The Sanctuary

by Sara Elizabeth Santana

  “Damn, I forgot how hard you could hit…” Liam said.

  “I’m sorry,” I repeated.

  “Don’t be,” Liam cut in, shortly. He looked up at me and I felt horrible. I hadn’t wanted to throw him like that, especially when he looked like a kicked puppy. His eyes traveled to Ash, who was still staring at Liam like he still wanted to hit him. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to break your boyfriend’s pretty face.”

  “Goddammit, Liam,” I spit out. “Don’t make me flip you again.”

  “No need,” he said, bracing his hand on the overturned table and standing up. “I’ll let myself out.”

  “Good,” Ash snapped. “Go think about how you can’t save Astrid and leave Zoey alone.”

  Liam’s face broke for just a moment. I saw the despair and the worry and the utter desperation on his face. I didn’t know who Astrid was – though I was damn determined to find out – but he cared about her and it was tearing him apart. The expression was gone in an instant though, and he sighed. He gave Ash a mock salute and walked away from us, disappearing between the shelves.

  “Shit!” I cried out. I whirled on Ash. “Why did you do that?”

  Ash was surprised. “Me? You heard him!”

  “Of course I did,” I admitted, angrily. “The difference, Ash, is that you know better. Or I thought you did.” I spun on my heel and stomped out of the library.

  I RAN DOWN the corridor, hoping to catch up with Liam. My anger at the two of them was still burning in my chest and I was so tired of this feud going on. They needed to gain a little perspective if they thought fighting over me – though I knew Liam had no feelings for me whatsoever, was a priority. Ash was my boyfriend. Liam was my best friend. I was tired of them acting like love interests in a cheesy love triangle. It was driving me insane.

  And the last thing they needed to be doing in times like this was turning on each other.

  I finally caught up to Liam as he was about to enter the family compound of the residence corridors. I sped up to catch him. My wristband didn’t have proxy to that area and I didn’t want him to escape.

  I grabbed his arm and practically sent him flying into the wall with the force that I yanked him with. I cringed. I really needed to stop throwing him around like a ragdoll. “Stop. You need to stop right now. Tell me what’s going on.”

  Liam was leaning against the wall, looking defeated. His hand covered his face and I almost wanted to back off. Almost. “Zoey,” he pleaded. “Please. Just leave it alone.”

  “No. No way,” I said, stepping closer to him. “I’m tired of all the secrets. My boyfriend is mad at me, and mad at you, and bodies are turning up everywhere and you won’t tell me anything, except that Razi is goading us and that we need to go back. But you won’t tell me why.”

  Liam didn’t answer and I was frustrated. I was angry. I was tired of spending all this time with him, sitting next to him in silence, and losing time with Ash when I had no idea what was going on. I was tired of them saying ugly words to each other.

  “Liam, is it Astrid?”

  He looked at me and his eyes were wild, just like they always were when Astrid’s name came up. His expression was desperate and he couldn’t seem to get the words out. The expression I had just seen in the library was on his face again. I felt a pain in my chest at the sight of it.

  I took a step closer to him, my hand resting on his arm. “Tell me about her. Please.”

  His legs gave out and he sunk to the ground. His knees were bent and he rested his forehead on them for a moment before taking a deep breath. “She’s your replacement.”

  I jolted back, surprise shooting through me. “My what?”

  “You didn’t think Razi would wait for you forever, did you?” Liam asked, sarcastically, but the tone didn’t match the look in his eyes. “She wants you, Zoey. She wanted you even more after you escaped. She’s crazy. It’s been…terrifying.”

  Liam took another deep breath before continuing. “But she can’t wait for you. She couldn’t. So she brought in another girl. Astrid. And Astrid is still there. She’s still in there, Zoey, and she’s alone and I’m not there with her!”

  I was taken aback by the passion in his voice and then it suddenly hit me. It made sense. It explained why he was overprotective of me even though I was safe. It explained why he kept telling Ash that he couldn’t protect me. It was because he couldn’t protect Astrid. He was helpless. “You’re in love with her,” I whispered, sliding down to sit next to him.

  “Of course not,” he protested, his eyes meeting mine.

  “Liam.”

  “Zoey.”

  “You’re in love with her. You’ve fallen in love with her.”

  “I care about her, that’s all. I couldn’t be in love with her. I barely know her. We’ve only known each other a few months, I couldn’t…” He stopped, contemplating for a moment. He swallowed hard and continued. “I just care about her, Zoey. And she doesn’t deserve it. None of it. Just like you didn’t.”

  And I got out. I escaped. The words were unspoken but they lingered between us anyway. Liam was a huge part of the reason that I was safe, that I had escaped the clutches of Razi Cylon and the evil Sekhmet Industries. When I finally spoke next, my words came out slowly. “I don’t know what you want me to do, Liam…”

  His eyes met mine. “We need to go get her.”

  “Liam…” The realization hit me hard and I went cold. “Is that why Razi let you go?” My fingers clutched at the hem of my shirt tightly. “She had to have known, that you would want to come back for Astrid. She had to have known that I wouldn’t let you do that, not without me.”

  He was silent. “I don’t know,” he finally admitted. “Maybe. But I can’t leave her there, Zoey. I can’t do that to her.”

  “And I can’t go back there,” I cut in. “And neither can you. But we’ll have to do something. I just don’t know that I can convince Octavia to do something about it. She won’t launch anything against Sekhmet, not when she hasn’t already. Not when the only reason is that you’re in love with Astrid.”

  Liam snorted but ignored my statement. “I don’t understand why they aren’t doing anything. Don’t they know what’s going on over there?”

  I shook my head, closing my eyes briefly. “I think they know exactly what is going on there, but they don’t care. They’re safe here, Liam. They think they’re untouchable here. They’re willing to let the entire world burn around us because they’re underground and safe from everything.”

  “This is not what I expected of this place. This is not what my granddad had told me,” Liam admitted. “I knew it was a safe place but I didn’t think it was going to be a place that didn’t give a shit.” He looked thoughtful for a moment.

  “They give a shit. Just not enough to do anything about it.”

  He shook his head. “I just don’t feel safe. I know I should. I know that that’s the whole purpose of Sanctuary but the longer I’m here, the more I don’t feel safe Zoey. Sekhmet is still out there. Razi Cylon is still doing her best to take over the world and with the country a complete ruin…she is completely capable of doing it. Most cities are nuclear wastelands…and those that are left are barely hanging to life as it is. I don’t feel like I’m safe. I feel like I’m hiding.”

  Liam hit the nail exactly on the head. Being underground at Sanctuary felt exactly like hiding. We weren’t safe, not really. We were under the illusion that we were safe. Outside of these walls, above our heads, were rogue societies, and an entire company bent on taking over the world with horrible, deathly creatures ready to tear us apart at any moment.

  “I don’t know that we have any other options,” I said, sadly.

  His blue eyes met mine. It was so strange that both he and Ash had blue eyes but I saw such different things in them. “There are though, Zoey. There are other options.”

  “What options?” I asked him, confused. It was just as I was asking this that my entire world exploded.

&n
bsp; Ash came sprinting down the hallway, his eyes darting each and every way. When they landed on me, he looked relieved. When he saw Liam sitting on the ground next to me, his eyes narrowed. I wanted to throttle him, or throw him against the wall and kiss him until he remembered that it was him that I wanted. Both sounded equally appealing at the moment. I glared at him. I knew that Liam had said things he shouldn’t have said but the loathing really had to go away.

  Liam, however, looked alarmed. “Ash? What’s wrong?”

  Ash threw a scathing look at Liam and focused on me. “There are Awakened on level one. No one knows how they got in but the entire level is an absolute chaos.”

  Ice struck my heart and for a split-second I was frozen, pressed against the wall. There was a rushing sound in my ears as I took in the words I had just heard. The last time I had come face to face with Awakened was when my mother was killed by one of them. The thought of facing those pale blue faces intent on killing me, didn’t sound like a fun time.

  Ash held his hand out to me. “Let’s go.”

  My palm slipped easily into his and he hoisted me to my feet. “Go? Go where?”

  The look he gave me was incredulous. “Go help of course. Jesus, Zoey.”

  “Help?” I shrieked. I was about to continue when alarms suddenly blared all around us. It was the emergency alarm. We’d had one drill since coming to Sanctuary. It meant one thing: danger. We were to go to the nearest room and lock ourselves in. “Ash, we need to get to a room. Hide. Not help.”

  “Hide? Why the hell would we hide?” Ash yelled, disbelieving, tugging my hand so I was pressed closer to him.

  “He’s right, Zoey,” Liam agreed, and I shot a dark look in his direction. I didn’t know if he genuinely agreed with Ash or was just agreeing to get on his good side, but either way, I was not a fan of it. “We need to go help.”

  I stared helplessly at both of them. “This is what Sanctuary has patrols for. This is what the guards are for. This is not what we’re for!”

  “We have experience in killing them,” Ash pointed out. “And I’m tired of doing nothing. I’m tired of sitting around and going to freakin’ school pretending that those monsters aren’t out there, Zoey. I’m tired of pretending they aren’t the reason that our friends and family are dead, and the reason we’re covered in scars. I need this.”

  My heart was pounding in my chest. Every word rang true in my ears. These creatures were the cause of so much pain and they were the creations of one person orchestrating the entire thing. I needed it too. But fear was running through my veins like a current and it was hard to ignore.

  Ash’s hands grabbed my face firmly between them and he looked at me fiercely, his eyes burning. “I know you’re scared. I know you’ll never admit it, but I know you are. But you’re the most badass fighter I know and we can do this together.”

  The whole exchange only took a few minutes but I felt like it had taken much longer. The alarms were ringing in my ears, making it nearly impossible to think. Liam was standing to the side, bouncing anxiously on the balls of his feet, looking down the corridor like he was ready to sprint at any moment.

  “Let’s go,” I finally said. My voice was low and could barely be heard over the incessant alarms but Ash and Liam heard and immediately went running. I hesitated for a split second, and then ran after them.

  I had never run up the corridors to the higher levels. Running in Sanctuary was mostly discouraged. It was a sign of chaos, disorganization and everything here was perfect. Even then, with the alarms, everyone was moving calmly and locking themselves in. The three of us were getting glares and irritated looks as we moved through the crowds, not really paying attention to who we ran into. I wasn’t positive but I might have even knocked down a little kid. I winced but kept running.

  The two of them stopped at level three and I looked confused for a moment. The Awakened were on level one…

  “We need weapons,” Ash explained, as if it were obvious. It was obvious. Apparently I had been ready to run into a crowd of Awakened without a weapon.

  Level three was absolute chaos. Most of the time it was empty of anyone except patrols and guards and all the doors were tightly sealed. This was not true right now. For all their practice and drills, they looked a little ill prepared for what was happening just above us. We snuck in without a problem and grabbed weapons without anyone noticing.

  The gun in my hand felt wrong. The last I had held was my dad’s gun, the one he’d owned for years, the one he always had with him, whether he had been in uniform or not. This gun was similar but it didn’t feel right. I swallowed hard, taking the extra ammunition Ash passed me and followed them up to level one.

  If level three had been chaos, level one was literal hell. The three of us halted as we entered, horrified looks painted on all of our faces. They were everywhere, and even though we weren’t outnumbered, it certainly looked like it. Those blue bodies stood out amongst the regular black uniforms. I hadn’t seen this many Awakened since I had escaped New York City.

  Liam and Ash barely hesitated. Both of them ran into the crowd, taking down Awakened like a pair of Spartans or something. I registered dimly that Ash hadn’t known how to shoot a gun or even throw a proper punch a year ago and now he was out there, ducking under and around people, and landing bullets in several Awakened as he did so.

  Something went whizzing past my ear and my heart stopped in my chest for just a moment. I didn’t know what it was but I immediately ducked behind the nearest vehicle. I had left myself as an easy target for too long.

  It had been so long since I had done this that I missed the first few Awakened that came into close proximity. I had never been that great at using a gun, despite the amount of lessons my dad had forced on me.

  I was, however, good at fighting. My body was rusty and out of shape, but my muscles remembered the movements and I took down two Awakened fairly easily, sending them crashing to the ground before landing a bullet between their eyes. They stared unseeing at me, and I shuddered before turning my attention back to the fight.

  It seemed to last forever. For every Awakened I killed, another appeared in its place. It was like they were coming out of the walls, the pipes, from under the floor beneath us. They were endless and I could feel the exhaustion take over me. I leaned against the car for a moment and immediately regretted it. My foot slipped in a pool of dark blood and I went crashing to the ground, landing hard on my elbow. The pain ricocheted up my arm and I cursed loudly, dropping the gun in the process.

  “Zoey!”

  Ash’s voice rang out above the cacophony of noise but I couldn’t react. My vision was blurred and I nearly passed out. I hadn’t eaten and I was so tired. I hadn’t slept properly in months and my muscles were screaming at me. I reached for the car, trying to hoist myself up when something came flying at me. I ducked but it was too late. The large cold body of an Awakened hit me and I screamed as it landed on top of me.

  “Well, look what we have here.” The raspy voice sent a shiver up my spine and I squirmed underneath the heavy weight pinning in place. The gun had slid underneath the car. I couldn’t reach it and I couldn’t breathe. I opened my mouth to scream, yell for help, but the weight on top of me was too heavy. The Awakened was a middle-aged man, heavy, and his meaty arm was braced against my neck. My head seemed to expand as the air left my lungs. I pushed at him, but he barely reacted. My hands were useless against him. He was just too damn strong. His mouth came closer to me as he ran his tongue slowly over the raised scar on my face. I recoiled and felt a few tears escape the corners of my eyes.

  “Ash!” I managed to gasp. “Liam!”

  “Someone already beat me here, didn’t they?” He sounded amused and I hated it. I hated that they had conscience. I had always laughed at zombie movies and TV shows, so slow, so stupid. I would do anything for those now. The Awakened were smart and hearing them talk made me sick every single time. “That’s okay. Now it’s my turn to taste.”

&nbs
p; His teeth sank into the soft skin of my collarbone and the pain was excruciating. My vision went black for a moment; his teeth felt like needles piercing my skin and I could feel the flesh being torn from my body. I was losing myself. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to get myself out of this situation. I tried to yell but I could barely breathe. I was going to die. This was it. My fingers fumbled at his grip around my neck but they merely slipped in the blood that had pooled there.

  Then, suddenly, the pain lifted and I heard howling above me. I was confused, momentarily distracted by the throbbing coming from my chest. He was clutching his face, blood pouring down his cheeks. My fingers were covered in blood and I realized that I had somehow managed to get him the eye. It was gruesome and my stomach rolled at the sight.

  I took advantage of the situation and kneed him hard in the groin. He fell backwards and I scrambled away from him. I flipped onto my stomach and crawled closer to the car, my fingers reaching for the gun that had disappeared underneath. The gun slipped through my sticky fingers a few times before I got a hold of it. I rolled over just in time as he came at me. The shot sailed cleanly through his throat. His wails immediately ended and he crumpled to the ground.

  I collapsed against the car, pressing my shaking hand to my forehead. A few silent sobs escaped my lips and I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. There was no one in my corner for the moment but it wouldn’t stay like that for long.

  Get up, Zoey. Keep fighting. Don’t give up.

  I was startled to hear Dad’s voice in my head and it nearly sent me over again. But it kept repeating itself, over and over again. Don’t give up. Ash and Liam were out there. Kaya and Corbin and so many others were below. My hand slipped as I pulled myself up once more. I peeked out from behind the car and nearly fell back down in the shock.

  Each and every remaining Awakened was frozen, standing perfectly straight and staring into nothingness. I had only ever seen them like this once before, in the confines of Sekhmet, when Razi had shown me that they were the product of her supposed genius. They were being controlled, and I wasn’t sure what to do with them. Neither, it seemed, did anyone else. Everyone’s guns were still raised, but no one moved.