Defective (Fractured Era Book 1)

by Autumn Kalquist

  Though she had to admit, maybe Bas was right to be patient about the barn. If Pandemic Control was torturing Jeremiah in there, they were sure being quiet about it. Nova shivered again as she studied the creepy structure. It reminded her of every abandoned country building she’d crashed in after fleeing New York.

  At night, that barn would be freezing, full of dark corners and strange sounds that didn’t belong in a building—harder to sleep in than the condemned and abandoned projects she’d come from. Human voices were reassuring, even when they screamed and made the walls rattle.

  Even when they came from her mother’s bedroom as she did what she had to do. What she’d been forced to do to keep her Protected children well-fed and safe from Infinitek.

  Nova bared her teeth and snatched the binoculars from Rory, trying to catch a glimpse of the soldiers ahead.

  Her chest got even tighter as two of them suddenly appeared from the side of the barn. Both soldiers had helmets on with quarantine masks attached, and they were lugging one of the crates between them.

  Bas tried to take back the binoculars, but Nova’s hands tightened around them, heat sparking within her, chasing away the cold. Their uniforms might be different, black instead of navy, but those soldiers were loyal to the Coalition. Which made them loyal to Infinitek. And to Katherine Raines.

  Which made them exactly like the men who had destroyed Nova’s family.

  The other four soldiers walked into view beside the first two, and one of them opened the humvee door.

  Bas wrested the binoculars from her, and Nova squinted without them. Only four of the soldiers climbed into the Humvee, leaving the other two behind—they were still moving crates to the side of the road.

  The humvee started up, and Nova’s stomach lurched as it drove away from them, dust kicking up in its wake.

  Rory nudged her, his mouth twisting into an excited half-smile. “That is what we were waiting for.”

  Bas’s intense green eyes had gotten that look in them, the one that meant he was fired up inside, wanting to make a move but forcing himself to hold back. Nova swallowed and looked away. She’d really misread that look a year ago, thinking he was holding back his feelings for her. He’d punished her for her stupid assumption, too, actively avoiding her and blowing her off ever since. Well. Fuck him.

  “As soon as they finish with those crates, we move,” Bas said, his voice low. “No guns. Knives. Bullet wounds’ll raise too many questions. If the Coalition thinks we’re dead, I want it to stay that way.” He scooted backward to shove the binoculars in his pack and his gloves in his pocket. “Rory and I will take them out. Nova and Lex, you stay here until it’s clear.”

  Nova’s heart skipped a beat, and she glanced at Lex, who still huddled silently on the other side of Bas, her cow eyes on the soldiers.

  “No,” Nova hissed. “We should go. We have four against their two. What if it goes sideways?”

  “It won’t.” Bas said, his voice confident. “We need you in one piece to comm Haven. You’ll stay here with Lex. Rory and I will take them out. Then we get in that barn.”

  She leaned closer to Bas and grabbed his arm. “But—”

  “You are staying here.” His eyes darkened, and his bare hand folded over hers. “Those are my orders.”

  Her hand tingled, warm and alive. Just like earlier, when he’d touched her cheek out of nowhere, dredging up the feelings she’d worked so hard to bury. She held his gaze, challenging him. His stupid, perfect face was so fucking full of easy confidence, she wanted to… He had no right looking that good after running through the woods for hours.

  “Fine.” She pulled her hand away, her heart palpitating worse than before. “Your funeral.”

  Her words seemed to disrupt Bas’s confidence for a split second, but then the look was gone. Had he felt self-doubt? Worry?

  Nope. For as long as she’d known Bas, his high opinion of himself had been unwavering.

  Rory and Bas readied themselves, watching the guards ahead, waiting for the right moment.

  Those soldiers were about to die, and they had no idea. Nova dug her fingers into the earth, watching the guards as they finished dragging the rest of the metal crates from the front of the barn to the side of the road.

  Each time they reappeared, it fanned the flames in Nova’s chest, until their heat eclipsed everything. Those men had chosen the wrong side—and now they would get what was coming to them.

  After the guards disappeared to the front of the barn again and didn’t return, Bas gestured.

  Adrenaline surged through Nova as Bas and Rory sprinted across the dirt road in full sunlight. When they reached the barn, they hugged the wall.

  Bas went one way, sneaking around the back side. Rory stayed where he was. They were going to flank the soldiers, but what if one of the soldiers saw them too soon? If one went back to the crates, they’d see Rory.

  Screw this. Nova tried to get up, but Lex lunged over and grabbed her boot.

  “Bas said stay,” she whispered.

  “I don’t belong with the baggage.” She kicked Lex’s hand away and moved fast, slipping between the tall stalks of quin to a clear path.

  In between the withered stalks, she glimpsed Rory, carefully edging his way along the side of the barn toward the front. She kept pace with him, her pulse pounding, her chest tight again.

  The field curved alongside the road, and soon she was positioned ahead of the barn and to the right. She could see both guards standing in front of the locked barn doors, looking nervous, both scanning the road ahead.

  Maybe they sensed that they were about to pay for their crimes.

  A breeze rustled the crops in front of Nova, and she swiped at her damp forehead, then pulled her gun from her holster, appreciating the solid feel of it in her hands.

  She’d never had to use it on a mission, but at Haven, she rarely missed a target. If Bas was wrong, and things went badly, she wouldn’t be bringing a knife to a gunfight. She’d been there, done that. When you had the advantage, you used it.

  A low sound, like a bird call, rang out, and a bitter taste flooded Nova’s mouth.

  Bas and Rory attacked.

  Nova sucked in a breath as Rory rounded the corner of the barn, his knife out, and sprinted for the soldier nearest to him. Bas was moving in from the other direction—and he reached the soldiers first.

  Bas’s target let out a shout. Bas cut it short by plunging his knife into the space between the man’s throat and helmet. The second guard spun before Rory reached him and blocked the attack. He and Rory fell, struggling, as Rory tried to pry away the man’s mask and sink his blade in.

  Bas tore his knife from his victim’s throat, and blood spurted from the man’s neck. A fresh torrent of heat coursed through Nova as she watched red spilling to the soil. Bas shoved the dead soldier to the ground and lunged to help Rory.

  Nova tightened her grip on the gun. The remaining Coalition soldier was smaller than them and too quick. He squirmed out of Rory’s grasp, losing his helmet and mask as he kicked Rory’s hand away. The knife went flying, glinting in the sunlight as the soldier took off running for the road.

  He was only a few yards from Nova’s hiding place now. She sucked in a breath, her throat dry. The guard was fumbling for his weapon. Would he get it out before Bas and Rory had a chance to take him down?

  Time seemed to slow down, and a vision of Bas and Rory, riddled with bullet holes, raced through her mind. The Coalition took whatever they wanted to take, stole what wasn’t theirs, ruined lives and buried the destruction they caused so most people never found out about it. Haven needed Bas and Rory. She needed them.

  The guard freed his weapon and raised it on Bas, who was running at him full-tilt.

  Nope. She stepped out of her hiding spot, gun aimed at the soldier’s head. Without his helmet, Nova had a clear shot. The cells in her body vibrated with energy, her vision was perfect, her aim true.


  Nova fired. Her bullet went into the back of the man’s skull, and his body crumpled to the ground.

  Rory and Bas came to an abrupt stop, and Rory scanned the road, then the sky. Bas’s arms went slack, his knife dripping crimson blood onto the dirt.

  The heat began to drain from Nova’s body, leaving her cold. Weak.

  Bas cleared his throat. “Kerrigan, barn’s locked. Check the other one for the key. I got this one.”

  “On it.” Rory took a quick look at Nova, then jogged back to the soldier Bas had killed.

  Bas stared Nova down, still breathing hard, his face like stone. “I said no guns.”

  Nova took a step toward him, but her shaky legs threatened to give out on her. “Guess this guy didn’t get the memo.”

  Bas got right in her face, his eyes blazing. “You will not disobey a direct order ever again.”

  Nova swallowed, her heart in her throat. She’d seen Bas angry—but never like this. She forced herself to nod.

  Bas pushed past her and used his boot to flip the dead man onto his back.

  Not a man. A woman.

  The woman I killed.

  A sudden wave of nausea hit Nova, making her dizzy. With her short, dark hair and the bulky Pandemic Control uniform, the soldier’s gender hadn’t been obvious. The woman’s light brown eyes stared blankly into the sky, and the wound in her skull dripped bright red.

  “This one doesn’t have the key,” Rory called. “I’ll check the crates.”

  Bas began rifling through the dead woman’s pockets. Her face looked young, fresh and unlined. Like she might have been a newer recruit—maybe eighteen. Maybe the same age as Nova.

  Rory let out a low whistle. “They have incendiary globes over here.” His voice sounded far away, even though Nova knew he stood only a few yards behind her.

  “The other crates have liquid butane canisters,” Rory continued. “They’re empty.”

  Bas jumped to his feet. “No key here. I’ll grab Lex and our packs. I can pick that padlock.”

  Bas stomped off, disappearing from Nova’s peripheral vision, but she still felt frozen in place, her gaze riveted to the soldier’s open, staring eyes. Blood seeped from the wound, forming a growing puddle in the dirt. Bile rose in Nova’s throat, and she fought back the urge to puke.

  The dead woman’s face seemed to fade in and out, and Nova’s vision blurred, making her dizzy—this didn’t seem real… just like that day.

  On the day her life changed forever, Nova had gone to pick up much-needed black market food for her family. It had snowed earlier, and she’d left the abandoned projects, wading through ten city blocks of dirty slush to make the swap. When she got back, the drunk outside their condemned building lifted his bottle in warning.

  “Don’t wanna go up there right now, girly. Coalition doin’ a sting.”

  Nova dropped the box, the precious cans tumbling into piss-stained snow, and sprinted up all eight flights of stairs. The dingy, graffitied stairwell and hallways were dead silent—and they were never silent.

  She heard the soldiers before she saw them, but she couldn’t do anything except duck into an empty apartment. She’d nearly fainted from fear as she watched them approach through the hole in the door.

  Navy uniforms. A silver infinity symbol on each sleeve.

  Her little brothers had been carried out first. Small bodies, tan skin, wearing pajamas. She hadn’t breathed as she strained to see if they still breathed. Each chest rose and fell as the soldiers carried them past her hiding place. Five-year-old Carlos and three-year-old Jorge. Tadeo had just turned two, and he was wide awake, looking around with intelligent, scared eyes, but not crying. Tadeo had never been a crier. The older boys had just been drugged… not murdered.

  Not murdered like their mother. Nova’s eyes refocused on the Pandemic Control soldier she’d killed, trying to forget what her mother had looked like. She failed.

  The Infinitek squad put a single bullet in her mother’s skull and left her to rot, just like this, in a pool of her own blood. Executed for daring to defy Infinitek and trying to hide her children instead of giving them up.

  Her dark brown eyes had been just as blank, the life gone from them. But her mother hadn’t been reaching for a gun. She’d faced her death alone and unarmed—clutching nothing but her rosary.

  Nova slipped a hand beneath her own collar, palming the five-pointed star pendant there. Hail Marys hadn’t been enough penance for her mother’s sins. God had abandoned her anyway. Just as he’d abandoned Nova’s brothers—allowed them be taken away by Infinitek.

  Maybe God had spared Nova that day, but he sure as hell hadn’t saved her.

  Bas and Rory had.

  Haven had.

  The woman Nova killed had chosen the wrong side.

  “Nova?” Rory asked softly, coming up beside her. He had his gun out and was tense and sweating, scanning the road and sky constantly for signs of the enemy. “This is your first kill, isn’t it?”

  Nova licked her lips, her eyes refocusing. She fumbled with her gun, her hands shaking as she checked her ammo, even though she knew she had more than enough. Killing someone had only taken one bullet, after all.

  “This…” Rory cleared his throat. “Hunting deer on Haven’s lands can’t prepare you for it.”

  “I always hated hunting.” Nova said tonelessly, looking back down at the dead woman. “Haven didn’t need the meat.”

  The Coalition soldier’s eyes were glassy. As empty as a dead deer’s. Saliva flooded Nova’s mouth, tasting bitter. Why had this dead thing triggered the memory of her mother? It wasn’t the same at all. Anyone loyal to Katherine Raines deserved to be dead.

  “Nov. Look at me.” Rory’s brow creased, his dark blue eyes narrowing with concern. “Go help Bas with—”

  “Do you know why I really hate hunting?” She smirked at Rory. “It’s just no fun killing something that can’t fight back.” She spit, hard, and it landed square on the dead soldier’s cheek. “But killing this animal was much more satisfying.”

  She whirled away from Rory to escape him before he could aim one of his judgmental looks at her. That’s when she realized Bas and Lex had already returned.

  Bas had his tools out and was working on the padlock. He’d dropped their packs around the other side of the barn, and Lex stood beside them, watching Nova warily and keeping her distance from the dead soldiers.

  Nova swallowed against the lump in her throat and walked over to Bas. He wouldn’t even look at her.

  It was too quiet. Not a peep from inside the barn… so what the hell had those soldiers been guarding? Rory came to join her, and they stood watch in tense silence as Bas carefully worked the lock.

  The wind picked up, then, and that rotten smell Nova had noticed on the air earlier—it was back. And now there was something else on top of it.

  Death.

  The gut-churning stench of advanced decay emanating from the barn set Bas on edge and made every muscle in his body tight as he worked on the lock.

  When he finally sprang it, he hesitated, glancing back at his team and the road behind them. Rory, Nova, and Lex stood stiffly behind him, scanning the area for any sign of Pandemic Control forces.

  The road and sky were still empty, though, except for the two dead soldiers. A new wave of irritation coursed through him at the sight of the dead guard, a pool of blood beneath her skull. He’d deal with Nova later.

  He gritted his teeth as she stepped forward to help him remove the chain and lock. Bas pulled at the doors, and as they swung open, the thick, heavy air that escaped stung his eyes and made him gag. He stumbled backward, eyes burning, but he couldn’t escape the stench. His team was gagging and coughing behind him as he lunged for the mask in his bag.

  The barn air smelled like sewage, but there was something else—something in there was putrid. Rotting. And the powerful, unmistakable scent of liquid butane overlaid it all. Bas wiped his watering
eyes and pulled on his mask. He took a tentative breath. Cleaner, but the scent was still there, and he fought the urge to vomit. He removed his gloves from his pocket and put them back on. The soldiers must have emptied every canister of butane in there.

  Nova and Bas had put their filtration masks back on, too, but Lex hadn’t—she’d backed up even farther, her eyes wide.

  “I’ll watch the road,” she croaked out.

  Bas nodded and swung around to face whatever was in the barn. Some primal part of his brain was screaming at him to run the other way—and not look back. But he forced himself to activate his gun’s light and step inside. The sunlight streaming through the open doors illuminated dust motes floating through the putrid air and a scene that confirmed what his brain already knew.

  At least two dozen corpses were piled against the wall, only partially covered by a tarp.

  Nova let out a noise from behind him, and even Rory, who’d seen his fair share of death, had gone pale.

  Bas took another few steps, and sunlight peeked over his shoulder, casting its rays on a small blue object nestled in the filthy straw. A child’s shoe.

  The straw looked wet, like it had been doused with butane, and evidence of blood, piss, and shit was everywhere. Pandemic Control had been keeping sick people in here. A lot of them. People only shit where they slept if they had no other choice.

  “Kerrigan,” Bas said. “Drag those soldiers in here. Get ‘em out of view.”

  “We should strip them.” Rory’s voice was rough. “Keep their uniforms. Just in case…”

  Just in case this mission had well and truly gone to hell. Just in case Jeremiah was dead already—or worse—captured by the Coalition.

  Bas nodded, feeling light-headed. “Pack up the uniforms and masks. Leave all the tech. Can’t risk tracers.”