by Alice Rachel
Time stands still. It’s hard to breathe under William’s weight and all these emotions breaking me apart. I don’t want to catch Chi’s attention. Suddenly, William’s weight is lifted off of me. Akio is standing over me, pushing William to the side. He takes my hand and helps me up.
I look down at William. I’m still hoping to see a spark of light in his eyes, an indication that he’s still somewhere inside that body, but he’s gone. Despite everything that has happened, I never wanted this. I didn't wish for his death. Guilt stabs at me as I look at his face one last time.
I lift my head to see what's grasping Chi's attention, and the sight greeting me strikes me with horror and confusion. The man pointing a gun at me—this person I mistook for Chi—is still right in front of me, but he's staring at a cloned copy of himself standing farther away to my right. I shift my eyes from one to the other to take them both in.
“I’ll be damned! My little brother, right here in our camp! Tsk tsk!” the man in front of me says. "What the hell happened to your face, Chi?" He snickers.
Chi's face is still bruised from when he was beaten up. How could I not see that? Chi walks toward us, fast. He stops and points his rifle right at his brother while looking at him with pure hatred on his face. Chi's twin shakes his head in faked disappointment before returning the gesture by moving the tip of his barrel from me to Chi.
He looks like a perfect image of Chi, but a somewhat colder version of him, slightly distorted, more vicious. There's no love in Chi's eyes when he looks at his sibling, just utter disgust marking his features. I've never seen him show such revulsion for anyone before, not even for William. He's watching his brother with caution too, as if he were a deadly predator ready to pounce at any moment.
“So, tell me, brother, what are you doing here?" says Chi's twin. "Looking for our parents, I presume.”
“Don’t call me that. I'm not your brother and they are not your parents,” Chi retorts.
“Well, legally, they are my parents more than they are yours! See, according to the law, I am the only child they have. And you, you’re just non-existent. I could kill you right here and it'd be like you never were.”
“You are a traitor and a coward! I don’t care what the law says, Stephen. You stopped being their son the moment you betrayed them.”
Stephen's eye twitches and his jaw clenches upon being called a coward. “Do you know what it's been like for me all those years?" he snarls. "Having to lie through my teeth every moment of my life. Starving to death every second of each day."
“Stop whining, Stephen, it’s pathetic,” Chi hisses through his teeth. “You’re pathetic!”
“Mother and Father deserved what they got, Chi, and in good time, so will you."
At that moment, Chi lifts his gun higher to point it right at his brother’s forehead. Stephen imitates him, and my heart races in response.
Chi's twin shakes his head again like a big brother disapproving of his younger sibling’s actions. “Tsk tsk! What’re you gonna do, baby brother? Blow my head off?" Stephen laughs, a snicker devoid of all humor. "I’ll react before you can even pull that trigger. So you’re going to listen to me and follow me nicely.”
“I’d rather die.”
Stephen smirks at that. “Your choice!” He's about to pull the trigger when I scream. He looks at me quickly from the corner of his eye, and a sadistic smile spreads on his face. “Well, well, well. Look what we got here. Looks like little brother got himself a new girlfriend.”
Chi doesn’t look at me, but he’s livid now. “She’s not my girlfriend. She’s just a member of the group.” He shows no emotion as he says it, and I truly hope he’s just acting.
“Oh really?” Stephen points the gun at me again, close, the tip of the barrel pressing hard against my forehead. I can't protect myself; I lost my gun when I fell. My heart is racing fast, with adrenaline shooting through my veins, making me weak in the knees.
“You won’t mind if I shoot her, then. What do you say? I’ll give you a choice—it can be you, or it can be her.”
Chi still refuses to look at me. He tries to hide his emotions, but he’s getting nervous.
“So, brother, which one is it?” Stephen asks, his voice dripping out like honey.
“I’m not gonna play your little games. Whatever I say, you’ll shoot us both anyway. I’m your twin brother, remember. I know what you’re thinking, and I know how you’re thinking.”
“Fine, it’ll be her first then. I want you to watch.” Stephen presses the gun harder against my forehead, but he still doesn't shoot. My skin rips under the tip of the barrel. Chi looks like he’s ready to rip his brother's face off.
“I will shoot her, brother," Stephen teases with cruelty. "I will kill her, just like I did Willow.”
This feels like a fist to my guts. Stephen sneers as he says it too, but a swift spark of pain flickers through his eyes as the words spill out of his mouth, and Chi’s hands clench around his gun.
“What did you just say?” Chi's voice is frosty with wrath growling underneath, but the faint tremor leaking through his tone is quite audible, as if he’s choking on a suppressed sob.
“Are you deaf now, little brother? I said...” Stephen is speaking louder now, articulating every syllable as though Chi is too dumb to understand. “I… will… kill… her… just…. like… I… did… Willow.” His voice breaks on the last word, as if her name is too hard for him to pronounce.
“It was you?” Chi's eyes widen in horror.
“Well, of course! Who did you think it was? Obviously, you didn’t get the brains in our family, Chi, if you haven’t figured it out yet! When the authorities took Mother, Father, and me away, I had to prove my loyalty to the officers. It was either that or get tortured. And I cared more about myself than I did you, so when they asked for your location, I just gave it away.
"I truly thought Mother had sent you to stay with Willow's family. I was hoping that once the officers found you, they would drag you here, or even better, maybe kill you. But I guess Mother didn’t trust me enough to share any real information with me. That really hurt my feelings, you know, to realize that Mother lied to me like that."
He shakes his head and his eyes fill with sorrow, as if he is truly sad and disappointed. He seems deeply upset for some reason, and I can't tell if he's faking it anymore.
"So, tell me, brother. Where have you been all this time? Ever cared to look for me? Ever wondered how I was doing?" Stephen asks.
"Why would I worry about you? You've been doing perfectly fine," Chi replies harshly, and Stephen's face turns livid as his eyes darken with pure wrath.
“What about Lila?" Chi yells at him. "She was your girlfriend!”
“Yeah, some poor pathetic girl passed on to me," Stephen snaps back. "Did you ever really look at her? Damn, that girl was ghastly! So I should have put up with the ugly duckling while you would get sweet, beautiful Willow. I don’t think so!" True rage seeps through his tone as he throws those painful words at Chi. "And to think that Mother and Father were supposed to stand up for what’s right in society." He snorts in disdain. "Claiming to want freedom and equality for all. Right! They didn’t hesitate to push that hideous chick on me and rip my heart right out of my chest!” His tone is harsh and filled with pure loathing, sending chills down my spine.
“You were never forced to date her and you know that.”
“Yeah, whatever. You're nothing but a blind fool, Chi." Stephen’s attention shifts toward me again. I shudder as his eyes run up and down my body, appraising me. I wish he were looking at anyone but me. I feel like an insect entangled in a web, facing an arachnid about to take its first bite.
“Chi did tell you about her, right? Our sweet, beautiful Willow." He smiles charmingly like a cobra mesmerizing its prey before striking it down with venom. A vindictive smile spreads on his face as he strikes the next blow. "Did he tell you about their first night together too?”
I know I can’t believe anythin
g coming out of his mouth. He’s spitting filth just to hurt me. But his question still cuts like a knife. I don’t want to believe it.
“Shut up!” Chi snarls. His knuckles have turned white with pressure from his grip on his weapon. His reaction confirms everything Stephen has said. I’m not Chi’s first girl and he has lied to me. I don’t understand why he did it, but it breaks my heart all the same. Chi still doesn’t look at me, but Stephen is studying me now, staring me straight in the eyes, his face showing nothing but malice.
“Oh, he didn’t tell you?” A sneer appears on his face, and he laughs some more. I know I shouldn’t let it affect me. I shouldn’t let any of this touch me, but Chi is still wired and he’s clearly avoiding my eyes.
“He told me all about it, you know," Stephen says. "I had to listen to him brag about how they did it in the barn behind her house and how soft her skin was.” An emotion that I can't quite read fills and leaves his eyes quickly. Every word coming out of his mouth is a slicing dagger. “You need to realize that Chi has spent his whole life living a lie. All he knows is deception. You'll never be able to trust him.”
“Don’t listen to him, Thia! He’s a psychopath! He’s just trying to mess with our heads. He’s getting at me through you.”
Chi doesn’t deny anything his brother has said though, which drives me a little crazier by the second. But Stephen is wasting our time. We need to get rid of him and move on. Akio has been standing still the whole time, watching it all unfold like some excruciating train wreck.
“This is getting tedious and I have a camp to guard," Stephen says, sighing as if truly bored with us now. "I’ll just get along with this. Chi doesn’t seem to think you matter enough for him to step up for you." His gaze shifts to Chi quickly as he says it, challenging him, before coming right back to me. "So I’ll just have to shoot you both, I guess. By the way, Chi. Just so you know, there was no need to look for Mother. She passed away last week. As always, little brother, it looks like you made it just a little bit too late.” Stephen's lips rise in a lazy smile upon throwing these last words into Chi's face.
Profound anguish passes over Chi's features in response, but he’s quick to recover himself. “I don’t believe you!” He's impassive, but the doubt and pain in his voice are plain for us to hear.
“Awh, but she did! She got pneumonia. You know how it is these days. They didn’t really care to cure her. I would have helped, but I’m pretty busy, you know.”
Though Chi is still holding his gun tightly, his hands are shaking. He’s trying to control his emotions, but tears still rise up to his eyes before his irises darken, his pupils as cold as ice. “I’m going to kill you, right here, you miserable piece of shit!”
“Oh, no need for name calling, brother,” Stephen replies with a pout.
Before Chi gets to act on his words, gunshots echo all around us. The sirens have been turned on and they're blasting through the speakers, deafening us. Chi chooses that moment to grab his brother’s arm. He knocks it hard on his knee and the gun falls out of Stephen’s hand, with a detonation going off as the weapon hits the ground. I look around me, but no one's hurt. Chi is holding his brother’s wrist behind his back, squeezing and turning it around, and Stephen is screaming from the pain.
“Thia, the gun!” Chi shouts at me.
I’m standing here, unable to move. Chi repeats his order, but then he pauses as something catches his attention. I turn around to see Taylor leading a group of prisoners. They’re all running to safety, except for one man standing apart from the others. His resemblance to Chi is stunning.
“Dad?”
“Chi, my son, you’ve come for me!”
Before anyone has time to react, Stephen head butts Chi in the nose and grabs his weapon. It takes but a second for him to roll on the ground, position himself, and pull the trigger. Everything happens fast. I’m frozen here, motionless, as Chi’s father falls to his knees.
He looks Chi in the eyes and extends his hand as another gunshot resounds. A bullet hits him in the chest, bringing him down for good. I turn around just in time to see Chi jump on Stephen, pinning him to the ground. The two of them are holding rifles, but these can’t be used for such close range shooting.
Chi is beyond himself with rage now, his pores oozing with sweat. He's screaming as he drops his gun and starts hitting Stephen, pummeling him with frantic despair. I yell his name, but he doesn’t stop. He just can’t hear me. Stephen's face fills with strange relief, and tears come streaming down his cheeks as if he has freed himself from some invisible burden that was bearing down on him.
Chi doesn't notice any of this though. He's consumed by rage, and Stephen's emotions are shifting so quickly—from relief to shock to profound sadness—that I'm not sure I'm even reading him clearly. A strangled sob rocks his body too, just before Chi grabs the butt of his rifle and hits him so hard in the temple that Stephen loses consciousness.
Chi drops his weapon, but he keeps on beating his brother up, drawing blood with his fists. I finally wake up from the horrific daze that was mesmerizing me. I run to Chi and pull on the back of his shirt as I call his name, but he still can’t seem to hear me. Akio joins in and tries to shake Chi into standing up.
And then, slowly, Chi looks up at me. The wrath and intense grief on his face grasp my heart and tear it into tiny pieces as terror seizes me. This is a Chi I've never seen before; the agony in his eyes is breaking me. He doesn’t push me back. He stands up and starts kicking Stephen hard in the stomach as tears come pouring down his face.
Stephen is still breathing. He’s still alive. I’m not sure if Chi is aware of that, but I can’t let him kill his brother. That would only eat him up over time until it destroyed him. I pull on his arm and manage to drag him away from Stephen.
Disbelief slowly replaces the rage behind his eyes. He pushes my hand off of him and runs to his father. Chi rolls him on his back and listens for a heartbeat we all know is no longer there. More shots echo through the yard all around us while the sirens keep on blaring. This isn't safe. We need to get out of here. Taylor is running toward us while shooting at some guards. I pull on Chi’s shoulder, pleading with him to let go. There’s nothing we can do for his father now.
“Chi, we need to leave. Now!” Taylor yells in our direction.
Chi nods his head. He holds his father’s hand to his lips and kisses it before closing his father’s eyelids. He stands up, picks up his rifle, and runs with me toward Taylor. He lurches a little, as if he were drunk or wavering under the weight of his emotions.
Taylor yells for us to hurry the hell up. We run to the tunnels and close the doors behind us once we’ve made it inside. Taylor leads us to one of the trucks and we climb in the back of it. He signals for Chase to start the vehicle.
We came in with two trucks; we're leaving with ten more, each driven by a member of the Underground. The ride back is horrible. Some prisoners are crying in relief while others are grieving over the people they’ve lost. No one’s talking.
I’m holding Chi’s hand in mine, but he doesn’t look at me once. His head is bent down, and though he’s not crying anymore, I can feel his distress and grief as painfully as if he were shedding tears. His silence and lack of reaction are more unsettling than if he were having a breakdown.
Chase goes above the speed limit until we are safe. When the truck reaches the bridge, he slows down and I hear a couple of shots. As planned, Akio has taken down the officers guarding the bridge. Chase proceeds and crosses over. After thirty minutes, we reach the parking lot previously located by Chase. We leave all the trucks behind, hidden from view. We walk the rest of the way until we reach the river. It's pitch dark and everyone's exhausted.
Some members from the Underground were supposed to stay behind to prepare for our arrival. They are now waiting for us on shore, with multiple rafts ready to be loaded. Several trips back and forth will be needed to take the refugees to the submerged building. I’m not sure how many prisoners escaped, but
there seems to be hundreds of them here.
We didn’t save everyone and the repercussions on those left behind will be terrible. Just thinking about it makes my blood run cold. Taylor stopped somewhere along the way to send a signal to the media. Our allies working in journalism should be at the camps right now, shooting footage incriminating the authorities. I cast a look around the crowd gathered here and search for Mother, but she's nowhere to be found. Disappointment and fear fill my heart. I don’t know if the other leaders have managed to free the camps closer to them either, and all this uncertainty is killing me.
Chapter 33
Slowly, everyone rows their way to the building. As calculated by Kayla, there are enough floors left untouched by the river for the refugees to share apartments and fill up the rest of the building. When I get there with Chi, I take his hand in mine. He hasn’t spoken one word since we left the camp. I pull him to me and hug him so tight that a sound finally escapes his mouth. I find his eyes, but they are devoid of mirth and filled with misery.
We wait in the dining room for a few minutes as more and more people walk in through the window. It's getting so crowded here that it's hard to breathe. Kayla is standing by the French window to welcome each refugee inside. Some members of Underground are to lead them directly to their apartments, with instructions to keep all lights turned off and to refrain from leaving or getting in touch with their families.
After waiting for fifteen more minutes, holding onto Chi’s hand and watching him gradually collapse, I decide it’s time to take him back to our apartment. I lead him away, but a tap on my shoulder stops me as someone clears their throat behind me. I turn around. Mother is standing there, smiling. I'm so relieved I almost stumble.
I pull her into my arms and embrace her like I never got to do before. She laughs at my reaction. Then I turn around to see Chi carrying a strange look on his face. How could I be so careless and inconsiderate? Hugging my mother right in front of him, completely ignoring the fact that he's lost his?
