by Coralee June
“What happened?” I choked out. Jacob’s shoulders slumped, and he looked over my head at Jules.
I felt a hand on my back, and I turned to see her sympathetic frown. I knew it was bad if she was showing empathy or emotions. “Jacob was attacked by guards while trying to escape. He suffered some extensive damage. He’s still the same Jacob though. He just struggles to articulate his words. He’s gotten a lot better. I'm just happy the idiot is awake. He was in a coma for a while."
More tears fell down my cheeks. “I didn’t want to tell you until you saw for yourself. He asked me to wait so you wouldn’t worry,” Jules explained while looking tenderly at her friend.
I placed a hand on Jacob’s chest before wrapping my arms around him and hugging him tightly. “Tallis was the one that found him. He was coming to rescue me and stopped the guards trying to kill him. It’s been a long road to recovery.”
I didn’t care. I’d take Jacob in whatever form I got him. I’d love him until my last breath. I’d support him. Help him navigate this difficult prognosis with love and respect.
“I love you, Jacob. I love you,” I whispered once more. It was like I couldn’t say it enough. I needed him to know that my love for him could overshadow the time that separated us and the pain he experienced. I loved him more than words could ever say. I pulled away as Huxley, Patrick, and Kemper came up to greet their friend. Jacob’s eyes lit up, but he still struggled to speak.
“You scared the fuck out of me,” Patrick said while patting him on the back. “It wasn’t enough that you were the most handsome out of all of us, now you had to add a badass scar to the persona?” he joked, making Jacob let lose a hearty but choked laugh that sounded like pure music to my ears.
"Jacob might steal your role as the broody silent one," Patrick then added while nudging his brother in the side. Huxley simply rolled his eyes in response.
Naturally, Kemper began asking Jules a series of questions about Jacob. He was in fix-it mode, and for once, his need for perfection and peace didn’t bother me. I wanted to help in whatever way I could too.
Another lost piece of my heart clicked into place, but also, my need for revenge intensified. Reuniting with Jacob brought the anger that had been bubbling below the surface to a raging inferno. I had Jacob back but had lost another part of myself to the numbing need to kill Cavil for what he’s done.
After our reunions were done, we made our way inside the warehouse. Tallis told us that we had to keep moving. He was eager to get us to the safety of the Zone, and I wondered what that said about Cavil’s reign if it was safer there than it was in downtown Galla. Tallis had changed too. The wise way he carried himself had become more direct, more sharpened. Although I’d known him to be fierce and observant, he had also grown to move with a sharpness that I hadn’t recognized before. His cool confidence was now quick and intentional.
Kemper sent the transport further out away from us so that if someone stumbled upon it, they wouldn’t decide to snoop around the warehouse. Inside, the building wasn’t particularly spectacular. To an outsider, it would simply look like one of the many manufacturing plants that have long since been abandoned. As with everything in the empire, it was in ruin. Holes in the ceiling allowed the bright moonlight to shine through, and dust covered every spare space. A rusted piece of metal was laying on the floor in the far east corner, and Jacob and Tallis lifted it up, revealing a tunnel beneath.
“It leads to the Zone. It’s how we’ve been sneaking people in and out. It's a couple miles there. Hope you’re ready for a walk.”
I laughed, thinking of all the walking we'd done in the Deadlands.
"I think we can handle it," I replied.
As we traveled down the dark and damp hallway, rats scurried by our feet. I clung to Jacob's arm, gripping him tightly as if to prove to myself that he was really here. He kept glancing at me out of the corner of his eye, but every time I caught him, he would go back to looking ahead.
The humid air was suffocating, and with each step we took deeper into the Zone, the more fearful I felt. Jules and Tallis moved like they were familiar with the intricate underground tunnel system. I tried to keep track of the many twists and turns but lost count long before we were halfway to our destination.
"Where will we be staying?" Huxley asked. As expected, he was on the verge of an episode. Huxley felt differently about Jacob than about anyone else due to their past. I knew that there was an added layer of guilt to his protective nature where Jacob was concerned. Hyper aware of his surroundings, Hux was prepared to pounce at the first sign of danger. And after seeing the evidence of Jacob's last five months, the reality of our situation had become abundantly clear. We weren’t safe.
I knew Huxley was blaming himself for what happened. I knew he was on edge, ready to murder someone. Kemper was silent, probably thinking about solutions to Jacob's new disability, and Patrick was smiling, forcing the guilt and sadness at bay to bear the weight of uplifting the group.
I was eager to learn more about what had happened in these last five months. I yearned to understand Jacob’s struggles. It was obvious that he could no longer articulate his words efficiently. When I thought of Jacob, I thought of the smooth-talking, flirtatious man that said all the right things. The scar across his face and the way his shoulders slumped as he tried to speak broke me.
"Are you okay?" I asked Jacob in a whisper. I wasn't sure if, by asking, I was upsetting him. He had been staring at the small tunnels with unease. The rigid way he carried himself had me concerned.
"I'm. I'm worried. The walls." Jacob let out a frustrated huff before digging in his tan pants pocket. Looking over her shoulder ahead of us, Jules then spoke.
"I don't know why you didn't just put in your mindspeak to begin with. It took a team of eight of us to steal that, and you never wear it," she said while rolling her eyes.
I watched as Jacob pulled a shiny device no bigger than a coin from his pocket and placed it in his ear. It was metal and small, looking like a tiny earpiece with a speaker attached.
"I haven't quite figured out how to censor my thoughts, you unfeeling bitch," a monotone, robotic voice said. I snapped my attention to Jacob, and he pointed at the device in his ear. "It's a mindspeak translator," the voice explained. "Basically, I push my thoughts to the device, and it articulates for me. God, you look so fucking beautiful right now."
A broad grin broke out on my face at his compliment. If it weren't so dark, I was sure that I would see him blush. "The only downside is, it seems like all my thoughts get picked up by this goddamn thing. Have your lips always been that perfect? They look like pillows."
Behind me, Patrick and Kemper burst into fits of laughter. "It's like you have your own personal lie detector," Patrick snorted.
The robotic voice then started spewing out a string of vibrant curse words, making even Huxley snap out of his angry mood to gasp at the vulgarity of them. Jacob hurriedly removed the device from his ear, abruptly cutting off the insults shouted by his subconscious.
Once the laughter died down, Jacob took a deep breath while repositioning the earpiece once more. "To answer your original question, since my time in Ethros, small, dark spaces make me anxious. I fell down a drain when I was attacked."
I suddenly felt bad that he was in the tunnels. Was he okay? I began walking faster. "Then why did you come?"
"Are you kidding me? What the fuck do you think I am? I’ve been going every day hoping Jules was bringing you here. Think I'd stay behind like a coward? Hell no." Once again, I smiled at how unfiltered his thoughts were. It was eye-opening, to say the least. Although I hated that this happened to Jacob, there was something magical about having access to his inhibited thoughts. I liked knowing what he so freely thought of me.
"But if you want to make me feel a little better, sweetheart, I could take you off to one of the side tunnels and fuck—" Jacob once again ripped the earpiece from his ear. He then placed it in his pocket with a scowl. My heart was racing a
s I imagined the things his thoughts described. Around us, everyone laughed, but the heavy streaks of arousal traveling through my system lacked any humor. I stroked his arms with my fingers, leaning closer until I could whisper in his ear as we walked.
"I would like that very much," I whispered. But not quietly enough, because behind us, Patrick let out a cough.
"So would I..." he said.
I looked behind me, a mischievous grin on my face. “Have you lost your filter too?” I asked playfully. It felt nice to joke with them despite the grim situation.
Patrick returned my grin as we walked under an overhanging light, illuminating his face. "I've never pretended to have a filter when it comes to you, Ash."
Chapter Nine
It took almost a full hour to get through the intricate tunnel system leading to the Zone. Occasionally, Tallis would hold his hand up and place a finger to his lips. We’d all stare at the ceiling of the caverns, waiting as heavy footsteps passed overhead.
“We need more support beams in here,” he said to Jules, and she nodded.
“I’ll let Louis know.”
At the end of the tunnels, we were told to wait outside a green door as Tallis checked the auction post. For five minutes, we stood in silence, waiting for him to return with the okay that the coast was clear. Jules briefly explained that the tunnels poured out to the auction post in the Zone.
“Inside that door,” she said to Huxley while nodding towards the green metal door with rust on the hinges, “leads to the auction post. We checked the auctioneer board, so it should be empty. But if there are people inside, then we’ll have to spend the night here.”
“Why does it lead there?” I asked.
“These caves were here long before the empire. The old world used them to filter out waste. When we first discovered them, they were infested with Walkers and decaying bodies. Everyone dumped their loved ones here. A small team of immune Walkers cleared it out about a year ago.”
My brow shot up. This place was enormous. It would take a lot to stomach the clean up of that. Kemper looked around once more. “It’s smart,” he said with an appreciative smile. “If you’re caught here, they’d just assume—”
“That we’re here to toss the body of a loved one. They have no idea that it leads in and out of Galla. It’s how the Deadlands population has been able to grow so much.”
The hinges of the metal door groaned as Tallis returned. “It’s clear,” he said.
I took a deep breath. The last time I was in the Zone, a Walker attacked me, and Cyler saved my life. I didn’t feel in danger, I mostly just missed Cyler’s presence.
The auction post was strangely familiar, and another memory tickled in the back of my mind. The clean white tile was a stark contrast to our dirty shoes and clothes. The fluorescent lights were turned off, and Tallis held a lantern up to guide us through the dimly lit hallways.
“We have to cut through the stage,” Jules whispered.
I trudged my feet up a couple steps until I was standing on the metal stage. I’d been here before. I could remember it. Phantom fear and sadness burned me as I breathed in the energy of this place.
This was where the Stonewells bought me. I put my hand to my lips to stifle the gasp as I looked out at the empty chairs of the crowd. I could almost hear the auctioneer’s cruel voice.
“Stop crying. Your tears mean nothing here. Be glad you’re immune. You could have a decent life.”
“I miss my Mommy,” my childish voice said, muffled by my faraway memories.
“Your Mother and Father are dead. And you will be too if you don’t wipe the stress from your eyes. Today is the day you grow up, little Walker.”
I felt a hand grip mine, jarring me out of my memory. “Where’d your mind go just now?” Kemper asked. I paused to stare out at the audience once more and sighed.
“This is where I was auctioned.”
Ahead of us, Jules and Tallis were leaving, but my men lingered, staring at Kemper and me. “Let’s go,” I choked out. There were much worse things in the Zone than the auction post. I was lucky. I was procured by a wealthy family. This was where I met Josiah.
“Just hope Lackley doesn’t get you. He and his favorite little scientist have been experimenting on immunes,” the auctioneer’s voice said in my memory once more.
Something about that made me pause. It was like I was staring down the barrel of a memory. I knew it would destroy me, but I couldn’t help but look.
I shook away the flashbacks and allowed Kemper to steer me off the stage and through a back door which led to an alley in the Zone.
“Now, we have to make it to Madam B’s brothel without running into any guards. Louis is still working on removing your face from the database. He needs to do a new scan of your face after I’ve done some of my magic.”
“Okay.”
The seven of us spaced out as we walked, hoping to not look suspicious in such a large group. Jacob kept his hood up and stepped in front of me a few paces, leading the way in case we got separated from Jules and Tallis.
Kemper was still holding my hand, standing rigid as he took in the dismal surroundings. He looked unsure and entirely out of place. The uncomfortable way he took in everything would surely draw attention to us.
“You know, I think I lived close to here as a child,” I said to Kemper.
“Oh really?” he asked, looking at me. I squeezed his hand and pleaded with him to relax with my eyes.
“I can’t remember exactly where. But this feels familiar. I’ve often wanted to see my childhood home again,” I replied.
From what I remembered, it was nothing but a two bedroom shack with running water and a stove. We had it a lot nicer than other Walkers. Dad worked at the garbage station, hauling trash for members of the Elite. Unfortunately, it was how he contracted X.
“My dad worked outside the Zone at the dump. He processed trash. My mom sold bread on the corner. We were one of the few families with a working kitchen, so she made do. Although, if I remember correctly, she would just hand out most of the bread instead of charging for it. She couldn’t stand to see a hungry child.”
“They seem like they were wonderful people,” Kemper said.
“I think they were,” I replied with a shrug. Maybe it wasn’t the right thing to do, but most of the time, I wondered if what little memories of my family I had were real, or if it was something my adolescent brain made up. They could have been bad people. Negligent. My perceptions were limited, and I liked it that way. I’d rather cling to the idea of who my parents were than know the truth.
Even though I was an attendant in the Stonewell home, I still had a good life. I was provided for. I might not have been comfortable, but I was alive.
My parents gave me a future when they died.
I stared at the street where barefoot children stumbled past us, clutching their threadbare clothes to their chest. The colder season was upon us. Within a few weeks, it would be too chilly for them. I’d heard stories of Walkers freezing to death in the streets of the Zone. They became solid as ice.
“I know we had a red door. It was two bedrooms,” I said while squinting and trying to place my childhood home in my mind's eye. Kemper nodded, and I saw the wheels in his head turning. If anyone could figure out where I once lived, it was him. He was a fixer. A finder of lost things.
The Zone was dirty. Trash littered the streets. Blood stained the concrete, but people kept walking like it was a regular occurrence. Unlike Saberus, Walkers traveled along the streets like it was nothing. I guess in the Zone, people stopped fearing death a long time ago. The threat of a new regime—and the virus—was still the same as it was yesterday. Their existence was temporary, and they’d accepted that long ago.
“Keep walking, we’re almost there,” Jules said while she turned a corner. My eyes locked on Huxley’s hard shoulders until we arrived at a small building about two stories tall. Around us were numerous shacks with sheet metal for roofs, but not this.
It was a beacon of brick and mortar standing proudly within the filth.
“We’re...we are...here,” Jacob said. Jules and Tallis entered the home, but Jacob whirled around to stare at me. He slid back on his mindspeak translator.
“I know this is a brothel, and when you first walk in, things will be jarring. Hell, even I’m shocked by some of the shit I’ve seen here. But know it’s been only you, Ash. It’s always been only you. It will always be only you.”
My mouth went soft as I stared at Jacob in wonder. Of everything, he was concerned with making sure I felt comfortable?
“I know,” I said before using the hand that wasn’t holding his to stroke his arm. “Thank you, Jacob.”
When we walked inside, the home looked similar to the Stonewell Manor. In fact, it was so similar that I had to suck in a deep breath to catch my bearings.
To the left of the entry was an all white, finely furnished sitting room. A tray of tea and cookies sat on the center table, and a plump woman with blindingly white teeth lay on the lavish couch. She plopped a grape in her mouth before standing and walking towards us.
First, she gave Jules a generous hug. “You had me scared when you didn’t show up. I’ve had to deal with Tallis’ insufferable moping. He’s been whispering riddles all day. I’ll never understand you two,” the woman scolded.
“We had some trouble. I could have called, but with how much Cavil is tapping communications, I didn’t want to risk it,” Jules replied. She sifted through her dress, lifting the hem until the knife strapped to her thigh was visible. “Thanks for this. You were right, it did come in handy.”
The woman held her hands up and said, “Keep it. I’m sure you’ll need it again before this is all said and done.”
The woman had red, curly hair and thin lips. Her breasts were practically pouring out of her tight, white dress. And when she looked at the twins, her eyes went hot with wild hunger. I briefly wondered if that was how I looked when I drank in their appearance.
