Glistening Haven: A Shape Shifting Dystopian Boxset

by Jill Cooper

  No, it was too horrible for words.

  Chase wouldn’t do it. He wouldn’t become like them.

  Sally’s lip snarled. “Well? Answer or we’ll beat it out of you?”

  “I can’t do it.” Chase threw the mop down. “I won’t.”

  Sally crossed her arms. “You know what this means, what this will mean for Ginny? She’ll be moved outside. The food will be gone. Right now she’s living pretty high on the hog, but if you don’t comply . . .”

  Chase snorted and looked away. His heart ached at the thought of losing Ginny, but the longer he stood in the factory; the more pieces of his soul were being ripped apart. “She was right to oppose this deal, right to keep me away if I did the things you want me to do.” Chase shook his head.

  “You were going to get fringe benefits,” Sally’s voice was low and seductive. Her fingers traced down the front of his work overalls.

  “That might be the most disgusting part of it all. To think I’d ever touch you?” Chase whispered. “Of my own free will?”

  Sally’s eye twitched and her jaw dropped open. “Move him outside. Get me the glistening prod. Now!”

  It was the beginning, of the end, Chase thought as two guards grabbed him. His hands were pulled behind his back as he was kicked outside of the factory. He rolled down the stairs and landed face first in a fresh pile of snow. So cold, his skin burned on contact.

  “Get him up!” Sally drudged down the stairs.

  The guards grabbed him as up ahead the glistening dragons’ attention shifted to him from their tower perches. People around them took notice, but instead of coming forward, they moved backward.

  Alone, he would be tortured. No one was coming to his rescue. Had the glistenings beaten the last of their humanity from them? Maybe, Chase thought, but at least he’d die knowing he hadn’t become like them.

  Chase was forced onto his knees and Sally strolled in front, her long, white jacket swirling in the wind. “Bring her out here,” Sally ordered. “And strip her of her clothes.”

  “No!” Chase fought against the hands upon him.

  “Then submit. Go back into the factory and get to work. Tonight, you can join me in my bed.”

  Chase couldn’t, God help him he couldn’t. He stomach clenched and he stared down at the snow.

  The glistening prod had been slapped into Sally’s hand. “So be it. Retrieve the girl while I get this one ready.”

  Maybe, Chase thought, it was just the end. Maybe there was no more beginning. Now, there would be only death—after a little bit of suffering.

  Chase steeled himself as the prod went around his neck. It tightened and constricted. When the electrical current traveled through his body, all his muscles tensed. Pain rose to a factor of ten and traveled through his body. He tightened his jaw and neck, and then his eyes squeezed shut. He tried not to scream, he tried not to give her the satisfaction.

  It wouldn’t end, it just wouldn’t end . . . Sally kept it going. Chase’s mind went dark and he could smell his own burning flesh. He screamed. God help him, everything he had been through and seen, and none of it prepared him for this.

  “Good.” Sally smiled as she released the trigger. “Now, we’re getting somewhere.”

  ****

  Chase’s head slumped to the side. Blood spilled from his temple and his neck was burned, smoking, from the electrical torture. Beside him, Ginny was in only her bra and panties, shivering. Exposed to the elements, it wouldn’t be long. Her arms were wrapped around herself and every part of her trembled, her teeth chattered and even her bones quaked.

  “I’m sorry.” Chase’s voice was hoarse and he couldn’t make himself swallow even though he wanted to. His tongue was bone dry, thick, rough.

  “I knew you couldn’t do it.” Ginny’s voice trembled and her shoulders quaked. “I would rather die like this than . . .”

  Chase’s hand found hers and gave it a squeeze. He brought it to his lips to kiss it, but a baton reached down and swatted it away. It stung and traveled up the length of his arm.

  “Get them on their feet.” Sally paced away. “Glistening dragons be ready! On your marks! Fellow inmates, this is what happens if you disobey the rules. This is what will happen if you dare to defy us. Let them be an example you will never forget.”

  Ginny’s chest heaved for air as she was forced to her feet. Her chest was moving rapidly as she tried to breathe, she was close to hyperventilating and swayed on her feet.

  Chase grabbed her hand to keep her with him.

  “With me until the end?” Ginny asked softly.

  “The end.” Chase wrapped his fingers around hers and squeezed. “I’d rather the end hadn’t come so fast.”

  “We had a good run.” Ginny gazed up into his face. “We lasted longer than I ever imagined we would.”

  Chase leaned forward, so his lips grazed against hers. The glistening guards forced them apart, leading them into the center of the camp. There was enough distance between them that when the glistening dragons came down to feast, they would each be taken by one dragon.

  “One!” Sally held up a finger. “Two!”

  That was funny, Chase thought he saw someone charging toward the fence of the concentration camp and a dragon was pursuing her.

  Her face was haggard; her hair wild, but there was no mistaking who it was. Chase lunged forward, but was grabbed back by the guards. “Liz!”

  Could it be? Chase was beginning to think he’d never see her again, and then to suddenly find her here.

  Liz’s body slammed into the fence and her hand coiled around the wires. Her eyes were wide and her breathing was labored. “Don’t give up; hold on. Victor’s dead, he’s dead!”

  The sign. It was given? Chase’s mouth fell open and he glanced at Ginny, who looked equally perplexed. If the sign was given, that meant Jake and the others . . . Was the attack eminent? Was help on the way?

  “You need to fight back!” Liz rattled the cage, her teeth gritted together. The look in her eyes was crazy. The final act of a woman who knew it was the last thing she would ever do.

  Chase couldn’t let that happen. He glanced over at Ginny, who nodded. She understood; their train of thought was always the same.

  Time, he had to buy more time. Chase glanced back to the factory and saw the generator that powered the place including the commander’s office. It was tied closely to the fence. His eyes ran up it and saw the metal tower; the glistenings perched above.

  It was a crazy plan, but his only plan.

  But could he make it in time? If not, he would die trying.

  ****

  “You lie!” Sally snarled.

  “I killed him myself.” Liz’s eyes flickered over the crowd. “Chase? Ginny?” She gasped. “Don’t give up, hold on! There are enough of you in there . . . take them down. Don’t let them win. Take the compound, Chase!”

  Could he do it—with Ginny by his side, he probably could.

  “What if she’s right? What if Victor is dead?”

  “If Jake has his way, he’ll have us back in New Havens!”

  “Lies,” Sally said to her glistening guards. “Don’t let her deceive you. Victor’s fine and he will lead us to victory.”

  Behind Liz, the glistening dragon swooped down. He stalked her and if Liz noticed, she didn’t look back He noticed that Sally couldn’t stop a smile from spreading across her lips. “You’re time is up, my dear.”

  “No!” Chase screamed and lunged for the cage, but was held back by strong arms.

  Liz gasped and cast a look over her shoulder. Her face trembled as she spun around, her back up against the fence. Her head turned, her eyes squeezed shut; she looked ready to accept defeat.

  She did what she set out to do.

  “Tell Jake—” Her words were drowned out by a gurgling scream.

  ****

  “No!” Chase cried.

  The glistening dragon opened its mouth and pounced on Liz. It’s razor sharp claws and teeth shred
ded her. Like spools of ribbon, her flesh was torn from her body and pools of blood gathered in the snow, seeping beneath the fence.

  Her screams ripped through the compound before her neck was crushed and the glistenings inside the compound walls, stepped forward. Blood lust and hunger shone in their eyes.

  “It looks so good,” one said.

  Another licked his lips. “Someone want to remind me why we’re keeping these ones alive like this?”

  “Servitude.” Sally’s chest rose and fell as she said it, but she too, was salivating. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “The weak will join us. The strong will be . . .”

  “Dinner?” Chase asked. “Is that what you all want? To become dinner or work for these guys?”

  The majority of the crowd glanced at him while others could barely bring themselves to look away from the ground. Shame and embarrassment rippled through the factory workers. Chase glanced at Ginny and saw her standing defensively. Without any words from him and what he planned to do, Ginny stood taller, even though she was shivering. A real fighter, she saw a chance, albeit small, in getting out of this alive.

  The glistenings were distracted by the need that resulted from Liz’s death. She gave them one more thing, one more sacrifice, and that; Chase couldn’t let go to waste. Nodding at Ginny, he sprang into action. Yanking the controller switch to the glistening prod stuck around his neck; he broke free and ran toward the factory.

  “Stop him!” Sally screamed. A warning shot, or maybe not so much of a warning shot, was fired.

  Chase kept going, limping along with his bad leg, while the cracked ribs in his side made mere breathing sheer torture. He ducked his head, ripped the glistening prod off his neck, and stuck it to the generator. He wrapped its metal cord around the fence, and then pushed the button.

  The charge threw him clear. Chase covered his eyes with his arms, his back numbingly cold from the snow. The sky lit up as the generator exploded. Fire and sparks shot out. The glistenings on top of the towers twitched and their bodies flailed. Several caught fire and then sailed below to their deaths.

  Chase, still blinded from the light, rolled onto all fours and crawled away. He had no idea where he was going, or who was heading after him, but he heard the ground quiver from large paws touching down and he bumped straight into someone’s leg.

  “You’ll pay for that.”

  It was Sally’s voice. Then gunshots from a semi-automatic sounded.

  Chase wasn’t sure, but he thought maybe his luck finally ran out.

  His vision started to clear, part in color and part a sandy ombre. The first thing that snapped into place was the look of horror on Sally’s face. Blood dripped from her mouth and she slowly dropped to her knees, before landing facedown—dead.

  Chase slowly stood and was surprised when he saw naked, shivering, Ginny holding the weapon. There was a spare one over her shoulder, which she tossed to him. “Come with me if you want to live,” Ginny said with a wry smirk.

  “Funny. Behind you!” Chase aimed his gun, while Ginny twisted and took her place at his side, where she belonged. Damn, that was where she belonged and Chase would work his ass off to make sure she never left it again.

  Glistening guards were charging them, but by the fence, the smoked barbecued bodies of other glistening dragons lay. They had fallen from their towers, and without them to keep the humans in line; the glistening guards were outnumbered, one hundred to one.

  The humans knew it, but the glistenings didn’t know yet.

  “Hands up,” Ginny said, pulling her arm back to aim close to her eye, just like Chase had once taught her.

  “You heard the lady,” came the voice of the factory worker who always carried the clipboard, except now he had a gun too.

  The six guards stopped and glanced at each other.

  “We have more than enough guns to kill you guys, so don’t even think of changing form,” the factory worker said.

  Chase thought maybe they couldn’t. Maybe not all glistenings could without fresh, human blood in their system. He had seen it before. If they could transform, he was sure they would’ve done it by now.

  The guards raised their hands and slowly dropped to their knees. A cheer erupted up from the humans, fists in the air not a moment too soon, in Chase’s books. He couldn’t help a smile when Ginny backtracked.

  “Where you going?”

  “There’s a perfectly good coat over there.” Ginny nodded her head.

  She was still naked; Chase hadn’t even noticed. “Bullet hole clothing is in style this season,” he said as Ginny went to grab the coat.

  “Do we kill them now?” someone from the crowd asked.

  “Do we stone them?”

  “Hook them up in the factory. Let them die like our own died!”

  A cheer of applause erupted from the group and Chase didn’t have the heart to tell them the factory wouldn’t work anymore without electricity.

  “You’re making a mistake, all of you,” one of the guards said.

  Chase nudged another guard with his gun. “Let me tell you about a guy I know named Jake Monroe, and what he wants for the glistenings and the humans. Then you can tell me who made the mistake.

  For a brief moment, he glanced at the remains of Liz along the fence. What was left of her . . . Chase shivered, but not from the cold; instead, from the memory of her tattered body, now etched in his brain forever.

  It was a mistake to let them live after what they did here, what they allowed. But Justice wasn’t killing. That was retribution.

  There were no courts, no jails, and nowhere to keep these bastards if Jake lost; so what was it Chase was supposed to do? Without thinking about it, his trigger finger pulled back slightly.

  Except, a good-looking girl in a long, white overcoat put her hand on his arm to steady him. Her face was light and her eyes bright. “We can’t become them.”

  Can’t become them. Ginny might have been right. Lord knew Chase came very close, boy, had he come close.

  “Lock them in the command center. Then we can figure out what we’re going to do next,” Chase said to the crowd.

  Ginny smiled at him. Apparently, it was an answer; his lady could get behind. “But first, we pay our respects.” Her eyes cast over to the fence.

  Chapter Twenty-One Jenna

  The sirens blared and lights flashed in the rear of the ambulance bay. Tires squealed as they took the turns hard and fast. As Jenna came to, her surroundings blurred and her stomach tightened. She felt so sick; she couldn’t remember where she was. When was the last time she had eaten or where was Dirk?

  “We’re losing her,” a man’s voice from far-off said. “The fever is spiking up from fetal distress.”

  “Get her there. This can’t all be for nothing.” That voice, that damn voice made her skin crawl—Jameson.

  Jenna’s eyes snapped open and to attention. She pulled her arms, but the restraints kept her in place, even as she gritted her teeth and lifted her head off the gurney. She had to get away and move to safety.

  Her baby . . . her baby.

  Closing her eyes, Jenna felt the pull of unconsciousness. In the dark, she saw herself, snarling with a gun, ready to attack and blow her way out of any situation. Hands were all around her and Jenna screamed, “Let me go!”

  A hand pressed down on her chest and forced her back. “Easy, take a few breaths.” The doctor spoke to someone behind him. “Her blood pressure is off the charts. We need to sedate her again.”

  A face came into view.

  Briggs, of all people, the commanding officer of New Haven 57, came into view. “Then sedate her again.”

  Jenna’s breath rattled and she bared her teeth at him and at Jameson. “You better kill me when this is over because you’re both dead if I get out of here. Do you understand me? You’re both dead!”

  Jameson glanced away. Sitting down, he clasped his hands together, his eyes on the floor. Pitiful excuse for a man, Jenna planned to hurt him
, not just kill him. Make him suffer, torture him, that’s what Jenna wanted.

  When the doctor leaned over to give her the sedative, she lashed out. Rearing up, her mouth opened and she bit his neck as hard as she could.

  The doctor screamed and pushed on her neck, trying to get her off. Blood sprayed into Jenna’s mouth like a sweet dessert. Fangs, for the lack of a better word, extended from her gums and her arms shimmered.

  That was all it took. The taste of blood in her mouth was delicious. The monitors around her beeped frantically as her pulse rocketed and Jenna squeezed her hands tight. Thrashing, her neck strained and Jenna swallowed the blood.

  It strengthened her, even just the tiny amount she swallowed.

  Jenna could get out of there.

  The needle fell from the doctor’s hand. Everyone dashed for it as Jenna bucked and swayed in the gurney to get free. She didn’t feel good, something was happening to her. Her chest rose and fell as she struggled to breath and all Jenna could smell was the human blood. The taste of it was rich, metallic, like a wonderful, warm meal in her mouth.

  Collapsed to the floor, the doctor held his hands to his throat. His eyes rolled back into his head and Jenna thought he might die. There was gladness in her heart instead of regret. Her hands that grabbed the sheet around her body weren’t human anymore, but were like talons.

  They were half human—half glistening.

  This was her curse.

  Jameson jammed the needle into her throat, searing pain raced up into her skull. Her eyes, narrow and accusing, caused the smug smile on his face to transform into fear. “You did this to me,” Jenna snarled. She always promised herself she’d never taste the blood. First animal and now human, it was all Jameson’s fault.

  And he’d pay, one way or another.

  ****