“I didn’t…” I hadn’t intentionally infected him. I hadn’t even known I could.
Marcus turned his back to me. “If I’m dead, nobody knows about the drains, or your secret.”
“How do I know you didn’t already contact them on the com in your pack and tell them about the underground city? That’s not a chance I can take. If Olivia had kept her mouth shut about the infection, this would have gone down much easier. Since you refuse to go back to the city, we’re going to have to do this the hard way.” Axel adjusted the weapon. “How do you set this to stun?” Without waiting for an answer, he pointed and fired. The bolt hit Marcus hard. His body stiffened and locked; even his chest failed to rise and fall as he struggled for breath. He collapsed and a seizure rocked his body. His limbs flailed uncontrollably as he foamed at the mouth.
“Marcus!” I screamed and dived for the boat. Axel grabbed me around the waist, swung me off my feet, and carried me struggling and kicking over to a larger barge he’d used to come to the underground city.
He stopped and glanced back. “Dump him in the city once the sun sets. Someplace public. The nanites should have made it airborne by then.” Two of Axel’s soldiers jumped in Marcus’s boat to do what they’d been instructed.
“No!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. Axel stepped onto the barge, hauling me into his cabin and tossing me on the bed.
“At least they can forgive you now. You did well.”
“I’ve killed them all.”
“Like I said.” He smiled and yanked the blanket away. “Forget him, Olivia. You’re mine now. I’ve missed you every day, every hour, every minute you have been absent from my life. We have a lot of time to make up for.” He crawled over me and straddled my hips. “I love you.”
“Get off me.”
“Please listen to what I have to say first. How can you believe any of his intentions were good?”
“He did me no harm, unlike you.”
Axel frowned and reached out to stroke my cheek. “The people demanded I give you to him in hopes you would seduce away his life and that of our enemies. It sat like acid in my gut for days. I haven’t slept. I haven’t eaten. I can’t make the pain of my decision go away. I want to erase his touch from your skin, his image from your eyes. I need to make you forget him. I will make you forget him.” Pain carried on his voice. His hand withdrew.
Hurt? Not the first time I’d heard this.
“No. It’s too late for that, Axel. The only way I will ever care about you again is if you stop this now.”
He pulled back. “I can’t do that. I’ll wait for you to come to me, but not forever. Forget him. He’s dead, and soon all the people in that city will be. It’s the only way. This is the fresh start we’ve always talked about.”
“No, you’re wrong. Listen to how crazy you sound. You will kill children—who mean us no harm, have barely begun to live their lives.”
He stroked my cheek, touching me softly. “You’ve saved us and helped us to take our homes back.”
“I can’t be responsible for the genocide.”
“I can’t give him the cure.”
“You’re not evil. We have souls. We need only recognize them and listen. Surely you wouldn’t let children and women die from this?”
“I have to.” He ran his thumb along the welt on my face that had nearly disappeared since I’d received the nanite patch. A few more days and it would be gone, as though the injury had never happened. Didn’t mean I’d forget it had.
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t. I’ve had you followed, protected every step of the way. You must know this killed me inside, forcing you out. I had no choice. That man you were with murdered many of our people—brutally, before you returned to camp that night. The clan would not sympathize, not after that. They wanted you dead. I could spare you, but you couldn’t stay. It was the law. I was bound by it. This was the only way I could save you and be with you again.”
“Marcus didn’t kill them. His brother did.”
“Doesn’t matter. You know the guilt falls on the person in charge.”
“And that woman who followed me?”
“She gave her life to keep you alive. She knew they were about to find you and intercepted. Don’t dishonor her sacrifice or your people by loving the enemy. Let him go. I will honor you and give you the world. He can give you nothing but pain. They will never accept you, even if you save them. You. Are. A. Clone. You’d better get used to the idea.”
“Do you know what you ask?”
“We will live because of you. Our people will continue forever.”
“And another will become extinct.”
“They brought it upon themselves. Forget him. He would’ve had you executed anyway. With him, you would’ve died. With me, you’ll live, be free. You’ll be happy. I love you, Olivia. I’ve always loved you.”
“Then don’t do this. Save the innocents and I will stay with you.”
“I am saving the innocents. You’ll love me back someday. This is part of life. Survival. We don’t have to go anywhere, risk a trip over the seas into the unknown where we could all die. Can’t you see? All this will be ours. All of it, and we won’t have to look over our shoulders or fear for our lives.”
“I don’t want it.”
“You will. It’s yours by birthright.” He got up. “Dress, eat, and come outside. We can’t delay further, or we’ll be trapped in the underground city when it floods.” He stopped and glanced over his shoulder. “He will return with a force. Watch and see. He’ll come to kill us all. He tortured men for the same information he wanted from you. He only wanted you to find our clans. To find me. Ask yourself, how did he locate you down here? He found you the same way I did, by infecting you with nanites, and there is no way to block their signal. It’s a risk taking you with us.”
“Then don’t.”
“I’m not leaving you behind, Olivia.” I had already known how Marcus found me, but that didn’t mean what Axel said was true. I couldn’t blame Marcus if he came in force, but I didn’t believe everything between us had been a farce. “If he does come, it’s because you didn’t give him a choice.”
12
I later learned where Axel dumped Marcus. There were some things you didn’t want to believe were true, even though you knew they were. They were painful, horrifying, and scarred your memories as though they’d been gouged with broken glass, sliced apart, and healed—never to be the same.
My mother claimed it was the tough stuff you lived through that helped you develop an iron spine. But I believed developing an iron spine also gave you a cold, unforgiving soul. I had yet to understand how knowing my mother gave me her heart or my father cheated on her made me any stronger. For me, Axel’s cruelty was one of those things. I knew why he did it, but, to this day, I still didn’t know how he could.
Then again, if I’d lived his life, I, too, might lack that fundamental human trait of compassion.
Poke. Something sharp stuck Marcus in the arm.
Poke. The ribs.
Poke. Ass.
“Enough already. I’m awake.” Squealing children? When he opened his eyes, light shot like a lance through his retinas and straight into his brain. His mouth tasted as though it had been packed with dust. Parched lips cracked as he opened them and rolled his jaw to make sure it wasn’t broken.
A swallow. Swollen lymph nodes throbbed in response, and his tongue refused to release from the roof of his mouth. Screw his kingdom for a horse. He’d give the empire for a tall drink of ice water.
He reached up and touched his nose, flinching. Dried blood crusted his nostrils, chipping off and clinging to his fingernails in black specks. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, wondering if they’d beaten the shit out of him after knocking him out. It certainly felt feasible. The seizures had done some damage, but it was hard to believe all of it came from that, knowing who had put him here and why.
He opened his eyes ag
ain and stared at the sky. His vision was filled with the faces of children who stood over him and peered back with curiosity. Babies. Pigtails and freckles. Smiles with an occasional gap left behind by a missing tooth. Way too young to die.
Shit.
“Get away.” He let his gaze sweep the area. The square. He was beginning to believe they really didn’t have a soul. If they put him here, it meant whatever Olivia had given him was contagious.
“Are you okay, mister?” Poke. Marcus swiped the stick out of the boy’s hand and broke it in two, tossing it to the side.
A very public location. “No. You need to get back. Now.”
The children remained in place, curiosity on their faces. “My mommy says you’re a drunk.”
“Your mommy is right. Now get out of here before I get mad and beat you with that broken stick.” Anything to chase them away. Even though he hadn’t had a drop of alcohol and wouldn’t do anything to harm them intentionally. And there was the problem. He’d admit anything if it would get them to leave. “Now!” He growled and made like he’d grab them.
They screeched and took off in every direction. Great. Just great. How long had he been there, exposing them to it?
The sound of boots on pavers grew louder, and he turned his head to watch as a squad of his men approached. “Come no closer.”
“Sir.” One man addressed him and ignored the order, continuing to him, stooping down with a med bag. Useless at this point. “Are you okay?”
“Fuck no. I told you to stay the hell back. I’m infected with a plague.” He shoved the medic’s hands off him. The other men retreated, putting as much distance between them as possible. Too little, too late. Marcus blinked, pushing away the blinding light and sharp pains from behind his eyes. Every joint in his body ached, and a fever raged through him, sending chills skittering across his skin. He rubbed his arms and shivered.
“Sir, the children who found you came to us. They’d already touched you.”
Rage. Next time he met that clone, he wouldn’t be as kind. He’d beat him to extinction and then crush his bones to dust under his heel. How he hated that prick.
“Sir, it’s only through body fluids it spreads. You know this. If we can get you to the hospital, maybe they can treat it.”
“No, I think it’s different this time.” He knew Axel had dumped him there for a reason—to spread what he’d infected him with like a smallpox blanket. If his enemy was anything, he was thorough, if not precise. “None of us are safe, contact or not,” he groaned. “He put me here to spread it. I can almost guarantee it’s airborne, as much as I know the clones are immune.”
Olivia hadn’t exhibited any sign of the infection and had begged Axel to give him the nanites who contained the code to replicate the antivirus. Get her back, and there was a good chance they could stop it. His vision wobbled before him. If he could get her back in time. It moved fast.
Reaching up, Marcus rubbed his forehead. Beads of sweat clung to his fingertips. How long? How long before his people contracted it? Quarantine the sector, try to contain it as best as he could, so if he failed, the loss of life would be minimal. He’d had no intention of bringing this sickness back to them, but, more than likely, he had. “Round up all the children. Put them and anyone they’ve been in contact with in isolation.”
“Most of them didn’t stick around. We don’t know who, or how many. Many of them were here with their families, waiting for the port to open. They are boarding ships to go to other cities as we speak.”
Marcus jolted upright. “Stop the flights. Get the people off the ships and destroy every vessel and anything else anyone can use to travel out of this city. I don’t want anyone leaving.” Dizziness. He clamped his eyes shut.
“Sir? Why not disable?”
“I don’t want to take the chance a single person slips out. If they know how to fix it, they will to save themselves and their families. This is bad. If you don’t destroy the ships and this infection reaches the other cities, we’re all dead. We have to stop it here and deal with it. Destroy them. Run. Now. And don’t tell anyone why.”
The man saluted and made for the nearest building. About ten minutes later, explosions rocked the ports. Marcus’s head throbbed with each boom.
God have mercy on all of them.
Axel thought he was safe, that the city would be his. He’d thought wrong. If the clone leader possessed an antidote, he had to try to find it and could, as long as Olivia remained in the clone leader’s custody.
Whatever damage was done, was done. There was nothing left to do but move forward and find the antivirus, now that he knew he had one. He cringed as he climbed to his feet. Aches, a burning in his muscles and joints demanded he rest, but he couldn’t. Damn, the illness acted quickly. He put his hand to his forehead and steadied himself against a tree.
Although he’d ordered them to stay back, two more medics rushed to his side, holding him upright.
“I can make it from here.” Marcus jerked free and scanned the plaza. Around him, still life. Civilians stopped and gawked. Children, women, men, families sat on crates and luggage, waiting to escape the city before it flooded—the least of their worries now.
“Return to your homes. You’re not going anywhere.”
They continued to watch.
“I said, take your stuff and go home. The evacuation has been cancelled. Indefinitely.” He could not fail. He looked at one of the men. “Give me your com.” The man took it off and tossed it to him, fear in his eyes. “This is Marcus Axis. I want a full brigade ready to go in ten minutes. Rapid deployment. Time is not our friend. I need a unit of engineers here in five. We need to open drains to the channels under the city.” Marcus groaned as he took a step; every movement brought more pain. He glanced down. Purple, red, and black. His skin had already begun to bruise. “Yes, there are drains under this city, and more. Much more.” Secrets the world will soon know about.
Not that keeping them mattered anymore. Olivia had never intended to tell him about the underground city, which made him believe she lied about the virus, too. He’d given her every chance to tell him, released her from jail on her word alone, had backed down rioting crowds to keep her safe, and still she’d withheld secrets that could save the city. She could not be trusted. That bitch was a traitor.
I lifted my chin and let the sun warm my face as we exited the underground. Axel brushed past where I stood and began to crank a lever, raising the sails as we headed for the inlet to the river. The short, box-shaped canvases caught the wind with a loud snap, driving us forward. Ten other barges joined us as we moved along the channel, carrying a good number of Axel’s troops.
The shallow-bottomed boats had navigated the mangroves with ease with the sails down, utilizing solar-powered fans to push us forward like airboats. In the channel, Axel conserved power and used the wind to get us where we needed to go—to where we’d hidden our airships.
Large crocodiles slid off the banks, following us like dolphins pursuing ships on the sea, swimming under the barges, waiting for scraps to be tossed to them as they’d been trained. The beasts were monstrous, having not been hunted for over a hundred and fifty years. Some were twenty feet from snout to tail and well over a thousand pounds. Dinosaurs. Many a child had been snatched off the banks or warrior gobbled whole when he’d fallen into the water.
They were a good reason to be off the water before the sun set and the biggest reason Axel positioned his fleet here. Axel was a crocodile, much like the beasts lurking below, waiting for opportunity, admiring the way they watched and waited, the speed with which they struck, and the sheer power they possessed.
The Aeropites had mechanized one and two man hovers, which flew over the mangroves with ease. They also had laser weapons that could blast his soldiers to dust. But mechanization came at a cost. Noisy, they drew the attention of the crocodiles, who hunted at night, and Axel had used stolen hovers to train them, feeding them raw meat, dumping it behind the crafts as they s
kimmed across the mangroves. For this reason, I shivered. Marcus had to come for the antivirus. I feared for him.
Not meant to stop on the water, the hovers tipped easily when they did, making them a dangerous mode of transportation. The crocodiles knew a simple strike of the tail and the craft could be flipped, meal obtained.
I pushed off the rail, pacing along the deck. Sunset approached fast. I shifted my gaze to Axel, who stood watch at the stern. I knew he’d planned a nasty surprise.
He turned to catch me watching him. “They’ll come.” His eyes said it all. The smile that crept onto his face made me shiver.
“Give them the antidote. Don’t do this.” I pulled my jacket closed. “They only want the cure.”
“We’re beyond diplomacy, Olivia.”
“Are we?” My nerves were strung tight, waiting for the inevitable. I wanted to scream at him. Why? Several barges separated from the group, moving closer to the shores in a narrow section of the river. The final pieces of the trap were set. Nets had been strung across the inlet and would be triggered by a simple poke of the poles the men used to navigate. Above, in the canopy, heavy weights with ropes would drop, raising the nets before and after the attackers, leaving the Aeropite soldiers trapped in a swamp full of hungry crocodiles. Sitting targets, ready to be plucked.
Brutal, cold. These traps had not been set overnight. I wondered how long he’d planned and knew it was long before I’d been sent away. I narrowed my eyes. Had he ever wanted to finish the ships and leave? It certainly didn’t look like it.
“Get in the cabin, Olivia.” Axel walked up behind me, pushing me toward his quarters. “I hear them approaching.”
I grabbed the rail and listened. A buzzing sound like angry wasps filled the mangroves. My hand went numb where I gripped. I didn’t want to see what was coming, but I didn’t want to leave either. What if Marcus was among them? I strained to see the source, hoping what I heard wasn’t real. The humming grew louder.
The Book of Olivia Page 14
