I run full-speed with Reyna right beside me and do not stop until I reach the entrance to the building that houses our rooms. “Please let them be okay. Please let them be okay.” I repeat urgently as I swing the door open. I race down the hallway and burst through the door to my room. Pike opens his eyes and lifts his head off the pillow. Short tufts of hair stand on end. “What’s going on?” he asks in a voice thickened by sleep.
Ara sits up. Though groggy, terror registers in her features. “What’s wrong?” she asks.
I catch my breath for a fraction of a moment, grateful Reyna and I arrived ahead of whomever is headed here. “Get up, guys! We need to go, now!”
Pike bolts upright. “What happened?”
Ara swings her legs over the side of the bed. She quickly dresses in her pants, boots and top she arrived in. “Lucas, what’s wrong?”
“We have a problem. The people in this place are a problem,” is all I can manage at the moment. At any second, I expect any one of the male members of the village to barge in, armed with our weapons, and try to take us away. Head spinning, I worry if we’re trapped. In here. In this village. Ara looks at me, her eyes demanding answers. “I’ll explain later. We need to move.” She doesn’t ask anything further. She moves as quickly as possible, following me as I knock on the door next to ours to wake our people inside. Reyna helps and has Ashlyn and Lark waiting in the hallway, dressed and ready, by the time I get to Jonah and Aaron’s room. I knock once. Then again. By the third knock, panic begins to settle in. I turn the handle and let myself in. Both men sleep until I say, “Get up! We need to move!”
Aaron shoots up from beneath the covers. “What’s wrong? Where are we going?”
“There’s no time to explain now! They’re coming for us!” I reply.
“Who? Who’s coming for us?” Aaron asks. He’s out of bed and stepping into his boots.
“Todd and the other men here,” I say.
Jonah sits up and stares at me. “Lucas, you’re being paranoid. No one is coming for us. Certainly not Todd. Or any of the others for that matter.
“You’re wrong. They are. And they have already.” I look Jonah dead in the eyes. “We just killed one of them.”
“You did what?” Jonah practically shouts. “Who? Which one?” he demands.
I rack my brain for reasons why he could possibly be so angry. I come up empty but uneasy. Unease quickly gives rise to annoyance. Feeling my anger spike, I match his tone. “What does it matter? They attacked us! And they told us they were coming for the rest of us.” I wipe my hands down my face. “We did what we had to do.” I stride toward the door then stop and whirl on him. “I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep my brother and sister—and everyone we came with—safe. If that means killing them all, so be it.” The color drains from Jonah’s face. He opens his mouth to speak. I have no idea what he intends to say and frankly I’m uninterested in debating anything further at this point. I silence him with a look. Something in his expression chafes me. In his eyes. A flicker of something flashes. I can’t place it. But it doesn’t sit well. At all. I don’t have the time to sit around and try to assess his motives, though. I need to get the people who matter most to me together and get them out of here. “Let’s go. We need to get out of here,” I say and step out into the hallway. Reyna waits with the rest of our group. “Come on,” I wave them forward. We start down the corridor toward the door.
We only make it about halfway to the door when from behind us, a voice calls out, “What is the meaning of this? Why are all of you out of bed?”
Spinning, I find Todd and the rest of the men from the village. There must be another entrance. One at the rear of the building. They slipped in without us hearing them or seeing them. Each grips a sword tightly, holding it out in front of his body, ready for battle.
Only Reyna and I are armed, a fact that’s not lost on the men when I say, “Drop your swords and we’ll let you live.”
Todd looks at our blades then to the rest of our group. He smirks, an over-confident, smug little grin that I want nothing more than to wipe from his face. When he chuckles and says, “Only two of you are armed. You, and the pretty little girl. Neither of you stand a chance. Drop your weapons,” his eyes linger on Reyna too long. Mockery echoes in his tone. And that haughty expression remains. The desire to smash his face with my fist multiplies tenfold.
“I like our chances,” I say with calm confidence. I watch as my words cause his smile to sag just a bit.
Todd runs his tongue over the front of his top teeth, staring at us. He then nods and two men in his group advance. They swing at me sloppily. I block both and manage to bury my blade in the one nearest me. I quickly retrieve it from his gut, but not before kicking the sword he dropped backward, toward Xan and Micah. The other man releases a loud cry of anger while hoisting his weapon high overhead. I whip my blade, carving the air and his throat. The whistle of steel is followed by a wet burbling sound. His sword falls from his grip and his hands fly to his throat. It’s too late, of course. His neck has been opened. He’s bleeding out fast. I take the opportunity to slide his fallen weapon back to my people again. In my periphery, I see Xan and Micah scoop them up. “Now I really like our odds,” I say with a mirthless smile. “My offer still stands. Drop your weapons now and we’ll let you live.”
“That’s not quite how it’s going to work,” a familiar voice sounds from behind me. “Drop your weapons now.” I spin and see Jonah standing at the rear of our group facing us. In each hand is a compact gun. Both are trained on us.
“Jonah, w-what’re you doing? Aim the guns at them,” I say.
“Shut your mouth, Lucas, and drop the swords before I start shooting,” Jonah warns.
“Fire on us? Why? You wouldn’t do that,” Ashlyn says. “You’re one of us.” She looks at him pleadingly as she takes half a step toward him.
In the blink of an eye, a shot rings out. Ashlyn’s head rears and her body jerks backward. She falls to the floor with a hole in her forehead, eyes wide open in shock.
“Anyone else interested in convincing me I’m one of you?” Jonah asks. He laughs. The sound is crazed. No one in our groups speaks right away. We’re all too stunned. “Now drop the weapons.” His eyes dart left then right, madness burning in their depths.
Without any other option, we drop our swords. Mine is the last to fall. It lands at my feet with a loud clang. Jonah smiles.
“Why’re you doing this,” Aaron asks quietly. He doesn’t move a muscle. Just asks the simple question on all of our minds. “You’re one of us.”
“No, no, Aaron.” Jonah shakes his head. “That’s where you’re wrong. Dead wrong,” he says and glances down at Ashlyn’s lifeless body. He giggles. “I’m one of them. Always have been.”
“It’s true,” Todd agrees. “Jonah lived here with us for five years.”
“What?” Aaron asks. The shock and disbelief in his tone is plain. “How?”
Jonah scrunches his features, mocking Aaron. “What? How?” he mimics then laughs. “You think you’re so smart, don’t you, Aaron?” Jonah shakes his head. “But you’re not. At all. You’re an idiot, in fact.” He looks around at all of us before honing in on Aaron once again. “I wasn’t transferred to the Task Center from another facility to help you. I’m surprised you were stupid enough to believe that for a second. The people there, fools that they are or were didn’t need me. I mean, didn’t that stand out to you at all?” Jonah cocks his head to one side and studies Aaron with disgust. “I was sent to make sure none of you were planning to turn on your masters, the Urthmen, to turn the guns you were restoring on them.”
“So you were a spy,” Aaron whispers.
“Oh look, he’s just getting it. After I explained it all,” Jonah says to Todd and the other men with him while gesturing to Aaron. When he returns his attention to Aaron, he says, “Wow, you really are even dumber than I thought!”
Refusing to be baited by Jonah’s insults, Aaron asks, “Why?�
��
“Why?” Jonah echoes. “Are you serious? Look around here! I did it because I was promised that if I kept an eye on you and the others at the Task Center I’d be able to return here. But then you all messed that up.” He glares at me. “Following him.” He points in my direction with the handgun and I involuntarily flinch.
“Those guns you have there,” Kai’s deep, rich voice trembles with anger. “You kept them hidden so you could do this. In the forest, when we needed them.”
“That is correct,” Jonah bobs his head. He stops and his expression turns to stone. “I led all of you here, knowing fully what I intended to do, so that you could be apprehended and returned to your owners to pay for what you’ve done.”
Pay for what we’ve done? Be apprehended by our owners? My mind reels. All of this was a ruse. A clever trick on his part to have us returned to the Urthmen and him returned here. “No one owns us.” The words leave me as a low growl. They’re all I can grind out at the moment. My brain is too busy with thoughts of who I want to kill more at the moment, Todd or Jonah. Still, I can’t help but wonder what the urgent need to return here is. Why does he want to be in this village so badly he’s willing to kill to return? The village is nice. Idyllic really. Food is in abundance. Attacks are all but impossible. But I’ve yet to see a draw compelling enough to make me kill anyone I know, let alone someone I worked alongside every day for months.
“What is this place? Why’d you want to get back so badly?” Apparently I’m not alone in my wonderings. Ara asks two of many questions drilling through my brain. The sound of her voice snaps me from violent potential ends to Jonah and Todd’s lives and the motivation for Jonah’s dire desire to be here. It makes me fear for her life. With a loaded gun in each hand and very restless trigger fingers, Jonah is a loose cannon, capable of shooting my sister for asking her questions. I position my body in front of hers.
“It’s a sanctioned breeding ground for humans, of course,” Todd answers for Jonah.
I stand staring. A hush falls over our group. I watch as my sister processes what’s been said and all of the implications. Breeding ground. Bred humans. The connection is slow to form in my mind with all that’s transpired in recent days. But once it is formed, I’m left with my mouth agape.
I take a quick glance and see Aaron shaking his head. “So that’s why there aren’t any older children here,” he mumbles to himself.
Todd, overhearing him, comments, “Children are taken at three and a half and placed in a learning center. Surely you remember, Aaron. You were raised there.” Todd offers a sinister smile. Both his words and his smile garner a reaction from Aaron. I’ve never seen him look angry since meeting him. To the contrary, he’s remained even-keeled at all times, stark-raving calm. Not anymore. Not now.
Brow low and eyes narrowed, Aaron’s upper lip snarls when he snaps, “You allow your children to be taken and brainwashed, condemned to a life of servitude to the Urthmen for the rest of their lives.”
Todd considers what Aaron has said for a moment. With his lips pursed and his brows knit, he appears deep in thought. It’s a very dramatic display. I couldn’t fathom disliking him any more than I did before this. Yet, this little show causes me to loathe him far more. “Yes. Yes, we do,” he says brightly and with a smile, proud of the fact that he and the others create children to be turned over to the Urthmen for a life of subjugation. “And we get to live here in paradise with only the prettiest women shipped to us so that we can keep creating more.” He looks so pleased with himself. So proud of what he does.
“You people are worse than the Urthmen,” I say with disgust.
Todd laughs. “Shut that self-righteous mouth of yours!” he says. “You’d do it, too, if you could.”
“No, I wouldn’t,” I say levelly. “Ever.”
“You’re a traitor to your own species,” Kai says.
But both my words and Kai’s fall on deaf ears. Todd, unfazed, says, “Now all of you are going to follow me and we’re going to keep you locked up until they come for you at first light.” He smiles as though he’s just said something pleasant.
“Who’s coming for us? Urthmen?” Pike asks.
“Yes, the King wants you alive so you can pay for your crimes,” Todd replies with his trademark smirk. “Slowly. I assume you’ll pay very slowly.”
Stomach roiling violently, I think of the ways in which “crimes” were compensated for in the Urthmen village, the area beyond the arena where whippings and beatings took place. I endured it. I can’t allow Ara or Pike to. I can only imagine that the King, in light of me killing his son, Prince Cadogan, will dream up a far more torturous punishment for us. One where death will be delayed but begged for. I need to think. I need to think of a way to free us. But there doesn’t appear to be a way out.
“The Urthmen have radioed in that they’ll collect you at dawn,” Todd confirms after a crackle sounds followed by static and talking. He uses a transponder at his hip.
“You have radio contact with Urthmen?” It shouldn’t surprise me given how the people of this village, this “sanctioned breeding ground” work so closely with the Urthmen, bearing children for the Urthmen’s disposal.
“Yes, of course. We need to know when pickups will occur and supplies will be delivered,” Todd says offhandedly.
“Pickups?” Reyna asks.
“The children, yes. We need to know when the Urthmen are coming to pick up the children.” Todd looks at Reyna like she’s sprouted a second head. In our world, what he’s speaking of is inconceivable. His reality is far different from ours.
“You’re a disgrace,” Ara condemns. I hear the quiver in her voice, the horror. “All of you are.”
Jonah advances a single step toward my sister, the gun in his right hand raised slightly. My muscles twitch to life. Instinctively, I move to protect. Despite acting within the space of a breath, Kai moves with speed that defies his gargantuan size, beating me and reaching out for Jonah. Jonah instantly finds that he’s moved too close to Kai. Kai’s eyes shine like twin pools of liquid onyx as he grabs both of Jonah’s wrists. Gripping tightly he snaps both to the left. The sickly crunch of bone yielding is followed by agonized cries. Over the agonized cries, however, a deafening blast sounds. I watch as Kai’s leg kicks back, absorbing impact. It takes me several beats to piece together that one of the guns has discharged and Kai’s been shot. Blood pours from Kai’s thigh. He howls like a wounded animal, his eyes wide and head back as he unleashes the pain and rage he feels, twisting Jonah’s wrists further. Both guns drop to the floor. Todd and the other men, refusing to waste a moment, descend on our group. Reyna, Xan, Micah and I pick up the swords we just dropped and make quick work of taking out the men who’ve attacked. With each blade that falls from their hands, one of ours retrieves it and fights, though with the guns in our possession, the swords are hardly necessary. Aaron, who grabbed one of the guns, holds Jonah in place with the muzzle of the gun pressed firmly to the back of his head as he writhes on the ground with two broken wrists. Other than Todd, Jonah is the only man from the village who’s alive. He whines on, wailing about his wrists. “Ouch! Oh! The pain is unbearable! Please help me!” he begs.
“Help you?” Aaron asks. “Help the man who, just seconds ago, told me he used me and planned to give me to the Urthmen to be tortured so he could stay here and lay with pretty ladies? Is that the man who’s asking me for help?” Rage snakes from Aaron in trembling waves.
“Aaron! Please! I’m your friend!” Jonah cries as snot bubbles from his nose and spittle sprays from his lips.
“You’re a traitor to your kind and so selfish you led us here to our deaths, you thought.” Aaron glares at him. His revulsion for Jonah is palpable. “You are no friend of mine.” Aaron squeezes the trigger of the gun, firing three times before relinquishing his grip on the handle and letting it fall to the floor. He stands watching Jonah. Reconciling as much of what happened as he can.
I turn to face Todd. He surrenders hi
s weapon. “Here. Take it.” He smirks. “Let’s talk. I have a lot to offer you here.” His left eye blinks. His tell. Seeing it, I lose all sense of restraint. I haul off and punch him square in the face, using every ounce of strength I have. His head jerks back and he tumbles backward. He hits the floor hard. I walk to him slowly and place my booted foot on his neck. “What’re you going to do with me?” he asks. Gone is the smirk. Gone is the smug expression. Gone is the air of self-satisfaction and superiority. All have been replaced by fear.
“You, Todd, are going to do exactly as we tell you,” I say. I stare long and hard into eyes that once looked upon me—upon all of us—with disinterest and disdain. Now, they’re wide and alert. Now they’re paying close attention. Registered in his eyes and in every aspect of his demeanor is cognizance that I control his fate. His life rests firmly in my hands.
Chapter 19
Crouched and concealed along at the top of the wall, I watch as the first sliver of sun crests the horizon. A rich gold, haloed in fiery shades of orange that fade to salmon, reaches and stretches, illuminating the clouds, pushing them back. Day is breaking. The Urthmen will arrive for us at any given moment. Pike is to my left and Ara to my right, their determined faces lit by the early rays. Flanking us is everyone who remains in our group. All are present and all wait with bows and arrows at the ready. All except Reyna and Xan, who are down below, hidden and with loaded bows trained on Todd should he try to warn the Urthmen when they come. I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s proven himself disloyal to his species, a fact that stuns me. It’s a strange feeling to be betrayed by humans. That Todd has to be threatened with an arrow to the throat to keep him from divulging our whereabouts astounds me. And sickens me. We are all endangered, every one of us. Yet Todd aligns himself with them. The Urthmen. A species that would kill him and give his death all the concern one gives a bug beneath their boot. And for what? To lay with many women? Is he that base a creature himself? From my point of view, he is. He’s not that different from the Urthmen.
The Black Forest Page 19