by Alisha Rai
He moved away from the door, until they were on the same side of the bed. She gave a silent sigh of relief, though the girl was still exposed.
“I came for the male. Killing you will be a side benefit.” He cast a disinterested glance over Carrie. “Is she dead yet?”
Jules brushed her fingers against Carrie’s hand, as if to reassure the unconscious girl. Her breathing had subsided to shallow inhales and exhales. If one didn’t look closely at her chest, it was impossible to tell if she still lived. “Close. No thanks to you.”
His shrug was heartless. “Surprised she made it as long as she did, really. Most of the younger subjects couldn’t make it past a few months.”
“Do you even realize how awful you sound right now?” Could she use the antiseptic as a weapon? Maybe spray it in his eyes? She doubted it would truly blind him, not for long.
“Survival of the fittest, baby. It’s an honor to be chosen as a test subject. The failures are helping to evolve our entire race.”
“I don’t see you volunteering.” If it was possible to maneuver over to her knapsack, she had an extra blade in there, the poison-tipped one she’d used to kill the doctor. Though it would be difficult to do so without being obvious.
“We don’t have to volunteer. We are the chosen ones. We will receive the ultimate treatment, once it’s tested and proven on these inferior bitches.”
The fanatical light in Fletcher’s eyes was starting to make more sense. “Ah. Gotcha. Chosen ones. Figured this was more than a job for you to go to all this trouble. Alone too.”
“Who says I’m alone?”
Don’t think of what’s going on outside. “I figured you’re so smart, you probably didn’t need anyone else to track us.”
“GPS isn’t so hard to use.”
So there was a GPS in Erik’s collar. Damn it.
“Artie said I couldn’t do it.” Fletcher shook his head. “Little chickenshit ran away after we got free. Said he wasn’t about to get his ass handed to him when we told the group about the male’s escape.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Your bosses are the type to kill the messenger, huh? You should unionize.”
The guard sneered. “Fuck kill. Try torture. But I’ve been working with these people too long to throw it all away. I know. They won’t care about the doctors being dead, not much anyway. As long as I come back with the hybrid freak, I get all the glory. So you’re going to tell me exactly where he is.”
“I don’t know where Erik is.” Exhilaration made her dizzy. Oh, honey. You just told me everything I needed to know.
The guy was here alone. Not only was he here alone, it seemed that the two guards she’d regrettably left alive had yet to inform anyone else about their escape. The tightness in her chest dissipated. Now if only James or Erik would burst into the room, guns blazing.
“You’re lying. I know he’s here. I tracked him.” His crazed eyes narrowed. His sweaty forehead gleamed in the glow of the light from the oil lamp. It was grossly mesmerizing. “Is he outside? I know he isn’t in one of the other rooms. I checked those first.”
“It’s just me and the girl here.”
“A gunshot would probably bring him running,” Fletcher said softly, his threat clear. The barrel of his weapon slowly went between her and Carrie. “The girl’s almost dead anyway, isn’t she?”
“Chinga tu madre,” she suggested.
His finger caressed the trigger. “You shouldn’t swear at the man holding the gun.”
“What?” She spread her hands wide at her sides. “I said your mama’s a lovely human being.” She gave herself a second to calculate speed and distance before she whirled, grabbed the oil lantern on the nightstand and hurled it at the man. His outraged yell rang out as she threw herself over Carrie, shoving them both over the opposite edge of the bed lest he get off a lucky shot.
Sure enough, a gunshot sounded right before the oil lamp crashed into the guard. She braced herself for the burning sensation of pain that came from a bullet wound, but nothing happened.
Other than the room going dark. She launched herself to her feet, ready to take advantage of her new senses and attack the bastard. She hoped the hot oil in that lamp had done a number on his face.
She blinked at the man laying on the ground motionless. It shouldn’t have killed him. At the most, she’d hoped for some blinding.
A clatter from the doorway made her glance up.
“Jules,” James said. “Are you okay?”
It was too dark for him to see her. “Yeah. Was that your gun?”
He didn’t confirm or deny it. “Get me a light.”
She made her way to the nightstand, and keeping one eye on the guard, found a flashlight and turned it on.
James looked very white as he crossed the room to the guard and crouched next to him. He placed his fingers against the man’s pulse. She caught his sigh. “Dead.” He glanced up at her, wincing from the light in his eyes. She redirected the flashlight, placing it on the bed. “Are you sure you and Carrie are okay?”
Jules crouched at Carrie’s side on the floor. She had a bad moment when she felt for a pulse and couldn’t find one. She placed her head against the girl’s chest and finally heard a faint, slow beat. “Yeah.”
“Give me a second. I’ll help you get her back on the bed.”
“I got it.” She lifted Carrie and placed her on the tangled sheets. “That was a good shot.”
“Thanks.” James was furiously going through the pockets of the dead man.
“I didn’t even hear you coming.”
“I tried to be quiet. Avoided the creaky floorboards.”
Of course, James’s detail-oriented brain would memorize which steps squeaked.
“He tracked Erik. He was alone.”
“I know. I heard.”
She raised an eyebrow at James’s flat intonation. He pulled something silver from the guard’s pants pockets and smiled grimly. “Found it.”
“What’s that?”
“Control for the electroshock collar. Bastard had it switched on.” James played with it, toggling the buttons and switches on it. “Put Erik out of commission.”
Jules straightened, alarmed. “Oh my God, is he okay?”
“I’ll go check on him. Stay here.” In an impressive display of strength, James hoisted the dead weight of the man up and dragged him out of the room.
She lasted about five minutes, staring at Carrie, before she gave up. “Be right back, girl. I’m not too keen on this staying thing.”
She made her way downstairs in time to find James bringing Erik inside. Her old friend looked more Shadow than man. His skin was chalk white, blue veins standing out prominently. He kept shaking his head and muttering under his breath. His heavy weight was slumped on James.
She locked the back door and pushed a chair under the handle for good measure before she came to his other side for support. “Cuate, you don’t look so good.”
His eyes blinked furiously at her, barely registering her presence. Tears continued to stream down his cheeks.
“Let’s get him to the couch,” James suggested quietly.
“No. Carrie.” Erik turned to her. “Is she dead?”
“No.”
“Must. Must see her.”
“Are you…?”
“Please. Must see her.”
Jules nodded. “Okay. Let’s go up then.”
They slowly made their way upstairs. By the time they got to the top, Erik looked like he was about ready to topple. With their help, he lurched his way into the room.
They led him to the bed, and he sank down next to the girl, bracing himself over her. “Looks…dead.”
“She’s not,” James said. “She’s still breathing, see?”
Black eyebrows met over silver eyes. Erik bowed his head, as if its weight was too great for him to bear. “Yes. Still breathing.”
James twined his fingers with Jules and dragged her back a few steps from the bed, as if to give t
he girl and man a moment of privacy. She glanced up at him when his hand tightened around hers. A muscle ticked in his granite jaw.
“Are you…okay?” she ventured.
He closed his eyes, and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “I don’t know.”
She made a halfhearted attempt to wipe that look of shock off his face. “Don’t you know? Every good book ends with one final showdown with the villain.”
A shudder ran through his body. “I don’t think I like it when life imitates art so perfectly.” He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close, the strength of his embrace almost choking her. “I have never in my life been so scared.”
She returned the fierce hug. “I’m sorry you had to kill another human being.” She recalled how hard it had been to kill that doctor, bad guy or not. She wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone, but especially not James.
Darkness moved in his eyes. She mourned for its presence. “It needed to be done,” he said quietly, firmly. “I put the body on the porch. We can deal with it later.”
She reached up on her tiptoes, brushing a kiss on his lips. He returned it, the tender touch a balm to both their souls. “That was some good teamwork, Bennett.”
“It was, wasn’t it?”
The sound of Carrie coughing caught both of their attentions.
“She cannot breathe. She is choking.” Erik turned his head. The tears he cried now were due to a pain of a different kind.
“I know,” James said, his tone gentle.
“What if I gave her my blood?” Desperation rang in every word. Gone was the stoic prisoner who had borne torture and abuse. In his place was a man destroyed.
Jules bit her lip, trying not to cry. “You already bit her, Erik.”
Erik pinned a half-wild look on James. “You said my reasoning was sound, that the virus in me could change her.”
“It was.”
“You seem like a logical man. What does logic tell you? If our blood came into contact directly, would it help in any way?”
James cocked his head, his gaze far away as the wheels cranked in his brain. “The strain inside of you is obviously mutated, and diluted. I suppose it’s possible not enough transmitted through your saliva. A blood exchange may be more effective to pass the virus.”
Erik looked at her, though Jules wasn’t sure why. She shrugged. “I know nothing about any of this. She’s going to die anyway, and soon. If you want to try, I won’t stop you. Just remember that she could turn.”
“I will take care of matters if she does.” Erik brushed his hand over the girl’s.
“Sometimes you have one shot, and you have to make it count. I say go for it,” James said simply.
She wrapped her arm around his waist, and he gripped her tight.
Erik glanced down at Carrie, nodded and lifted his arm to his mouth, ripping open the skin until a large gash was formed. He tore open the gauze covering Carrie’s wrist and used his teeth to cut her arm as well, far more careful than he had been with his own. He lined their bleeding wounds up and held them together, his big body curved over her smaller one. His head bowed, as if he prayed.
Despite her acceptance, Jules couldn’t watch. She walked to the window and stood staring outside. James came to stand behind her, his hand stroking her back. He didn’t say a word, which was absolutely the right thing for him to do.
The sky was lightening, streaks of pink turning the world into a misty sky blue. She glanced over when Erik got up from the bed. He stumbled to the wall and sank down on the floor. He bowed his head and covered it with his hands. He’d wrapped new gauze around Carrie’s arm, while his own bleeding wound got a pillowcase for treatment. He was muttering something, but Jules couldn’t make out the words.
Carrie was quiet.
James, so attuned to her feelings, kissed her ear and whispered softly:
“So dawn goes down to day
Nothing gold can stay.”
Her lips quirked sadly, recognizing one of the many Frost poems she had ripped and laid as a trail. “Don’t quote poetry to me now.”
“If not now, then when?”
She turned away from the window, his arms dropping from her waist. She crossed to the bedside, sitting in the chair next to the still teen. James followed her and sat on the opposite side of the bed.
They were silent while the light filled the room. There wasn’t a cloud in sight, so Jules knew it would get to a point where it would pain Erik’s sensitive eyes. Still, he didn’t budge.
Carrie breathed.
More sun chased the shadows away, until the room was filled with yellow and orange, so bright Jules could see the dust motes dancing in the air. One question answered. She’d wondered if the cloudiness yesterday had been the only reason she’d been able to bear the outdoors, but it looked like her eyes were holding up fine in the morning sun.
Carrie stirred. Jules waited for her breathing to either dip into a death rattle or start panting in that way that signaled another seizure. Jules’s eyes burned, only partly from fatigue.
The girl made a soft sound before those long lashes trembled. James leaned closer and placed his hand on her forehead. Then he stood until he could place a knee on the bed, his large hand covering her head completely. “Jules,” he said in an odd voice. “Her skin feels cooler.”
She leaned forward as well, touching Carrie’s cheek. The skin was warm but not feverish. Her pale eyelids flinched before they opened.
Carrie studied the man bent over her. “Who are you?” Her voice was a thready murmur.
The girl didn’t wait for James to answer. A good thing, because he appeared dumbstruck. Carrie turned her head to Jules, and a small smile crossed her bow lips. “Jules.”
Jules opened her mouth. Shut it. Cleared her throat. “Hey,” she croaked. She would be overcome with emotion regardless. But it was the girl’s new silver eye color that really stole all her powers of speech.
Carrie looked past her, her smile widening. “Erik.”
Jules glanced over her shoulder. Erik stood, stunned. He took one step toward the girl. A second.
“Carrie?” He only managed to utter her name before he crashed to the ground, all two hundred plus pounds of muscle.
Chapter Twenty-One
James came inside the living room in time to hear the exchange between Jules and Erik.
“I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
Erik waved her back when she tried to check the lump on his head. “I was weak from the electric shocks. And blood loss. That is why I collapsed.”
“Yeah. Okay.”
“Go fuss over Carrie.”
“No way. We’re going to let the girl sleep for a bit.”
“She doing okay?” James asked.
Jules turned to him. “Yes. It’s a good sleep, a healing sleep, she’s in.”
“Have you…? Did you tell her about her eyes?”
“No. Not yet.” Jules glanced at Erik. “I know she’s practically an adult, but she still looks so fragile. I’d like her to be stronger before we broach the subject with her. I told her Erik exposed her to his saliva and blood, and that she may be different. She seemed to be weirdly okay with that.”
“She saw what happened to the failures at the lab, how they were exterminated. I suppose any life would be considered superior to that.” Erik’s words lacked bitterness. He stood, shoved his hands in the pockets of his borrowed jeans and studied James. His face still showed the strain of the shock collar. “I would have helped you bury the guard.”
James shrugged. “I found a shovel in the shed.” The task had been distasteful, but he wouldn’t have shoved it off on someone else. He had been the one to take the life, he would be the one to clean things up.
It didn’t matter that the man had deserved it, had had a gun trained on Jules and Carrie. It was damn difficult to kill someone. He couldn’t be blasé about it.
Jules cast him a soft, understanding glance that warmed him. Yeah, she got it.
James hesitated, hating to deliver bad news when everyone was still happy about Carrie’s recovery. “I couldn’t find the key for your collar on him.”
“There must be a tracker in it. That is how he found me.”
“Yes.”
“But the good news is, he said he didn’t tell his bosses about our escape, and the other guard ran. So…” Jules trailed off.
“They’ll learn about it eventually.” Erik stood from the couch. “They will track me then. I may be able to smell someone coming, but as long as I have this collar, they can still disable me.”
“It’s possible.”
“Which means you all need to get away from me.”
James had had a feeling this was coming. “Come back to Raven with us.”
“I cannot come with you.”
Though he was aware of Erik’s reservations and understood his fears, James couldn’t let him just walk away. “We can help you. We can figure out what makes you the way you are.”
“So you can use me.”
“I won’t lie. Our scientists are going to want to study you. And our leader will want to know all about your treatment at the hands of the Cheyenne crew. But I can guarantee you won’t be mistreated like you were before. Human life is precious. Our whole objective revolves around safeguarding that life.”
“Human life.” Erik looked incredibly weary. “I am hardly human anymore.”
He was aware of Jules’s sudden stillness next to him. Was she thinking about her own mixed blood now? He grasped her hand, tugging her closer. “We will help you. You’re human enough, and that makes you one of us. Compound doesn’t cage. Hell, I left to go on a trek that some people called a suicide mission, and no one stopped me, even though they were unhappy with my decision. Not everyone is like this shadow government, drugging and experimenting on every human they can kidnap.”
Erik shook his head slowly. “I appreciate that you came for your woman instead of leaving her to die. I respect that you are a good man. That has been proven to me. I am grateful for what you did to protect all of us. But I will not put my life in the hands of another powerful organization.”
James nodded, aware he would have to accept defeat, but not happy about it. “Fair enough.”
