We ain't moving fast enough though. There are at least ten of us left when we hear the unmistakable sound of heavy boots making their way rapidly down the metal stairs. The Army’s on their way.
"Ben, you're next." I try to push him toward the hole, but he resists.
"Not without you," he says, but the big man ain't having none of it. Without another word, he picks Ben up and literally stuffs him into the hole, and he disappears from view, the sounds of his protest echoing in the vent.
I hear the soldiers getting closer. I look back at the door behind us.
"That lock ain't gonna hold 'em for long. Keep movin'," I yell at the prisoners.
Without a word, Busher starts pushing the heavy, metal table—holding what I now know to be torture devices—in fronta the door, trying to buy us enough time.
The heavy thud of footsteps echo as they rush the gray room on the other side of the door. Come on, just four of us left. We can make it.
It don't take 'em long to find the other guards in the locked cell and figure out where we are. As Kell disappears down the hole, a face appears in the window, and the soldier's eyes open wide as he starts yelling. I see the light on the lock turn green, and the heavy, metal table starts bucking as they try to force it open.
"Go, Tara!" I don't argue Jax's command; there ain't no time.
I jump into the vent head first and start sliding down the metal ramp. I hit the ground with a thud and roll to my feet. It's so dark, I can barely see Ben in fronta me, but he takes my hand.
"This way," he says, but I yank back.
"No, we gotta wait for the others." I hear the terrifying sound of slug fire echoing down the chute. The soldiers were inside now and shooting at Jax and Busher. Oh, gods, Jax!
A blood-curdling yell precedes the body that falls outta the vent followed by another body moments later. They just lie there, not moving.
They're dead, I think frantically, but then I hear a low groan coming from underneath the pile.
"Get this … elephant offa me."
It's Jax. He's still alive, I think. He’s squished underneath Busher, just an odd leg sticking out. I push at the big man, and he struggles to his feet, freeing Jax. I grab his hand and pull him upright.
"You oka—"
But he cuts me off, winded. "No time … right behind … go."
I understand. We run.
The moss-covered stone floor is slippery under our frantic feet and running blind makes it even worse. The rock walls around us dictate which way we go, but I can feel a cool breeze on my face, so I know we’re heading for some kind of opening. I just ain't sure what's gonna be waiting for us when we get there.
The single passageway suddenly becomes two, and I pull up short, the others nearly running me over before managing to skid to a stop.
Which way? Oh, gods, I cain't tell. Which passageway is the breeze coming from? My panic threatens to overwhelm me until I hear a whispered voice from the left passage.
"This way, Mistress."
Kell is motioning to us furiously, and we take his advice. We go left, the breeze on our faces growing stronger the closer we get to the light at the end of tunnel. The sliver of light starts to widen, and I suddenly realize what it is. Moonlight. We’re almost out of the cellar. I can hear the shouts of the Army behind us, still in pursuit, but we don't look back. Focus on the light, I chant over and over in my head, expecting at any moment to feel a slug rip through me. It don't happen though, and we finally stumble up the stone steps that lead out onto the rolling back grounds of the estate. It takes me a moment to orient myself before I notice something that almost makes me sob in relief. Doors. There are two huge, wooden doors lying on either side of us, just begging to be closed.
"Doors!" I yell and right away, Busher starts hauling on one while Jax and I yank on the other. They are heavy as hell, but once we get the momentum going, they start to swing shut with the force of a rockslide. Just in time, too, 'cause I swear I can see the whites of the eyes of the soldiers about to follow us up the stone stairs. We pull the heavy, metal latches across the doors and lock the guards in, their banging and shouting sounding feeble against the thick doors.
We made it. We're outside. I ain't got no idea if the doors would hold the soldiers for long or if they had another way to get out and continue the chase. Hell, there could be another bunch ‘round the corner just waiting to capture us, but for now, we’re safe.
As my eyes adjust to the moonlight, I can see the other prisoners running, spread out over the rolling hills like scattering sand biters. I truly hope they make it out.
"What now?" Busher asks, and I peer at him through the gloom. Why is he even still here? But I don't bother to question it.
"The barns," I say. "I dunno how much time we have before the alarm is sounded up here, but if we can get to Talbert and Beanie, they mighta managed to find us another way out—"
"There they are!" We hear the yell a split second before a gaggle of guards ascends from around the corner of the main house.
"Damn, that was fast," Busher cusses under his breath.
"Go!" I yell, and we run once more, the soldiers' voices carrying their threats to shoot at our backs if we don't stop. The barns aren't that far away, but they may as well have been on the other side of the city 'cause we ain't even halfway there when Ben collapses on the ground.
"Ben, get up," I say as I grab his arm, practically dragging him to his feet.
"I cain't," he pants.
"You can. Now move!" I yell right into his face. We will not be caught. We will not have gone through everything tonight for nuthin'.
"Go on … without me," he says as he cradles his injured side.
"Fat chance," I say as I throw his arm around my neck, forcing him to move.
"Shizen," Jax cusses at us loudly as he runs back and props Ben up on the other side. We drag him, his feet barely touching the ground.
The sound of slug fire whizzes by my ears. They are really shooting at us.
"Keep going," Busher yells as he pulls one of the guards' iron shooters out of the small of his back and starts returning fire over his shoulder as he runs.
I hear another round of shots and then Jax's, "Ugh," as he stumbles forward a bit.
"Jax," I cry, but he don't stop.
"I'm okay. Keep going."
I know he is there before I even hear him. The cold, invading fingers prick at my mind, and I swear every other sound suddenly just … stops. I cain't hear anything: the soldiers shouting, Ben's painful gasps, my own pounding heart, nuthin'. It's like I've gone deaf.
"New Blood." There’s a piercing whisper in my head, and it brings me to a standstill. Ben and Jax stumble at my sudden stop and then look at me like I’ve gone mad. I can see Jax's lips moving. He’s yelling at me, and Ben is calling my name, but I hear nuthin'.
"Turn around."
It's like my body ain't my own, and I’m powerless to do anything but what the voice demands of me.
"Ah, there you are."
Now that we have stopped running, the soldiers quickly catch up and form a solid wall around us, shooters pointing at us from every direction. Moments later, the wall starts to part like a sea of grass pushed aside by the wind. He seems to almost glide through them instead of walk, and I’m acutely aware of his intense satisfaction of finally finding me. He stops almost in fronta me, and I feel the cold tentacles burrowing their way into my brain.
This close to him, I can feel his power, his Chi, radiating offa him, and the intensity makes my gut churn. What in the world made me possibly think I could compete with such power?
"Well, then, we’ve had quite the little dance tonight, haven't we?" He smiles at me, and I almost feel myself smile back at his pure magnetic pull. "You are quite the temptress, teasing me with little tidbits of your Chi. Imagine my surprise earlier when I felt your presence in the ballroom. Oh, the healer tried her best to conceal you, and she almost succeeded, but yet here we are." He shrugs and lets out a de
lighted laugh. "I am so happy to meet you."
Face to face with him finally, I feel my intense hatred bubbling in my gut and start spreading over me in waves. I want to rip his heart out for Lily's death. I want to scream at him, damn him to hell for my ma and Grada and Rivercross and for every other innocent soul he has ever made suffer. I do none of that. Instead, all I can do is stand motionless as he peers into my eyes and then touches my chin lightly, moving my face from side to side. He pushes the mask up, revealing my whole face, and my knees almost buckle at his touch.
"Hmmmm, do I know you?"
"Get away from her," Jax snarls and leaps at him, but with a simple wave of his hand, the Prezedant sends Jax flying across the grass to land in a heap about five arm spans away. Holy mother of gods! How does he do that? I’m unable to go to Jax to see if he’s okay, but I see him struggle to his knees outta the corner of my eye. At least I know he’s still moving.
He doesn't even look Jax's way; he is still studying my face intently. Suddenly, his dark eyes go wide with awareness.
"On all that is holy … is this possible? You have to be. You look so much like her it cannot be a coincidence. You're the child, Tara."
For a brief moment, his shock and excitement are underlined by another emotion, one that I'm sure I must be mistaken about. Surely, I had to be wrong but for just that one brief little moment in time, I swear I detect fear. What possible reason would he have to fear me? I ain't no threat to someone this powerful. And how the hell does he know my name? Just like that, the sensation disappears, and he rubs his hands in glee.
"It is you! What a glorious day. All this time looking for you, and you walk right into my home. The irony in that does not go unnoticed."
"What do you want from me?" I croak, each word an effort to force outta my immobilized throat. He takes another step closer to me, and I can see the gold sparkles that have fallen offa his mask and scattered all over his unlined face, the colored lights reflecting offa 'em almost mesmerizing. He pushes his own mask up then as if to study me better. I am vaguely aware of how normal he appears—good-looking even. I surely thought evil woulda looked much different than this.
"Why, what I want from every New Blood of course: your power. And yours, I'm sure, will be doubly sweet." He looks me up and down with disappointment in his eyes. "I truly thought a child of Rease's, well, I thought you would be more of a challenge." He waves a hand at me in dismissal and turns his back to me.
"Take her to the lab, and get her prepped," he says to a soldier who comes to attention at his words.
"Yes, sir," the soldier barks and nods at another who is off to my side. I can see him outta the corner of my eye, and I sure as hell notice what he is holding. The white needle object I remember from Littlepass. The serum.
"And the rest of them, sir?" the soldier says.
"The rest?" the Prezedant says like he cain't quite understand why they would bother him with such a silly question. "They are not important. Shoot them."
The words freeze me to my core. No. Jax. Ben. I ain't gonna watch them die too. There ain't no way they are all dying tonight for nuthin'. I have to do something. As if Lily is standing next to me, her same words again echo in my head.
"Apply your Chi, Tara."
I don't know how I do it. Maybe it ain't even my own doing. I ain't sure if I break away from his power, or he considers me to be so weak that he releases me. Either way, my body falls under my own control once again. I can move. Come on, Chi. Don't let me down.
I feel the fire immediately start spreading through my veins, the tiny, weak flame sparking into a raging inferno. I see everything happening around me, but just like every time before, it's like I am watching it from off to the side, like it ain't me doing any of this.
I watch the soldiers raise their shooters as the Prezedant turns his back to me. I see Busher slowly raise his shooter to fight back. I can see Jax trying in vain to reach the soldier about to inject me, and Ben looking at me with such confusion. But none of it has time to register. All I know is I need to stop the executions that are about to occur.
The soldier holding the serum comes at me, and I grab his wrist, snapping it back. Ignoring his scream of pain, I catch the needle as it falls outta his limp hand and leap at the gold-suited back. The roar of an unearthly wind whips by my head but not a hair of mine is blown outta place. It's like the wind somehow just takes me with it, like I’m a part of it. But it don't go around the soldiers. They are pushed through the air like leaves in a breeze, flying backwards with an unseen, mighty force. I get a quick glance at the Prezedant's shocked face before I plunge the serum into his neck an instant before he, too, is blown backwards. It doesn't last long. One moment, they are there in front of us, and the next, we are alone. A couple of shooters lying at our feet are the only indication that we’d been surrounded. The soldiers and the Prezedant are scattered all over the grounds, spread out like the petals of some dead flower. I can see some of them struggling to their feet, but it's the one in gold that my eyes search for. He yanks the needle outta his neck and wobbles to his feet, but he’s having troubles. Apparently, the serum affected him just as well as the rest of us.
"What the—?"
Busher's words are cut short as an explosion rocks the ground under our feet, and a dust cloud mushrooms at the rock wall near the gate. From outta nowhere, a carriage flies towards us at such a breakneck speed it goes up on two of its side wheels, nearly toppling over. It crashes back down on all fours, and Beanie flings open the carriage door, nearly flying out with the effort.
"Get in!" Talbert bellows from the driver's seat.
He ain't gotta say it twice.
I ain't sure who grabs me, but I'm yanked offa my feet and forcefully thrown into the waiting carriage. Bodies pile in and on toppa each other, so squished I cain't tell who owns what parts. Talbert must figure we all made it inside; however, 'cause the carriage jerks to a start. And not a moment too soon. I hear the Prezedant's furious roar of, "Stop them!" an instant before the sound of shooter fire erupts around us.
I peer up at Beanie from my cramped position on the floor.
"How we gettin' out? The gate," I say, but he just grins at me and laughs in pure glee.
"The explosion, Mistress. There ain't no gate to worry 'bout now."
I cain't believe I'm thinking this, but these two idiots are actually starting to grow on me.
11
The Allies
"Mack!" I yell in panic and try to bolt upright, but I'm still weak and pinned under the sea of bodies. I cain’t move. "Everybody get offa me," I cry as I start pushing.
Easier said than done. With Talbert driving like a madman and the carriage all over the road, we’re rattling about something fierce. Finally, the weight is lifted, and Jax pulls me up offa the floor to sit between him and Ben. I kinda do a double take as I see old man Kell sitting on the other side between Beanie and Busher. Where the hell had he come from? Had he been with us all this time?
"Mack?" I say again, but Beanie shakes his head.
"We ain't heard from the Captain, Mistress," he says.
"What? Then we gotta go back. We cain't leave him there. We gotta get him and Tater outta there."
"Mack can take care of himself," Jax says and braces himself as we take another sharp turn. I fall into Ben and squish him against the wall. "Besides, he told us not to wait for him. Riven is still back there, too, so it's not as if he’s on his own. He said to get you out of there, and that's what we’re doing."
He winces, and I notice he is cradling his left arm. There’s blood seeping through his fingers.
"Jax, your arm. Are you hit?" I say, trying to look at it, but he slaps my hands away.
"I'm fine … just a flesh wound. Nothing I can't handle. I think your boyfriend over there needs a little more attending to than I do. He's not looking so good."
Jax is right. Ben's face is stark white, and he looks bewildered, like he ain't quite sure of what's happening. But as
much as I am afraid for how Ben looks, I'm more concerned with Jax at the moment. Don't look like just a flesh wound to me. Ripping off a piece of my now badly tattered dress, I snap at him, "Jacket off."
He stares back defiantly, but something in my face must tell him I ain't backing off 'cause he shrugs outta his jacket. The sticky sleeve underneath is already torn by the slug, so I rip it the rest of the way and start a little at the amount of blood. I study the wound more closely, and I see he’s right; the slug did just wing him, but it has gouged pretty deep. He’s gonna need it cleaned soon and something to stop the infection. Right now, all I can do is wrap it tightly as he stares ahead, his expression stony.
Talbert don't show no signs of slowing down, and the carriage rocks unsteadily once more, almost causing me to fall into Jax's lap headfirst. Why is he still driving like a madman?
"Is the Army followin' us?" I snap at Beanie, and he yells at Talbert loudly.
"Anybody followin' us?"
"Clear fer now," Talbert hollers back. Some of the knots in my belly lessen. I had probably rattled 'em pretty good, but they won't stay offa our trail for long. Now if only they had been rattled enough for Mack, Riven, and Tater to get outta there.
"I have to say, baby New Blood, that was an impressive show back there. Your powers have strengthened greatly since the last time we met."
The giant's words pull me outta my worry about the others.
"Why you talkin' to me?" I growl. "I don't even know why I let you outta that cell. And stop calling me New Blood. I have a name you know."
"Ha!" His laughter booms around the carriage, and he rubs his stubbly head with one of his massive hands. "You still haven't lost any of that sass, I see. You let me out, Tara," he over emphasizes my name, "because you are naturally goodhearted as all of your kind are. It's inherent to you. You cannot control your kind nature any more than you can control your destiny."
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