Forsaken

by J. L. Weil

  “Convenient,” Ryker mumbled dryly, which earned him a rainbow glare.

  “Everything before Charlotte—”

  Dash glowered. “Let’s not rehash my girlfriend kissing you. It’s not helping your case.” His voice was low and full of possessiveness. “How about you start with why you came out of the mist.”

  Macen’s reply was the worst he could have possibly given, regardless of how honest it might have been. His gaze never wavered from me. “For Charlotte.”

  A deep rumble sounded in the back of Dash’s throat, and I partially feared he might lunge at Macen.

  “I knew it,” Ryker stated.

  “Why me?” I asked, wanting to know the full reason.

  “Because of what you can do.”

  “That was like a one-time thing,” I tried to explain.

  “It doesn’t have to be.” Hope glimmered in his expression, and I found it unsettling.

  “Yes, it does,” Dash replied, making it sound like a threat. “I do not want her locking lips with every infected zombie out there. It would kill her.” His harsh tone exuded finality.

  “I’m not strong enough, “I explained to a confused Macen. My heart went out to him as I tried to put myself in his place. “My body can’t handle the amount of power inside me.”

  “There has to be a way. You’re our only hope.” Desperation rang clear in Macen’s voice while he stepped toward me, his eyes pleading with me.

  Dash sprung in front of me, his biceps flexed and ready to fight. “Did you hear what I said?”

  Oh crap.

  The tension in the room went up ten notches in two seconds flat.

  My hand rested on Dash’s shoulder. “This isn’t helping.”

  “What do you suggest we do? Let him go?”

  I turned to Macen. “The others like you, do they all want the same thing?”

  His eyes bounced from me to Dash and then back to me before he finally spoke, as if judging how safe it was to answer me. “When you’re in the mist, communication isn’t easy. Forming actual words takes a lot of effort. We mostly talk through thoughts.”

  That could be useful down the road.

  “The Institute,” he continued, “as you call them, began luring us out of the mist by promising to release us from the mutation caused by the toxin. We are tired of living and yet not actually living, if that makes sense.”

  It did, in a frightening way.

  “But they lied. Those who went with them never came back. It wasn’t until one of ours escaped and found us that we learned what they were actually doing. Experimenting. Draining their blood, but not enough to kill them. It’s torture to have death so close, just out of your fingertips.”

  They wanted to be released not only from the mist but also from life. A hundred years was a long time to be sentenced to a zombie’s body and mind.

  “What is it like to live in the mist?”

  Macen shuddered. “Cold. Empty. Lonely. You don’t really think about where you are or what you’re doing. You just exist without existing at all.”

  “Why didn’t you ever venture out of the mist before?” I asked.

  “It’s like driving in the fog with no real idea of where you’re going. And then something happened a few months back. A beam of light led us out of the mist.”

  Ryker and Dash both glanced my way. “What did you do?” Dash asked me.

  “Why is it always my fault?” I frowned.

  Dash gave me a flat look that said, “Are you serious?” Maybe he had a point. “A few months back would have been about the time you woke up. I doubt that is a coincidence.”

  It probably wasn’t, but man, I wish it were.

  “The light is like a beacon for our kind, and when we break free from the mist, a ravenous desire takes over, to find the source of the light. For in the light, we can find our release.”

  That explained why they were seeking me out and their aggressive nature, but I still didn’t know how I could help all of them.

  “We will stay here for the time being, until we figure out our next move, and what to do with you,” Dash informed Macen. “But I warn you, if you so much as twitch in her direction, I won’t hesitate to kill you. And in case no one in the mist has heard of me, I never miss my mark.”

  It would be a long night, and knowing Dash, he wouldn’t sleep at all. He and Ryker would take watch, but even then, Dash would be on high alert. I was too tired to argue.

  “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m not the enemy,” Macen assured him.

  Macen and I dragged our butts to opposite sides of the room for his sake. I didn’t want Dash to get trigger happy, and accidentally shoot the man because he sneezed my way.

  We had only a small amount of supplies stashed inside the ranger, including bedding and food. I curled myself up in a soft blanket like a swaddled baby and huddled against the wall in a pile of hay, closing my eyes.

  Dash kissed my forehead sometime during the night, his warm lips brushing over my skin. I drifted in and out of sleep with Ryker and Dash’s deep voices reassuring me of our safety.

  While I slept, I dreamed about the vision I’d had of my future. The one of Dash and me, and our little boy. Could that really be my life one day? A mother? A family? Happiness? I so wanted to believe it was possible, but in my present state, I couldn’t fathom how.

  Peering out through one of the holes made by the broken wooden boards, I pondered how long it would take the Institute to find us. A part of me wanted them to, because it would give me a reason to unleash all the anger I was harboring inside me. I had been trying my best to keep it locked away, but I wanted someone to pay for Star’s death, and Krysta’s too. Maybe the desire for revenge made me coldhearted, and I knew it wouldn’t bring them back, but it might feel good… for a moment at least.

  “What are you thinking about?” Dash asked softly, sneaking up behind me.

  “A hot shower and a large margherita pizza.”

  “Please don’t tell me you were one of those weird girls who ate chicken and barbeque sauce on pizza.”

  “Do you not know what a margherita pizza is? Oh my god. You haven’t lived until you’ve tasted one. Your poor body.”

  He lifted a brow. “I haven’t heard any complaints about this body.”

  No, he wouldn’t have. I bit down on my lip, the teasing light leaving my face. “What are we going to do?”

  “Ryker and I talked about that, and we came up with something crazy, but there’s a slim chance it might work.”

  “Are our chances ever better than slim? That’s never stopped us before.”

  “I love you, Freckles.”

  I stretched up and placed my mouth against his. “The feeling’s mutual. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

  “Drive the rest of the world insane.”

  I pushed softly at his chest. “I’m amazed you still have a sense of humor.”

  He caught my hand, bringing it to his mouth and kissing the inside of my wrist. It was a moment I would treasure. My insides melted.

  A flash of yellow darted across the field just outside the barn, and my entire body went still. Dash moved quickly, lifting me off my feet and flattening us against the wall. Terror crawled up my throat. He peeked through the missing section of boards, looking for any traces of danger. My hand was on his forearm, holding onto him for dear life.

  Dash eventually let out a long breath. “It was just an animal.”

  “You’re sure?”

  He nodded. “We’re still safe for the moment. So what’s it going to be, Freckles. Do we go for the crazy plan?”

  We only had two choices before us. Did we run? And continue running? That would be our life: constantly looking over our shoulders, moving from place to place, always wondering how close the Institute was on our tail. But it wasn’t just the Institute that was chasing me. The Forsaken. They wanted something from me as well.

  Or we could stay and fight.

  Fighting would be
the more difficult choice. We could die… all of us. People I cared about could get hurt, but could we continue letting the Institute run things, abusing their position?

  A part of me wondered why this was my problem. Why was it up to me to make this decision? I was just a girl.

  A girl with rainbow eyes and unbelievable powers.

  Maybe there was a way to deal with both the Forsaken and the Institute.

  I twisted a curl around my finger as I weighed the pros and cons. “If we go with crazy, I have an idea, and before you ask, no, you’re not going to like it, but it might just be ballsy enough to work. It would mean putting our trust in Macen… and Ryker.”

  Dash looked at me as if I was asking him to swap spit with a moose. “Are you mental?”

  “I’m dating you, so probably.”

  Ryker sat up and stretched. “What are the two of you pow-wowing about?”

  “You’re going to want to hear this. Charlotte thinks it would be a good idea for us to trust the ex-zombie and you. Funny, right? Me, trusting you?”

  “Isn’t that what we talked about last night?” Ryker asked, confused.

  I pinned Dash with a look.

  He only grinned. “I’m way ahead of you, Freckles.”

  The little rundown barn had just become the central station for operation Take Down the Institute. We were really doing this. I had made up my mind. No more running. Let the fun and games begin.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The very next day, we got down to business. Neither Ryker nor Dash were keen on letting Macen out of their sight, but for us to even stand a chance, we needed an army of Forsaken—that is, if Macen was able to pull through. There was no guarantee they would agree to fight for us. Or fight for me, as Macen had put it.

  Trusting him was a big leap of faith.

  “Do you think we’re making a mistake?” I asked Dash while we watched Macen and Ryker leave from the loft. The ex-zombie headed for the mist, and Ryker took to the sky as my feathered friend.

  “Probably.” Dash watched them until they disappeared over the horizon.

  “What happens if Macen doesn’t come back? Or he can’t enter the mist? Or he does go in and becomes a zombie again? Or what if the Forsaken don’t want to leave their sheltered sanctuary? What if they kidnap me? Dear God, why haven’t I considered that before?” It was official. I was having a freak-out.

  Dash placed his hands on my shoulders. Steadying me, and leaned down so we were face to face. “Freckles. Take a breath.”

  I inhaled deeply and exhaled, doing as he instructed.

  “Feel better?”

  My head was still bursting with what-ifs. “No, not really.”

  His lips curled into a smile—lips I couldn’t help but want to kiss, even in the middle of this madness. “Maybe this will help.” The most deadly Gifted in the Heights sealed his lips to mine. It was effective at calming the pandemonium inside me.

  “I think it helped a little, but we might need to try it again.” His husky laugh was cut short by my lips.

  Dash’s eyes sparkled as he ended the kiss and caressed my cheek. “So this is probably the worst timing, but who the hell knows what will happen next, and I want to seize the moment.”

  “We’re having a moment?” I teased him.

  “I was trying to until you ruined it.”

  I smiled coyly at him as I wound my hands around his neck. “Okay, I’m back in the moment.”

  “Marry me,” he whispered in my ear.

  His words somersaulted around in my head. I blinked. Had I heard him correctly? “Y-you want to marry me?” I stammered, unable to believe Dash had thought about spending the rest of his life with me for even a second.

  “Why do you sound so surprised?” He drew back from me.

  You can’t just spring a proposal on a girl without some kind of warning. We were on the brink of raising an army to start a war against the Institute and he was talking about marriage. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. “Right now?” I asked, hoping my doubt in his timing wasn’t audible.

  “Not right this second, but after we take down the Institute. After we kick their asses, then we could tie the knot and find a place to settle down. I believe we can win. I believe in us.”

  I had dreamed of this moment, the moment I’d be proposed to, a thousand times, but not once had it been in a barn. Still, that didn’t matter because the guy before me was more amazing than I could have ever dreamed. “Do people get married anymore?” I didn’t know what was wrong with me. Why couldn’t I just say yes?

  He shrugged. “If we make it out of this alive, Freckles, we can make up our own rules.”

  “Okay.”

  “Okay?” he echoed, unsure of my decision.

  I nodded. “I’ll marry you. Wherever and whenever. I’d marry you this moment if it was possible.” Joy danced through my soul.

  A grin split across Dash’s face, like the sun appearing after weeks of rain. It was pure happiness, and I wanted to bottle it up, save it for dark times, and bathe in it. I wanted to see Dash happy every day for the rest of our lives.

  The next thing I knew, he captured me in his strong embrace, and my feet were no longer on the ground. He spun us in a circle once, twice, and kept going until I was dizzy, and with the world spinning, he kissed me.

  “This is crazy,” I added when my feet finally touched the floor again. We were talking about the most blissful event between two people while the world around us crumbled. It seemed the zanier our lives became, the stronger our connection for each other grew. “I love you.”

  “You’re going to be my wife.”

  I laughed. “Wow, I could get used to that.” I looked outside at the sky. “Do you think it is wrong for us to be so happy? I am, ridiculously so, but—”

  “You can’t help thinking about the people who are gone or suffering?” he finished for me.

  A wind blew through the gaps in the barn, chilling me. “I feel sort of guilty.”

  “We can’t fix the past or what any of us have experienced, but we can look to the future and try to do better. That’s what you’ve taught me. You make me want to be a better person, and if you can do that for someone like me, imagine what you can do for others. You inspire people. They will fight for you, not just because a seer has seen the girl with the rainbow eyes, or has predicted you will lead a great war. Our powers don’t define us, just as we won’t let the Institute define those who have been affected by their evil.”

  His beautiful words raised my spirits. I rested my head on his shoulder. “So you don’t think we’re making a mistake?”

  “I wouldn’t change standing beside you for anything in the world. What we’re doing could alter the course of humanity.”

  But at what cost?

  I didn’t want to think about the sacrifices we would endure or those we’d already been through. My mind couldn’t handle it, not with what was to come. Afterwards I would take the time to properly mourn.

  “Are you thinking about Star?” He must have noticed the tears welling in my eyes.

  “I still can’t believe she’s gone.”

  He thrust his fingers into his hair. “It doesn’t matter how many people you lose. It never gets easier.”

  Every time the wind blew or a bird cawed, I would tense up, uncertain if the Institute was storming the barn or Ryker had come back to tell me no one was willing to fight alongside us. But not a damn thing happened for three days, except for Dash’s relentless effort to try to get me to relax.

  We were sitting up in the loft of the barn, chucking rocks down into the hay below. “What if this doesn’t work?”

  “It might not, but we have more to gain by trying than we have to lose. What the Institute is doing has to be stopped. It has gone on long enough.”

  He wasn’t going to get an argument from me. “I don’t know where you get your confidence from, but you should consider selling it. You’d make a fortune.” I’d buy it by the carton.


  He aimed for the barn door and threw a stone, chuckling. “I love how your mind works. You have the most interesting thoughts.”

  Interesting was putting it politely. My brain was wired with random thoughts. I sat with my knees hugged to my chest, staring out between the wooden slats. Nothing moved, except the wind. “How long do we wait?” Neither of us wanted to think about Ryker not returning, but it was a hard fact we needed to consider. So many things could go wrong. The Institute could have caught him. Something in the wilderness could have eaten him. The shifter could have gotten cold feet and left us. That was highly unlikely, but I had to weigh all the possibilities.

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. For now, we’re safe, and until we’re forced to move, we wait.”

  “Waiting sucks,” I grumbled, scanning the field below. Rows of weeds bobbed their heads in the breeze.

  Dash came to sit beside me on a bale of hay. “You look cute when you pout.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You also have a thing for freckles, so sue me if I think you have a warped sense of cuteness. Puppies are cute. Babies are cute. Freckles are not cute.”

  His laugh warmed my heart. I needed a dose of warmth, and my frown began to disappear. Then I heard a noise from outside, and the touch of lightness inside me vanished. Through my peephole, I couldn’t see anything, but my internal alarm had been triggered. Electricity tingled through my veins, and every muscle in Dash’s body tensed.

  The barn door blew open. “Are you going to blast me, Red?” Ryker asked, egging me on from the doorway. The wind whipped his hair to one side.

  I released the surge of power and the tension in my body with it. “I’m thinking about it. Where have you been? It’s been three days!”

  He walked inside our shelter, rubbing his eyes. He looked beat, like he had been running a marathon for the last few days. And I guess, in a way, he had been. “How easy do you think it is to convince settlements to rise up against a monster?”

  Dash shielded the two blades I hadn’t seen him grab. “Did you tell them what we uncovered and what Charlotte can do?”