Boy of Blood

by Megan O'Russell

  “It’s not failed,” Nola said as two guards stepped toward T, Catlyn, and Beauford. “My group didn’t do anything wrong. They’re good workers who didn’t fight at all.”

  The two guards walked straight past Nola.

  “You three have to come with us,” a young female guard said, holding her gun at her side.

  “Where are you taking them?” Nola wove through the guards to stand between them and her group.

  The guard didn’t answer.

  “Mom, where are they taking them?” she asked again, her voice rising so Lenora couldn’t pretend not to hear. “They didn’t do anything wrong. They’re good workers, and we need them. Where are you taking my group?”

  “Having workers from the outside isn’t—”

  “Yes, it is!” Nola shouted. Heads turned toward her, but she didn’t flinch. “It is for these three. Tell me you aren’t going to put them out with the ones who fought. Tell me you’re taking them back to the cells you call their rooms and feeding them while we clean up in here.”

  “Magnolia,” Lenora said.

  “Mom, tell me you’re going to do the right thing.” Nola balled her hands into fists, her pulse racing so fast warm blood dripped from her cuts.

  “Fine,” Lenora said after a long moment. “You’ve managed well enough with them. But let it be known that if there is one toe stuck out of line, they’ll be outside in a minute.” Giving the group behind Nola a scathing look, Lenora stalked away.

  “If you’ll follow us then,” the female guard said, her gun still in her hand.

  “You can put that away,” Nola said.

  “You don’t have the authority to tell me to do anything.” The guard glared coolly at Nola.

  “Jeremy, will you walk down with them?” she asked.

  “Of course.” Jeremy didn’t look at Nola or question her as he led the group out of the domes.

  Other Dome Guard surrounded the group of downed outsiders. Two guards taking each one and carrying them away. Those who had fought against the domes would wake up on the road outside with no choice but to walk the bridge back to the city and hope they found their homes still standing.

  If they even make it that far.

  Nola shuddered as two guards lifted the woman who had started the fight, grateful the glass between herself and the outside world was solid once again.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The heat of the shower stung the skin on Nola’s shoulders, but she didn’t turn the temperature down. She knew she should hate herself for standing in hot water, washing with fresh-scented soap while the workers who had fought against the guards trudged toward the city. Toward the dark and unknown.

  She took a deep breath, letting the steam fill her lungs.

  It’s their own fault they were sent away.

  That doesn’t make marching into the darkness less frightening.

  She shut off the water. The urge to run filled her again. To find a way outside the glass and just keep running until there was nothing left to run from.

  But there was nowhere to run to. There was nothing to run to. She stepped onto the tiny landing that joined her and her mother’s bedroom to the bathroom.

  “Nola,” Jeremy said.

  Nola squeaked and jumped back, banging her shoulder on the doorjamb.

  “Sorry.” Jeremy stepped out of the shadows at the bottom of the stairs. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Gripping her towel tighter, she turned on the light. “It’s fine.”

  Her heart thundered in her chest as Jeremy dashed up the steps and reached for her hand.

  “I just needed to see you, and I thought I would wait down here.” Jeremy blushed.

  “It’s okay.” She took his hand, leading him into her room and closing the door behind them. “Is my mom here?”

  “No.” Jeremy sat down on the bed, holding his head in his hands. “At least I didn’t see her.”

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, sitting close enough to Jeremy that her arm pressed into his.

  “Gentry’s leaving.” He didn’t look at Nola as he spoke. “She might already be gone.”

  “Leaving? What do you mean leaving? Gentry loves the domes. She’s an Outer Guard, she’d never abandon her home.”

  “She requested a transfer to another set of domes and got approved,” Jeremy said. “They’re taking her away on the transport that brought the new guards in.”

  “But why? How?” Nola knelt on the floor in front of him, moving his hands away from his face. “If we needed more people to be brought into the domes here, why would they let her leave?”

  “It’s”—Jeremy paused, his brow wrinkled as though the thought of it caused him physical pain—“complicated.”

  “How?”

  He pulled Nola up to sit on his lap, resting his head on her bare shoulder.

  “Guard stuff,” Jeremy said. “With the city and the fighting…she wants out.”

  “I’m sorry.” She pressed her lips to his temple.

  “It’s not your fault. It isn’t anybody’s fault. I just, I never thought she’d actually leave.”

  Nola wrapped her arms around Jeremy, holding him close.

  “I mean, I know people have asked to transfer out before,” he said, “but I never thought it would be someone I knew. She’s leaving for the other side of the world, and I don’t know if she’ll ever come back. I may never see my sister again.”

  Nola opened her mouth to say that of course he would see Gentry again, but she couldn’t bring herself to lie, even if it might make Jeremy feel better.

  There was hardly any transportation between domes. Her mother, who went to conferences once a year, traveled more than anyone else she knew. Transfers were always for things like specialized training. A temporary assignment that lasted a few years. The far south domes had had too many females a few years back, and the spares had been dispersed to other domes. But leaving just because you wanted to, that wasn’t a thing people were allowed to do. If Gentry left, there might never be a way for her to come home.

  “Dad’s a mess.” Jeremy’s voice was thick with unshed tears. “She had told him she was going to ask the Council for a transfer, but I don’t think he thought she would actually go through with it.”

  “He’ll be okay.” Nola pressed her cheek to Jeremy’s, too afraid to look him in the eye.

  She didn’t know if Captain Ridgeway would be okay. She didn’t know if any of them would be.

  “Your dad is tough,” Nola pressed on, relieved her voice sounded strong. “You both are. Gentry is a great guard, and she’ll be great wherever she ends up.”

  “You said you wanted to leave,” Jeremy said. “Before the domes were attacked, you said you wanted to leave the domes and live on the outside to help people.”

  “I did.” Nola tensed.

  Kieran had shown her ways she could be helpful to the people fighting to survive on the outside. It had all seemed worth it. To be out there doing something that mattered. Risking her life to save others had seemed more meaningful than living trapped behind glass, watching the world crumble.

  “I would have gone with you.” Jeremy twined his fingers through hers. “I would have left everything behind for you.”

  “I know.”

  “I would have gone to protect the girl I love, but Gentry’s just gone. Do you think she would have forgiven me if I had left?” Jeremy turned to look into Nola’s eyes, searching for an honest answer.

  “I don’t think so.” She swallowed the knot in her throat. “I don’t think anyone would have forgiven either of us.”

  “Then how am I supposed to forgive her?”

  “I don’t know,” Nola said. “I don’t know if you can, but if she just couldn’t take the fighting anymore—”

  “It doesn’t matter what she could or couldn’t take. She shouldn’t have left.”

  She tried to think of something comforting to say that would prove Gentry had been right to leave. But she was abandoning her
family and the domes in their time of need.

  There is no excuse.

  Nola curled up on the bed and pulled Jeremy to lie down next to her.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, pushing Nola’s hair away from her face.

  “When I look like a drowned rat?”

  “Always.” He pulled her closer. Her towel twisted, baring her hip. She reached down to cover herself, but Jeremy was already kissing her.

  He smelled like himself again. Like fresh earth, and new life.

  “Nola,” Jeremy breathed as she pressed herself to him, feeling every curve of his body against hers.

  Beep, beep. Beep, beep.

  Nola bolted up in bed at the sound, knocking Jeremy to the floor.

  “What’s that?” Jeremy said, at the same moment Nola asked, “Are you all right?”

  Beep, beep. Beep, beep.

  PAM beeped at her from the wall, flashing a faint blue light. Jeremy scrambled out of sight as Nola pressed the blue light and the screen blinked to life.

  Captain Ridgeway’s face stared back at her.

  “Captain Ridgeway.” Nola straightened her towel, blushing to the roots of her dark hair. Her eyes flicked over to Jeremy, who hid pressed into the corner of the wall.

  Eyes wide, he put a finger to his lips.

  “Captain Ridgeway, is everything okay?” Nola said.

  “I’m sorry to disturb you this late at night, Nola.” Captain Ridgeway clenched his jaw as he spoke, as though trying not to shout. “But I need you to come to my office as soon as possible.”

  “Your office?” Nola’s voice squeaked. “Why do you need me to come down there?”

  He’s found out. He’s found out you helped Nightland, and now he’s going to throw you in the cell right next to Raina’s.

  “I’ll explain as soon as you get here. Do not accept any further communication. Do not let anyone stop you on your way down. Come straight here. Immediately.”

  “Okay.” Nola nodded. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  “Be here in five,” the captain said. “And Nola, wear boots and a coat.”

  The screen went dark.

  “Boots and a coat?” Jeremy craned his neck to stare up at the place where his father’s face had just been. “He wants you to go outside?”

  Before she could think of an answer, the blue light began to flash again.

  Beep, beep. Beep, beep.

  Nola reached instinctively forward to press the light before stopping herself. “Why would someone else be calling?”

  “No idea, but we need to go.” Jeremy turned and faced the closed door of Nola’s room.

  Beep, beep. Beep, beep.

  Nola’s hands shook as she yanked clean clothes out of her drawers. “What if your dad found out about Nightland? What if he found out you helped me talk to T?”

  “He didn’t,” Jeremy said. “If he knew about that, there would be guards banging on the door to haul you out for banishment.”

  “That shouldn’t feel comforting.” She buttoned her pants and yanked on a shirt. “Why does that feel comforting?”

  The beeping that had stopped for a moment, resumed.

  Jamming on her boots and grabbing her coat, Nola took Jeremy’s hand. “You’ll come down with me, right?”

  “Of course.” Jeremy ran with Nola out of the empty house and onto the stone path.

  Night had fallen. Only the faint lights coming from the houses lit their way. Overhead, dim reflections sparkled in the glass. Faraway stars, fighting to be seen through the smog and the light of the domes that surrounded them.

  Near the stairs to the tunnel, a stronger light came into view. Not the nearby light of the atrium, something much farther away.

  A cluster of tiny lights that seemed to be in the wrong place.

  “What is that?” Nola pulled Jeremy off the path and toward the glass. Hundreds of lights flickered on the far bank of the river between the domes and the city.

  “The bridge,” Jeremy said. “It’s all by the bridge.”

  Without waiting for her to stop looking through the glass, Jeremy dragged her at a sprint toward the stairs.

  “Why are there people by the bridge?” she panted, running as fast as she could, struggling to keep up with Jeremy’s much longer strides.

  She had been on the bridge at night twice before. There had been nothing there but wolves and Vampers searching for victims.

  A faint hum sounded, and Jeremy looked down at the black band on his wrist. “Shit.”

  “What is it?” Nola asked.

  “They want me in uniform.” Jeremy pulled Nola to run faster.

  Around the next corner, a line of men waited.

  Captain Stokes stood in the middle of the hall, blocking the steps to the Outer Guard barracks.

  “Miss Kent.” Stokes stepped out of line, planting himself in the center of the corridor.

  “We have to get downstairs,” she wheezed, moving to go around Stokes, but the guards behind him closed ranks.

  “I’ve been called down to the barracks,” Jeremy said, danger sounding in his voice.

  “You can go down if you like.” Stokes gave a hateful little bow. “Miss Kent is coming with me.”

  “I can’t come with you,” Nola said, forcing her voice to stay level though her heart still raced. “I have to go to Captain Ridgeway’s office. There’s something going on by the bridge. He might not have much time to talk to me if he has to go out there.”

  “That is exactly why you are coming with me.” Stokes stepped forward, his guards matching his movement. “We are going up to the Com Room right now.”

  “Get out of our way,” Jeremy said. “Come on, Nola.” Leading her by the arm, Jeremy took a step forward.

  Stokes stepped right in front of Jeremy. Had Stokes been as tall, they would have been nose-to-nose.

  “You think your blood gives you the right to order me around?” Stokes spoke softly. “I will have you out of the domes so fast your father won’t even know how he suddenly lost both his children.”

  “You son of a bitch,” Jeremy snarled, dropping Nola’s arm and punching Stokes hard in the face.

  The line of guards descended on him as he hit Stokes in the stomach, leaving the captain sprawled on the floor.

  “Nola, run!” Jeremy punched one of the other guards.

  Nola froze. She couldn’t leave Jeremy fighting one against five. But what help could she be against trained guards?

  “Nola, go!” Jeremy kicked another guard in the stomach, sending him flying into the man behind him.

  Running as fast as she could, Nola tore down the flight of stairs to the Outer Guard barracks. People sprinted through the corridor, not with the sense of panic that had filled the domes when guards were bloody and wounded, but with practiced urgency.

  None of them even seemed to notice her standing at the foot of the stairs, trying to see a way through the pattern.

  “Jeremy Ridgeway needs help!” Nola shouted. “Captain Stokes and his men tried to stop us, and now they’re fighting him!”

  “Carter, Wright, with me,” a guard barked to two others before charging up the stairs.

  “You should take more!” Nola called after them, but they were already out of sight.

  Forcing her way through the corridor, she managed to get to Captain Ridgeway’s office. The door swung open the instant she knocked.

  “Inside.” Captain Ridgeway gabbed Nola’s wrist and yanked her into the office, snapping the door shut behind him.

  “What’s going on?” she asked. Even with the movement of the hall no longer visible, she could still feel the frenetic energy in the air. “We saw lights by the bridge on the way down.”

  “We?” Captain Ridgeway asked, his eyes boring holes into her.

  “I was with Jeremy when you called,” Nola said as he pointed for her to sit. “He was coming down here with me. But Stokes got in the way, and Jeremy punched him.”

  Captain Ridgeway swore un
der his breath.

  “Some Outer Guard went up to help him.”

  “We can’t worry about Jeremy. There isn’t time. Something is happening in the city right now, and we cannot allow it to continue.”

  “What?” Sweat beaded on her palms as Captain Ridgeway pressed on.

  “There is a group amassing by the bridge, more than a thousand people. If that many decided to attack the domes—”

  “It would be worse than Nightland.” Nola’s head spun.

  Blood-slicked floor. Shattered glass. Bodies to be burned.

  “We don’t know if they are planning to attack,” the captain said. “So far, they’ve only given us one demand. They want to speak to Nola Kent.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Nola grabbed the edge of her seat as the room tilted. “Who? Who wants to talk to me?”

  “We don’t know.” Captain Ridgeway leaned over her. He was so much taller than she was. A tower of strength larger than she could ever grow to be.

  “Emanuel.” Nola mouthed the word. There wasn’t enough air in her lungs to speak.

  “I don’t think so.” Captain Ridgeway crouched down, speaking to her on eye level as though she were a frightened child. “There is absolutely nothing to indicate Emanuel or any trace of Nightland has come back to the city. What we do know is that if the people out there try to cross the bridge, there will be a bloodbath. We have to stop them from crossing that bridge.”

  She nodded.

  “We need you to go out there and talk to them. They’ve refused to speak to any of my guards. You have to help us find out what they want.”

  She shook her head. She couldn’t go out there. She couldn’t face a crowd of angry outsiders.

  “Nola, there isn’t a choice.” He took both her hands in his. “You have to go out there. I’ve told them you’d come, and if you don’t show up, people will die. Guards will die.”

  “Why?” The shock of Captain Ridgeway’s words jolted air back into her lungs. “Why would you say I’ll go out there? What could they want from me?”

  “You won’t be there alone. You will be surrounded by Outer Guard. I’ll be nearby. We won’t let them hurt you.” He pulled Nola to her feet.