The Awakened

by Sara Elizabeth Santana

  “They’re very trusting at Sekhmet, apparently,” I said, wryly. “Too trusting. It works for us though. Get the guns.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

  “Under the seat,” I said, reaching down to put the car in gear. I watched as Ash fumbled under the seat and pulled out two handguns. He handed one to me and jumped as he looked out the windshield.

  The men had caught up with us, and there were at least six or seven more of them than there had been before. They were coming at us slowly, their guns raised, each step solid and sure as they approached the car.

  “What are you waiting for?” Ash asked, the gun clenched tightly in his hand, his eyes trained on the men in front of us.

  I tucked my own gun next to me, hoping that I wouldn’t have to use it. I had killed plenty of Awakened, but I had no desire to kill these men, even they had no qualms shooting at me. Tommy had assured me that the vehicles were bullet proof, but the delicate clear glass in front of me made me nervous.

  “Zoey, go,” Ash urged, his fingers tapping nervously on his knees. His voice still sounded strained, and I shook my head. Just a few more steps, just a few more…

  I slammed my foot on the gas, and we went spiraling out of the spot, heading toward the men. They shouted in surprise and went diving out of the way. The tires squealed as I gripped the steering wheel and tried to gain control of the car. I weaved in between planes and other vehicles that lined the hangar. I was so glad that Mom had taught me to drive. There was no reason to drive back in New York, but Mom had insisted, and I had never felt so grateful for it.

  “Over there,” Ash wheezed, pointing toward the exit that I had seen just a beat after he’d pointed it out. I headed in that direction. I glanced at him and gasped.

  “Oh, Ash, what happened?” The car wavered, as I looked him closer. There was blood covering his hand and I looked down at his stomach. There was a large, dark red stain spread there. “Ash!”

  “Watch out!” he yelled, and I looked up, just in time to jerk the wheel, to avoid crashing into a helicopter. I felt the tears spring up in my eyes, wondering how on earth I had missed that Ash had been shot. “Just go. Just go.”

  “Ash, Ash, Ash,” I whimpered, pressing my foot harder against the gas pedal. We were nearly at the exit, just nearly to the sunlight. It was streaming in through, and I ached for it, eager to feel the warmth on my skin. I heard Ash groan, and I felt myself slow down. Where were we going to go? Where was I going to take him?”

  “No,” he said, interrupting my thoughts, as if he could hear what I was thinking. “Don’t you stop, Zoey, don’t you do it. Keep going.” He coughed, pressing his hand tighter against him. “Drive, baby.”

  I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. Tears were streaming down my face, and I focused on the rumbling of the engine beneath me, the pressure of the pedal under my foot as we closed the distance between the exit and us.

  There was a line of guards at the exit, their guns raised. As we grew closer, they started firing, the bullets hitting the window. Tommy hadn’t lied; the cars were definitely bullet proof, though there were small cracks were they had landed. I flinched as they rained down at us and kept going at them, full speed.

  I could feel every muscle in my body tense up. I was going to hit them. They weren’t going to move, and I was going to hit them. There was no time to stop. Stopping would be the worst thing for us to do; I had to keep going. I felt my eyes shut, and a scream ripped through my throat as I barreled through them. I felt warmth on my skin, and my eyes flew open. We were out.

  The exit opened right out onto a dirt road. I followed it, glancing backward every so often, my foot still planted firmly on the pedal. There was no one behind us, and this did not bode well. They wouldn’t let us go. Maybe Ash, they saw no purpose in him, and maybe they knew that he was hurt. But would they let me go?

  I kept driving, easing up on the speed, taking inventory of the car and my surroundings. The car was full of gas, and I knew there would be minimal supplies in the back, provided by Tommy. I felt his loss again, like a punch to the gut and hoped we would make it out to justify his life. We were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by trees everywhere. I glanced behind me and saw that there was still no one behind me.

  Ash groaned again, low, as if he didn’t want me to hear him.

  “Ash?” I asked, my voice wavering as I looked over at him. My knuckles were white as I gripped the steering wheel. “Baby, are you okay?”

  “Just. Drive,” he said. His eyes were squeezed shut, and his forehead was pressed to the glass. The car was full of the slow, ragged breaths coming from his mouth.

  I took one last look behind me, just to make sure there was no one there, and looked back over to Ash. “I’m sorry.” His eyes flew open and met mine. He opened his mouth to speak, but I kept talking. “This is going to hurt.” I jerked the wheel to the left and we went spiraling into the forest, hitting the ground beneath our wheels rough and hard. Ash winced, but I kept going. I had to keep going.

  I navigated through the forest, around trees, not caring if they were scratching up the paint. I hit one tree hard, and the side mirror cracked and hung against the side of the car, useless.

  The forest wasn’t very thick, probably because there was a road right on the other side but that’s what I was hoping for. They would expect me to take their dirt road to the actual road but they would never expect me to make the rough trek through the forest. We bounced around, no matter how gentle I tried to be, and I felt Ash’s gasps all the way down my spine. I had to get him somewhere. Sanctuary, we would find Sanctuary and they would fix him.

  “Zoey.”

  We hadn’t spoken for a while, letting the minutes tick by in silence as we listened, listened for the sound of someone following us. I jumped at the sound of Ash’s voice and looked over at him. “Yeah?”

  He raised a shaking hand and pointed. “The road,” he coughed. A dribble of dark red blood sputtered out of his mouth, and I immediately looked away, my stomach clenching. My eyesight followed his finger, and sure enough, there was the road. I felt myself relax against the seat, relieved to see it.

  There was a slight incline as we reached the road, and I had to press hard on the gas to get us up and over and onto the smooth pavement of the road. I immediately turned left, away from the compound. We drove for a few minutes in relative silence, watching the empty road before us. Then I saw something in the distance.

  I squinted and slammed on the brakes, as two cars, two black SUVs approached us, at top speed. I started to turn around but there was no time. One slammed right into us. I let go of the steering wheel. Screams filled the air as we spun in circles. My hand reached out and I grabbed Ash’s in mine, hoping we would come to a stop soon.

  We came to a halt, but I didn’t move. My body was pressed against the sticky leather and everything in front of me was still spinning. I closed my eyes, pressing my lips together. I felt the bile rise up in my throat and the scent of blood was everywhere. “Ash?” I whispered, squeezing the hand that was still clutched in mine.

  “Yeah,” he whispered back. His face was pale, and the dark circles under his eyes stood out even more. “I’m here.”

  The doors were wrenched open, and a hand reached out and grabbed me, pulling me out of the car. My hand was yanked out of Ash’s grip as I was dragged out of the car. The hand belonged to one of the goons I had seen before. He had a tight grip on me, his hand burning into my arm, and he practically threw me in front of the one person that I most definitely did not want to see.

  “I have to admit,” Dr. Cylon said, her arms folded tightly across her chest, “I’m actually impressed that you managed to make it this far. Of course, you had help, but that was already taken care of.”

  I looked up at her towering over me and glared at her. She had killed Tommy. That was how she had “taken care of it.” One person stood up to her and her crazy idea, and that was how he was rewarded. I felt a rush of pain again
at the thought.

  One of the other goons came and deposited Ash at my feet. He wavered for a moment, struggling to stay up, before collapsing in a heap. I dropped to my knees, reaching for him. His breathing was hard and labored, and there was blood everywhere. “Hang in, Ash,” I said, leaning over him. “Please hang in.”

  “We could help him, you know,” Razi said, looking down at Ash. She was giving him the barest of glances, as if he was no more significant than the small spider that was crawling against the hot pavement by my knee. “If you return, willingly, I can help him.”

  Ash coughed hard, and blood dribbled down his chin. His eyes were closed, and if it weren’t for the subtle rise and fall of his chest, I would have thought he was dead. My eyes met Razi’s, and I hesitated.

  “You are not a fool, Zoey. You know that you tried your best, but you are outnumbered. There is no one else that can put your friend back together. Come back to Sekhmet. Fulfill your destiny, and we will take care of him. You have my promise on that.” Her hands were folded in front of her, and her face was steady and calm.

  Everything seemed to be spinning around me, and all I saw was a blur. I was going to be sick, I wanted to be sick, to empty myself of every bad feeling I had felt in the past few months. There was nowhere to run, no place to go, and Ash was dying. Would it be so wrong to go back to Sekhmet and have Liam’s children, if it kept both of us safe and alive?

  Ash’s hand was clutched tightly in mine, and I felt his fingers squeeze around mine.

  “No,” he said. I looked down at him in surprise. “I know what you’re thinking.” I opened my mouth, but he shook his head, a slight smile on his face. “I always know what you’re thinking. Don’t do it. It’s not worth it. They won’t fix me. You know they won’t, Zoey. And you’ll be stuck forever.”

  The realization went rushing, ice cold, through my veins. I could never, for one moment, believe anything that she had promised me. She had locked me up, kept me from the one person I had left, killed people, all for her insane vision.

  “He underestimates how much you mean to our vision, Zoey,” Razi said, stepping closer. For the first time, I felt a flash of doubt in her features. For the first time, I really realized how much I meant to her. “I will fix him. I promise.”

  I opened my mouth to answer, but a loud crack sounded before the words left my mouth. The man holding my arm fell in a heap next to me, a clean bullet hole in the center of his forehead. I gasped, falling backward on the heels of my palms. Another shot rang out and hit the man on the other side of me, the one who had grabbed Ash. He hit the ground a moment later.

  Ash’s eyes flew open. “What is going on? Zoey?”

  One by one, the men around us went crashing to the ground, perfect shots in their forehead. Dr. Cylon was looking around frantically, watching as they fell around her. She looked panicked, scared. She started running back to one of the SUVs when it went flying to the side. A beat up pickup truck had come peeling out of nowhere, slamming into the SUV. Dr. Cylon stepped back, her eyes wide. She moved toward another SUV, but a deep voice rang out.

  “Stop.” That was it, one word. But it rang out strong, as if the person behind expected nothing less than completely obedience.

  Razi froze in her steps. She looked so different than I had seen her in the last few weeks. She had lost the perfect, calm composure that I had come to expect from her. She was breathing hard, looking around, as if looking for an escape.

  A man stepped out of the truck. He was tall and strong, though he looked like he was in his sixties, his dark skin wrinkled. A rifle was clutched in his hands, and he aimed it at Dr. Cylon. His eyes locked on mine, and I felt a rush of reassurance at the sight of him. “Get him in the truck.”

  I didn’t hesitate. I couldn’t explain it, but there was something about this man that made me want to trust him immediately. He had obviously come to our rescue and at the moment, I didn’t know why, but I couldn’t afford to question it. I reached for Ash, wrapping my arm around him and lugging him to his feet. He buckled, and I nearly dropped him. “Come on, Ash,” I whispered desperately. He was a foot taller than me and at least fifty pounds heavier than me.

  I felt him nod against me, his hand pressed tight to his ribcage, and we started moving slowly toward the truck.

  “They aren’t going anywhere,” Razi’s voice rang out. She was trying hard to insert authority into her voice, but it came out shaky. “They belong to me.”

  The man stared at Dr. Cylon, calm, so different from the sort of calm that I was used to with Dr. Cylon. It was reassuring, a calm that exuded confidence and intelligence. “I’m afraid that they don’t, Doctor. It’s in your best interest to let them come with me.”

  She blinked once, twice, three times, looking at him as if she couldn’t quite believe he was real. “You’re from…”

  He nodded. “Of course I am. We’ve been keeping our eye on you, but you still managed to make all this happen. Now let me have the children.”

  “I can’t,” she burst out. “I need them. I need her.”

  He shook his head, staying silent. Ash and I made slow progress around them, working our way to the truck. We took it one step at a time, each one sending a jolt of pain through Ash’s body, judging by the look on his face.

  “I need her,” Razi repeated, her eyes meeting mine. There was a desperate hunger on her face, and I shivered, thinking of the doctors poking and prodding me, the cameras following my every move and the feel of Liam’s hands on me. She fell to her knees, her eyes taking in the bodies all around her. There was a stark look of defeat on her face. “There are more men, back at my compound. They will come looking for me. You are outnumbered.”

  The man raised the gun. “I don’t think so.”

  Razi reached a shaking hand out, and her fingers closed over the handle of a gun, left behind by one of her dead bodyguards. I froze, watching it all in slow motion. Ash went crashing to the ground, and I reached for him. Razi raised the gun, a manic look in her eyes as she turned the gun toward the two of us. I flung myself over Ash, burying my head in his chest, as one last shot resonated out. I waited for the pain, but it didn’t come.

  I dared to lift my head and saw Razi’s body lying on the ground, the gun still clutched tightly in her palm. Blood was gushing out of the wound in her neck. The man stared at her for a moment, before coming toward us. “Get up.”

  I scrambled to my feet, reaching for Ash. The man pushed me aside, lifting Ash with ease, and carrying him to the passenger door of the car. I walked quickly, next to them, reaching for the handle. I got inside with no hesitation and reached for him. The inside of the truck was huge, large enough for at least three people to sit comfortably. The two of us pulled Ash into the car, getting him as comfortable as possible, his head resting in my lap. The man walked to the other side of the truck and climbed back in, turning the ignition on and speeding off.

  “Take his shirt off,” he said in a low, deep voice. I looked at him, surprised. “You need to put pressure on that wound.”

  I nodded, slowly peeling the shirt off of him, careful not to jostle him too much. The wound was near his ribs, and it made me sick to look at it, but I focused on pressing the fabric against it. He was still conscious but barely, his breathing coming out shallow. “Who are you?”

  He didn’t answer for a moment, just continued to press his foot hard against the gas, speeding down the highway, away from the mess we had left behind. “Bert,” he finally said. “Bert Washington.”

  “Zoey Valentine,” I said, running my fingers through Ash’s hair. He was so pale, so quiet. “This is Ash.”

  “He your boyfriend?” came the gruff reply.

  I paused, and there was a rough chuckle. I looked down at Ash, startled to find him smiling.

  “I want to be her boyfriend, but she’s been holding out on me,” he joked.

  I laughed, nervously. “Shut up, you.” I leaned forward, placing a rough kiss on his lips. “Just don’t die, oka
y? Please don’t die,” I whispered.

  We drove on for about twenty minutes before Bert took a turn and drove down a bumpy road that led to a small house. It was small, only one story, the blue paint chipped and faded. He pulled up to the front and threw the car in park. “Let’s get him inside.”

  At these words, Ash began to cough uncontrollably, and blood splattered down his front and all over my arms. “Ash?” I said, my voice rising. “Ash!”

  “Get him in the house,” Bert said again more firmly. Ash began to shake violently in my arms and I pulled back, afraid to touch him. “He’s going into shock; we need to hurry.” He got out of the car and came to the passenger side, scooping Ash into his arms as if he weighed nothing more than a rag doll. He hurried in the house.

  I took a couple deep breaths, feeling the heat of blood on my fingertips. Then I let myself out of the truck, slamming the door behind me, and followed them into the house.

  Bert had him set up in a bedroom. There was a ridiculous amount of medical supplies there, way more than seemed necessary for a normal, everyday house. “My wife, she was a doctor,” he said, bent over Ash. There was foam at the corner on his mouth and his eyes had rolled back, showing only the whites. I wrapped my arms tightly around myself, holding myself together, trying to stop the shaking that I seemed to have no control ever.

  “Is he going to be okay?” I whispered.

  He glanced over his shoulder at me, as if realizing I was still there. “You need to leave the room.”

  I lurched forward, reaching for Ash. “No…no, I can’t leave him.”

  “Miss Zoey,” he said, “he will not get any better if I can’t concentrate on him, completely. I can’t do that if you are still in the room.”

  “But…I just…” I looked over his shoulder at Ash.

  “Please.”

  Ash’s chest was bare and blood was pooled, sticky and dark, all over his chest. I could tell he was still breathing but for how much longer?

  “Zoey.”