“You don’t,” Trace answered. “He doesn’t trust anybody. Not even us. Ain’t that right, Anthony?”
“Yep.”
They drove for another minute or two until they came up on a large, stone partition some distance away from the Center. The wall was tall enough that in order to see over it, one would have to be high up in the Center. When they got to the entrance, a guard checked them out and opened the gate for them to pass through. On the other side was a giant, metal building. There was nothing on the outside to indicate what it was used for. There were a few vehicles parked on the side nearest them, but that was it.
“What is this place?” Connor asked as they got out of the SUV. Trace moved around to the rear and opened the back, grabbing a long rifle from under the seat.
“You’ll see,” Anthony answered.
Trace led them around to the side of the building where there was a door. He punched in some sort of code and the door unlocked. He let Anthony go in first, then went in behind Connor. Trace walked up to the counter and there was a Screven guard standing ready to greet them.
“Busy day?” Trace asked him.
“Busiest we’ve seen in a while, Sir.”
“The last of them going out right now?”
“Just as scheduled.”
“Good to hear.” He looked at Connor and Anthony. “Let’s go. Follow me.”
Connor did as he was told and they walked down a long hallway until they reached another door that required a key code entry. Trace hit a few of the numbers and the door unlocked. He looked back at Connor.
“Don’t breathe too heavily at first,” he said. “The smell is the hardest part to get used to.”
Trace swung open the door and the air hit Connor with a force. The moment he breathed, he gagged at least three times. “It smells awful,” he said, holding his hand up to his face.”
Trace smiled at him. “Yeah, well, that’s what happens when you open a room full of rot.”
Connor looked at him for some sort of explanation, but the moment he walked through the doorway, he discovered where the smell was coming from: greyskins.
They moved out onto a walkway that edged across an entire room that was the size of a large field. The three of them stood about twenty feet above a floor, but the floor couldn’t be seen. Like a turned-over anthill, greyskins crawled all over each other, clambering to get to the three that had just opened the door.
“They’re hungry!” Trace belted out.
“What is this?” Connor asked.
“This is where we keep the reserve greyskins,” Trace said as he began walking. He pointed to the wall directly across from them. “You see those bay doors?”
“Yeah.”
“Any second now, they’re going to open up to the back of our trucks.” Trace looked over at oked oveConnor with a twisted smile on his face. “It gets crazy.”
Connor still wasn’t used to the smell, and the sight of all the greyskins made him feel helpless. What did Trace mean by reserve greyskins? Why would Jeremiah be keeping them here?
Five of the bay doors slid open at the same time. Each one of them had a truck backed up to it. Someone must have pushed a button, because the doors to the trucks started to slide open. Connor squinted to see what, if anything was in the back. In each, there was a large pig, and each of them began squealing loudly at the immediate onslaught of greyskins. Their cries were silenced within seconds as the greyskins flooded the backs of the trucks.
It didn’t matter that the trucks were beginning to fill. They all just climbed on top of each other until there was an unmovable wall of rotting flesh.
“The drivers have weight sensors in the trucks,” Trace explained. “Once the weight is at a certain level, they close the truck doors, wait for the bay doors to shut, then take off.”
“Take off where?” Connor asked.
“Wherever Jeremiah wants them to go,” Trace answered. “They will team up with other trucks and head out to villages and colonies. Those other trucks lay paths for the greyskins to follow.”
“What do you mean? How?”
Trace looked at him and sighed. “Blood.”
Connor turned white. He kept his concentration on trying to keep his stomach from churning.
“Most of the fresh trail fodder is from the prisoners,” Trace continued, staring down to the floor below.
“Why are you showing me this?” Connor asked. “If you don’t trust me, aren’t you afraid I might tell someone?”
Trace shook his head. “Who would believe you? This is bizarre. Conspiracy theories have plagued leadership since the beginning of time. People don’t want to know this kind of stuff. Besides,” he slapped Connor on the back, “we’ve got your allegiance. Shouldn’t have to worry about you.” He pointed to the first two trucks on the left. “They will be headed to a village called Samara. It’s a big place. Jeremiah has wanted it for a few years now, but with his policy of they must come to us, they’ve taken a while to bite. I think this attack should do it.”
Connor’s mind reeled. He couldn’t help but think about all the attacks he had seen. Had all of them been artificial? Had they all been orchestrated by Jeremiah? He remembered the day Salem had allied with Screven. He remembered being relieved and sad all at the same time. He had wished that Screven would have been around before the greyskins had taken his parents. They had gone out to aid another village, but came back as greyskins. Now that he knew these attacks may not have ever happened without Jeremiah’s say-so, he wanted to toss these two Starborns over the side and see what would happen. It made him want to toss Jeremiah in the pit too.
He had never truly bought the idea that his parents had gone to help and happened to drift back to Salem. It made him wonder if they might have just been picked up by one of these trucks and dropped off. Now he was sure that it wasn’t an accident.
He wanted to kill someone.
The doors to the trucks finally slid closed, and behind them, the bay doors as well. He couldn’t help but feel for the people in Samara village. They had no idea they were about to be attacked. He wished there was something that could be done to warn them. But he was doing what had to be done. He was doing his best to take down Jeremiah.
It was hard for Connor to conceal his thoughts from Trace and Anthony, but he kept his mouth shut. He couldn’t believe that just ve that a few days ago he was on the fence about Jeremiah. He had no idea. It seemed impossible, but here he was, staring the impossible in the face. He felt like a fool.
Trace reached out and grabbed Connor by the neck like he was an old pal and began walking with him. There were still hundreds, maybe thousands of greyskins below them. Now that the bay doors were closed, they kept their attention focused on the three men walking above them.
“Alright,” Trace said. “We’ve got a little test for you. You boast about your shooting skills, so we want to see them.”
“Why?” Connor asked.
“Don’t fight it. It makes you seem more useful,” Trace laughed. He let go of Connor’s neck and stood a couple of feet away from him. “Your test is simple. I want you to find five greyskins that are still alive, but aren’t moving. Shoot them through the brain. Let them rot in peace.”
Connor shrugged. “Okay,” he said, reaching his hand out for the gun.
Trace handed it to him. “And you have twenty seconds.”
“What?” Connor asked, spinning around
to look at Trace.
“If you don’t accomplish the task, Anthony here will toss you over the edge and you’ll be dinner tonight.”
“Why are you doing this?”
Trace shook his head. “You’re already down by three seconds, you better hurry!”
Connor set the rifle on the railing in front of him and put his eye up to the scope. He frantically searched the mass of greyskins for any that matched the description Trace had given.
He saw one and shot it through the head. It fell to the ground. He found another and shot
it. Another. And another. He had no idea how much time was left, but he was focused. When he found the last one, Trace’s voice rang out.
“Sorry, time’s up!”
He felt a pair of hands grab him from behind. Trace snatched the gun from him and Anthony held him over the edge. The hungry greyskins seemed to almost beg for Connor to be dropped.
It was a strange sensation that came over him. He felt extremely terrified by the thought of being eaten alive, but he felt a certain peace to know that I was there watching him.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to finish this out, Mora,” he said with a whisper. He tried to kick at Anthony, but the large man held him in such a way, that he was hopeless. Trace’s laughs echoed through gigantic room.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Trace said. “Your shots were pretty good.” He looked at Anthony. “What do you think? You think he can do the job?”
Anthony nodded.
“You’re no liar when it comes to your marksmanship. I think you can do the job. Anthony, set him down.”
Connor plopped to the floor of the walkway as Anthony dropped him. He stayed in a sitting position and looked up. “What job?” he asked.
“Well, we’ve run into a little bit of a problem with the Screven Resistance rats who have decided it’s their duty to take away power from Jeremiah. We don’t really like them, you know.” He looked at Connor almost as if he expected a response.
“No, I wouldn’t expect you would,” Connor said. “What does it have to do with me?”
“The Screven Resistance has a leader,” Trace said. “Her name is Allison. Your new job is to kill her.”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
My connection evaporated and I was still sitting in the bathroom when I heard a knock at the door. I found some relief in knowing that Connor was safe for the time being, but my hands hurt from gripping the sink counter too hard for several long minutes. I couldn’t shake the thoughts of the greyskins from my head. I had known that Jeremiah had somehow been sending greyskins to various places, but I had no idea that they were stored in a warehouse in the middle of Screven. For some reason, it made the idea even more sickening than it already was. Just knowing that the attack on Springhill six years ago was ordered by Jeremiah made me hate him all the more. Seeing the warehouse truly gave credence to the fact that Jeremiah was directly responsible for the death of my parents. If it hadn’t been for him, they would still be alive.
The knock came at the bathroom door again. “Mora? Are you in there?” It was Evelyn.
I reached out and opened the door. “Yeah.”
“What’s going on? Are you alright? How are you feeling?”
“I feel fine,” I said. “I’ve been watching Connor. They’re going to make him assassinate Allison.”
Evelyn thought about this for a moment. “He won’t do it. I feel like that’s taking it too far for him.”
“It sounded to me like they have some sort of plan, but I never got more information than that,” I said.
Evelyn nodded. “No use in creating a panic about it right now. They want all of us to meet in the main room.”
“Evelyn, what time is it?” I asked.
“About noon, dear, why?” As soon as she asked, a look of realization came over her. “Oh yes. Never mind.”
“Don’t give me any pity,” I said, walking past her out of the bathroom. “We’ve got no time to worry about what we can’t change. We need to get in there and plan out what we need to do about Jeremiah.”
“I’m with you,” Evelyn said, trailing behind.
We walked through a few hallways until we finally made it to a large room with a table at the center. There were no chairs. Everyone just stood around it. Various maps of the city with circled territories littered the table. Allison stood at the other end and looked up when Evelyn and I entered.
“Ah, there you are,” she said. “I thought it would be good if we all got on the same page with what we’re supposed to be doing here.”
“Sounds good,” Evelyn said.
I walked up next to Christopher who stood closest to the door. He smiled at me, but I could tell it was forced. He had a look on his face that told me he felt queasy. He placed a hand on my back as I stood next to him and instantly whatever stress I may have had was gone. He leaned forward and set his hands on the table. I felt so guilty, especially since we hadn’t even accomplished anything yet.
Looking around the table, I could see that all of us from Springhill were accounted for, including a few other people that were part of the Screven Resistance that I didn’t recognize. Aaron stood next to Allison at the other side of the table and smiled at me when I caught his eye. I smiled back, but it was weak. My mind was still reeling. I didn’t think he knew details of how Jeremiah controlled the greyskins. For that matter, I didn’t think Evelyn knew either. They didn’t seem to know when we were about to be attacked at Salem. I supposed all they really understood was that Jeremiah had control over them somehow.
The whole thing just baffled me. As I thought about him from start to finish, I realized Jeremialized Jeh must have been some sort of genius in his own way. I don’t see how he could have built this world for himself over all these years, but if I had my way, it would be crumbling down by the end of the night. It had to be done by the end of the night. By morning, I would surely be too weak and sick to even move. I didn’t think Christopher would have the strength to keep taking my symptoms. By that point, I would have to use the gun that Evelyn gave me. I simply hoped that I would have the strength to pull the trigger.
The sound of Allison’s voice brought me out of my wandering thoughts.
“There are a few things that need to happen before we can take the Center,” she announced. “Normally, all of those things would be very dangerous, and the likelihood of anyone actually surviving would be very small. That’s why we are so glad to see some Starborns here today. All of you will make this impossible plan we’ve created possible.”
“We’re not invincible,” Aaron said to her.
She looked up at him with serious eyes. “You’re a lot closer to invincibility than we are.” She nodded at me. “Especially Mora.”
If she only knew what she was saying.
Evelyn looked at me with wide eyes and took a deep breath as Allison kept talking.
“I’ve heard from Aaron here about all the things you can do,” she said. “He told me about the gate in Salem. The retaking of Springhill. You will be a great asset in the coming days.”
I shook my head at her. “Day,” I said.
“Excuse me?”
“You said ‘coming days’ but I think we should finish this today.”
“That’s impossible,” she said looking at the others at the table, almost smirking at my suggestion. “You haven’t even heard my plan yet.”
“I’ve got my own plan,” I said. I was sure I looked like a jerk to the others, but time wasn’t on my side. I couldn’t play the sensitive caring part today. “It involves having a meeting with Jeremiah, then killing him.”
“If he even granted you a meeting, there is no way you would make it out alive if you tried anything. You would be swarmed. I know your power is great, but I don’t think you can take the whole of Screven on your own.”
“I never said anything about coming out alive.”
Heads snapped my way as the words came out of my mouth. Aaron stood with his mouth hanging open. So much of me wanted to tell them that I had been infected, but everything logical within me told me it was a bad idea. No one wanted an infected person in their midst. Close friends would feel sympathy, but Allison and her soldiers would surely see me as a threat. I almost decided to just come out with it, but I finally went against the thought. They wouldn’t feel the same sense of urgency as I did. They would look at me more as a danger than a help. They would consider my insistence as a desperate final act. And maybe it was.
“What you want is a suicide mission?” Allison asked.
“Call it
what you want,” I said. “Jeremiah will see me.”
“But he sees you as a threat,” Danny said. “He knows what you can do. He won’t just sit at a table and drink tea with you.”
Aaron agreed. “There isn’t a chance he would see you unless he knew you couldn’t touch him. And he undoubtedly has ways of making sure that would be the case.”
Everyone was coming against me. Even Evelyn shook her head at me, telling me that the others were right. I took a deep breath. “Well, what about Jeffrey? He’s a teleporter. Couldn’t he get me into Jeremiah’s office or something?”
Jeffrey just shook his head. He seemed to have turned red from ned red embarrassment. “All of you know that wouldn’t be easy. You’d more likely end up in the bottom of another bar. I can get anyone to a general area, but I could never get you into a specific room. It just won’t happen, I’m sorry.”
Allison looked all around the room until her eyes rested on me. “Can we be done with this irrational talk now? I do actually have a plan in motion.” She turned her head to look behind her. “Where’s Martin?”
“Coming!” A tall, black-haired man ran into the room carrying several papers in his arms. He set them down on the table. “Sorry everyone. I was talking to somebody. Please continue.”
“Everyone, this is Martin,” Allison said. “I want him in here because he knows these plans in every detail and I know he can correct me if I’m wrong on something.”
Martin nodded proudly.
“Simply put,” she continued, “even with you Starborns to help out, we don’t have enough people to try and take over the Center. We’ll never be able to touch Jeremiah.”
“Then you haven’t spent very much time with us,” Heather said. “I’m sure we could get in.”
“This isn’t one of your typical village raids or takeovers,” Allison said. “Your enemies won’t be mindless greyskins either. You’re looking at hundreds of guns on you in an area that these guards know well.”
Heather shrugged and looked down at the table.
“There is an answer to our shortage of manpower,” Allison said. “The Screven prison.”
The Starborn Saga (Books 1, 2, & 3) Page 50
