Repatriate Protocol Box Set 3

by Kelli Kimble

  He came around in front of me again, but his eyes were wandering around the settlement. “You might as well live in a cave,” he said.

  “I did, and I’d do it again to stay out of the city.”

  “Careful. You don’t want to make me mad.” He waggled a scolding finger at my face. I wanted to bite it off. “Now. We need a place to sit down, like civilized people. You must live in one of these, uh, hovels. Right?” He gestured towards a nearby hut.

  I pointed towards the one I lived in with Silver and Tabby. It was technically my home, though I already counted the one Red was building for us as my real home. I didn’t want this monster in that space, though.

  He swept his hand out in front of me. “After you, dear Nimisila.” The way he said my name made a chill run down my spine.

  I walked to our hut, and I heard him following me. I tried again to feel for him, but he simply wasn’t there. It gave me another chill to think about it.

  “This weather is a little colder than you’re used to, yeah?” he asked.

  I nodded and entered the hut. I hoped if Tabby was inside, she’d hidden herself well. I should’ve thought to take him to someone else’s hut. I took a seat on the floor, not wanting to sit near him at the table.

  He stooped as he entered the hut and looked around. For a moment, I saw everything through his eyes; though the hut was always tidy and swept clean, the floor was only packed dirt. The walls were crude, and there were no windows. The only furnishings were the table and two benches, plus my bed pallet in the corner. The light that was still visible came from the fireplace.

  He sat down across from me, stretching his legs out to one side and leaning back casually on one hand. “Nimisila,” he said. “I’ve waited a long time to meet you.”

  I didn’t respond.

  He didn’t seem to notice. “Where is everybody else?”

  “Somewhere safe,” I said.

  “They aren’t safe from me.”

  “Where’s your friend?”

  He shrugged. “He’s around.”

  “Feeling vulnerable, then?”

  “Not at all. He’s . . . well, this is embarrassing. He’s afraid of you.”

  “But you’re not?”

  “Nope. So, let’s cut the chitchat. I was sent here for a purpose, and I intend to fulfill it.” He reached out and twirled a lock of my hair. “It was a happy coincidence, finding you here with them.” I batted his hand away, and he smiled. The pointy teeth made a brief appearance, before I shunted them away with my thoughts. “Even faster than before. Soon, you won’t be able to see my shifts at all. What a clever girl you are.”

  “Why don’t you tell me why you’re here?” I said.

  He gave me a long-winded explanation about the Four Horsemen, boiling down roughly to what Tabby had already described. The only thing left was what the Horsemen would do when they arrived. Were they just going to announce the coming apocalypse and leave, or would they kill us?

  “That about sums it up,” he said.

  “No, it doesn’t. You haven’t told me what you want.”

  “I want you. I want to keep you for my own little experiments.”

  “I meant what the Horsemen want with us.”

  “Oh. I thought it was obvious. We’re here to offer you a comfortable position in the city . . . or you can stay here and die. Up to you.”

  “I won’t let you kill them,” I said.

  “I’m not going to kill them,” he said, shrugging. “The weather will take care of that. Haven’t you noticed the unseasonable cold? It’s only going to get worse. In the next few months, the temperature is going to keep dropping.” He gestured vaguely towards the west. “The ocean is going to freeze over, for crying out loud.”

  “I know how it works,” I said. “I know the city’s history.”

  “Well, then you know I don’t need to kill them. The cold will do it for me.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Anyway, I don’t like the idea of killing people just for the sake of it. I’ll leave that to you.”

  Despite myself, his comment stung. “I really am sorry about your dad,” I said, my cheeks burning. “I’ve wished many times I could undo what I did.”

  “It’s okay,” he said. “I’ll get plenty of comfort from keeping you for myself.”

  I didn’t argue – though, of course, I had no plans to go quietly.

  “So, woman in the next room, could you come in here, please?” he said loudly.

  The hut was quiet.

  I didn’t dare try to feel for her myself; he seemed to sense what I was doing with my abilities. I didn’t want to confirm his suspicions if he was bluffing.

  “Today, please,” he said. His hand darted out and grabbed my wrist, twisting it roughly. “I’ll break her arm if you don’t come out. I did say please.”

  Tabby appeared in the doorway. “Don’t hurt her. I’ll do what you want.”

  “Ah, good. A reasonable person. Now, what’s your name, please?”

  “Tabitha,” she said.

  “Are you from the city, Tabitha?”

  She shook her head.

  “Don’t lie, now,” he said. He clucked his tongue and wrenched my arm again. I clenched my teeth to keep from crying out. “I can sense your chip.”

  Tabby blinked rapidly, then nodded. “I’m from the city, but I’ve lived out here so long, I don’t feel like I am anymore.”

  “Mm-hm. Yes. Okay. My name is Thanosatos, Tabitha. My friends call me Thanos. Can I count you amongst my friends?”

  Tabby met my eyes. I didn’t know which answer would satisfy him. I shrugged.

  “Nimisila’s my friend,” he declared. “Isn’t she?” He leaned close to me and yanked my arm again. I let out a little yelp. “See? You can be my friend, too, Tabitha.”

  “Call me Tabby,” she said, flashing a quick, forced smile. “Now that we’re friends, you can let go of Nim, right?”

  He considered it for a moment, and then dropped my arm. I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and rubbed at the spot where his fingers had dug into my skin. There would certainly be a bruise there later.

  “Here’s how our friendship is going to go, Tabby,” he began. “I’m going home to the city. I’m taking Nimisila with me. Can you speak for the rest of your people?”

  “Maybe,” she said. “It depends what you want to know.”

  “I want to know whether the rest of you are coming or not. Any number of people can come, granted; it’s not an all-or-nothing thing. Maybe you’d like to pose it to them?” He tipped his head, as if he’d just asked a polite question.

  “They’re frail people,” she said. “Making a trip back over the mountains would be out of the question for all but the young.”

  “You understand certain death awaits them if they stay.”

  “I do,” she said. “I suppose it’s an individual decision.”

  “What will you do, friend?” he asked.

  “The man in the woods, the man who was with Nimisila earlier – is he dead?”

  “Of course. He tried to attack us. We had no choice but to defend ourselves.”

  Tabby’s eyes tried to seek mine out, but I dropped my gaze to the floor. The breath went out of me as I thought about Silver being dead. “Maybe you should just leave,” Tabby said flatly. “Take her with you, if that’s what you want.”

  “Did you hear that?” he asked, turning to me. “She says I can take you. Isn’t that generous of her?” He didn’t wait for me to answer. “What about the others? You’ll need to ask the others.”

  “I’m staying, and so are they. I think you should go now. It’s what’s best for everyone.”

  “You would deprive those people of a chance at survival? Even the young people?”

  “I know enough about what will happen to them to say no. You’ve got what you want. Just go.” She took a step forward, and though he could’ve knocked her head off even without using his abilities, he scrambled to stand and yanked me up
beside him, as if she’d threatened him.

  “Fine,” he said. “We’ll just leave, then.”

  “And take your friend with you – that jerk lurking around outside. You think we can’t see him?”

  He dragged me towards the door by my upper arm. He was making yet another bruise.

  “Wait,” I said. “I want to say goodbye.”

  Tabby sniffed. “I’ll tell them you said so.”

  “Red–”

  She cut me off. “And a red sky to you, as well.”

  “Weirdos,” Thanos mumbled to himself. “You heard the lady. She’ll make your excuses. Let’s go.”

  I stumbled after him as he left the hut, confusion clouding my thoughts. I wanted – needed – to see Red, but she’d deliberately kept me from saying it. Did she have a plan I didn’t know about?

  The man I’d knocked out earlier emerged from behind a neighboring hut, yanking up the zipper on his pants and spitting on the ground as he went. I curled my lip in disgust. They thought we were barbarians?

  “It’s time to go,” Thanos said.

  The other guy looked around. “What about everyone else? There’s more than just her and the old guy.”

  “They’re staying for the deep freeze. Let’s go. I don’t even want to think about how cold those damn mountains are going to be now.”

  “Shouldn’t I have some provisions? A shelter or something?” I asked, trying to dig in my heels a little.

  Thanos wasn’t having it. “We’ve got plenty. You killed two men, remember?” His grip tightened as he said it, and I winced. He kept walking, and I had no choice but to follow him.

  I looked back towards the hut. Tabby wasn’t in sight. I wanted to tell her I loved her, but her eagerness for Thanos to take me stopped me. Did she blame me for Silver’s death? Was letting them take me her revenge?

  ◆◆◆

  We left their camp immediately. They’d already packed up their things, and they were happy to give me the load of the two men I’d killed. We didn’t have to walk, though; Thanos lifted us through the air and had us moving faster than I would have expected. By nightfall, we’d reached the foot of the mountains. He set us down near a stream. Thanos sat on a log, while the other one – I’d overheard Thanos calling him Ord – rushed around, setting up a shelter and lighting a fire.

  I didn’t offer to help. I huddled on the ground, as far from Thanos as he would let me. He’d surrounded me with a bubble of air that kept me within a few feet of him at all times. I thought if I concentrated hard enough, I could pierce the bubble and escape, but every time I started to muster the courage to try, Tabby telling Thanos to take me popped into my head. Then, I’d remember I had nowhere to go. Tabby had made it clear I wasn’t welcome there after failing to take care of Silver, and obviously, I didn’t want to return to the city. Where else could I go? There was nothing for me.

  Thanos noticed the fire going. He stood from his log and strode towards it. It was just far enough away for the bubble to force me to move. It dragged me across the ground until I got my feet under me and stood. Thanos winked at me and squatted in front of the fire. “We’ll stay here a few days,” he said to Ord. “The trip over the mountains is harder, and I want to make sure we can get over it in one shot. Go get us something fresh to eat, would you?”

  Ord didn’t argue, nor did he even answer. He simply walked out of camp without a word.

  Thanos jerked a thumb at him as he left, then looked at me. “He doesn’t talk much,” he said. He cleared his throat and coughed around the rasp.

  “Why’re you talking at all?” I asked. “I thought it was beneath you.”

  “I’m just trying to make you comfortable, is all.”

  “What for?”

  He reached across the space between us. The bubble contracted until I was in reach. He ran a finger over my cheek, but I jerked away. “You can make this easy, or you can make this hard,” he said, dropping his arm.

  The bubble returned to its previous size.

  “I thought I’d feel differently about you,” he said after a long pause.

  “Why are you taking me back?” I asked.

  “They want you back. They thought you were dead, but they’ve always wanted you back – ever since those sissy searchers came back, crying over how you’d killed all those cats and chased them off like it was nothing.” His face contorted for a moment, and I realized he was trying to repress a genuine smile. “The mayor relieved them of their posts. Turned off all their chips, too – but they never changed their story. Always said you were dead.” He picked a twig up from the ground, studied it in his hand for a moment, and then tossed it into the fire. It caught fire in mid-air and flared like a struck match. “They said you killed some of their party. Others like me. With abilities. They weren’t very talented, but they had something. Enough for the mayor to think they’d be able to catch you. Seems he was wrong.” He tossed a stone into the fire next. “Did you? Kill them?”

  “No,” I said. “I didn’t kill any of them.”

  “That’s not what they said.”

  “A cat killed one of them before they decided to return, but I didn’t kill any of them. In fact, I intervened and killed all the cats before anybody else got hurt.” A thrill of triumph ran through me. I wasn’t a total monster; I’d helped people who were sent to kill me. Surely, that must have been worth something.

  He nodded. “I know two stayed with you – and the woman. What was her name?”

  “Gayle,” I said. I looked down at my hands. They were clenched tight together, my knuckles white. “Her name was Gayle.”

  “Uh-huh, and what happened to Gayle? Is she back there, with the old people?”

  I shook my head. My eyes were suddenly wet, and I squished them shut. I couldn’t let him see my weakness.

  “Did you kill her?” he asked.

  My eyes flew open. “What? No. Of course not.”

  “Then, what happened to her?”

  “Cats killed them. All three of them.”

  “Ah,” he said. He nodded and resumed throwing bits of debris into the fire. “Seems awful convenient; cats did all your dirty work for you.”

  “The cats were hunting us,” I said.

  “And yet, you made it.”

  “I can protect myself. They couldn’t.”

  He didn’t respond.

  “I’m serious,” I argued. “Gayle was injured, so I carried her, but I was weak from the trip, and we’d stopped for me to rest. I was asleep inside the shelter. If someone hadn’t screamed, I would’ve been dead, too. I killed all the cats, but I was too late.”

  He nodded.

  “Everyone I’ve ever cared about has died or betrayed me,” I continued. “My own aunt turned me over to those . . . those people who did this to me.”

  “The story is you stayed with her. After the destruction of the lab.”

  “I did,” I said. “She was afraid of me. She only let me stay because she thought I’d hurt her.”

  “Would you have? Hurt her?”

  “Of course not,” I snapped. “She was the only family I had left. They killed my parents, you know. Because they could. They’re monsters, Thanos. All of them.”

  “Even my dad, right?”

  “If he knew what they were doing, then yeah, even your dad,” I said.

  Thanos looked at me. “He knew what they were doing.” He turned back to the fire. “How old do you think I am, Nimisila?”

  I shrugged. Despite his physique, his face was smooth, rounded, and babyish. “I don’t know. Fifteen?”

  He shook his head. “Nope. I’m the same age as you. I was recruited while you were still in the lab, even.” He threw a pine cone into the fire. It burst, showering us with small bits of flame. He held up his hands to protect himself. “I was in another lab. The one they built for the kids with chips. The ones who volunteered.”

  I frowned. “Why would they have a lab for kids with chips? Isn’t verbal telepathy enough?”

>   “Nothing is ever enough – not to the ambitious.”

  Ord emerged from the trees, carrying a dead rabbit. He’d already gutted and skinned it.

  Thanos nodded at him. “Good job,” he said. “I’m tired of squirrel.”

  Skewering the carcass with a stick, Ord nodded. He moved to roast it over the fire.

  “Do we have any water?” I asked. “I need to take care of some, um, personal things.”

  My ears popped when the bubble around us dissipated.

  “Don’t go far – and don’t test me, Nimisila,” Thanos said.

  I glanced at Ord. He didn’t appear to even notice I’d spoken. I stood up and stretched my legs, then grabbed my canteen and left the campfire. I moved towards the stream I’d seen earlier. I filled the canteen and splashed water on my face. It was achingly cold. I wiped my hands on my pants and looked for a spot where I could relieve myself in relative privacy.

  When I went to stand up, though, I caught a glimpse of my reflection. It looked just like a less-harried version of my mom. It prompted me to wonder what I was doing. Here I was, going along with Thanos without resistance. Shouldn’t I have been trying to get away? Shouldn’t I have been trying to rid the world of him and everyone like him?

  What would my mom have done?

  I walked slowly back to camp, sipping the canteen as I thought about it. My mom had never done anything rebellious, as far as I knew. She’d followed every rule and gone along silently, when her only child was denied a chance at a normal existence. She’d worked long and hard; she’d scrubbed her hands into red, rough, leathery things to provide us with even the merest scraps of subsistence.

  But would she have thought it was okay to go along with Thanos?

  I felt the bubble reform around me and contract to pull me closer to Thanos. I didn’t struggle, but when I got close, I read the malice in his expression.

  A flash of pain seared through my brain, and I closed my eyes.

  He was standing there, in my mind’s eye, looking at me. “Don’t get any ideas,” he said. “I’m taking you back with me, whether you want me to or not.”

  My insides felt like they were slithering around, slimy and moldy.

  He could read my thoughts.