by Logan Keys
I stop Shade before he sneaks me in. “We are about to go into an adult version of Lord of the Flies, right?”
He laughs. “Yeah.”
Still can’t see his face. I’m getting used to it now, though.
“I can handle myself,” I say. “But steer me to the leader before they attack, and I’ll take care of the rest.”
Chapter 22
Dallas
Bradford’s exactly how I’d picture the male version of Adrian to be. She’s bitter and sour, and he’s all puffed up and cocky, traipsing back and forth near his own throne like a rooster.
Another throne? What century am I in? And why would the forces go along with this? I bet I’m about to find out.
Not much is obvious with these specials, they have their own covert way of hiding their traits, but I can sense that Bradford isn’t all human. A beast of a man, both in terms of inside and who he is.
But I only get a glimpse of him when we move to his part of the city. He leaves before I approach, and so Shade and I decide to do a little recon instead.
Bradford is running the show, his little gang snapping fingers close behind like Westside Story.
We follow him through the barracks. He’s got it out for one of his, someone’s messed up.
They pull out a soldier who’s obviously been roughed up and I feel Shade shuffle on his feet uneasily.
“Is this the norm?” I say as they haul the poor guy away for some small infraction.
He nods.
I motion for us to leave. It’s all I need to see. I’ve got a beat on him for my dream walking.
In our shadows, we head back. I don’t want a confrontation with this many of his men around, and I have another way of getting at the creep.
When we step outside of the gate, he asks in confusion, “That’s it?”
I shrug. “For now.”
“And then you go to sleep and attack him?”
“It doesn’t quite work like that.”
“Why don’t you tell me how it works then?”
Shade moves to sit on a barrel. We’d left the guarded area, who were not being very vigilant as we’d swept right past them, twice. But, now we’re near the “line” and a hastily put up a fence in an empty spot, alone.
I bounce a hand on the chain-link, testing it, before I finally sit on another barrel, across from Shade.
“I’m not really sure how it works,” I begin. “When it happened to me I was paralyzed by fear, he was meaning to scare me. I haven’t done that to anyone.”
“Yet…”
“Yet. I just slipped in and out on accident. Seeing your leader---”
“He’s not my leader.”
I frown. “Then why guard his walls?”
“I’m not exactly following Bradford, as much as helping the men not be turned into statues by a crazy lady.”
“Touché. But he’s not exactly sane himself.”
“Touché.”
I’d seen those zealots’s eyes before. Bradford is definitely keeping the world spinning the direction it has been since I’ve known it. Off into violence, chaos, and hate.
“Anyway,” I say. “I’ve only done it a couple of times. Joelle thinks I should be able to see him, and visit him, and maybe we can use it for some good.”
“Good for you or good for Adrian?”
“I’m not really sure, Shade.” I let the exhaustion tinge my voice. “I have no dog in this fight.”
He starts to laugh. I do too, but out of a confused tiredness.
“What?” I ask.
“You just have no idea how funny that comment is.”
“How so?”
“You’ll see.”
I look at the space where Shade had been, but now it’s empty. Only the echo of his voice once more, “You’ll see.”
And then I am alone.
I shake my head. I’ve not seen him in the daylight, and no wonder I’m getting tired. The sun, it’s coming
I have to jet back to my sleeping cubby hole, pronto.
But first, I need to eat. And this is a good time for that.
It’s a risk this close to dawn, but once I get near the moat, I find out I’m not the only one cutting it close.
I hear her inside my head before I see her through the trees, a streak of black hair. I’d had to use a small boat to get across the moat, but Joelle’s wet like she’d swam.
She’s moving so fast, she’ll be dry soon.
I find that instead of hunting deer, I’m stalking my fearless teen-aged leader. She’s the one who spots and brings down the animal with grace, and the neck breaks without the poor thing ever feeling fear.
She’d nearly been feral before, and it makes her a keen huntress.
Joelle is done in minutes, and she retreats to the shadows. I take my turn and let the rising sun find me just enough to burn.
We don’t have time to cross the moat, so we both search out a place in the soft earth to lay.
It’s not pretty, and I hate to admit that now the feeling of being buried alive very much suits me. It’s not like I need to breathe. It doesn’t bother me like it should.
Instead, fertile soil replenishes me, and the heartbeat of the earth at the core lulls me to sleep.
But this “night” I do not enter Bradford’s dreams as I’d wanted. I enter Shade’s.
Chapter 23
Liza
“What if I told you I wasn’t dead? That I was trapped here? Same as you.”
I close my eyes so tightly that it hurts. It doesn’t really hurt, but it is painful inside of my mind and I realize that perhaps the mind could be injured or killed inside of Cory’s false realities, that I could be hurt or killed.
Tommy’s voice is as pure as snow that’s untouched in the early morning. I’ve been on the island every single day for what feels like a million days and now I’m here again. La La Land.
I’m in L.A., and that means the soft voice speaking to me is a nightmare and not a dream. Because if there is anything harder than seeing Jeremy again, it’s seeing Tommy.
I’m not sure why that is. Maybe because Tommy’s death was fresh. Jeremy’s turning into a guard feels a lifetime ago. If I open my eyes, I will see him again and I’ve been brave…. I’ve been strong… as strong as I can be, but I’m not brave enough for this.
“Make him go away!” I scream. “Cory!”
“Hey, hey,” Tommy says and when he touches my arm, I hiss and open my eyes, glaring at the apparition.
I’m ready to be angry, but soft brown eyes melt me where I stand. “Tommy,” I whisper, and everything else falls away.
“Where are we?” I ask.
This is a new landscape.
“The beach,” Tommy says. He frowns. “You’ve never been here? Let me show you around.”
Tommy takes my hand and I glance down to see that my feet are bare and sinking into wet sand.
“It’s pretty,” I say, looking at the distant sunset. The sky’s turning pink.
“Yeah,” he replies, sounding excited. “I wanted to show you. We can sit here and watch the sun go down.”
He glances at me. I nod that I will, and he grins. Tommy leads me to what feels like the edge of the world. “This where we landed before. We fought a battle here with the Authority, and then we lost. But now look, see? They took it back.”
“Yes.” I smile because his good ole boy charm is infectious as always.
A sinking feeling in my gut reminds me this isn’t real as we sit together in the pretty setting. Because somehow this too will turn.
I mutter under my breath over and over, “Wake up. Wake up. Wake up.”
“Liza,” Tommy chides. “You can relax. Nothing bad will happen.”
But it will. I almost say it out loud, but then he’s gone. He just disappears.
“Come on in the waters fine!”
I spin toward the ocean. Tommy’s in the waves up to his waist.
My mouth drops open. “Tommy!” I scream.
<
br /> Behind him rises a tidal wave of red water.
“Look out!”
But it’s coming for us both.
He stays there not moving.
I watch it rush onward.
Swallow him whole.
And then it hits me too.
Chapter 24
Crystal
Jeremy’s awake. I mean really awake. He’s up and pacing and angry.
“I’ve never felt a rage as I do now. My sister should have died in her home. Surrounded by her family. One who loves her.” He shoots a glare in my direction.
“Use it, Jeremy. That’s fuel for your work.”
“Where are they?”
“The Skulls or..?”
“My family.”
“Your father---”
He waves a hand in the air. “I know he’s dead.”
Jeremy doesn’t mention Liza. His eyes dart away like he’s avoiding looking at the empty air that a moment ago held her ghost for him.
I don’t say that she’s alive. Instead I say, “Your mother’s purging the citizens. We have to make our move.”
“I know.”
“But?”
“Not yet.” He sits down, defeated, running a hand through his long hair. “Where’s Phillip,” he asks.
“On his way to Anthem, hopefully.”
“From where?”
“A mission.”
He nods. He doesn’t care. Not yet.
“When will we return, Jeremy, when?”
“God, Crystal! I’ve just lost my sister! I need a moment.”
“We’ve needed a “moment” since day one. Every other moment is in need of a moment after. But every moment costs them! Jeremy, every single second counts.”
Jeremy is staring at me but sees nothing. The fog has got him. Whatever is wrong with him is happening more and more. Used too, there were warnings. Now, just one instant we are talking, the next, he’s gone.
I wave a hand in front of his face.
Nothing.
I turn to find the doctor.
Chapter 25
Crystal
I knew Jeremy would be wary of me letting Phillip into the skulls, but what choice did I have?
“He helped us.”
Jeremy’s purple eyes, now matching the skin around them where he’d bruised up like a piece of fruit during his imprisonment, stares back at me realizing that’s all I’ll say on the matter. My argument is just that. He’s the talker, not me.
“Fine,” he says. “But look.” He grabs my hands and pulls me close.
“Yes,” I say, hating my traitorous girlish heart that picks up beats.
“Thank you is what I wanted to say,” he murmurs.
That’s all, I think, breath held.
And I do it. I kiss him. I know I shouldn’t but I can’t help myself. I love this boy as much as I love my own worthless hide and he kisses me back.
He doesn’t love me back, but he kisses me back and I’ll take it.
And I wrap my arms around him. I pull him flush against me and use my curves for all they are worth and I bet him with my body to not be interested enough to fall off that cliff with me, so I’m not alone.
Jeremy turns his head, deepens our kiss, and for one moment the passion that is his, passes between us and it ignites me. I’m believing in every bit of his work and I believe in him all over again because he’s like that.
He’s energy and goodness, but sometimes not as good as he is passionate, but a little bit spills over and I want it---I want it all, and I want him---
But then he stops.
“Crystal,” he says.
“I know,” I answer.
I don’t want him to put his precious words to our feelings. So, I say, “I know,” more firmly and I step away.
I’m proud of myself because if I can step away then I can do this. I can build a rebel team of Skulls to take on the Authority and I can create anything if I can step away from this passion. Unlike him, I’m the one who puts the cause above all else for once, and I will love my job as leader more than Jeremy Writer. I will do that.
I will love this country more than I love the Skulls even.
I will love this city more than I love myself.
“Phillip,” I say. “You can be a skull.”
He gives a humorless laugh. “So, you got permission then…?”
I stiffen. “I don’t need permission. I’m not even sure why you want to be one…”
“But you asked him.”
“I did.”
I don’t want to but I color. I turn bright red like a Christmas bulb on the brightest freaking Christmassy Christmas tree ever.
Phillip doesn’t just notice. He stops everything to gawk at me like I’m infected and I am infectious, so he better not come any closer.
I grind my teeth, try to look tough.
He’s not buying it.
“You really need this guy?” he asks me.
“What choice do I have? If we lost Jeremy, we’d lose everything.”
Phillip’s eyes turn curious. “You think so? Is that the leader talking or you?”
No one’s ever mentioned it before. My affections. Or even tried. They’d have had the fight of their life on their hands if they had. Phillip’s lucky I’m too tired to argue.
“It’s both,” I say. “Jeremy is an integral part of this operation. He always will be. If you don’t like it, there’s the door.”
“So that’s that, then? Hey, no worries. I plan on sticking around either way, but I’d like to see your priorities weighted better.”
I show my teeth. I’m so angry I could bite him.
The glittering eyes flicker away and he moves to grab his shirt. He punches his arms threw the holes, his muscles rippling, making me realize for the first time how truly attractive the wolf really is. Then I feel silly for the fact that I don’t even notice other men anymore. Ever. Jeremy’s a whirlwind and enough on a girl’s hand… even if it’s just a one-sided crush, it’s… crushing.
I shut that part of my brain off and look at Phillip. Not in contrast. Not in comparison. He’s all bronze skin and gorgeous ink. Loads of work on his body in both arenas.
I shake my head. At myself. At the world. Since when do I look at men or women as more than a tool to fight against the Authority? Since Jeremy. Since Phillip.
That’s when.
Son of a bitch.
Chapter 26
Crystal
And Phillip wants me, too.
It only takes me a week to finally get it through my thick head.
Jeremy finally recovered from his purging and was back to his usual Yo-Yo self, and he started writing. And he wrote and wrote and wrote. Every morning I’d go into his room to find him practically naked between the pages on his bed as if they were women he’d loved all night.
I’d collect them one by one from his sweaty sheets, the musky smell on the pages making me think of things I’d rather not, and he’d turn just enough to show me himself, and I’d find myself staring. Not at his body.
At the scars.
Jeremy’s scars bother me more than my own. The ones across his back, red and livid still, angry, ruined lines from nape to rump. They must have put him up there and let him rip himself down a few times. They must have known who he was.
The first time I’d seen them, I shook with rage. Today, I sit on the bed and cry.
He wakes up but doesn’t turn his head to look at me. He lets me have that much dignity.
I’d always wanted Jeremy. From the moment we met, back when our parents had parties and balls together to celebrate the Authority’s rule. And from the first night we both had this shared energy of rebellion at one such celebration. We both had stepped outside, and I had ripped my hair down from its pretty bun and he had rubbed a hand through his gelled head to mess it up and we’d smiled at one another in our impotent positions. We’d grinned. Finally, we’d found someone else who was as disgusted with humanity.
W
e were just two kids who would not only walk away and never look back, but we’d start something that would start something and something else and another thing and now it’s got eight legs and it’s rushing off into the darkness carrying the torch with it.
“Spiders,” I say, now, to Jeremy after wiping my eyes.
“Spiders?”
“Yeah.” I sniff and get ahold of myself. “There was this crazy scientist who used to work for my father. She was the one who helped create the purging program. She had all these spiders in her lab. She used to say they are the most resilient animal alive. She was obsessed. And that started the rumor that the stuff they put in us during the purge is spider venom. But I don’t believe it is.”
Jeremy looks at me unsure of where I’m going with this.
“I say that if we get caught. We get purged. We get a spider tattoo. We embrace it.”
He grins. His purple eyes light up. “I like that.”
“Wanna take a trip to the black market with me?”
Chapter 27
Crystal
I’m looking over my shoulder as if I can see the three spider tattoos that are hidden under my shirt. I’m trying not to think of the first two purges, I hardly remember the last.
When the doctor comes in, he says, “He’s in one of those things… What do you call them?”
“A fog.”
“Yes.”
I shake my head at myself. “It’s my fault. It happens after he writes now. Every time.”
“It’s not your fault. It’s the fact that Jeremy was gone so long. The purge, this round, they use the undead to make it. You must know that he was basically brought back from the brink of…”
“Being a zombie? Isn’t he still?”
