I turned and nodded. "Yes, it is."
She let go of my hand and glanced at the broken glass surrounding the entrance. "Well, let's go inside, I guess," she said.
"After you."
She walked inside the room, gliding her hand through the chipped paint. One by one, the white scales fell to the floor like snowflakes.
"It's hard to believe she was ever here," she said, pausing in thought. "Lucian, why did you bring me to this facility?"
My heart raced. Now was my chance to tell her that I had no plan, but I couldn't find the courage to do it. Instead, I hid the fact that I wanted that cure. I forced myself to keep walking in hopes that something in this room would point us in the right direction.
"I thought you might want to see it," I said, pulling her deeper into the building.
Lilly held my hand and followed me down an old stairwell. The specific laboratory my father and her mother had clearance to enter was on the second floor. I counted all twenty-four steps and opened the door to the floor. "Just a little further."
We walked down the hall in silence. It had been years since I saw the place. The door to their lab stood in front of us. Lilly pushed on through, but I hesitated and felt my fear turn on me.
I wanted that cure more than anything. If it wasn't in this room, it wouldn't be anywhere. I'd be forced to accept the unacceptable. I'd stay a mutant forever.
“What's the matter? You afraid?" Lilly asked.
Cold sweat lined my forehead. I cleared my throat and shook my head. "I'm fine."
Shattered glass crunched beneath our boots. Tools had been scattered and flung across the room, left behind by our parents. Their lab-coats were still hung up on the wall as if nothing had ever happened. It was eerie as fuck, but I knew that we had to keep searching.
We continued through another set of doors and found a set of metal drawers. Resting on top was an old bouquet of flowers.
"Wait a minute," she said, turning toward me. "Give me your bag. I need to grab something."
I swung the bag off my shoulder and handed it to her. Quickly, she dug inside and revealed a small key. "Did my dad know I’d come here with you?"
I held my breath. This was it, the moment I’d been waiting for.
Lilly carefully opened the drawers, but she did not find what I expected. Inside sat a small diary.
She gazed back at me with caution. "Open it," I said.
She took the leather booklet in her hand and opened to the first page. I gazed over her shoulder with concern. "What does it say?" I asked.
She shook her head and quickly scrolled through. "The pages are blank," she said. "All except… this last one, right here. Look. It's a map with coordinates."
I observed the crude drawing of the forest. There was the Great Divide, our two plots of land, and the dense woods that surrounded us. But in the distance, there was something else. It was something I had yet to see. A blue halo encompassed the green. Written in perfect cursive, her mother had written, "Barrier."
"Let's head to the rooftop," I said. "We'll be able to see everything from up there. Do you have a compass?"
She reached into her bag and pulled one out. "My mom left this for me," she said.
I smiled. "Of course she did."
We ran up eleven stories to the roof. Lilly took out a set of binoculars and searched for the barrier. "No fucking way," she whispered. "It can't be…"
The barrier wasn't a figment of her imagination. As soon as I looked into those binoculars, I saw it too. The forest itself was dense and long, stretching for miles upon miles. Further away, the trees turned thinner. The landscape changed into mud and water. The wetlands. That place was the entranceway to a monolithic concrete barrier, a wall that stretched around the entire forest. In the center was a great watchtower.
I spun around and looked in the other direction. It was more of the same.
We were still under their watch. My father was right. We had all been quarantined. For life. There was no way out.
"The coordinates lead to that watchtower," I said.
"Sure. But what happens when we get there?" she asked.
"I don't know," I admitted.
I felt boxed in, like a rat in a fucking cage. For her, I stayed strong, but inside my head, I was going crazy. Why didn't anyone tell me about a massive, concrete-fortified wall?
My father warned me not to leave, but I didn't listen. We were too far into this to turn back. Such was our pilgrimage.
"We've been given a direction. We can't stay here any longer. We must leave," I said.
She hugged me. "What if it's a trap?"
It could have been set up by anyone. Onyx Laboratories. The U.S. government. Both.
The chance of walking into a trap was high, but this place was uninhabitable. We couldn't stay inside these woods. Maybe, behind those walls, I could find the cure to my mutation.
I tried to answer as strongly as I could, telling her I would protect her no matter what. But as we left the roof and entered back into the decaying courtyard, I saw someone crawl out from the tunnel we’d entered in.
It was my brother, and he was covered in blood.
"Kahn?" I called out in disbelief.
He collapsed to the ground and sighed with exhaustion. "Brother, I'm… injured," he said.
"Stay near the doors," I said to Lilly. "My father could be anywhere. I need to make sure this isn't one of his fucked up games."
She swung her weapon from her shoulder into her hands. "Take this," she said. She tossed me the hunting rifle.
I ran toward my brother and looked upon him, nudging the barrel of the rifle against his shoulder. He let out a groan and eyed me pathetically.
He’d been shot once in the arm. Another bullet entry was on the top of his chest. He was lucky to be alive.
"Kahn, what the hell happened?" I asked.
He tried to lift his head, but he was missing his strength. "Lucian, I'm sorry," he moaned.
I dropped to the ground and turned his body over. "Kahn, stay with me," I said.
His eyes twisted into the back of his head, and a strange smile draped across his face. "Goodbye, older brother."
He dropped his head against my chest and passed out.
Lilly
"Stay with us," I whispered as I put pressure on his wounds.
My heart was pounding. Cortisol and adrenaline swept through my bloodstream. Lies. This forest was full of them, and they only seemed to get bigger and bigger as time went on. I wasn't stupid. I knew Kahn wasn't to be fully trusted, but he knew things. I was sure of that.
Kahn lay on the operating table with a piece of cloth clenched in the center of his teeth. He screamed and bucked forward, smashing all of the surgical tools onto the floor.
"Get him to stop moving," Lucian growled.
I grabbed his arms and tried my hardest to hold him down, but he was much too strong. "I'm fucking dying," he cried. "Give me a sedative. Please!"
Lucian leaned over him and slapped his face. "You aren’t dying," he said.
"Like fucking hell I ain't," he snarled and kicked into Lucian’s chest.
Lucian grabbed his leg and pinned it down. "What happened out there? Where is her father?"
Kahn clenched his teeth, and large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. "I told you already. I don't know anything," he said.
Lucian nodded his head at me, and I knew what he was going to do to him. "You can't hurt him," I said.
Lucian's eyes widened. "He's my brother, and he's someone not to be trusted. We need information," Lucian said.
I walked around the operating table. Kahn tried to move back, but he was getting weaker. "You're right. Do it," I said.
Without warning, Lucian pressed near Khan’s wounds. The color left his face. "S-S-Stop," he whined. "I swear on my life. Father shot me. He did this to me."
"Do we believe him?" Lucian asked.
I bit the inside of my cheek and breathed through my nose. I wanted to believ
e the bastard. I wished I could trust him, but he had attacked me once before. Either way, he was really hurt, and we weren't doing any good by killing him. If he knew anything, he was keeping it from us. I figured we could use him to our advantage.
"Kahn, I want you to look at me," I said.
He rolled his eyes up and breathed frantically. "Yes, I'll do anything you ask," he said.
"Right now, you are dying. We're the only ones who have the power to keep you alive. Do you understand that?"
"Yes, I do!" he cried.
I leaned over and examined his wounds. I didn't have the proper medical training for this. I was going to have to go off of what my father had taught me.
"If we save your life and you manage to hold down any infection, do you promise to help us?" I asked.
"His word is shit," Lucian said. "I say we let him die."
"He’s your brother," I said. "How many times do I have to remind you of that?"
"He lost that title a long time ago," Lucian growled. "He made his bed the moment he sided with my father."
Kahn sighed and started to tremble. "We couldn’t find him," he said. "Your father is still alive."
I held my breath and waited for him to continue. "Go on."
"We lost track of where we were," he groaned. "When Father realized we had no safe place to sleep, he took his anger out on me. Aiden heard my cries and ambushed us. We tried to fight back, but Aiden gunned me down. Father left me there to die."
"I don't believe him," Lucian said. "There’s no way he walked that path with that many bullets inside of him."
"I didn't walk. I took dad's ATV," he said. "I wrapped it in camouflage and parked it near the entrance. You have to believe me."
"Well, I don't," he said.
I didn't like the sound of what I was hearing. Lucian was clearly more concerned than I was, and I understood why. It was a tough decision, but I was going to have to man up and make it.
"Lucian, we're doing the surgery. He can help find my father," I said.
Lucian sighed but nodded his head. “Okay. We'll need more towels and supplies. Check the cabinets in the back."
I ran to the edge of the room and dug through the cabinets. Lucky for him, I found some disinfectant and a treasure trove of fast-acting antibiotics and sedatives to soothe his pain. "Here we go," I said, showing him the supply.
He laughed and brought a towel to his brother's forehead. "This is where my father must have gone all those nights," he said. "He wasn't visiting the city. He was visiting his lab. He must have known about the wall this whole fucking time."
Kahn shifted against the operating table and moaned. "The wall?" he asked.
"Shut the fuck up and sit still. This isn't going to be fun for you," Lucian said.
I searched lower and found an IV kit. "You know how to use any of this stuff?" I asked.
Lucian shook his head. "No," he said. "But I've operated on myself enough times to figure it out."
"Just do it," Kahn pleaded. "If I die—"
"If you die, that’s fate's way of telling you how much of bastard you are," Lucian said.
I set the kit on the table and grabbed a set of clean towels. "Enough," I muttered. "Let's just get this over with so we can all get a night's rest."
Lucian nodded, but he looked displeased. "I just hope you know what you're doing," he whispered.
I looked down at his brother's trembling body. He looked too weak to be of any threat to us in the near future. "Hopefully this is all part of the plan."
The operation was tiring on the body and mind. Lucian handled the surgical tools with surprising precision, but the amount of blood lost was unexpected. I was raised a hunter. I had skinned and cut off the heads of plenty of game of all sizes, but nothing prepared me for this experience.
The day turned to night, and Khan’s battle to stay alive stormed on. It took hours, but we managed to get the last pieces of the bullets out and calm his fever.
Another day passed. Then, another. Finally, he started to show some signs of healing. We were exhausted and barely got any sleep. I worried about a possible ambush, but nobody showed. If anything, we were pushing our luck.
We kept him alive and waited for the truth to come out. Eventually, he opened his mouth, but the first thing he said was so strange that it took me off guard.
"Lucian," he whispered. "Tell me you've found it."
I stood up and nearly tripped with surprise.
"He's awake?" Lucian asked.
I turned to Lucian, confused. "Found what?" I asked.
He ignored my questioning and shook his head. "It is nowhere to be found."
"Father. He must have taken it," Kahn said. "He has to be the one who hid it from us."
"It never existed. We were lied to," Lucian replied.
Kahn tried to sit up, but the pain kept him on the hospital bed. "She said it would be here," he cried. "She told us we'd find the cure."
Lucian turned and clenched his fists. "Get it through your head, brother. This world was not made for people like us."
I swallowed hard and stared fiercely at Lucian. "I need to speak with you in private," I said, nodding at the doorway.
He threw a bloody towel onto the floor and exhaled. "Fine," he muttered. "Whatever you want."
He followed me to the doorway and stopped. "Yes, doctor?"
"Don't patronize me," I warned. "What’s your brother talking about? What are you keeping from me?"
"There's nothing to discuss. I thought we might be able to find something here. I was wrong," he said.
"The cure. Is that it?" I asked. I wasn't angry. I was confused. "Why would you keep that from me?"
His eyes widened, and he turned away in shame. "I didn't want to jinx it. Luck obviously didn't matter. There's nothing here. I'll always be a disgusting monster."
I touched his shoulder, but he flinched from my fingers and gazed out of the long windows in the hallway. Visions of our first encounter flashed inside my mind. He hadn't let his guard down.
"Why don't you trust me?" I asked. "You told me that you loved me. Remember?"
"This is about reclaiming who I once was," he said.
I thought we were on an equal footing. I thought we could depend on one other, but his mind was still focused on the bad. It brought me back to a dark place. "What if we can't reclaim the past? What if our only option is to move on?"
I didn't care what he looked like. I cared about how he acted. I wished he could see what I saw.
I stepped toward him and touched his hand. Slowly, I leaned my head against his chest.
"I love you," I said. "Does that not mean anything to you?"
He pressed his lips against the top of my head. "This place has made me think. It’s dug up my darkness."
I licked the edges of my lips and took a deep breath. I fell against him, shattered like the glass below our feet. "We have to stay together. We can't let them win," I said.
Lucian kissed my forehead and let me go. "Don't you get it? The bastards always win. And my family will always bear the scars of their wrongdoing."
I felt his pain flow into mine, but I would not let us go back to that dark place in the woods. I placed my hand against his heart and felt the heavy, rapid thud. "Have I been deceived? Have you brought me here to break my heart into a million pieces?"
He shook in a fit. "What could you possibly want with a man like me? Tell me."
I cried. I felt so weak. I held his gaze, but my world was spinning. "Don't do this. You promised you wouldn't hurt me."
"I just need some time to think," he said.
I saw the pain in his eyes. Could he see the pain in mine? The betrayal manifested outward in physical rage. "Lucian, wait," I cried out.
He stopped but did not turn to face me. His breathing was quick, and I could sense that he was one step away from imploding. "I do not deserve a woman as beautiful as you."
"We need to help your brother," I insisted.
"My brother? H
e is beyond helping. You want answers? Make him tell you where your father is."
He turned the corner and walked down the stairs.
Fear struck my heart. He was my rock. He was the man who’d found a way to end the cycle of my pain. We were supposed to find freedom together. We were supposed to start a new world, but now it felt like our foundation was falling out from underneath.
I slid my back against the wall and fell into a deep sadness. Was it possible that my mom had lied to them to make them feel better? In my memories, she was a noble and loving person. The kindest soul there ever was. It was hard for me to believe that she would lie to everyone for the will of some large and mysterious corporation.
The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced he was wrong and just needed to sleep it off. The coordinates had to lead to somewhere important.
According to him, all of this was supposed to be connected. I took a deep breath and hung my head. This wasn't going to be easy, but we couldn't give up on our dream. I would drag them both there if I had to.
Kahn called out to me from his bed. "He’s always been a stubborn bastard, but he'll come around," he said.
I was still able to laugh. I walked back into the room and leaned against the wall, smiling. "Always?" I asked.
He nodded, face covered in sweat. Looking at him, it was obvious that the infection had nearly killed him. We had managed to get the bullets out, but the antibiotics were over a decade old, and nothing in this place was sanitary. He was lucky he was recovering, but we'd still need a few days.
He parted his dry mouth and chuckled. "He never listened to Father. He would rather take a beating than comply with his rules," he said.
I grabbed a clean towel from the pile and sat down next to him. I felt his forehead and soaked up the beads of sweat. "Tell me more about your brother. The good things," I said.
He coughed. "I'm going to die, aren't I?" he asked me.
Defiantly, I shook my head. "No. We're not going to let you die."
He shut his eyes and forced a smile, but it didn't last long. "I probably would have let Lucian die," he admitted. "I guess I haven't been the best brother to him."
"Don't worry about that. Focus on the good," I said.
Temptation: A Dark Sci-Fi Romance (Alpha Unknown Book 3) Page 9