“Then we’ll be successful,” I replied, keeping my tone firm. There was weakness and doubt in me, more than I cared to admit, but I wasn’t going to show any of that to him. Asis needed to believe, and that meant I needed to pretend to.
The sun had already started to rise, thankfully, which meant that we could see at least a little of where we were going. Not that it seemed to matter. As Asis moved through the jungle, he was going so quickly that he must have known the way.
The people of the Outpost prided themselves in keeping their exact location within the jungle surrounding the Sector a secret. It was in this way that they could explain never having been attacked by the Savages. As I watched Asis move past hanging vines and twisted tree lines without hesitation, though, I knew without a doubt that he was more than aware of where he was going. He knew where the Outpost was, and that meant most of the other Savages very likely did as well.
“Hey, bud,” Chester shouted to Asis, rattling the chains around his hands. “You forgetting something?”
“I forget nothing,” Asis said, then stopped short and turned back to Chester. “I will do as I promised and free you from the rest of your bindings, but not before gauging your character.”
“You think I’m gonna hurt you, big guy?” Chester asked, looking over at me and grinning. It was nice to see that, even after all he’d been through, he hadn’t lost the humor I had seen in him on our first day at the Outpost. “Because—not to get down on myself or anything—I think you might have me whipped when it comes to upper body strength and all that.”
Chester had a point. While he was thin and lanky, Asis had the arms, chest, and all-around physique of someone who was not to be trifled with.
“I don’t fear for myself, Roamer,” Asis said sternly, something like concern flashing through his eyes as his gaze slid over to me. “But I am not the only person on this sojourn.”
“Me?” I asked, my eyes growing wide. “You think Chester’s going to hurt me?”
Chester let out a loud and animated chuckle, his chains clanging together as he moved. “Well, if that ain’t the pigeon calling the cat dinner,” he howled. “You’re a Savage, big guy. In case they don’t teach you what that means out here, it basically states that you’re our sworn enemy. Starla, too. So, if she needs to worry about anybody giving her a wallop, it’s not me.”
“I would never hurt her,” he said quickly. The words sent warm shivers down my spine. “And while your tenets of relationship may hold true within the confines in which you live, they mean nothing to me here. I know her. I do not know you. That is what matters to me.”
“I know him,” I answered softly, moving to Asis and taking his hand. “This man saved my life. He used the Remington that’s in my pocket right now, and he shot a hole through a Ravager just to save me.” I squeezed Asis’ hand. “He saved me, Asis. I know him. I owe him. Take the chains off.”
Asis stared at me for quite a while after that. I couldn’t tell whether he was considering my request or considering the fact that I was comfortable enough with him to make such a request. Either way, the green mist poured from his hand and I knew he had agreed.
When the mist subsided, the chains were lying on the ground and Chester was a free man.
What was more, the cuts and bruises on his face were gone. He looked refreshed, looked rested. He looked the way he used to.
“Thank you,” I said, staring Asis right in his bright eyes.
“He does not have the weapon,” Asis answered, motioning to the Remington strapped against my side.
“Okay,” I said. It was the least I could do.
I tried to pull away, but Asis held me tightly.
“What is it you people say?” he asked, obviously struggling to find the right words. “It is…it is my pleasure.”
A slow smile spread across my face. I squeezed his hand again. “Okay,” I said.
Then I pulled away again, and this time, he let me go.
Chapter 19
Chester could move much more quickly through the jungle now. Whatever rejuvenating effects Asis’s abilities had had on him, they had done him a world of good. He was back to his old self, the vibrant person I’d seen on my way to the Outpost. Now, he even seemed to get along okay with Asis, though the Savage was more or less indifferent to Chester’s incessant rambling.
He told a story about his family back home, the way they used to chase chickens around the farm on weekends for fun.
“Regent knows nothing else grows there now. So, what else could we do?”
He also talked about his mother and the way she used to sew up old clothes and donate them to the people out in the country who were worse off than his family was.
“I personally don’t believe people could exist who were worse off than us, but it made my momma feel better. So, I guess that was something.”
To that, Asis replied, “My people are dying slowly from a disease that, if not halted, will complete a race-wide genocide. That is, if your ignorant party leaders don’t decimate us with mystical weaponry first.”
Chester shrugged. “Look at that. I guess Momma should have been giving the clothes to you guys the whole time.”
Our first break came as the sun began its downward dive and indicated that the day was fading.
I didn’t want to stop. I would have been happy to run at full speed until we reached the Outpost, but Asis reminded me that we hadn’t eaten, and that, if we were going to make it through this trek, we’d need our strength.
He went off to hunt up some food for us, leaving Chester and me to start a fire in anticipation of what he was going to bring back. That was fine by me. I had never been much of a hunter, and, although the idea that Asis might run into some trouble worried me, I was confident he could take care of himself. Besides, there was a matter I needed to finally discuss with Chester.
“Come over here,” I said, patting the ground beside me after Chester had finally managed to fan rock-produced sparks into actual flame. “Sit next to me.”
“Never was one to say no to a pretty girl,” he smiled, and plopped down.
“I’ve been lying to you,” I admitted quietly.
“You’re not pretty?” he said, nudging me playfully with his elbow, reminding me that he wasn’t the type to deal with serious issues in a serious manner. Maybe, given what I was about to tell him, that was a good thing.
“Chester,” I started.
“Let me guess: you’re not a girl,” he continued, laughing hard. “Your name’s not Starla. It’s Gretchen or Wilma or something stupid like that. Oh!” His eyes went wide with excitement. “You’re actually my long-lost twin sister, and you joined the Roamers just so you could get close to me without me getting suspicious.”
“I saw you die,” I said flatly.
His face dropped. “I liked my story better.”
“You know I have these abilities. I can see flashes of the future. When I touched your hand back at the Outpost, I got a flash of your future, and you were dead. I’m so sorry.”
He shook his head. “Aren’t these the same visions that you told me were only right about a tenth of the time?”
“I never said a tenth, but you’re right. Sometimes they’re wrong.”
“Well, that’s it, then. You were wrong,” he said, then shrugged and stood to go back to the fire.
“And what if I’m not?” I asked, blinking hard at him.
“If you’re not, then you’re not,” he said as he grabbed some sticks from the pile he’d gathered and threw them onto the fire. “Everybody dies, Starla. I never figured I’d be any different.”
“Damn it, Chester!” I yelled, jumping to my feet. “Why aren’t you taking this seriously?”
“What do you want me to do, Starla?” he asked, turning back to me after throwing the last of the sticks into the growing flames. “You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know. It’s dangerous out here. I might die. Don’t you think I considered all of that before I j
oined up in the first place? I sure as Sector am not going to throw my hands in the air and scream to whatever Maker might be listening to spare me just because you happened to remind me of how dangerous this place was.” He nodded firmly. “I like my life, Starla. Some of the time, I wish I could change some things, but, on the whole, I’m okay with the way things have turned out. But I know what I’m doing, and I know what I’m fighting for. If I didn’t think it was worth my life, then I wouldn’t have signed up. You understand what I’m trying to tell you?”
“Yeah,” I said, nodding. “I think I do.”
“Good,” he sighed. “Then can we go back to this fire and forget all this blubbery stuff?”
“Absolutely,” I replied.
Then I heard a rustling in the brush. Hoping it was Asis, I spun around, only to find a huge Ravager standing there to greet me.
As if it was calling to me, I felt the heat of the Remington against My hand trailed down to it as my body tensed up.
“You know how to use that thing?” Chester asked as he inched nearer to me.
“Last time I tried, I burned half the jungle down,” I said, though my hand was still slowly moving toward the gun.
“Maybe you should let old Chester try it this time, then,” he said, extending his arm slowly as he reached for the weapon. “We just won’t tell your boyfriend.”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I bristled as Chester slowly pulled the gun from its place strapped against my side.
“You can’t lie to Chester, sweetie,” he said. “Many have tried. None have succeeded. But we’ll talk about that after I kill this thing.”
This thing was raring to go. Drool dripped from its fangs and a hiss escaped its lips. But why wasn’t it moving? It just stood there, staring at us.
“What’s it doing
“I don’t know? Waiting to get killed?” Chester said as he lifted the gun and pointed it at the monster.
Before he could shoot, though, an army of hisses sounded from behind us.
I grabbed Chester’s free hand, all the panic and fear I wanted to share expressed in that single act.
“Well, I don’t like the sound of that,” he said.
We turned slowly to find a whole line of Ravagers standing behind us. They were a good twenty strong, which I had never seen or even heard of before. Ravagers didn’t travel in packs; at least, not in packs this big. The fact that they were together now meant something wasn’t right. It also meant that we were more than likely about to die.
“Can we run?” I asked, swallowing hard.
“One of us can,” Chester replied.
He spun hard, pointing the Remington at the solitary beast on the other side of us, and fired a shot right into its bulbous head. The monster flailed and hit the ground, whimpering and dying.
Then Chester pushed me. “Get out of here!” he screamed.
“Chester, no!” I yelled as he started firing at the line of Ravagers—a line that rushed toward us in full attack mode. “Chester, don’t do this!”
“Both of us aren’t getting out of here. You know that. If we try, we’ll just both get killed. You said it yourself, Starla: I’m a dead man. At least let me make it count. Give that to your old buddy Chester, won’t you?”
He fired shot after shot at the monsters, knocking some back and killing at least two more. But there were too many. He would soon be overtaken, and, if I didn’t take his advice, I would be too.
“You get back there. You save those Savages. You do what you got to,” he said, and gave me one last shove.
I stumbled backward, looking at Chester and realizing that this might be the last time I ever saw him.
The Ravagers reached him as I backed away, throwing themselves on top of him with a fury unlike any I had ever seen before. But there was something off about their movements. They had attacked in tandem, their bodies moving exactly the same way, as though they were being pulled by some unseen puppeteer. I saw the energy of the Remington burning holes through their bodies, but I knew it wouldn’t be enough. Chester would never make it out of this, not without help.
An anger and a sort of responsibility rose up inside of me. He might have thought he was better off as a sacrificial lamb to my cause, but I had a say in that as well and, if I had anything to do with it, I was going to get my friend out of this.
I rushed toward the pile pushing through the smell of burning flesh and blood as I ran. Fear raged inside me; I wasn’t insane, after all. I couldn’t let that stop me, though. I had set all this into motion and I had to stop the bloodshed. I had to make things right.
I was seconds away from throwing myself into the melee when a thick, dark green cloud flooded over the Ravagers.
Through the fog, I could hear loud cries and horrible breaking noises. I ever felt the splatter of something warm against my face.
When the fog finally receded, Asis was standing over a pile of broken and torn Ravager bodies. He was sweating, his chest heaving up and down as the green energy glowed around him.
Chester was lying at his feet, looking exactly the way he had in my vision. He was cut, he was broken, his lifeless eyes were open wide.
We were too late. My vision had come to pass, and Chester was dead.
“I’m sorry,” Asis said, looking down at my friend. “I tried to—” He swallowed hard. “I did not want this to come to pass.”
“I know,” I replied, then blinked back my tears and walked toward the carnage that lay before me. I hadn’t wanted this, either. I hadn’t wanted any of it—and if this vision had always been destined to come true, then what of the others? What of my father?
I knelt beside Chester and slid his eyelids closed.
“He deserves to go back home,” I said. “He deserves to be back on that farm where he chased the chickens, and where his mother sewed clothes for the less fortunate.”
“And he will,” Asis said. “For you, I will bring him to the gates of the Sector myself. I will anoint his body with oils and perfume, and I will ensure that he is given a warrior’s sendoff at the gate. But we cannot do that today.” He walked over to me and rested a hand on my shoulder. “We can only bury him here, deep enough to keep his remains safe and whole, place a marker over him, and come back when fate and circumstance allow.”
I couldn’t look away from Chester’s sweet, almost sleepy-looking face. Perhaps he could rest now. Perhaps his spirit was already gone.
“I need to say a few—”
Asis’s hand tightened on my shoulder. “Do you feel that?” he asked. “Do you feel that power?”
I had to admit I could feel nothing. Looking up at Asis, I saw that his attention had been pulled southward.
I followed his gaze to find a, disguised by the glare of the setting sun, standing off in the distance. Then I heard her voice inside my head, a familiar voice, but one that I couldn’t place.
“I’m sorry,” the voice said. “I truly am.”
Then a wave of energy engulfed us, and the world melted away.
Chapter 20
I woke in a dark room. The only light came from a burning candle at its center, and I could tell from the height of the candle that we had been here for at least a few hours. Sitting upright, I found Asis standing beside me, his bright eyes full of trouble and his jaw set.
The room we were in was a plain block cell. It boasted little in the way of luxury. Unless, of course, you counted a metal bucket in the corner of the room as a luxury.
“Where are we?” I asked, my voice cracking.
“A dungeon,” he replied. “Though exactly where we are, and who put us here, I cannot say.”
“The woman,” I said, remembering her figure off in the distance.
“What woman?” he said. “I saw no woman.”
“The one who did this to us,” I replied, moving to my feet. “The one who said she was sorry.”
“I certainly heard no woman,” Asis said. “The magic that knocked us out came from nowhere, like a wave conjured
up from nothingness.”
“No.” I shook my head. “That’s not right. That’s definitely not—”
I became dizzy and began to fall, but Asis quickly wrapped his arms around me. He scooped me forward and held me upright, pressed against him.
“I thought you were dead,” he admitted, and I could feel the beat of his heart against my own. “As you lay there, your breathing was slight enough to be nonexistent. Your heartbeat, that sweet heartbeat, was slow and nearly gone. I was sure I had lost you.”
“I didn’t know,” I said, swallowing hard. “I didn’t know I was yours to lose.”
He tightened his grasp on me, and I felt him stiffen against me. “Then, that is my shame. If, in my arrogance and ignorance, I have failed to show you how special you are and what you mean to me—” He leaned closer. “Allow me to show you now.”
Suddenly, he pressed his lips against mine. I fell against him, wrapping my arms around him and gasping as he lifted me off the ground.
I wrapped my legs together behind his back. A tingle ran through my body as he pushed me up against the wall.
His lips traveled down my throat as he ripped away my shirt, allowing his hands to reach my breasts. None of this felt real as his mouth encompassed first one nipple, then the other, his tongue flicking hard enough to stiffen both of them.
This was how my vision had felt: this warmth, this satisfaction, this hunger that seemed to keep growing the more it was fed.
He lifted his lips away from me, and I felt an ache in my core as he stepped back. Then he lowered me to the floor, and I groaned as he began to tug at the rest of my clothes. I struggled to help him, and a minute later I was naked and exposed—but I had never felt more at home somehow.
Smiling the whole time, he slid his own clothing off, revealing hard muscle and tanned skin under every inch of fabric.
Savage: an Adult Dystopian Paranormal Romance: Sector Seven (The Othala Witch Collection) Page 11
