Woody turned in a circle. “What are we going to do?” he said, his voice despondent. “We can’t give everyone a proper burial.”
“I don’t know,” answered Rein.
Unlike The Center, the Renegades did not just toss the dead into an incinerator like yesterday’s garbage. Ellyssa straightened her spine and pulled her shoulders back. She needed to be strong for Woody and Rein. They needed her strength to draw upon just like she needed theirs. “We will say goodbye to them here,” she said.
Stepping around a woman with hair the color of ebony and a large hole in her chest—Ellyssa thought her name was Melissa—to a man with greying hair nicknamed Pops, Ellyssa looked around. She’d been so consumed with her emotional rollercoaster, with her guilt, she hadn’t even realized who wasn’t there. “This is not everyone,” she said. “Have you seen Mathew? Trista?”
Rein pushed hair back off his forehead. “No.”
Hope bloomed, but before Ellyssa set herself up to be crushed by a more likely reality, she held the emotion at bay. “This could mean…”
“That they are somewhere else in the cavern,” Woody said, his words full of dread, “dead.”
2
Ellyssa skated along the edges of sleep, but every time she came close to falling into the blissful abyss, the image of the cherub-faced toddler snapped her wide awake. That image would fade to Candy’s frozen eyes, Brenda’s cold waxen skin, Bertha lying face-down. One image flipping after another, like the frames of a movie. Her fingers clasped around the toddler’s pearl within her pocket. Her thumb ran across the smooth surface, soothingly.
Ellyssa rolled to her back and inhaled the mineral scent of the abandoned coal mine. The inky blackness matched the feeling inside her.
Guilt gnawed her insides raw. The feeling of being the catalyst that had started the violent reaction was hard to shake, the aftereffect lying a level below them in pools of dried blood. Brutality and complete disregard of human life delivered from the perfect society.
Staying in the cavern wasn’t the smartest thing to do. Even with The Center of Genetic Research and Eugenics destroyed, her father and siblings dead amongst the twisted metal, safety was something they couldn’t enjoy. Not only had the Gestapo and Kripolizei been alerted of their transgressions at The Center, but the area had to be crawling with police searching for Renegade strays. They should’ve left after they’d said their goodbyes and found shelter in the safety of the woods, but the promise of warmth and familiarity lay within the holeys for Rein and Woody. She couldn’t deny them that. She felt the same way. The dark caverns, and now an earthy tomb, were her first true home.
Besides, not everyone was accounted for. A thorough search of both levels of the cavern hadn’t produced any other corpses. Out of one hundred forty-seven, they’d only found ninety-six bodies. That left the possibility of fifty-one survivors.
Survivors.
The thought of any of her newfound family and friends being alive was what kept Ellyssa from crumbling into a useless lump of overly emotional flesh. Trista, Mathew, Eric and the others might still be alive.
Maybe at a concentration camp.
Maybe being tortured.
Ellyssa’s fault.
Swallowing the lump that’d formed in her throat, Ellyssa took the guilt and locked it away. If anyone survived, she had to find them. She couldn’t think clearly if she was busy bearing the onus of her father…of society.
Ellyssa rolled back onto her side and snuggled against Rein’s back. In need of a trimming, his dark hair tickled her face. His scent filled her nose.
“I love you,” he mumbled in sleep talk.
Warmth traveled with Rein’s words. Ellyssa kissed the back of his neck. “I love you, too.”
Rein breathed in deeply, then the rise and fall of his chest settled into a slow, even pattern. Woody’s soft snores came from the holey next to theirs, rhythmic and soothing. Ellyssa concentrated on the sounds of their sleep.
“Wake up.”
Frantic words knocked against her slumber. Ellyssa fought against the heavy blanket of sleep that had pulled her under. She tried to force her eyes open, but tiredness kept them sealed.
Rein shook her. “Someone’s coming.”
Ellyssa’s eyes popped open. Disorienting webs of sleep clung to her brain, and black swirled in front of her. She shook her head to dislodge the numbness and clear her head. She couldn’t see Rein, but felt him crouched to the side of the holey’s entrance, his breathing shallow and light. No sound came from Woody at all.
Ellyssa tensed; her ear cocked to the side.
After a moment, she heard the muffled scraping of leather soles across a rocky surface, echoing lightly down the passage. The ping of a small pebble bouncing was followed by a soft, irritated voice.
Definitely female.
The tiredness evaporated in a surge of an adrenaline-soaked, blood-pumping rush. Ellyssa sprang onto her haunches, muscles tensed.
The scraping moved closer, turning to hurried padding. Whoever was rushing through the network of passages was alone…at least in the section Ellyssa, Rein, and Woody occupied.
Woody remained silent. Rein shuffled as if preparing to leap into danger. As if she’d let that happen after just getting him back. Ellyssa blindly reached out into the dark and grasped his arm. She shook her head, even though he couldn’t see her.
Suddenly, light washed through the passageway, filtering through the flimsy curtain, and bounced down the stony enclosure. Grey shadows lengthened through the cover hanging over the entrance.
Muscles coiled, waiting to strike, Ellyssa projected her mind and latched onto the signature. Surprised relief filled her.
“Trista?” Ellyssa said, disbelief soaking her words.
“What?” Woody whispered from the holey next to them.
“Trista!” Ellyssa scrambled through the opening.
A gasp of surprise, and the footfalls stopped. A beam of light from Trista’s flashlight blinded Ellyssa, tipped down, then blinded her again.
“Ellyssa?”
Holding her hand in front of her face, Ellyssa stood. Rein and Woody fell in behind.
“Rein? Woody?” Trista hesitated as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. “I knew it.”
Hard leather soles thundered down the passage as Trista’s silhouette bounded toward them; the sound of a coat flapped behind. The light alternated between blinding and reflecting off the grey walls.
“I can’t believe it.” Trista engulfed Ellyssa in her arms.
Ellyssa hesitated for a moment, the touching still feeling a little alien, but then she returned the embrace as joy released within her. Heart swelling, Ellyssa tightened her arms around her friend. Trista’s exuberance brought warm feelings and fed Ellyssa’s hope. If Trista was alive, then there was a possibility that the others were, too.
“I knew I was right. They tried to tell me differently. But I knew.”
They? She exhaled a sigh of relief. “Mathew? Is he with you?”
Trista didn’t answer; she rattled off a whole series of questions. “What happened? How’d you get back? Did you run into any trouble?” She paused for a moment as she stepped back, her blue eyes sparkling with excitement. “Oh, Woody! Rein!” she squealed.
Trista flung herself into Rein’s arms, then into Woody’s. Utter shock froze their faces into wide-eyed, slacked-jawed expressions. Finally, Woody snapped his mouth closed and ran his hand over his face.
“I knew you were alive. I had to come just one more time before we left.”
“Leave?”
“To find the others.” Trista reached up and touched Ellyssa’s face as if she feared she’d disappear. “Explanations later.” Spinning around toward Rein and Woody, Trista asked the males the same series of questions and added in a few more. When did you get back? You destroyed The Center?
Suddenly, Trista’s display of happiness and excitement slid away. The smile fell from her face as a solemn expression took dominance. The ease
with which Trista transferred from one emotion to another still amazed Ellyssa.
Trista looked down at her wrist and pushed a button on the side of her watch. Red light glowed, showing digital numbers. “We have to go. They will patrol the area soon.”
“Who?” Rein asked.
Trista shrugged. “The Gestapo, the Schutzpolizei, area police and rangers. The groups rotate, but they do keep up the patrols. It seems we have created quite the stir.”
With all the excitement and the bouncing light, Ellyssa didn’t notice the type of coat Trista wore at first. She yanked the light out of Trista’s hand and shone it on her friend. Her eyes widened in disbelief. Even with the minor changes that had been made throughout history, there was no mistaking the uniform of the Gestapo.
Black.
Ellyssa’s blonde friend, acceptable to live within society, with blue eyes and trim physique, wore a woolen black overcoat. A red arm band with black trim and a swastika adorned her left upper arm, on the right collar was a red SS rune insignia and, on the left, two gold bars—a section inspector.
Ellyssa pulled back the flaps of the jacket. Beneath the coat was the uniform of betrayal—an ironed black tunic with red piping, the collar mimicking the same adornments as the overcoat; black breeches; a black tie hung from the collar of a brown shirt; black-laced boots; and, hanging from the black belt, a holstered P229. The flashlight beam reflected from brass buttons. Trista’s blonde hair was pulled back into a tight bun of authority.
Smooth forehead crumbling into little lines, Trista pulled away. “What’s the matter with you?”
Ellyssa’s lids narrowed as she processed the information her eyes fed her brain. She could feel herself slipping into her soldiering ways. Anger and suspicion swirled inside her, like another entity. “Why are you wearing this?” Ellyssa asked, her voice dead.
Trista looked down, her hands running over her tunic as if to smooth out nonexistent wrinkles. She smiled grimly. “It’s a long story. So much has happened.”
The instinct to survive, to protect, brewed in the pit of Ellyssa’s stomach, traveling to her heart, and pumped adrenaline throughout her body. Her fingers curling tight around the flashlight, she clenched her jaw and swallowed, holding back the instinctive urge to slam the blunt object against Trista’s head.
Trust.
Deep down, she knew Trista would not betray her family. Trista was incapable of such an act. But after discovering the tomb below them, the sight of the Gestapo garb stabbed a painful reminder and left a bad taste in Ellyssa’s mouth. “How did you acquire the uniform of the Gestapo?”
Apparently sensing tension, Rein draped his arm over Ellyssa’s shoulder and pulled her toward him. Ellyssa went reluctantly. Her muscles still twitched stubbornly.
Trista stared at her, vertical lines carved between her eyebrows. She blinked, looked away, and then met Ellyssa’s eyes, again, and understanding dawned on her face. “I would never,” she said, insulted. “I know what it looks like. There is much to explain. But we have to go…now.” She gazed down the dark hallway, then turned to Rein. “Right now. A lot has happened. I know what it looks like, and I’ll explain everything. We have to go now.” She touched Ellyssa’s arm. “Please.”
Although Ellyssa had promised not to invade her friends’ thoughts, she couldn’t help but brush Trista’s mind. Instantly, shame coursed through Ellyssa. After all that’d transpired, being accepted by her newfound family, working with the Renegades, and disposing of her father, her soldiering instincts still surfaced on cue, her innate need to survive and, now, to protect.
“I am sorry,” Ellyssa said. The words didn’t feel right on her tongue, unable to convey how awful she felt for not fully trusting, for not being able to control instinctual responses that’d been hammered into her since childhood. She shed her old skin, wishing she could stop depending on it during times of uncertainty, that she could just handle situations as a normal person would.
The corner of Trista’s lips pulled into a tight grin. “I know it’s hard. I do understand,” she said, her voice soft.
Ellyssa offered a little smile. “A section inspector?”
“First thing we grabbed.” Trista took the flashlight. “We have to go. I took a chance coming here, but I had to. I had to check one more time. And I was right.” She flipped around and headed down the passageway. “Come on,” she said, gesturing for them to follow.
“One second,” Rein called after her. He disappeared into the holey, then reappeared with the gear and coats in hand.
Woody emerged with the flashlight and his bag. He flipped the switch, and between Trista’s light and his, day visited the tunnel.
After slipping into their coats and backpacks, the three followed Trista into the unknown.
As soon as Ellyssa stepped from the cover of the cave, icy wind whipped through her coat, making her breath catch in her chest. The temperature must’ve dropped at least twenty degrees since they had first entered the caves. Off on the horizon, dark grey clouds churned as they moved in their quest to block the sun from view.
Ellyssa pulled the hood of her parka over her head. Rein came up behind her and slipped his hand into Ellyssa’s. Tingles caressed her skin.
“Wherever we’re going, we need to get there. I don’t like the looks of the clouds.” Rein’s gaze moved from the sky to Trista. “By the way, where are we going?” he asked.
“To the road,” Trista replied as she climbed down the hillock and skirted along the edge of the field.
Ellyssa looked into the tree line. Long bare branches struggled against the wind, bending at nature’s will. Movement flashed in the corner of her eye, and she turned her head. A small brown rabbit hopped out from a bush, only a meter away from where the small innocent child had toddled into the clearing a few weeks ago when green still dominated the landscape and early fall warmth still moved on the breeze.
Ellyssa’s eyes stung from the memory. She stored it away. She stored them all away—waking to Mathew in the hospital for the first time, the look of Rein’s green eyes glaring down at her, the friendships that’d formed, Woody as the pillar of strength she’d clung to after Jordan passed, the butterflies fluttering around her as she laughed, the electricity of her lips brushing against Rein’s.
Goodbye, Ellyssa thought to her first true home as Rein tugged her hand.
3
Grey clouds caught the sun; the fading light haloed through the bare branches and splotched the leaf-strewn ground. Even with the freezing temperatures and the impending promise of snow, Ellyssa’s sweater stuck to her back. Smokey puffs of warm breath escaped her mouth. She jogged behind Trista, easily keeping up with her. Rein and Woody crunched through the brush behind.
When they reached the tree line, Trista faced them; a light sheen glistened across her forehead. Placing her finger to her lips, she peered around a fir’s trunk. She looked left, right, and then she waved her hand frantically behind her back in a downward motion. Ellyssa froze, as did Rein and Woody, at the whine of an approaching motor whirling with the wind. All three of them ducked low.
Trista stepped onto the road and waved to the newcomers. Two males, dressed in black snowsuits and helmets, pulled over four-wheelers. Green swastikas decorated each helmet and right breast, marking them as area police.
They climbed off their quads, then saluted. Trista returned the gesture.
The officer in front pulled off his helmet, revealing blond hair, cut high and tight, and a young face. The other was older, grey tingeing the sides of his hair, his eyes scrutinized the tree line just to the left of where Ellyssa, Rein and Woody hid. She hoped the camouflage of their coats was enough to keep them hidden in the sparse winter vegetation.
Reaching with her ability, Ellyssa gated off Trista’s surging anxiety and slipped into the unwelcome newcomers’ minds. Suspicion dominated the older male’s thoughts, especially since there wasn’t a patrol scheduled for another hour. High and Tight thought Trista would look great on his
bed.
“May I ask what you’re doing?” High and Tight asked.
Trista pulled her shoulders back and faced the younger male. “You do realize who you are talking to?”
“I’m sorry, Inspector, but we were given strict orders to check everyone,” he said, no-nonsense, gloved hand held out. “Papers?”
“In my car,” Trista answered. She led the males to the SUV parked ten meters down the road.
Ellyssa released pent-up air, the sound of her heart rushing into her ears. Trista had performed splendidly. The ease which with her friend had slipped on an air of authority was amazing, especially after being raised within the confines of the old abandoned coalmine where such stringent convention was not the norm.
As Trista disappeared into the cab, Rein’s hand slipped into Ellyssa’s. The tension firing through his fingertips matched her own. She looked over her shoulder to two sets of wide eyes, a green pair and a grey pair, and paper-white faces. Rein leaned toward her, and his lips brushed her cheek.
For a brief moment, Ellyssa relished the sense of love. If anything ever happened to her, at least she wouldn’t perish like her siblings, devoid of emotions.
A throaty chuckle caught her attention. Ellyssa peeked between the green needles. Trista, now wearing her visor cap with a silver death-head pinned in the middle, and High and Tight walked toward the four-wheelers, with the older male on their heels.
“As I said, Inspector Klein, I’m sorry for the interruption, but orders are orders.”
“No problem, Officer Livingston. I understand. These days, extra precautions are needed.” Trista stood at-ease. “Have any other Renegades been captured?”
“Since the last report, no.”
“Well, maybe the area is clean of the scum.”
The older male glanced back over at the tree line. “Pardon me, Inspector,” he said, pointing, “but may I ask what you were doing over there?”
Trista turned slightly, looking toward them. She lifted her chin and faced the older officer. “I’m performing my assignment, Officer Frey. Unlike you, I’m in a vehicle where it’s hard to examine the road thoroughly. Every one hundred meters or so, I exit the vehicle to walk along the tree line. It has thrown me way behind schedule.
Flawed (Perfection) Page 2
