The Gamble (The Gamble Series Book 1)

by Kathryn Jacques

  I glance at Daniel in stunned surprise, but he seems equally confused by the man’s reaction.

  “She saved your daughter!” a voice shouts, and then Jax is by my side, coated in ash and dirt, making his skin as black as his hair.

  “I know what she did, and what she is,” the man sneers. “A Sub. From ROC. The very place we know to steer clear of. She has no business being here, she’s only going to cause more trouble with the League and with ROC and get us all killed! You two should have shot her on sight!”

  “She gave up ROC and left it behind to stay here. She’s one of us now,” argues Daniel, angling himself between the man and me as if anticipating an attack. I’m too stunned to do anything other than stand with my mouth hanging open as if dangling on loose, useless threads.

  “She’ll never be one of us! Once a Sub, always a Sub.” Then he spits on me, a wet glob landing on my face with a smack. I jerk away in revulsion at the same time Jax, fists raised, dives for the man.

  But Daniel grabs the back of Jax’s shirt and yanks the boy away with a strength I didn’t know the old man possessed.

  “Do us all a favor Sub, and go in the woods and die!” the man shouts, dragging his still crying wife and their tiny daughter away.

  As he retreats, I look around and see hundreds of strangers watching. Everyone in the compound must have seen the fire and now forms a wide ring around us. Jax had said there were a little less than five hundred people, but the crowd seems twice that size. Some look at me with unease or curiosity or even a little pity, but most look fearful and mistrusting and even angry. Their harsh gazes burn even worse than the fire could have; deep into my soul, reducing everything inside me to smoldering ash.

  I don’t know why they hate me, what ROC could have possibly done to make these people think I am a heinous monster, but learning the reason will never matter anyway. In their eyes, I am always the enemy.

  I am incapable of speaking and even with Jax and Daniel at my side, I suddenly become afraid for my life. One of these people already betrayed me. Judging by the expressions on the faces of others, more will have no problem doing so if the opportunity arises.

  So, I do the only thing I can. I run, shoving past the throng of onlookers, and head for Daniel and Jax’s home. The only place in the whole of the Unoccupied Zone where I feel almost safe, which I guess is ironic considering they’re the two who originally captured me. It’s strange how quickly life can change, sometimes without warning. Sometimes without you even realizing what’s happened.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  It’s dusk three days later when a knock comes on Daniel’s front door. The banging travels all the way upstairs into my room where I’ve confined myself ever since the fire. Jax has made sure I eat, and Daniel hasn’t forced me to work, though I know that will only last for another day at most. At some point, I’m going to have to go back into the world of people who hate me and would rather I die than stay here.

  Muffled voices float up from downstairs. I half listen, not caring what the conversation involves before I hear Daniel call. “Miss Kelsey, can you come here please?”

  I briefly consider ignoring him, but I don’t want them to all think I’m cowering like a defenseless animal, even though that is exactly what I’m doing. With a sigh, I rise from the bed where I had been looking out the window at the sky and wondering if it really had been worth all of this.

  Slamming my feet into my boots, I tromp downstairs, my face sour. Daniel and Jax both stand in the living room joined by a man maybe only nineteen years old with a thin build, black hair that sticks straight out from his head, a round face and narrow eyes even darker than mine. He looks familiar, but I can’t place him until Daniel says, “Kelsey, meet Randolph.”

  I waver on the last step before jolting to a halt. “You’re the one who shot me!”

  Jax emits a dramatic groan, turning his eyes to the ceiling. “Dear God, not this again.”

  Ruffling his hair, Randolph offers a nervous, apologetic smile. “I tried not to aim for anything that would kill you. You were trying to escape. I was following orders.”

  “Why does everyone around here seem to think that’s justification?”

  “Ok, he’s not here to shoot you tonight,” Daniel interjects and Randolph nods, lifting his empty hands as if to show he means no harm, though I could point out that a gun swings from a strap on his shoulder.

  “Your name’s been selected for perimeter security,” Randolph explains. “Along with Ashlynn and me.”

  I cast a worried glance at Daniel and Jax, neither of whom look thrilled at the idea.

  “They can’t be serious? After knowing the League is after me? And after what happened the other night?”

  “If we get you out of detail tonight, it’ll look like special treatment, which will only make everyone hate you more,” Daniel explains. “The best thing you can do right now is prove that you’re here to help the compound. I’ll go too as an added precaution, even though I’m not scheduled.”

  “And for the record, I don’t hate you,” Randolph announces. “I thought what you did was brave. Both saving the baby and leaving ROC. I’m really sorry about the whole shooting thing.”

  I ignore him and instead focus on Daniel. “And Jax?” I ask, but I don’t know why I want Jax going with me. Maybe he just seems stronger, like he can protect me better than anyone else. He did almost get in a fight with that man just to defend me. And there’s something just a little dangerous about him.

  Daniel cocks his head and turns to Jax, whose lips draw into a tight line to match a bitter expression.

  “Jax here is on house arrest for three days,” Daniel replies, his voice dripping with false cheeriness.

  “Why?”

  “Go ahead,” Daniel urges, a sickeningly sweet smile plastered on his worn face.

  Jax glowers at the man with disdain. “I may have gotten into a slight altercation yesterday.”

  “With?” Daniel prompts.

  “With Raoul, that man who spit on you.”

  “And?” asks Daniel.

  “And there is a possibility that I might have broken his nose.”

  “Unprovoked,” Daniel adds, turning back to me and it’s obvious he’s furious with Jax. “And he did break his nose.”

  Jax crosses his arms and scowls. “It was hardly unprovoked, merely a delayed reaction to his callous and disgusting display the other night. Especially after what Kelsey did.”

  Without meaning to, I let out a loud hoot of laughter and all three men stare with surprise. I immediately regain my composure and clear my throat. “Oh come on, you all have to admit it was certainly well deserved.”

  Daniel looks like he wants to laugh too, but being the eldest, he also needs to be the voice of reason. “Deserved or not, Charlie expects a certain level of order and civility around here and randomly walking up to other members of the compound and punching them in the nose falls under assault, which requires a three-day house arrest. So therefore, Jax will be staying here tonight.”

  “I’m not so sure about this, guys,” I say warily, my stomach knotting at the thought of going outside where I’ll be an easy target for the hundreds of people who’d like me dead, both compound members and the League.

  The wrinkles on Daniel’s forehead crease. “You run into a burning building without a second thought, but you’re afraid of walking out this door?”

  “A burning building was easy in comparison to whatever the rest of the compound wants to do to me.”

  “And you think that if they want you dead, they can’t get you in this puny little hut?” He beats the thin wall with a fist to prove his point.

  I open my mouth to respond, but have no argument for Daniel’s statement. Acknowledging he won, he retrieves my gun from where it’s propped in a corner and holds it out to me.

  With reluctance, I take the weapon and toss it across my back where it continues to feel bulky and out of place. Daniel and Randolph march outside and I’m a
bout to follow when I feel Jax’s hand on my shoulder.

  “Here,” he says, offering his leather jacket. “In case you get cold. Spring nights are chilly here.”

  I take the jacket and for some reason my cheeks flush red. “Thank you.”

  “Be careful, ok? And stay close to Daniel.”

  “Wow Jax, someone might think you care,” I joke because I don’t know what else to do, his kind actions so out of character.

  “Yeah well, don’t let it go to your head. I just don’t feel like dealing with an injured Sub again.”

  I shake my head, roll my eyes and then turn away, shutting the front door and jogging across the grass to catch up to the men.

  We meet Ashlynn at the front gate and she offers me a quick smile.

  “We ready?” Daniel asks everyone. “It should be an easy night since the League was just here a few days ago. I figure if Randolph and Ashlynn take the west perimeter, Kelsey and I will patrol the east and we can meet up at the road in four hours for a meal. I brought chicken.” He lifts a backpack he’d been carrying as if to prove there’s actual food.

  Randolph shrugs. “Sounds fine to me.”

  “How about four and a half hours?” Ashlynn suggests with a flip of her pale hair. “At the dead tree instead. I’ve found there’s a good clearing to see the moon. I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be full tonight.”

  “Alright,” Daniel says.

  “How’s your shoulder, Kelsey?” Ashlynn asks, flashing a bright grin.

  I roll the joint a little and lightly touch the healing wound. Yup, still hurts. “It’s a little sore.”

  “Here, take this instead,” she says, handing her own gun to me. “We’ll trade. Mine’s lighter and less bulky. It’ll be easier for you to handle. Don’t know why Jax wanted you to have an AR- 15 in the first place. I don’t usually recommend it for beginners.”

  The new gun is far lighter and fits on my shoulder better. I offer a smile of gratitude.

  After lighting a lantern for each of us, we separate, Daniel turning right outside the gates and leading me into the dark forest as still and serene as the surface of Jax’s lake.

  We walk for several hours, circling wide around the east side of the compound, past the vegetable gardens. Everything is normal. It’s calm and peaceful inside the trees. Insects hum a beautiful melody while a gentle breeze rustles the leaves and feels cool and crisp against my face. I tug on Jax’s jacket and I notice it smells like him, which causes my stomach to do a little flip and a smile to creep over my face though I realize I’m being dumb. It’s just a jacket.

  Daniel bobs his head. “That Jax’s?”

  “Yes. He said it gets chilly outside at night. And it doesn’t mean anything!”

  The old man just laughs. “Do you want it to?”

  “Why would I want it to?”

  “You have a frustrating habit of answering questions with questions, you know that? Especially when it’s an answer you don’t want to voice but you also don’t want to lie.”

  I draw my mouth into a thin line, my teeth grinding against each other. “You think you have me all figured out, don’t you?”

  “When you’ve been alive as long as I have, you figure people out pretty quick.”

  “I’m not out here for a psychology lesson. Or to talk about Jaxon Cole.”

  “Fair enough.” He’s quiet for almost a full minute before he asks, “So, what’s the deal with you leaving ROC?”

  I stop and whip around to stand nose to nose with the man, lifting my lantern so the light falls on his face. “Seriously Daniel? Is this why you wanted to come tonight, some sort of interrogation?”

  “Answering questions with questions again I see.”

  I groan in annoyance and turn away. “I don’t want to talk about Jax, I don’t want to talk about me and Jax, and I don’t want to talk about ROC.”

  Even in the darkness, I can see his eyes twinkle with glee. “Alrighty. Unseasonably cool weather we’ve been having for late April, don’t you think?”

  Casting a warning glance out of the corner of my eye, I continue walking. “You know I have no idea what’s seasonal or not. I’m still trying to get used to the fact that there is weather.”

  “It’s about time to go meet up with Ashlynn and Randolph anyway. We’ve got some pretty good chicken and some fresh strawberries the farming group just picked yesterday.”

  “Fine,” I grumble, turning back toward the main gates of the compound. Daniel escorts us through the trees and onto the crumbling road. Veering left, we pick our way through the woods, over fallen logs and around dense underbrush. Even with my lantern stretched in front of my face, I have a hard time seeing the ground. I don’t notice my path is blocked until I trip over something large. Sprawling to my hands and knees, the lantern flies from my grasp and shatters on the hard earth, its flame immediately extinguished.

  “Kelsey? You alright?” Daniel calls, hurrying to me.

  “Yeah.” I squint in the darkness to see what I fell over. “It must have been a tree root or a rock or…”

  A body.

  As Daniel’s light hits the path, it reveals the outline of a man lying unconscious face down in the dirt. I yelp and scramble backward as Daniel rushes to flip the figure over.

  Randolph. A deep wound clogged with dirt and pine needles zigzags across his forehead and fresh blood drips down his face, pooling onto the ground.

  My hands fly to my mouth. “Oh my God.”

  “He’s alive,” Daniel says after checking for a pulse and I feel some of my horror dissipate.

  “But what happened to him? And where’s Ashlynn?” I ask, crawling forward until I kneel beside Randolph, resting a hand on his shoulder. Daniel’s response is abruptly cut off by two muffled pops. I whip my head back along the small path through the trees and see a tall shadow looming fifteen feet away. In the dark I can’t make out whom, but the shape is definitely male.

  Then I glimpse the outline of a large gun in their hands.

  I flip my own weapon off my shoulder. Leaping to my feet, I take the stance Jax had taught me and level the barrel with the person’s chest. “Stop or I’ll shoot!”

  The figure doesn’t seem to care as they advance. My hands tremble, but I know what I have to do. Aiming at the ground, I intend to fire warning shots at their feet, but when I compress the trigger, the gun only clicks. I try again and again, with nothing but more clicks emitting from the useless weapon.

  Ashlynn has given me an unloaded gun.

  I hear a cold laughter that chills my blood. With panic unfurling in my chest, I lift my gaze to see the person step into a shaft of moonlight. Beneath vibrant red hair, a sunburned, freckled face stares back at me.

  Three more figures emerge from the trees, all dressed in black and all carrying weapons of their own. My stomach hollows out like I’m going to be sick and for a moment I think my heart stops as I recognize the armored uniforms of the League. They’ve come for me and I’m surrounded.

  “Kel…sey,” a strangling voice murmurs. Daniel lies crumpled on the ground beside Randolph. Lantern light falls over his body where he has both hands pressed into his abdomen. Blood seeps and gurgles around his fingers and then I realize the pops I heard were bullets being fired.

  I release a choked cry, dropping my useless gun and sinking to my knees. I scuttle to the man curled on the earth. His breathing comes in short gasps, heavy and labored. Blood coats the ground in a growing puddle, glistening black in the darkness. The coppery smell hits the back of my throat like a punch and I fight against the urge to vomit on the metallic taste.

  “Daniel,” I choke out. I didn’t even know I’d started crying. I reach out, cupping my hands over his. Hot, thick blood spills around my fingers and no matter what I do, I can’t make it stop. “Daniel, hold on. I’m going to help you.”

  Something jams into my leg. Glancing down, I see that he is trying to give me his gun.

  “No,” I whisper. “They’ll just shoot me
too.”

  With his mouth lolling open, his eyes strain to focus on the people farther down the path before he refocuses on my face. “Run.”

  On the ground next to him lies his lantern and with the firelight on his face, I can see that his dark skin has a grey tinge and that despite the chill air, sweat forms along his brow.

  “No,” I repeat, coming to terms with my fate. “I’m not running. It’s too late for me to run.”

  He coughs, a trickle of blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. “They’re… they’re going to take you.”

  “I know.”

  With one shaking hand, he reaches up and clasps my arm, smearing his blood on the sleeve of Jax’s coat. His eyes are wide, devoid of the humor I had come to expect. With whatever strength he has left, he draws me closer to him, fingers gripping at the fabric of my sleeve. “You have to survive.” Red foam forms in the corners of his mouth as he chokes on the blood slowly filling his lungs, droplets spattering onto his chin.