Cara retreated.
“Uh-uh, wouldn’t want to give the impression you’re resisting arrest, would you?”
Tears streaked down her face. She shook her head. “No.”
I couldn’t let this keep going on. I moved my jaw. Tested my tongue. “Hey. She’s my hostage. Not yours. Let her go.”
He squinted. “I take orders from Abarron only.”
“And every other Vie who trances you, right?” I asked.
“Excuse me?” He edged toward me.
“How about a deal? Let the slave go, and you can pummel me all you want. I tell everyone I deserved it. I’ll tell them I made you look like a fool. Then you can deliver me to Abarron. Get a nice, fancy reward,” I wheezed.
“What are you doing?” Cara said.
Anything to get the guard’s attention off you.
“The anemia really does make you stupid and crazy, doesn’t it? Yeah, all right, I’ll give you a couple of whacks. Since you’re asking for it.” The guard pocketed his Zappers and cracked his knuckles.
Twice my size, he knocked all the air out of me with one kick to the gut. Then he straddled me. Every bone in my spine crackled from the weight. He slammed my ribs with multiple blows.
“Help,” I croaked, curling my fingers around the baton on his belt.
Cara jumped on the guard, compressing me into the blacktop. I grunted. She jammed her fingers into his nose and yanked. He screamed, tossing her to the side. At the same time, I slipped the baton out of his belt. I whacked his skull with one solid blow. Crack! He groaned and flopped on the ground next to me, clutching his head. I hit him again. The groaning stopped.
Cara wrapped her arms around mine to hold me back. “Don’t kill him!”
“Why not?”
I panted, fist tight around the baton. Another couple blows, and I’d see his brains splatter on the ground. Good ole fighting rule number three—make sure your opponent can’t get up.
“He’d do the same to us,” I said.
“So that means it’s all right to act like him?” Her voice rose.
My entire body trembled.
“We can’t do what they do. Otherwise, there’s no point.” Slowly, she pried the weapon from my hand.
“There’s no point to what?”
“To hoping there’s still some good in this world.” She slid the baton in her jumpsuit’s belt loop then collected the guard’s Zappers and communicator.
“I don’t know if that’s true.” I tested my pocket, slightly comforted by the fact that my stake was there where it should be. Then I focused on standing. Not so easy a task.
“Come on. We need to get out of here quickly.”
“Sure, no problem.” I limped along.
“Abarron will be coming.”
“You really think he’ll let himself be seen on the street, chasing an Anemie and a slave? Besides, it’s daytime now. We’ll have to keep an eye out for the Guard, but we’ll be safe from Vie.”
Cara patted some dirt off my shoulder. “Justin, I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. You just staked a Vie. You beat a guard. And you’re helping me. What else is motivating you but goodness and hope?”
I thought it was all for Sammie, but I hadn’t gotten any closer to rescuing her. And sure, my blood made Vie age and turn to ash, but so what? That didn’t mean I was some answer to a prophecy written by some philosophic lunatic, that philosophic lunatic being Alex.
“I just want to find Sammie, but everything I do takes me farther away from her.” I leaned against her, legs wobbly and ribs and back aching.
“I’m sorry this happened to you.” She circled her arm around my torso.
“Ow.” I breathed in her springtime scent, savored the softness of her body.
Cara released me. All of a sudden the world was colder. “Sorry, but faster is better.”
“I know.”
We checked around the corner. No guards. A few slaves went about their business.
“Run straight across. Don’t stop,” I said.
“You don’t look up for running.”
“Then mosey quickly,” I winced.
“Okay.”
She led the way. I followed close behind. We didn’t stop until we’d crossed the narrow, one-way street and ducked behind another row of buildings. Thankfully, we didn’t have to dodge any vehicles or pedestrian slaves. Now that I was moving, I was gaining speed.
“Which way?” she asked.
If we went out in the open, we’d risked being spotted. Then again, we couldn’t stay put. I eyed the Dumpster next to us. No way. I couldn’t do that again.
“The street’s practically empty.” Cara pressed against me. I felt every curve and dip of her body.
“We’ll be safe in the old subway tunnels. We can stick to crossways and alleys, but some are blocked. And the station entrance is on the corner of a busy avenue.”
“So, we can’t stay here, but we can’t go out in the open either. I wish we had a disguise or something.”
I gathered the sleeve of her jumpsuit, rubbing the fabric between my thumb and finger. “We just might.”
I unbuttoned my shirt and handed it to her. I had a t-shirt on underneath, so I didn’t have to go half-naked. “Put this on and take down your hair.”
“What? Why? They’re going to find us, no matter what clothes we’re wearing.” She fiddled with her zipper.
“I know, but they’re looking for a slave girl and an Anemie boy, not two Anemies. We can hide your uniform this way. Even if it gives us a second of lead time, it’s worth it.”
She slipped her arms through the sleeves and buttoned the shirt over her jumpsuit. She pulled out her hair band, freeing cascades of honey-colored curls. They bounced with a totally distracting bronze shimmer.
I cleared my throat. “Act casual. Don’t rush. Just walk normally. No one will stop you if they think you’re an Anemie. Well, once we get out of the Elite District. And mess up your hair more.”
“Like this?” She fluffed her hair out.
“Yeah, like that.” I ran my hands through her locks, too. Erm, for good measure. Silky smoothness teased my fingertips as I fingered a wavy strand. “The rattier, the better.” I hated referring to her hair as ratty—it was anything but.
“Are we ready?” She smoothed her shirt, which I promptly rumpled up again.
“Not if you keep trying to look neat.”
She squeezed my hand. I paused. She slipped her other hand around my neck. Our lips crashed together before I could shut my eyes. Her mouth felt firm and tender, bright like the first blush of the sun at sunrise. I tugged her closer. The warmth from her body mingled with mine, sending sparks of electricity through my brain. Much different from a Zapper. This I could do a million gazillion times and still want more. A moan vibrated in my throat.
She giggled and pulled back, patting my chest. “For luck. Let’s go.” She twirled away, walking confidently toward the street.
I followed, breathless.
Year 75, Month 6, Day 6, morning
ara huddled close to me as I scanned the subway tunnel, angling the flashlight beam left to right along the platform, the tracks, and across the arching columns overhead. Yep, it all stayed the same since I’d visited. Instead, I had changed. Too much. Last time, Zack’s constant chattering brightened the place as much as it irritated me. Now I’d give anything to hear him babble on.
We made our way slowly, avoiding rubble and, ahem, organic refuse.
Cara tripped. I caught her by the waist so she didn’t fall.
“Thanks,” she said
“Are you okay?” I asked, training the flashlight on her face long enough to catch the wetness on her cheeks. More tears. My fault.
“The things we’ve done. There’s no going back now.”
She wiped her cheeks with the sleeve of her shirt—well, my shirt. The one she’d borrowed from me, and the one I’d borrowed from Alex. He’d given me other clothes too. And food. Real food. Wate
r. A couch to sleep on. Pain meds. Transfusions.
I picked at a tooth. He’d also given me a lot of heartache. I didn’t regret staking him… again. I wouldn’t. He wasn’t helping me find Sammie anyway.
“With Alex gone, I’ll have no one to protect me. Or my dad.” She wrapped the hem of the shirt around her fingers until they went white.
Oh. Cara would never be able to return to her old life, and now her father was at risk. My soul tore open, and guilt tossed heaps of self-loathing into my gut. Maybe I shouldn’t have staked Alex. Without him, Cara didn’t have a Vie ally.
Listen to me, considering a Vie an ally. Ridiculous. He’d led Abarron right to us.
If I hadn’t staked him, I’d still be his prisoner. Or maybe Abarron’s. Alex said he’d get in trouble if his boss found out about me. And say he didn’t. Say he went back to his life, without the consequences he hinted at. No matter how much Cara trusted him, he’d still end up draining her when her usefulness ran out.
The only outcome of staying with Alex was death.
Still, Cara was in this position—a masterless slave wandering broken down subway tunnels like a homeless Anemie—because of me. I bit my tongue. Clots, I’d destroyed so many lives. Bringer of Death, indeed.
I sighed.
Cara paused. “Wait.”
I froze, scanning the tunnel with the flashlight. “What?”
“Before we go on, I really need to show you this.” She pulled out a communicator. “Alex gave it to me when he brought me to the lab.”
“Why?”
“He said it would help us if we got separated.”
So, he’d considered us going our separate ways. I wondered if he’d meant to free us as he’d said, expecting we’d carry out whatever plans he’d had in mind. Probably hadn’t guessed I’d try to escape by double-crossing him, though.
She tapped the two-inch screen. It glowed a flickering pale green. “There’s a message.”
“Since we escaped?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
An image emerged from it like a ghost rising from the mist. I sucked in a breath. “It’s Alex.”
The vid started automatically. “Justin, listen well. Nathan Abarron will not cease in his hunt for you. Do not try to get to Samantha for both our sakes. She is safer where she is, trust me. You must persevere and become what you were meant to become. Attached to this message is a recording of Robert’s demise. Show it to other Anemies. They will have to believe you. It is imperative that you convince them not to act on this yet. I repeat—spread the word only. I will not give up on this. I’ve isolated something in your blood and am working on how to manufacture it. I’ve even tested it on someone.”
He paused, failing to mention who the someone was. It didn’t matter who they were; I pitied them. And now that Alex was staked… “With any luck, we’ll be able to find a way to free people from their trances. Maybe it will lead to Abarron’s demise. I will do everything in my power to make sure we don’t get separated, but if we do, pray that we’ll be able to meet again at some point soon.” He rushed his words, his accent warped by the digital play.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. How do we know this isn’t more of his lies? He said he couldn’t figure out what made my blood age them, now he says he has something? No way,” I murmured.
And yet, he sounded so earnest. Now I’d never know.
My chest tightened as if I’d plunged a stake into my own heart. How ironic I’d killed the only person capable of helping me, Cara, and other Anemies.
Alex’s image faded and a recording of Scarface drinking my blood followed by his ultra-rapid dusting.
Cara watched, wide-eyed. “Whoa. You said your blood aged them. Didn’t think it cremated them too.”
“Yeah. Someone must’ve set up a hidden camera. But why? I thought they wanted that part kept private.” Amazing it got past Abarron for so long.
“Do you know what this means? He was right. Everything he said…”
“I…” Didn’t want to go through the whole you’re-the-fulfillment-of-the-prophecy thing again. At all.
A beam of light struck us, washing us in a bath of jaundiced yellow. Cara snatched the communicator from my hand and stuffed it into her pocket.
“Who is it?” I put a hand up to block the glare from my eyes.
“Justin? Is that you?” A soft, squeaky voice called out further down the tunnel.
I shifted my flashlight, focusing it on the approaching figures.
Anna and Ben halted in the middle of the tunnel, eyes wide. Anna’s brown hair was matted, Ben’s clothes dirty and torn. The dark circles under their eyes stood out from their pale skin. Funny how quickly I’d forgotten how awful we looked all the time.
“What are you guys doing here?” I asked, lowering the light a bit so it didn’t blind them.
Ben did the same.
“We thought you were dead.” Anna bit her thumbnail “Martin and Zack… we saw the footage.”
Bile rose to my throat. They’d seen. Everything inside me went cold.
“What happened? How’d you survive? Are Martin and Zack okay too?” Ben shoved his tawny hair away from his eyes.
I shook my head. Words wouldn’t come.
“They died,” Cara said.
“Shit,” Ben said, red blossoming on his cheeks and neck, then spreading to his ears. He shifted from foot to foot.
Anna threaded her fingers through his to settle him down.
“Can you help us?” Cara asked.
“Who are you?” Anna eyed Cara, her eyebrow creasing.
“I’m Cara. I’m with Justin,” she replied.
“How nice for Justin,” she said. I couldn’t tell if she was sincere or sarcastic. “I’m Anna. This is Ben.”
Ben tapped the flashlight in his palm, sending the beam waving in an arc of light.
Anna sighed at him then shifted her gaze to me. “Ben.”
He chewed on his bottom lip, but stopped tapping.
Anna continued. “Now that the introductions are done, why don’t you explain what’s going on?”
“We need a decent place to talk,” Cara said.
“This way,” Anna hooked a thumb over her shoulder.
Anna and Ben led us to the same basement room where I’d originally met them. I should’ve surrendered to the toxin and died then, but I hadn’t thanks to Martin and Zack.
They’d paid for helping me with their lives.
Looked like Alex had too. I worried Cara was next. Then maybe Anna and Ben and the others. Where did it stop?
“If we hadn’t been heading out to meet a distribution truck, we might have missed you.” Anna lit a couple lanterns then flopped on a blanket and folded her legs underneath her.
“Instead we missed the truck.” Ben leaned against the wall, mouth in a scowl as usual. He seemed positively thrilled at our reunion. Not.
“We were headed here,” I said.
I ignored Ben’s sour expression and sat on the mat Zack and I had shared the last night of his free life. Cara sat next to me, her arm linked with mine. To her, life consisted of nights spent in what I imagined was a broom-closet-sized apartment and days spent cleaning or running errands for Alex. Anemie comings and goings probably didn’t even cross her mind, let alone the underground.
Anna smiled before shooting a scathing glare at Ben. “I’m so glad it worked out.”
He grunted. “Go on then. Tell us what happened to you guys?”
“You saw the vid,” I said.
“You’re not dead. If anyone should’ve died, it should’ve been you.” Ben hadn’t lost his directness.
Cara jumped in. “Justin doesn’t deserve to die. Neither did your friends.”
“It’s his fault they got caught,” he countered.
“No, it’s not.” She rose to her knees. “It’s mine. I was the one who alerted the guards. So if you want to blame someone, blame me.”
I tugged Cara’s sleeve, easing her down. She’d
put herself in enough danger. She didn’t need Anemies turning on her too.
“That’s not true. We got ourselves caught. It’s the way it goes for all of us. Some sooner than others,” I said.
Anna held out a bottle of water to Cara. “You’re right. And we’ve survived this long for a reason. We need to help each other, not fight. Right, Ben?”
Another pointed look in his direction forced him to nod in agreement. Doubt he wanted to.
“I’m sorry. I never meant for any of this,” I apologized.
“No one does. Except the Vie. They made this world what it is now. We just have to try and survive in it.” Anna sounded so wise. Strong.
“How did you escape?” Ben asked.
I told them about Alex rescuing me.
Ben threw his flashlight. It bounced off a wall and clattered to the floor. The light blinked out, making the room a shade darker. “A Vie helped you? Why should we believe that?”
“You don’t have to, but I have no reason to lie.” I stared him in the eye.
“He staked a Vie too.” Cara nodded emphatically.
“What? Again?” Anna’s jaw dropped.
Cara’s head whipped in my direction. “What does she mean, ‘again?’”
“It’s not like that,” I put my hands up. “He was… distracted.”
“Figures,” Ben shook his head.
“Sorry you’re disappointed.”
“Guys. Stop it.” Anna interrupted. “If what you say is true, then it changes everything. You’ve staked a Vie twice. No one’s ever done that and lived. We should tell the others.”
I stood. “No, nothing’s changed.”
Anna and Ben stared up at me, faces slack.
“The best thing we can do—all of us—is… is…”
There was nothing to do. Escaping Nathan Abarron was short-term. We’d gotten this far, but it wouldn’t last. And now, being here, I risked other peoples’ lives in addition to my own. I ran a hand over my jaw. “We can’t beat them.”
“What do you mean? You killed a Vie with your blood, and you staked one too.” Cara rose.
“You killed a Vie?” Anna’s voice rose with every word. She knew as well as I did staking didn’t necessarily mean killing, but my blood being lethal, that was new.
“We should show them the recording.”
Dawn of the Vie (Immortal Aliens Book 1) Page 23
