Vin's Rules (Outer Settlement Agency)

by Lyn Brittan

  Though the room blurred through her tears, she found the spider in the corner, viciously attacking the shoe. “I don’t understand.”

  “The lotion. Yeah, it’s on you, but you dropped some on your shoe too.” He pointed to the nearest set of cages. “It’s why these ones are still trying to attack you, but our friend back there isn’t.”

  Her mind started to work it out—that Graham and his wife’s multiple layers of security were more sinister than anyone imagined. She couldn’t dwell on it too long though, the pain jagging above her knee zapped her of energy.

  “We’ve gotta go, Allie. They’re going to know someone was here and trace it back to us. There’s no waiting anymore. We leave today.”

  “I can’t run like this.”

  “Then I’ll carry you. On the count of three, I’ll pull it out.”

  “Wait...”

  “No time.”

  No time to prepare.

  No time to explain to him her thing about blood.

  No time to do anything other than pass the heck out.

  Chapter Nine

  Allie woke up with her head cradled in Vin’s lap. He sat with his back to the wall in their tiny room, looking toward the window. At her slight movement, he grinned. “Welcome back. Not a fan of blood, eh?”

  “It’s a thing.” Kinda woozy, she didn’t move just yet, and he seemed in no real rush to let her.

  “What about... you know... I mean...”

  “If you’re meandering around the topic of women’s issues, that’s not a thing.”

  “Right. You know, I was almost mad at you for not telling me.”

  “Almost?”

  He brushed back a lock of her hair and scratched his stubbly chin. “We’ve all got things. There’s a better than good chance of more blood before it’s over. You can’t pass out again. I need you, Allie. We can’t do this without each other.”

  He could. He could leave now, run for it, and expect to have some help in soon. One look up at him and she knew the thought hadn’t crossed his mind.

  Her entire career was based on helping everyone within the Outer Settlement Agency be the best they could. Now would be no different. “You have to go. Now. It’ll be easier if we split up.”

  “I get that you feel you’ve got to say that, but—”

  “I’ll buy you time. It means sneaking out, but I doubt they have much protection against that. You’ll find a soft exit. Take it.”

  He sniffed and winked. “Got it out of your system yet?”

  “I’m serious.”

  “Me too. I caught some glances carrying you through town. I told them you were still tossed from last night. Your wound will hurt. Who knows what microbes they have out here. Without being able to get it cleaned, we gotta get you to the medikit on the shuttle.”

  She sat up, whooshing out air at the shooting pain that met her.

  “I’m going to hurt you, and you can’t let it show. You can’t limp. You can’t gasp, but we need to wrap it better. When we get to the shuttle, I’ll cauterize it, but I can’t offer you any of that right now.”

  “They’ll see. Cameras.”

  “We’re all out of options. It’s a chance, but I’m a gambler.”

  Vin eased off the bed and lifted the many layers of her skirt. The color hid the blood, but any real inspection would show the darkened fabric on her side.

  He took off her one remaining sandal and reached for her OSA shoes, abandoned on their first night here. “You’ll need to put these on. Better for running anyway.”

  She closed her eyes, and he went to work. Stars burst behind cinched shut eyelids at the pain, but she could handle it. It took some screaming into her fist and biting against her knuckles, but she didn’t have the luxury of crying.

  So she didn’t.

  Instead she bit her lip, twisted against the sheets, and took it. The pain migrated throughout her entire body. Even the space between her eyes ached. “You have to stop. I can’t take anymore.”

  “Shhh. I’m done. That’s it.” Vin dropped a dry kiss on her knee and pulled down her dress. “Try to get some sleep and dream of home.”

  She rested with her head in his lap, but sleep was too far away. She thought about the world beyond this place and knew that her role in it was forever changed by this experience. How she talked to people. What categories she locked people into at just a glance. Two more lessons terribly learned: As long as you’re free, you’re a step ahead of the many people who aren’t. And just as important, one never knows what someone else has gone through. “You’re a hero.”

  “I’m a security officer.”

  “That too.”

  “I’m hot.”

  He interrupted her laughter by looking down with a wink. His open hand drew a circle in the air, pressing her on. He didn’t stop until she giggled out another, “That too.”

  With a huff of contentment, he brushed back her hair. “I meant what I said. Try to get some rest.”

  And this time she got a little.

  Her eyes didn’t open again until the bell clanged for a meal. Vin rose first to poke his head out the door before closing it halfway. “It’s time. You ready for this?”

  Another question with no choices.

  Her walk down the hall was shaky but improving with each determined step. Vin’s hand on her back fueled her - a source of continued power.

  She’d half expected the room to quiet down at their arrival, but everyone went on with their lives, oblivious to the turmoil that held their lives in the balance.

  Graham held court at the table in the back, but Mama’s bouffant wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

  Side by side, they walked to Graham.

  Clearly, he’d seen the determination in their faces. Graham’s smile dropped at their approach, but he didn’t wave his hangers-on away. Whatever was about to happen, he wanted an audience too.

  “I’ll take a wild stab in the dark on this one. You two are ready to leave.”

  Vin didn’t even pretend to smile. “Your unexpected hospitality has been a godsend.”

  “But you’re done with us now?”

  No good way to answer that. “No” was a boldfaced lie. They’d have to report something. “Yes” was just as dangerous. If, or rather when they came back, they certainly wouldn’t be alone.

  Vin’s slithering response was downright political in its sidestepping of the question. “What you’ve done here veers to the extraordinary. Now, where can we find the cyclerover we came in on?”

  Graham’s hands flipped up, grasping the air. “Damaged, I’m afraid. We are—were—in the process of repairing it for you, but well... rules are rules.”

  Impossibly, Vin kept his cool. Mostly. The words and his jaw were just the teensiest bit clenched. “I make my own rules.”

  “Ahh, but rules and regulations are necessary for cohesion, you see. Society is built on structure. Solidarity. So when one person wants to leave, they must do so immediately. We see the decision as unhealthy, and like any plague, we don’t want the infection spreading.”

  Her eyes drifted to the window. It should have scared her that they were being sent out with nothing when well over half the day was gone. Graham meant to kill them.

  Well, that was one question answered.

  But the problem still remained. At least on Graham’s end and that meant problems on their end too. Right?

  Unless...

  If they died out there, Graham could potentially call in their demise and lie to OSA investigators. He had enough people controlled to back up whatever he claimed.

  “That’s it?” Vin asked. “No veiled threats about monsters in the dark?”

  “If you don’t believe me—”

  “Oh, I do. C’mon, Allie. We’d better get going.”

  The room had stilled in the last few moments. Her ears didn’t pick up a single fork scraping across a plate. Yet no one turned around. Vin pulled her to leave, but she dug in her feet. “This is your kingdom.”
<
br />   Graham nearly smiled. She watched as he reeled it back in like a cheap puppeteer. “I’m just a citizen. One called to help right the wrongs of society.”

  “Idiot.”

  “What did you call me?”

  Vin swore but didn’t pull her away. Rather, he got right up behind her, backing her up. “You heard her.”

  Graham had.

  So had everyone else.

  They, presumably, also heard her very loudly spitting in Graham’s shocked face.

  Chapter Ten

  Getting out of this hellhole had never been assured, but Allie’s fightin’ hand just worsened the odds. He stood shoulder to shoulder with her, showing in a way that even these losers could understand that he stood with her, for better or for worse.

  Or very, very worse.

  Graham massaged the imprint of Allie’s hand, his face morphing into the purple scowl of a caged animal.

  And bless her, his little pugilist wasn’t done. Allie turned to face the room, teeth bared and fingers clawed.

  “It’s the lotion,” she screamed. Allie whirled again, hitting every corner of the room. “They put pheromones in the lotions and soap to attract the creatures. That’s how they do it.”

  “She lies!”

  “I don’t, and they know it. Deep down you must! Ask the men. Ask them! Why do they guard the doctor’s office? There’s no point if not to hide something. That’s where they do their tests—right here in the middle of town.”

  “She’s a lying bitch. I would never put my beloveds in danger.”

  Absolutely impossible not to roll his eyes at that. Vin shrugged and stretched his shoulders, priming for a fight. “She’s not.”

  “Prove it.”

  “Easy. One of those make-believe-who-me monsters got loose. If we’re so full of shit, you can happily walk into the doctor’s laboratory and come out just fine. I’ll even bow down upon your glorious return.”

  Something sailed between his and Graham’s foot.

  “Have some lotion,” Allie spit out. Her arms were crossed with muscles visibly twitching beneath her skin.

  The room surged with expectation. Some Tans leveled their weapons on them... but not just them. Greens and Blues stood up too, fists clenched at their sides.

  Vin leaned in and winked. “I guess the revolution’s starting early.”

  Slight misstep. Better worded: Wrong fucking thing to say.

  Graham lunged, but Vin crunched the man’s nose with a very willing fist. Weapons whirred as they powered up for a fatal charge. Vin pushed Allie in the direction of the door shielding her with his body.

  One teeny, tiny thing stopped them, but it was kinda a doozy.

  Poppy.

  Sweet, kickass, Poppy.

  The young wife barred their exit with a knife in one hand and a half-dazed Mama held by the throat with the other. “I’m going with you. Mama is our insurance.”

  “What have you done to her?” Graham stumbled toward the group but froze when Poppy flicked the blade.

  Her head twisted mechanically, like an overused doll. “Nothing more than you did to me when I was a Green. Or my sister.”

  Mike pushed his way through the growing crowd, screaming his wife’s name and begging her to stop before she’d gone too far. Too late for that.

  Tears poured down her face, but none of them lessened the determination Vin saw there. He doubted the girl ever had a day of training, but this young woman in front of him was ready for war. Come hell or high water, Vin would get her out of here too.

  Vin’s arm wrapped about Mike’s neck in a chokehold. “You’re not stopping her.”

  “She’s my wife!”

  “She’s more than that. She’s a damned human being, and she’s made her choice. Look at her.”

  Poppy’s lips trembled, but the knife sure didn’t.

  The man... the boy... sagged in his arms, and his two narrow shoulders drooped. “I love her.”

  Graham sprung into action at the scent of weakness. “She doesn’t love you. She’s throwing away all of your work for her own selfish reasons. You’re better without her. Don’t love someone who—”

  “I’m pregnant.”

  Vin locked eyes with Allie over Mike’s head. “That’s a game changer.”

  “I’d say so.”

  So did a few others. The woman in blue, the one who’d helped Allie into her dress that first day, rushed forward with her arms wide open. The closer she got, the more he saw the family resemblance between her and Poppy.

  “I’m going with my daughter and grandchild.” The older woman crossed her arms and took her place on the other side of Mama. “I wasn’t strong enough to protect my girls the first time. I am now.”

  The situation rapidly disintegrated. Or improved. He wasn’t quite sure.

  Chair legs screeched across the wooden floor as people rushed to their side of the room and the oncoming fight. Vin loosened his grip and Mike wrenched himself free, struggling between delighted laughter and tears.

  In the intervening melee, three of the Tans who’d had their weapons trained on him and Allie now pointed their muzzles toward Graham.

  Veins popped at the toppled king’s darkening temples, and he called out for reinforcements.

  Allie scrambled to a table and stood on the nearest chair with cupped hands around her mouth. “We’re leaving. Grab forks, knives whatever you can find.”

  “But we’ll die out there,” someone screamed, to a chorus of dejected agreement.

  At least she didn’t lie to them. “Some will, and they’ll still be better off than staying here. Choose your future. Take a chance at a real life or stay here with this monster. He knows he’s dead already. Whether we live or die, OSA is coming.”

  He was proud of her.

  Here she was, wounded but stoking a fire of hope in a dark place. He wanted her in his arms, but damned if he asked after this. She’d come to him on her own time and terms and he’d wait for as long as it took.

  Well, at least until they got the fuck outta here.

  Chapter Eleven

  They weren’t the first to run out, but she and Vin weren’t for doggone sure the last either.

  “Don’t let go of me, Allie.”

  No chance of that. The fear tingling up her spine was almost enough to block out the pain throbbing up her leg.

  They couldn’t slow down though. Not in this stampede. People around them ran like wild creatures, beasts hunted with no single thought left save that of surviving one more second.

  She tripped on a piece of upturned wood, but Vin was right there, lifting her into his arms and shoving them both to the head of the pack.

  They caught up with Poppy, now apparently fueled with a mother’s instinct to protect. The pregnant woman, Mike and Poppy’s mother, Sarah, dragged the passed-out woman between them. Thank goodness they’d had the sense to keep her. Whatever Graham’s faults—and they were legion—he genuinely appeared to care for Mama.

  As they cleared the door and headed for the stockade, Mike looked over his shoulder. “You swear you’ll get us out of here?”

  Vin, unflappable as always, ludicrously winked at this absurdly dangerous time. “Count on it.”

  “We are.”

  “Then I’m your man. We’ll keep north until—”

  Mike shook his head and looked towards the abandoned city center as the massive gate opened inch by excruciating inch. “We’ll never make it.”

  “Have a little faith, kid. You don’t even know how far away the shuttle is.”

  “Respectfully, it doesn’t matter, Sir. You haven’t seen ‘em like I have.”

  Sir.

  In just that small bit of time, Mike seamlessly accepted Vin as his superior officer. It unclouded things. A lot. Mike needed the structure that this place once provided. Leaders were worthless hollow words without fine soldiers behind them. If they made it out, she’d fully recommend him for OSA training. They needed men like him—good and solid.


  If Vin caught the shift, he didn’t speak of it. He did, however, do what all good leaders did.

  He commanded.

  He delegated.

  But most importantly, he listened.

  “Alternatives. Now.”

  Mike’s gradually steady arm directed them to a safe point inside the town. “All of us who have patrols outside the walls know about it. Weapons are there. Calorietabs too.”

  “In case everything broke down?” But Vin didn’t leave any time for Mike to answer. Instead he yelled out to the crowd in a voice strong and clear. “Rub dirt on your skin. Anything to dull the smell. May not help, but it sure as hell won’t hurt. Armed Tans take the rear, the rest follow me.”

  Screams erupted from the compound behind them. Though they were too far to hear the whirling of powering up weapons, everyone seemed to know that shots were being exchanged.

  Some mumbling at the back of the group grew larger, until a few people splintered off. Vin made no move to stop them.

  There were cries and yells, people unable to move forward with their loved ones in immediate danger at the compound they’d just escaped.

  Vin opened his mouth, but at Allie’s hand on his arm, he closed it. “I’ve gotta let them go. Right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “But to what? Sounds like...”

  “Would anyone stop you from coming back for me?”

  The impudent smirk was back. “Easily.”

  She swatted him and scrunched her face, eliciting a brittle laugh. “This blows.”

  “Bit of an understatement. I’m glad you still know how to play, Allie. When we get home, I’m going to enjoy playing with you very much. It is with great sadness that I need to put you down, but you started this war. They need to see you on your own two feet. You’re the face of it now.”

  Worst timing ever, but her heart warmed beneath his gaze. Then he blinked, and all the heat was gone. The wall separating Easy Vin from Chief Security Officer Vincent Dhoma slammed down again.

  With one final look back, Vin whistled, corralling the crowd. “If you’re coming, it’s time to roll.”

  They followed Mike’s directions to a store at the end of the curve where they’d last seen their cycle rover. Yet it was Vin who played the part of shepherd. He patted or nodded to everyone who entered as he stood by the door. People looked to him with hope in their gazes, and she’d wondered just how long it’d been since they looked at anyone else with such desperate eyes.