on toppa me like a sack of taters. It works. The shooter goes off wildly, missing Jax by a long shot and hitting the ceiling.

  I wrap my legs around the guard to keep him from flipping us over, and I can feel my dress rip straight up to my thigh at my movement. Duchess is gonna kill me, I think, but I don't got time to worry about her wrath over the torn dress right now 'cause the guard is fighting back like a madman. I tighten one arm around his neck, and use the other hand to complete the noose, choking off his air. He struggles in vain to escape, but I ain't letting go, not while he's still holding that shooter. After what seems like forever, I feel him weakening, and the shooter falls outta his hand as he tries to pull my arms away.

  He may be weakening, but I can also feel my own arms throbbing with the effort of holding on so tight.

  Come on already!

  He bucks a couple more times and claws at my forearms, desperate to get 'em offa his neck, but I can feel his energy fading and I don't let go.

  His body goes slack, and his protesting hands fall away, but I hold on. I ain't taking any chance he may be faking. When he’s still, I move my arm away and watch for any movement, but he’s out cold. I shove him offa me in disgust and search frantically for Jax and the other guard.

  They are still struggling, but I can see that the guard has dropped his shooter too, and I snatch it offa the floor, kicking the other one away outta arm's reach. The guard manages to land a blow to Jax's chin, and Jax falls back against the wall, momentarily stunned. The soldier don't hesitate; he moves in for the kill, but the sound of me cocking the shooter right next to his head seems to make him change his mind.

  "Get up!" I snarl at him, but he just glares up at me sideways.

  It’s the flinty one from earlier, and I can tell he ain't gonna be ordered about easily.

  "I know how to use this, and I ain't squeamish 'bout puttin' a slug right between your eyes. Now get up."

  I guess something in my voice convinces him 'cause he does as I say. Jax has shaken off the punch and is back on his own two feet. He stands there rubbing his jaw and staring at the guard out cold on the ground. He grins at me in thanks.

  "Open up that cell." I point with my chin, and Jax yanks a card key from around the scowling guard's neck and opens the cell door nearest to us. The wizened, gray-haired old man sitting inside watches us quietly with beady little eyes, but as soon as the door opens, he scuttles out and spits on the guard as he passes by. The guard don't flinch, but the man cackles with laughter. Then, without us asking, the old man starts dragging the unconscious guard into the cell while Jax ushers in the other one.

  "The other one might have a card key too," I say to Jax. "You should check him."

  But the old one answers my question. "No need; the doors don't open from that side, key or no." His voice is raspy, I reckon from disuse, but it don't hide the tone of glee. "Thank ye, Mistress," he continues and smiles at me with toothless gums.

  He is as dirty and covered in filth as the rest of 'em here, and the red sores that cover his arms and face look painfully familiar. The stench wafting offa him brings tears to my eyes, but his stiff little bow is of utmost respect.

  "For what?" I say. "Takin' ya outta the pan and into the fire? I let you outta your cell, but I don't know how you're gonna get outta here. Not unless you plan on walkin' through the Prezedant's ballroom lookin' like that."

  I don't wait to hear his response 'cause it would only add to my own doubts and fears. The plan is going no way near like it should be, and winging it like we are scares me something fierce. I push that outta my mind for the moment and rush back to Ben's cell. Grabbing the card I had dropped earlier, I draw it through the lock with shaky hands. The door's opening click is the sweetest of sounds.

  Ben don't even wait for the door to fully open. He squeezes through, and I fly into his arms. He smells just as bad as the old man, but I don't care. I bury my face into his thin chest, and his arms tighten around me, and I don't even try to stop my tears this time. I’d found him. And he’s alive. That's all that matters to me at this moment in time. We don't speak, both of us too overwhelmed with emotion. We just hold on tight, the touch enough for the moment. I’d found him.

  Now getting him and us outta here is a whole other story.

  10

  The Escape

  "Tara, we can't take them all. We have a costume for Ben alone, and I don't even know if that’s going to work considering the way he looks and smells. You better hope they’re all too whacked outta their skulls up there to notice anything odd about him. But I sure as hell know they’ll notice the rest of these prisoners walking through."

  I know Jax is making sense, but we cain't just leave 'em all. By now, most of the prisoners have noticed what is going on, and they are standing at their plastic walls, watching us expectantly. Most. Some are too far gone, lost in their own misery and damaged minds to even notice we’re there. Those few I know are beyond
help. But there ain't no way in hell I’m leaving the rest of 'em to suffer that same fate.

  "There has to be a way," I say stubbornly. "We cain't just abandon 'em all."

  "Tara is right," Ben says quietly as he stands, holding his injured side. The sight of his blood-stained tunic hurts me so bad, but I blink away the tears. "We cain't leave 'em here. What they do to 'em … it … it ain't right," his words trail off in a whisper, and they convey the horrors he has seen and endured. That settles it then.

  "Easy for you to say," Jax says to Ben with such anger and force that it truly surprises me. "You wanna back up those words with some plan, genius? ‘Cause I got nothing."

  "Ease off, Jax," I warn through narrowed eyes. We don't need to be arguing amongst ourselves.

  "Ease off?" Jax stares at me, flabbergasted. "In case you don't realize the seriousness of our situation, let me recap it for you. We’re in a house full of Army that would rather see us all dead, besides you that is. Our plan has turned to shite, our leader is missing, and other guards are gonna get suspicious soon and come looking for that bunch," he motions to the cell holding all four guards now, "and you wanna stay around and play hero to a bunch of crazies. Let's stick to what's left of our plan and get out of here."

  "Er, I may have a solution." The little, gray-haired man whose cell we had commandeered interrupts Jax with a raised hand.

  I look at him in surprise. I forgot he was there. Why ain't he made a run for it already? He was freed.

  "There is another way out of here, back in the lab."

  I blink at him, puzzled.

  "Lab?" Jax says.

  The oldie bobs his gray head up and down. "The other room out there." He jerks his thumb over his shoulder.

  "The torture room," Ben says quietly, and a slight shudder runs over his body.

  Were they talking about the room I saw with the beds and poles?

  The old man nods in agreement. "There is a … a shaft I guess one would call it where they dump the bodies of the ones who don't make it."

  "Dump the bodies?" I say.

  "Aye. Once they've drained all the blood and they got no more use for the carcass, they need to get rid of it. Since they can't very well parade it through the upstairs, they dump it down that shaft."

  He says it so matter-of-factly, but it makes me quiver in revulsion.

  "Where does this shaft lead to?" Jax asks, but the man just shrugs.

  "Not sure, but anywhere but here is fine by me," he says and shows us his toothless gums again, making me believe he truly is one of the crazies Jax was referring to earlier.

  Jax shakes his head. "Too risky. Could lead to anything. Could be a ten-armspan drop, causing us to all break our necks. Could be an oven ready to burn us all to ashes. Could be a pen full of wolflings ready to rip us all to shreds. I mean, they have to get rid of the bodies somehow."

  Or it could be our way outta here. Without a word, I grab one of the guards' iron shooters and use the card key to open the cell door. The other three guards are still out cold, but flinty eyes me furiously from the other side of the cell. I ignore Jax's stunned stare and throw flinty a hard look.

  "I know you been listenin'," I say, pointing the shooter at him. "Now, you're gonna tell me what I need to know. Where does that shaft go?"

  He sneers at me. "You don't have much time left. Someone had to have heard that shot or notice we’re missing. They are going to be here soon, and you’re all going to rot in these cells."

  I nod at him in agreement. "You're right," I say and pull the trigger on the shooter. He screams in pain and falls to the floor as the slug slams into his thigh. "Like you said, we ain't got much time." I ignore Jax's, "Shizen, Tara!" and Ben's look of disbelief and keep right on talking. "I'm a pretty good shot, so if you don't want this next slug aimin' for that dangley bit between your legs, you'd best tell me what I need to know. Where does it go?"

  "You crazy bitch," he snarls at me as he cradles his bleeding thigh, and I aim the shooter again.

  "Wrong answer," I say coldly, but he holds his bloody hands up at me.

  "Wait! Okay, okay. It leads to the cellars. The bodies get dumped there and picked up for disposal." I ignore his winces and moans of pain.

  "How much of a drop is it?" I say.

  "About a flight of stairs … not much," he gasps.

  "Are we gonna run into any guards in the cellars?" I say.

  "No, no guards. Don't need guards for the dead."

  "You lyin'?" I narrow my eyes at him over the shooter, but he shakes his head vehemently.

  "No! It's the truth. I swear!"

  I believe him and back outta the cell, closing the door behind me and blocking out his cries of, "Wait! You can't just leave me. I'm going to bleed out."

  I toss the old man one of the card keys and nod at the cells.

  "Get 'em outta here … the ones that can go."

  Right away, he does as I say, yelling "Through the shaft!" as he releases each prisoner. Some of 'em barrel out and make a run for the shaft right away while others just look stunned, like they ain't quite sure what's happening. I take the other card key and head for the back of the corridor, yelling at Jax as I go, "Get Ben outta here."

  He answers, "Like hell," as he follows me.

  Shoulda known better.

  A loud pounding somewhere near the back captures my attention. Someone is banging on their plastic wall with such force that I'm surprised the wall don't shatter. When I see the culprit, I stop and just stand there, shaking my head.

  "Oh, hell no."

  "Hey! Hey, you two. Get me out of here, and I will be forever in your debt."

  Standing on the other side of the plastic cell is none other than the large, massive leader of the Raiders: Busher. The one who’d captured us in the mountains, threatened to sell us for profit, and then tried to turn us in to the Prezedant for the reward money. The last I had seen of him, he and his men had been immobilized by Po and his campsite overrun with Army. I guess I know how that had ended. He looks worse for wear. His long ropes of hair are now gone, shaved entirely off. The welts and bruises covering his bare torso—some old, some still fresh—leaves no doubt as to what he’s undergone during his capture.

  "Get you out?" I say. "You gotta be kiddin' me. Why would I help you?" I push my mask back up, so he gets the full impact of my glare. He stares at me for a moment before recognition sets in, and he smiles that wickedly white grin.

  "Baby New Blood! I can’t believe it's you. Let me out of here."

  I ignore his pleading and continue on, as Jax throws him an almost apologetic “Sorry, man,” before catching up with me. We open five more cell doors before we reach the end of the line. The occupants sob at us in gratitude as they rush by.

  “That’s it,” Jax says. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Busher is still standing at his wall and starts pounding again the moment we pass by.

  "Come on. You have to let me out. You can't leave me here. They will eventually kill me as well, just like the others. You can't let that happen," he pleads.

  "Not my problem," I say, turning my back to him. He had no qualms about our lives when he tried to sell us, more interested in his reward than our living or dying.

  "Please, I can help you. You are going to need help getting off the grounds. The Army is not going to let you pass without a fight. Hey!" He bangs on the wall again, trying to get my attention. "I can help you!"

  Jax pauses and turns my way. “As much as I hate to admit it, Tara, he’s right. There’s no way we’re going to be able to sneak this many people out without being noticed. And he is a powerhouse. He can come in handy.”

  An internal battle rages before I come to a decision. “Argh,” I mutter as, against my better judgment, I swipe his lock and open the door before I change my mind. He charges at me and I back up in horror before I’m lifted offa my feet and spun around.

  "Hahaha, thank you, baby New Blood. You will not regret this decision."

 
"I already am," I yell. "Put me down."

  "As you wish," he says and does as I say. He then turns and bellows at the prisoners still hanging about in the corridor. "What are you fools waiting for, an invitation? Move out."

  I ain't quite sure they understand the sarcasm, but they get the authority in his voice, and they listen.

  "That is all of them, Mistress," the oldie says to me as the corridor empties out, leaving just him, Jax, Ben and myself. "The ones that are willing to go anyways. There’s nothing we can do for those few."

  He motions to the cells where the occupants are either ignoring us or hooked up to those damn blood bags, already too far gone for us to help. So be it.

  "Thank you…I don't know your name."

  "Kell is what I am called. Forever grateful is what I am to the gods for sending you my way," he says with a little bow.

  "Aye, well, you ain't out yet. You might be wishin' you had stayed in your cell before this eve is over."

  "Tara, let's go." Jax looks nervously over his shoulder, watching for any sign of more soldiers, and I grab Ben's hand.

  He has remained strangely quiet throughout everything, looking too shocked to do much of anything, but at my touch, he startles and his brown eyes search mine.

  "Tara, what’s happened to you? Why is the big one callin' you New Blood? What does that mean?"

  "I'll answer all your questions later, Ben. I promise. But right now, we gotta go." He seems to accept that, but I cain't help the little bit of doubt that creeps into my heart at how accepting he will be once we get outta here. If we get outta here.

  The raider leader is more helpful than I would have believed. I thought for sure he woulda been the first down the shaft, but I’m surprised to find him holding the heavy, metal door open as the other prisoners take their turn climbing into the vent-like hole in the wall. Sitting on the edge and then pulling their legs through, they slide quickly outta view, so I reckon there ain't no other way to go but straight down.