The Tainted (The Tainted Series Book 1)

by Anna Hill

  “I’m really sorry. I lost track of time out in the woods,” Rebecca explained as she pulled on her shoes and jacket.

  “Nothing new there,” Emily said exasperatedly, then slyly smiled at her friend. “I’ve already decided how you can pay me back anyway.”

  “Uh oh…”

  “I think I’m in the mood for a Diet Coke and Sour Patch Kids tonight.”

  Rebecca laughed, “I think I can handle that.”

  When they reached the field, the parking lot was already packed with cars. They pulled into a spot at the far edge and sprinted toward the game, which, by the sound of it, was well under way.

  “I’ll grab us seats right there,” Emily pointed up to the top of the packed bleachers where a few open spaces remained.

  “Alright. I’ll make a quick run to the concessions stand and meet you.”

  “A Diet Coke and Sour Patch Kids,” Emily yelled at Rebecca, who was already walking away toward the small hut on the far end of the field.

  There were so many people at the game that Rebecca couldn’t help thinking it had been easier to find a route through the dense forest undergrowth than through the jam-packed crowd.

  After finally making it to the concession stand and purchasing her items, Rebecca sighed heavily as she turned around and looked back at the massive crowd she was going to have to push through. She wasn’t sure she could face it again.

  Rebecca looked towards the sideline where her team’s players stood. Their area, between the crowd and the field, was taped off, leaving them plenty of room to walk around freely along the length of the field. Rebecca knew it was taped off for a reason, but if she had to choose between getting yelled at by the coach and facing the crowd again, she’d most gladly take the berating. Plus, she was fast. She doubted they could even catch her.

  Making sure her drinks and candy were tightly gripped in her arms, Rebecca made a run for the player’s section. She dipped under the tape. Remaining as close to the crowd’s side as possible, she darted behind the players.

  Smiling wide, she slowed as she reached the end of the player’s benches. They were all so engrossed in the game that not a single one had noticed her trespassing. Pleased with herself, Rebecca almost sauntered as she made her way down the rest of the field.

  Suddenly, her senses spiked. She pivoted toward the game only to see a football flying full speed right at her face. So stunned she forgot how to move, Rebecca squinted her eyes shut and braced herself as the world around her seemed to slow.

  Muscles clenched tensely, Rebecca waited for the swiftly approaching ball to collide with her head. Yet nothing happened. Confused, Rebecca opened her eyes wide only to find that she was now standing at the far end of the field, back behind the tape and nearly a hundred feet from where she’d been only moments before. She swung her head around and watched as a player retrieved the ball from the exact spot she’d just been cowering.

  Something wasn’t right. How in the world had she gotten to the far end of the field?

  Rebecca began frantically searching for any clue that could explain what had happened. As she scanned the crowd, her eyes zeroed in on one large retreating figure near the back end of the bleachers. There was no mistaking the broad shoulders and dark hair. It was Maverick.

  Forgetting everything else, Rebecca began haphazardly pushing through the crowd, forcing her way after him. It couldn’t be a coincidence. That was twice now that he’d been present when something unexplainable occurred.

  When she reached the edge of the crowd, Rebecca came to a halt. She stared out at a twelve-foot tall chain link fence and an empty field on the other side. There was no Maverick to be seen anywhere. She did a 360 degree turn, searching everywhere for him, but there was no sign of him.

  Slowly, Rebecca trudged back through the crowd and up to the top of the stands where Emily sat waiting. She kept an eye out for Maverick the entire way, in case he reappeared among the masses, but it was to no avail.

  “You alright?” Emily asked as Rebecca sat down next to her.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” Rebecca answered, though she knew she still looked a bit shaken.

  “Well it took you long enough,” Emily grabbed her Diet Coke and candy from Rebecca’s hands and began to unscrew the lid. The next thing they knew, they were soaking wet, as were half of the spectators around them.

  Rebecca looked over at her friend, who was still staring down at the erupted bottle, completely in shock. “Oops,” she said as the surrounding crowd turned to glare at them.

  Four

  Not knowing what else to do, Rebecca came to a sudden halt beside a large tree, pressing her body against it. Her breathing was strained, her heart raced, and her knees kept collapsing forward, her legs struggling to hold her weight. She listened to the sound of several footsteps racing around her in the dark forest, panic gripping heavily at her chest.

  “Find her,” a harsh voice yelled from somewhere in the distance. “Find her now, or I’ll have your heads!”

  It was so dark in this deep part of the forest, yet she could still detect the movement of black shadows amidst the surrounding trees. There were so many of them, probing the darkness, all searching, she knew, for her.

  Rebecca watched, desperately trying to control her panting breath, as the shapes sped off into the distance, each one gradually disappearing into the darkness.

  Finally, when she was sure she was alone, she collapsed forward, hands on her knees. She raked in the air that her lungs so fiercely craved, and her body began to violently shake. Her panic still threatened to overtake her, but she fought it back. She was still alive and that was all that mattered.

  Suddenly, she heard a twig crack somewhere to her right, and her breath caught in her throat. She pressed herself even harder against her tree, desperately scanning the surrounding wood.

  “My, my, my, what do we have here?”

  Rebecca turned to see a tall, green-uniformed figure towering over her. The man’s dark, malicious eyes concentrated on hers, and a satisfied smirk curled up the side of his mouth.

  “Take her,” he barked.

  Out of nowhere, a gloved hand pressed over her mouth and pulled her into darkness.

  * * *

  Rebecca flung herself up to a seated position in bed. Sweat dripped down her face and covered her body, causing her to rip her tangled covers away. She swung her legs over the side of her bed and leaned her head down between her knees, struggling to slow her panting lungs.

  It had felt so real. She could still see the man’s evil face, feel his hatred for her. Rebecca gripped onto the sides of her head, willing the images to go away, to stop haunting her, but she couldn’t shake them.

  In a rush, her door swung open and Ingrid came racing in, still in her nightgown.

  “My dear, are you alright?” She raced over to the bed and sat down next to Rebecca. She placed a concerned hand on Rebecca’s back and began to rub it slowly.

  Her head still hanging between her knees, Rebecca struggled to keep her panic at bay. Why was she like this? What was wrong with her?

  “It’s ok honey, it’s alright. Just breathe,” Ingrid whispered, while continuing to rub Rebecca’s back.

  Finally, Rebecca sat up. She could see the sun rising outside her window, as the world slowly came to life. “I’m sorry I woke you,” she whispered, not looking Ingrid in the face.

  “Not to worry. I’m old and I don’t sleep much in the mornings anyway. I was just about to get up when I heard you screaming.”

  “I was screaming?” Rebecca finally looked at Ingrid and it pained her to see the worry etched across the old woman’s face.

  “Yes, but you’re alright now and that’s all that matters.” Ingrid offered her a smile, but Rebecca still couldn’t find the strength to return it.

  “Come, I was just going to head downstairs to make scones for breakfast. Why don’t you help me?” Ingrid stood up and looked down at Rebecca.

  She still felt sweaty and shaken fro
m her dream, but Rebecca wanted nothing more than to forget it all. Standing up, she towered over little Ingrid and nodded.

  By the time they were pulling the scones from the oven, Rebecca had been able to push aside the images from her dream. Ingrid had done her best to distract Rebecca, jovially talking about the garden and the plethora of vegetables they were soon to receive. It helped to speak of other things, to divert her attention, but Rebecca knew the dream was still there, haunting the back of her mind.

  The moment the smell of fresh scones wafted out of the oven and began permeating the house, Thomas appeared at the kitchen door. “Scones? My favorite,” he said with a smile as he sat down in his chair at the table.

  As they ate, Rebecca could tell that both Ingrid and Thomas were going out of their way to be happy and cheerful in an effort to calm her. She smiled and laughed at their jokes, doing her best to appear alright, but she knew there was only one thing that could truly calm her.

  As soon as they finished eating, Rebecca pulled on her trainers, told them she’d be back before nightfall, and slipped out into the forest. Today she didn’t run like she usually did. Instead she walked slowly, working to clear her mind.

  It was so peaceful amongst the trees. The world around her seemed to glow green as the light filtered in through the leaves. Birds called their songs from the branches above, and every once in a while a chipmunk would come racing across her path, cheeks bulging with nuts.

  She was almost to her clearing when she heard a noise that made her freeze instantly. A loud crashing sound was coming from the woods to her left and was heading toward her at an alarming speed. Rebecca threw herself behind the closest tree trunk, trying to ignore how much this situation resembled her dream, and waited.

  As the sound grew louder and louder, Rebecca’s curiosity got the better of her and she peaked her head around the side of the trunk just in time to see a giant figure come racing through trees, heading almost directly to where she was hiding. It wasn’t until the figure was less than 20 feet away that she recognized it as Maverick.

  Rebecca almost threw herself out from behind the tree before she noticed something about him that held her back. His face looked panicked, almost frightened. Every once in a while he’d chance a look behind him as he ran, never slowing his fast pace. He sped right past her and darted into the trees on the other side of the game trail.

  Rebecca felt stunned and confused, but it wasn’t long before she heard a new crashing sound coming from where Maverick had dashed through the trees only moments before. She looked toward the direction of the sound, searching desperately for any hint of who or what might be chasing him.

  When the figure burst into view, Rebecca froze, terror gripping her body. It was a tall, slender man, in a green, slim-cut, military-style uniform. The man ran at an alarming pace, even faster than Maverick, and his face looked angry and determined as he pounded forward. Within a matter of seconds, he’d run straight past her and into the trees where Maverick had gone.

  Rebecca remained motionless for a moment, not quite sure if she believed what her eyes had just seen. She was absolutely sure the uniform the man wore was identical to the ones she’d seen so many times in her dreams. But what did that mean? How could she have dreamt that?

  A loud yell from the trees ahead interrupted her train of thought. It sounded like Maverick. He was in trouble.

  She wasn’t sure why, but she had an impulse to run, to try and find him. Rebecca took off in the direction she had last seen him. She wasn’t sure what help she could offer Maverick, but she couldn’t just allow him to be harmed.

  Rebecca stopped at the edge of her clearing. Maverick stood in the center, facing the uniformed man, his hands held up in closed fists. The uniformed man stood still, his own hands calmly hanging at his sides.

  With a loud growl, Maverick threw his right fist straight at the man’s face.

  In a swift movement that was almost too fast for Rebecca to see, the uniformed man swung his hands up and toward Maverick. As if in response to his movement, the wild grass grew instantly longer. Fluently, it weaved itself into two ropes, which tightly wrapped themselves around Maverick’s arms, wrenching them down to his sides.

  Maverick struggled against his bonds, but no matter how hard he fought, he couldn’t break the grassy ropes’ grip.

  Taking his time, the uniformed man pulled a small dagger from a sheath on his belt, and relishing the moment, held it in front of Maverick’s face, making sure he could see the polished blade.

  A wave of panic washed over Rebecca, and before she realized what she was doing, she leapt into the clearing, yelling “Stop!”

  The uniformed man started to swing his head around to look at her, but suddenly froze. It took a second, but Rebecca soon realized that she too had frozen solid--stopped in place, mid-run. It felt as if the world around her had come to an abrupt halt. She even seemed to be processing her thoughts far slower than normal.

  To her great surprise, however, Maverick was still moving freely, completely unaffected by whatever was happening. She watched through her cemented eyes as he kicked out, catapulting the knife from the uniformed man’s hand. He bent down to one knee, allowing some slack on his hands, and caught the dagger by the hilt as it flipped through the air towards him. With two quick swipes, he cut away the grass ropes. Then he threw himself forward and plunged the blunt handle of the dagger into the side of his captor’s head.

  As suddenly as everything had slowed, it now blurred back into action. Rebecca, bursting back into her full-out run, had to quickly slam on the breaks to avoid colliding with the collapsing body of the uniformed man.

  Staring aghast at the motionless man in the grass, she took a quick step backward as she tried to come to grips with everything she’d just seen.

  “Who…who is that?” Tearing her eyes away, Rebecca looked up at Maverick, her shock and confusion quickly turning into fear. “What was that? What just happened? You did it, didn’t you? You…you…” Her voice faded as she realized she had no idea how to describe what had happened.

  Rebecca continued to slowly retreat backwards from Maverick as she spoke. Cautiously he began walking forward, which only caused her to pull back faster.

  “I’m sorry,” he implored. “I didn’t mean for you to find out like this.”

  “Find out?” Rebecca shook her head. By this time she was nearly to the tree line at the edge of the clearing. “Find out that you’re some kind of freak?”

  “Rebecca, listen to me. I can explain this to you. I can explain all of this to you, including your dreams.”

  Rebecca stopped immediately and stared at Maverick, more shocked than ever. “How do you know about that?”

  Maverick took a few tentative steps closer to Rebecca, nearly catching up to her now. “I know because I’m like you.”

  Rebecca’s face fell and her shock and confusion were instantly replaced with anger. She glared at Maverick, making no effort to hide her disgust. “You are nothing like me.”

  Without another word, she spun on her heels and raced off into the trees as fast as she could. She didn’t care where she was going. She just wanted to get as far away from Maverick as she possibly could.

  Five

  Rebecca was absolutely dreading first period on Monday morning, but to her great surprise Maverick never showed up. In fact, throughout the entire week Maverick never came to class, nor did she see him walking around the halls or anywhere on campus.

  By the end of school Thursday, Rebecca was actually beginning to worry about what might have happened to him. She knew that one uniformed man had been after Maverick, which likely meant there were others. She didn’t know anything about these soldiers other than what she’d seen in the woods and in her dreams, but both experiences told her they were dangerous, extremely dangerous.

  Something else, however, weighed even more heavily on her mind. Maverick had somehow known about her dreams. He’d told her he could explain them and, while she wasn�
��t sure she could trust him, a large part of her wanted, possibly needed, to hear what he knew.

  She’d always had the dreams, but over the last six months they’d been growing steadily worse. Some nights, they were so intense they almost felt as though they had taken control of her body. She fought against them, ripping herself from sleep whenever the dreams grew too much for her, but it left her feeling hollow and torn. Now, it seemed, her dreams were occurring in the real world. There had to be some correlation between the uniformed men in her dreams and the one she’d seen the other day.

  “You alright?” Emily’s voice shocked Rebecca back to reality. It took her a second to remember where she was.

  “You’ve been staring motionless into your locker for the last five minutes…” Emily looked Rebecca over questioningly.

  “I’m fine,” Rebecca closed her locker and lifted her book bag over her shoulder. “I was just making sure I wasn’t forgetting anything.”

  “Uh huh…I’m sure,” Emily knew her friend well enough to spot the lie, but she didn’t push the matter any further.

  The pair walked down the hallway and out to the parking lot in silence. It wasn’t until they’d both sat down and Emily started the car that she broached the subject again.

  “You seen Maverick around at all this week? I haven’t seen him anywhere, and I mean the guys pretty much impossible to miss.”

  “No, I haven’t.” Rebecca tried to hide the worry that crossed her face.

  “I wonder if he moved away or something. It’s a bit strange isn’t it? I mean he’s going to have a hell of a lot of homework to catch up on if he keeps this up.”

  Rebecca just nodded in agreement and continued to look out the window. Her brain was too busy with her own thoughts to make conversation, so she sat quietly while Emily continued to talk about goodness knows what.

  By the time the car came to a stop in her driveway, Rebecca had made up her mind. Cutting off Emily midsentence, she thanked her for the ride and rushed out of the car. As the Geo pulled away, Rebecca threw her book bag onto the porch and set out at a sprint into the woods.