Arise (Cruel and Beautiful World Book 3)

by L. Stoddard Hancock

  A door opened downward, creating a small ramp. A large figure filled the space and Commander Sam Knight stepped into the light, smiling as he walked toward them with a small but hard-looking woman in step behind him.

  Talon checked his watch. The moment it changed to five o’clock the commander took his first step onto the beach.

  “Right on time,” said Talon, returning the man’s smile.

  “I told you. I’m never late.”

  “You’re also never early,” said Lieutenant Commander April Park.

  Deryn watched the man and woman closely as they began to bicker. She didn’t know what she was expecting but they both looked so ... normal.

  They were just like everybody else. Sam with his golden hair, and April with eyes as black as the tight bun she wore on the top of her head. Even their clothes weren’t drastically different. They wore coats similar to the ones worn by Guardians, but theirs were light gray with exaggerated shoulders and a symbol that looked like a bird with open wings outlined in blue on their chests. Deryn thought it might be an eagle but she wasn’t sure.

  She tilted her head while closely studying the symbol, watching it move forward as Sam shook hands with Talon, a familiarity already present between the two of them as they made comments about each other being younger than they had imagined.

  And then they were silent.

  Deryn glanced up and found the commander looking at her, a wicked little smile curved onto his lips.

  “And this must be the sister you spoke of. Your family has some damn beautiful eyes. Do you think nuclear waste mutated your family’s DNA?”

  Deryn knitted her brow. “Excuse me?”

  “Oh, relax. I’m just teasing.”

  Sam attempted to give her chin a nudge but she backed away before he made contact.

  “Sorry, sorry,” he said, holding both hands up defensively. “I don’t know your whole story but the word slave did come up. I shouldn’t be touching you without permission.”

  April sneered and knocked him hard in the shoulder. “Please forgive my superior. He often forgets that other people have boundaries.”

  “Why go through life clothed when you can run around naked?” Sam said gleefully. His smile faded when he noticed all of the somber faces. “It’s just a saying.”

  “By who?” asked Deryn.

  “Me!” His smile was back. “Okay, enough dawdling. Lieutenant, grab our bags, and then it’s off to bed for Aphrodite.”

  “Who’s Aphrodite?” asked Talon.

  Sam walked over to his airship and gave it a smack. “This beautiful girl right here. Named for the Greek goddess of love and sexuality.”

  The four Outsiders blinked.

  “Do none of you know Greek mythology?”

  They all shook their heads.

  “Very few books about life before Utopia exist around here and the ones that do are broad,” explained Talon. “We’ve found books preserved but the majority tend to be fiction.”

  “We will have to remedy that,” said Sam, strapping on a large backpack that April handed to him from inside Aphrodite.

  “You have books?” asked Deryn, her face brightening.

  “Not with me I’m afraid, my green-eyed vixen. Though I do have electronic access to all library books on our home ship if you’re that starved for knowledge.”

  April jumped out of the ship wearing her own backpack and carrying two large duffle bags.

  “Let me help with that,” said Laramie, hurrying forward. April handed him one of the bags and he immediately keeled over, shouting quite a few obscenities.

  “Careful, it’s heavy,” she said, walking away from the ramp.

  Sam took a remote out of his pocket and used it to close Aphrodite’s door. Then the ship rose into the air and slowly began to fly away, going out a good hundred yards before dropping into the ocean near some rocks.

  “That’s my girl. All tucked in and ready for a long nap.” Sam went over to a struggling Laramie and took the bag from him. He turned around and smiled brightly at Talon. “Shall we?”

  Talon led them into the forest. April followed at his heels, with Sam and Laramie just behind her. Deryn and Nita stood back for a moment, staring after the strange newcomers.

  “I like him,” said Nita with a broad smile.

  Deryn looked at her unsurely.

  “He’s different. So what? I’ve heard him and Talon talk before and he’s exactly as I imagined him.”

  Deryn wrinkled her nose as Sam turned back and waved at them.

  “There are over a million people in the Peace Ops. Out of that million there are only a hundred commanders and he’s one of them. Not all good soldiers have hard interiors.”

  Deryn frowned. “I guess you’re right.” Maybe she was just used to soldiers who were haunted by the things they had done. She wondered what types of wars Commander Sam Knight had been part of, and if he was truly ready for the hell he had just entered.

  CHAPTER 24

  “I’ve been all over the world, slept in ships of all sizes, in sheds that smelled like urinals and grand hotels on cliffsides with ocean views, but I’ve never been in a bloody treehouse,” said Sam, glancing around in awe as they wandered through the base.

  “This is excellent craftsmanship,” said April, testing the sturdiness of each beam she passed. “Who designed it?”

  “I did,” Talon said proudly. “I pretty much lived in these trees while trying to figure out the best way to go about building an entire village up here. It needed to be high enough to be secretive, and sturdy enough to hold buildings and people, with enough space to grow food and have training grounds. And then one day we just started building, piece by piece. Making adjustments along the way, of course.”

  “How long have you been living up here?” asked April.

  “Officially for about a year and a half. Unofficially for about three years,” answered Talon. “Every time we completed a new section more of us would come up.”

  Sam and April were then shown to their rooms. April’s had belonged to Adrian and Harper. They had agreed to give up their room and join one of the community rooms while Sam and April were there. Sam was in Godfrey’s old room.

  “So your old man died in here?” said Sam, tossing his bags into the corner and placing his hands on his hips as he inspected the space.

  “Does that bother you?” asked Deryn.

  Sam turned and shrugged. “Not at all. I once had to sleep in a pit with hundreds of decaying bodies, but that is a story for another day,” he said with a laugh.

  Deryn looked horrified.

  He stepped forward and smiled. “For someone who I’m told has been through hell, you sure are squeamish.”

  April groaned beside her. “I find it best to just ignore him.”

  “Ouch, April.”

  “Lieutenant Commander Park,” she barked. “Now stop acting like a child seeing a tree for the first time and get it together. We have people to meet.”

  “You’re the boss,” he said with a salute.

  “No, I’m not!” She grimaced and kicked his ankles as he passed her.

  Sam stopped walking when he noticed the door with the bird in its center. He reached out and touched it. “Blackbird,” he said, repeating the name Talon had called the base upon arrival. “This your room, green-eyed vixen?”

  “Yes,” said Deryn. “How did you know that?”

  “Your brother told me about the song at the radio tower. And I’m quite the detective.”

  “What’s a detective?” she asked.

  Sam gaped at her. He blinked. No one spoke. He blinked again.

  “Hellsguard, you’re all so damn isolated out here.”

  “What’s hellsg -”

  “We really don’t have the time for that.” Sam looked at Talon and motioned him forward. “Lead the way.”

  Talon led their two new arrivals, Deryn, Laramie and Nita to the mess hall. Matilda was standing outside when they arrived, looking a bit ratt
led.

  “How’s it going in there?” asked Talon as they approached.

  “Could be worse, could be better.” Matilda looked over his shoulder at Sam and April. The former gave her a bright smile until his subordinate pinched him. He pulled it back and cleared his throat.

  “Lieutenant Sam Knight, at your service,” he said, holding out his hand.

  “Matilda Dorsey,” she said, giving it a firm shake. “You look just like a normal person.”

  Sam raised his eyebrows. “Were you expecting something different?”

  “Personally, I was expecting gills,” said Nita.

  “With a lizard’s tail,” added Laramie.

  “Really? I was picturing cyborgs,” said Deryn. “With guns and lasers built right into your hands.”

  Sam and April looked at each other and smiled.

  “I can’t wait to start training with all of you,” said Sam. “Shall we go in?”

  Talon hesitated. He looked closely at Matilda. “What’s the mood like in there?”

  “Tense,” she answered honestly. “Piz is doing his best to keep everyone calm.”

  Talon nodded. “I guess there’s no delaying the inevitable.” He turned to Sam and pointed a stern finger. “Be on your best behavior.”

  “Right. Pulling it back.” Sam waved a hand in front of his face and put on a serious mask.

  Talon took a deep breath and opened the door.

  The loud chatter of the room came to an immediate halt the moment he stepped inside. Sam and April were just behind him and all eyes were suddenly on them.

  There were a few gasps, a few grunts of disapproval, even a few smiles. But most were just quiet, watching as Talon led Sam and April to where Piz stood in the front of the mess hall, Deryn, Nita, Laramie and Matilda just behind them.

  Adrian and Harper were at a table near the front. They waved at Deryn enthusiastically and beckoned her into a seat beside them. Nita joined her while Laramie went to the opposite end of the table to sit beside Dakota. His little brother leaned over and whispered an update into his ear.

  “Everyone, I know you have questions,” said Talon, addressing the entire room. “And we’ll get to that. But, first, let me introduce you to Commander Knight and Lieutenant Commander Park, two officers of the World Peace Ops, an organization that travels around the globe with one mission, to keep peace among its civilians.”

  “We were formed to prevent the chance of another nuclear war, by having a united army with soldiers from every country,” explained Sam.

  “Every country,” a girl at one of the center tables repeated in a quiet voice. “There are other countries?”

  Sam nodded. “Not as many as the world once had, but I’d say there are a couple dozen -”

  “Twenty-seven,” stated April.

  There was lots of mumbling as everyone took that in.

  “When was this World Peace Ops formed?” asked an older man.

  “Immediately after the air was deemed clean in all parts of the world,” said Sam.

  Another man asked, “Which was when exactly?”

  April cleared her throat. “One-hundred and thirteen years ago.”

  This time there was no mumbling. It was dead silent in that room for a good minute before a small whimper cut through it like a knife. And then several others.

  “What took you so long?” asked the same woman who spoke before, this time with tears in her eyes. “Where have you been?”

  Sam and April looked at each other.

  “We don’t have an exact answer for that,” said Sam, “but, from the information we have, it would seem one of your Utopia’s former leaders cut off contact with the other underground cities in the country, leading them to believe everyone here had perished. With no signs of life, we had no reason to come to this part of the world.”

  “Why would the president do that?” someone asked.

  While they probably weren’t expecting an answer, Deryn gave one robotically. “To prevent another war.”

  All eyes turned to her.

  “What?” asked Hera, that usual snap in her tone.

  “That’s what Saevus told Xander.” More silent staring. “I’m not saying it was a good choice, I’m just stating the facts. His great-grandfather wanted to isolate Utopia to keep history from repeating itself.”

  Hera sneered. “Why would Saevus tell Ruby that?”

  “Who is this Ruby?” asked Sam.

  All eyes then moved from Deryn to the doorway leading to the kitchen. Xander was standing there pressed against the door in an attempt to hide in the small amount of shadow. He had been trying to be discreet.

  “He’s a fucking nark,” spat Hera. “Who let him in here to listen?”

  “I did,” said Evangeline, raising her hand as she stood against the wall only a couple of steps to Xander’s right. “He’s one of us. Why shouldn’t he listen?”

  Shouting erupted then, people arguing among their tables or, in some cases, across the room to get their opinion on the matter heard. It seemed that even though two weeks had passed, the group was still split.

  “Everyone, quiet!” Talon’s voice boomed across the room, his fist coming down hard on the closest table. The arguing ceased.

  “Could I get a more in-depth answer on who he is?” asked Sam once the room was quiet.

  “He’s a Guardian. Was a Guardian,” explained Talon. “One of Saevus’s top soldiers. He’s the reason Deryn is back with us.”

  “Which is making you blind!” Cress shouted from his seat beside Hera. She gave him a satisfied smile.

  Talon rolled his eyes. “Your hatred is making you blind. He’s defected. Anyone who’s spent even a moment speaking to him would realize that.”

  Sam raised his eyebrows and looked from the crowd to Xander, who was still attempting to hide in his little nook.

  “You mean to tell me that you have one of your enemy’s top soldiers here willingly and you’re not using that to your advantage? That’s ridiculous. Ruby, my good man. Come here.”

  Xander tensed. His eyes met Deryn’s and she urged him forward.

  He walked stiffly and slowly to the front of the room, his uncertainty growing as he reached Sam, who threw an arm around his shoulders.

  “So tell me. What is it that brought you here?”

  Xander blushed and looked at Deryn again. She smiled, relaxing the knots in his stomach.

  Sam followed his gaze. “You’re here for a girl? And you knuckers don’t believe him? Pfft! That’s ridiculous. If he wasn’t here for someone else then I might be concerned. This man very well might be your greatest weapon. Use him.” He squeezed Xander against his side and smiled at him. “You and I are going to have a long talk about this President Saevus. Has anyone even analyzed him?”

  Sam looked over his shoulder at Talon, who shrugged.

  “We’ve had a few discussions, but we haven’t been over everything. He’s been ... recovering.”

  “Then we’ll be doing that in the morning. Six o’clock sharp so we can begin training at ten. I expect everyone to attend so I can see what I’m working with. Now, where’s the booze? It’s time we all relax and let loose. No shop talk, just fun.”

  The room filled with noise again as everyone began talking amongst themselves, the occasional person still shouting questions at Sam. But he had already moved on, following Talon to a large barrel of ale in the back of the room.

  Xander lowered his head as he hurried back into the kitchen. Deryn followed him.

  When she got there, Xander was already at the sink scrubbing dishes.

  “You okay?” she asked, taking a plate from his hands and drying it with a dishtowel.

  “Fine,” he lied. “He seems interesting.”

  “That’s one word for it,” said Deryn, chuckling softly. “At least the mysterious stranger from a foreign land is on your side.”

  Xander sighed and nodded.

  “Why don’t you let me finish that?” A small pair of hands grabbe
d the pan Xander was scrubbing. He followed the arms until he was looking at Evangeline, her face younger but so similar to her grandmother’s. He paled.

  Evangeline smiled. “You’ve been working hard here. Take the night off. I’ll cover for you.”

  “But we haven’t even served dessert -”

  She held up a hand to stop him. “Xander, it’s fine. You and Deryn can go. Get some fresh air.”

  “They’ll say I ditched my duties and abandoned you here,” he said.

  “Who cares what those people say? My word has weight here and if I say I let you go then there’s not much anyone can do about it. So go.”

  Before Xander could protest again, Deryn took his arm and dragged him toward the back door. “Thank you, Eva!” she said as they exited.

  The two of them stepped into the night, the cool air stinging their cheeks as they walked hand-in-hand. Deryn glanced sideways at a sulking Xander and frowned.

  “I know you feel guilty every time she’s nice to you. Have you thought about ...” She paused and bit her cheek, trying to form the best words. “If you told her what happened I think she’d understand that you didn’t have a choice.”

  “I always had a choice,” he said, his voice quiet and flat.

  “Even if you didn’t kill her grandmother, she’d still be dead. Someone else would’ve done it and they wouldn’t have been merciful like you were. You made the right choice. The only choice.”

  Xander didn’t say anything. He was so caught up in his own mind that he didn’t even notice where they were going until they were halfway up the stairs to the overlook. He shouldn’t have been surprised. It was Deryn’s favorite place and they had spent many of their nights in the past two weeks sitting up there.

  Deryn sat on the bench closest to the ocean and stared at the endless black water. The sound of waves crashing against the sand echoed in her ears. Xander put his head in her lap and stared up at her serene face. He relaxed as he realized that this was what he’d fought for. To get her there, to see her happy.