by David Webb
But the Operative gave him a gentle push with his shoe, and William’s father fell forward limply, crashing to the floor.
William simply stared at his father’s dead body, unable to process the many emotions that raged within his heart, fighting for his attention. There was devastation at the murder of his parents. Anger at the Lightbringers for their cruelty. Fear for what was waiting for him back underneath the Citadel now that there was no one to help him.
Yet if he were to single one feeling out as the strongest, it would be a burning hatred. Not for the Operative, though he surely hated the assassin. No, William hated himself more than anyone else. He had seen more death in the last twenty-four hours than he had in his entire life. Five lives ended abruptly and tragically. And it was all for him.
Salvador was right. This wasn’t worth it.
The Operative sighed and looked back up at William.
“As for you, well, I can’t have you walking around, telling the world what you’ve seen.”
The man gestured toward William, and the Silver Guard surrounding him raised their weapons.
But even as William stared down the barrels of a dozen guns, as self-loathing crashed over him in waves, as he anticipated being freed from his guilt and surrendering to death, there was something else.
Hope.
It was too late for him, but Aniya still had a chance. She could still make it out. As long as she kept running, which is what she did best, she could stay alive.
The thought filled him with an odd peace, even as he stood in the blood of his parents. And so, with a deep sigh, William closed his eyes and accepted his fate.
9
Aniya was forced to the ground, now three houses away from her home, back the way she had come. She kicked against her captor, even biting down on the hand over her mouth, but it wouldn’t release her.
“Quiet!” A familiar voice hissed.
She calmed at the sound of his voice, recognizing it amid her panic and rage.
Nicholas removed his hand slowly and examined the wound on his hand. “Your teeth are sharper than they look.” He sucked blood from his wound and spat it out on the dirt.
“What was that for? They’re in my house!”
“And what was your plan? You were just going to run in there and take them all on?”
Aniya glared at him. “I was going to help them.”
“You can’t help them if you’re dead, Aniya.”
“They wouldn’t,” she said, shaking her head. “They might kidnap kids, but they don’t kill them.”
“I’m not so sure about that. They shot your brother, didn’t they?”
“William’s not a kid anymore. He’s a government employee that sabotaged the power and escaped.”
Nicholas held up his hands and stepped back. “Are you defending them?”
“No. I’m just saying, I can see why they shot him, but they wouldn’t hurt us. They can’t afford to hurt their precious citizens. Now, let me go.” Aniya stood up but was tackled to the ground again.
“You don’t get it,” Nicholas said, pinning her. “The Lightbringers are not very forgiving. If they think you helped your brother, they’ll kill you. Or worse.”
Aniya struggled against his arms. Nicholas may have hated his work as a bricklayer, but it had made him much stronger than she had realized. She wasn’t going anywhere.
“I don’t want you to die, Aniya, and neither do your parents. I promised to protect you, so I will. What happens in there now is out of our control. Your parents would agree. It’s better that they die and you live than all of you die.”
Aniya finally settled down, her energy spent between the run and the struggle. She went limp, and Nicholas slowly let her go.
They stared at each other for several seconds, only interrupted when Roland approached, gasping for air.
“I’m glad you caught her,” he said between breaths. “She’s too fast for me.”
Aniya pointed at Nicholas. “You knew about this?”
Nicholas and Roland looked at each other.
“One of you say something, or I’m going inside.”
Finally, Roland spoke. “We promised we would keep you alive.”
“You promised who?”
“Gareth,” Nicholas said.
“What does Gareth have to do with this?”
But neither of them got the chance to answer before the sound of crying came from Aniya’s house.
“Mom,” Aniya muttered, standing up.
The crying was suddenly cut short, replaced by an tortured scream.
“Dad!” She ran forward, but Nicholas and Roland stopped her.
As she kicked at them, pushing against their arms, they forced her to the ground again. Aniya thrust her fists against their shoulders as she sobbed, trying but failing not to picture what had just happened.
Roland gently covered her mouth with his shirt, muffling her cries but letting her breathe.
Finally, she quieted.
After several minutes, they let her back up, just in time to watch a procession of Silvers leave her house.
“Quick, hide,” Nicholas said.
The trio moved behind a fence for further cover, even though they were three houses away.
Minutes later, long after the last Silver had left, Nicholas spoke again.
“We’d better get going.”
He stood up and looked around.
It was enough for Aniya. She took off running, ignoring the protests of the boys behind her and making her way to her home.
Aniya threw open the door, letting it slam against the back wall. She stepped inside the hauntingly dark room and immediately slipped on a puddle of sticky liquid, tumbling to the ground and landing roughly on the uneven floor. Her right hand made contact with a bundle lying next to her, and she felt around, trying to identify the mass.
Rough polyester. Old stitches starting to fall apart. Flesh, still warm, slippery with a thick coating of warm, sticky fluid.
A bearded face.
Father.
Overwhelmed with shock and anger, Aniya shoved herself away from her father’s dead body, gasping for air between heavy sobs. She kept backing away until she reached another body lying a few feet away.
Startled, she ran her hands over the other body, her eyes still adjusting.
Mother.
Aniya let herself keel over to the side, falling again on the bloodstained floor, now crying freely, her tears mixing with the blood beneath her.
Unable to even force herself to her knees, Aniya dragged herself along the floor, dreading the worst but desperate to find any sign that William could have made it out alive.
She made her way to the middle of the room, crawling on her hands and knees and reaching around for the trapdoor. The latch should have given its position away, but as Aniya reached toward where it should have been, she toppled forward and nearly fell through the hole in the floor.
Aniya grabbed the surrounding floor to steady herself and keep from falling in, and as she peered in and saw the faint outline of a body, her last spark of hope fizzled out.
William.
She rolled over on the floor and covered her face with her hands, her chest heaving with the weight of her anguish. Her hair lay in a puddle of blood, staining it a sickening red, but she didn’t care. Her hands smeared even more blood over her face, but she didn’t even notice.
Everything was gone.
She hated Nicholas for holding her back. If only she had gotten there sooner, she may not have been able to stop the bloodbath, but at least she wouldn’t be the only one left.
Aniya heard footsteps in the doorway, but she didn’t look to see who they belonged to. A dark corner of her mind wished that the Silver Guard had come back to finish the job.
“Aniya,” Nicholas whispered, his hand resting on her shoulder.
She didn’t look up but cried even heavier. A warm light flickered near her face, a candle Nicholas had lit when he stepped inside.
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“I’m so sorry.”
Aniya finally grabbed the hand on her shoulder and squeezed it tight as her anger rose. Her sobs choked her, and her grasp on Nicholas’s hand went limp as she heaved into her knees. As her crying became less violent, she squeezed again, this time drawing comfort from the contact.
Nicholas didn’t seem to mind Aniya’s forceful grip on his hand, and he squeezed back.
Aniya looked up just enough to see Roland fighting back tears of his own as he surveyed the room, taking in the results of the massacre and examining the bodies.
“I’m sorry,” Aniya said, spitting out her words in between sobs. “You were right. We shouldn’t have come back.”
Nicholas said nothing.
Aniya scanned the room, now by the light of Nicholas’s candle. Even as her stomach churned at the sight of blood painting the walls of her home, she knew that this would be her last chance to see her family. As her vision adjusted, she let her eyes move from her father, to her mother, and then to the hole in the floor where—
She gasped.
“What is it?”
For the first time, Aniya felt hope.
“It isn’t William.”
Nicholas brought the candle closer to the makeshift basement, illuminating the dead body that lay inside. It was one of the Silvers, sprawled out in the hole, his helmet cracked into several pieces by the force of a bullet.
“He’s still out there.”
“Careful, Aniya.” Roland said. “William may be alive, but we need to focus on getting you safe. Right now, we have no way to know where your brother is or how to save him.”
Even though Aniya knew this, her anger rose again. William had escaped the clutches of the Lightbringers, just to be taken right back again.
She took a deep breath and steadied herself, ignoring the putrid stench of death that invaded her senses. The thought of her brother still alive stirred hope once more, and her strength returned despite the horrible scene around her.
“Okay.”
“Come on,” Nicholas said, motioning to the door. “We have to get out of the Hole.”
Aniya shook her head. “We? You have a family here, Nicholas. You can’t just leave them.”
“What family? Trust me, I won’t be missed here.” Nicholas smiled grimly. “Aniya, we promised Gareth we’d take care of you, and we can’t do that from Holendast. Besides, if they can’t find you, it won’t be long until the Silvers show up at my house anyway. I don’t know what they’d do to me, but I don’t want to find out.”
Roland nodded. “It’s safer for all of us if we stick together.”
“And if I say no?”
Nicholas shrugged. “We weren’t offering. We’re coming with you whether you like it or not.”
After a moment, Aniya sighed. “Nothing I can say will stop you?”
Roland folded his arms. “Nope. Now, can we get moving?”
Aniya stood up. “Fine. Let’s go.”
10
“Well, this plan was short lived.”
Aniya, Nicholas, and Roland crouched behind a crate, taking cover from the bobbing beams of light that swept the train station.
“Yeah, and the train tunnel is the only way out that I know of.” Roland sighed. “Not to say I told you so, but going back to your house only slowed us down.”
Aniya bit her lip. “Maybe. At least I know that William is alive.”
“That’s great,” Nicholas said, “but we can’t do much about it if we’re trapped in the Hole. It’s one of the smallest sectors in the Hub. We’d run out of places to hide pretty quickly.”
They remained silent for a moment and studied the Silvers’ movements. Aniya wasn’t sure about Nicholas and Roland, but she couldn’t detect any kind of pattern. “Maybe they’re not looking for me. Maybe they’re waiting.”
“If that’s the case, then we’re wasting time,” Nicholas said. He backed away farther into the shadows and stood up, still out of sight. “Let’s get out of here and find another way out.”
“Where?” Aniya followed his lead. “Roland said that’s the only way.”
“The only one I know of,” Roland said. “There’s a few people who would be able to tell us if there are any others. Lucky for us, I’m pretty close to one of them.”
“Gareth?”
“Yep. His bar won’t be open for another few hours, so we can get in there without being seen. Let’s go!”
As Roland took the lead, Nicholas dropped back and took Aniya’s hand once again. He hadn’t let go much since they had left her house. She hated the feeling at first, when it seemed like he was trying to lead her, but now as he walked evenly with her, she realized it was for emotional support. She found herself not minding so much.
Roland slowed down and led them onto the main street silently. He held up a hand behind him, and Aniya and Nicholas stopped.
After peeking out toward the main street, Roland motioned for them to follow and darted across the street into another alley.
They had just made it into the alley, however, when Aniya saw a white glow from around the corner of the far wall. She snatched Roland’s hand and pulled him backward, placing a hand on his mouth.
Roland struggled briefly but stopped as he seemed to spot the light.
Aniya slowly let him go and placed a hand on her chest, her heart racing.
“Please don’t let that be coming from the bar,” Nicholas muttered.
He stepped around Aniya and Roland, pressing his own body against the wall and peeking around the corner.
After a moment, he turned around and rested against the wall next to Aniya. “They’re in the bar now, probably searching the place.”
“And Gareth?” Aniya asked.
Roland shrugged. “In there with them, I’d say. My guess is they already searched the clinic, and they’re searching the bar for good measure. That’s a good sign. Means they’re running out of places to look.” He peeked around the corner again. “Maybe they’ll be gone soon, and you won’t have to leave the Hole after all.”
“Something tells me they won’t give up that easily,” Aniya said. She shuddered at the thought of winding up in the hands of the Silvers.
“You really think they’ll keep looking for you?” Roland asked. “Surely they’ll give up eventually.”
Nicholas shook his head. “Not if they think she knows something. It doesn’t make sense for them to kill her parents otherwise.”
“Something?” Aniya frowned. “Like what?”
“Something worth killing over,” Nicholas muttered.
“Get back.” Roland grabbed Aniya’s shoulder and pulled her back against the wall.
Aniya reached to wrench his hand from her shoulder but froze as bright, white light flooded the street ahead.
From around the corner, she heard heavy boots step out onto the cobblestone. Without so much as a word, the officers marched into the distance, their footsteps fading away gradually.
The trio waited several minutes after the streets went silent, not daring to move.
Finally, Roland released Aniya and stepped away from the wall. “Sorry. That was too close.”
Nicholas looked around the corner. “You think it’s safe to go in there so soon?”
“No, but we don’t have anywhere else to go. It’s the only option we have.”
They stepped onto the main street, glancing in all directions. Roland beckoned them to follow with a wave of his hand, and he darted into the bar.
Aniya followed and closed the door behind her, slowly turning the knob to avoid making any noise.
“Who’s there?” Gareth’s voice, while quiet, still resonated across the pitch-black bar.
“It’s Roland. Light a candle.”
A match was struck from the other end of the tavern, and one small candle soon lit up the room. Almost instantly, Gareth covered it with his hand, only letting a small amount of light through his fingers.
“What is she doing here?” Without g
iving Roland a chance to respond, he addressed Aniya. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said and looked at the floor. “But my parents are dead.”
The tavern went quiet, and Gareth finally broke the silence with a sigh. “I’m truly sorry, Aniya. I was friends with your parents for a long time, as you know. And your brother?”
“They took him.”
“I see. We need to move fast, then.” Gareth cracked his fingers open a little more, letting more light illuminate his disappointed gaze. “I told you to get her out of the Hole. If they come back and see her, they’ll take her and likely kill us.”
Roland took Aniya’s other hand and carefully led her and Nicholas through a maze of chairs and tables. “We didn’t have a choice, Gareth. They’re crawling all over the train station. I was hoping you knew of a second way out of here.”
“There is no other way out.”
Roland dropped Aniya’s hand and moaned. “Of all people, I thought you’d know another way. It’s not like we can get into the caves.”
“Caves?” Aniya frowned.
Gareth turned to her. “There was once another way out, a series of tunnels throughout the Web, but it was closed during the Uprising. The Lightbringers caved in the tunnels and enforced a no-travel policy on the rebels. The station has been the only way out for a very long time. You’re going to have to make it in there and either take the train or walk the tracks.”
“It’s too well guarded,” Nicholas said. “There’s no way we’re getting in there.”
Gareth frowned. “Then you might have to wait.”
“Wait a second,” Aniya said.
“Then what can we do? She can’t stay in the Hole, Gareth. It’s only a matter of time until they find her.”
“Roland, wait.” Aniya tried again.
“Our only hope is to hide her away,” Gareth said.
Nicholas scoffed. “Yeah, like that worked for William.”
“Guys, shut up!”
The room hushed, leaving only the sound of Aniya’s frustrated, rapid breathing.
“How did my brother get back? There’s no way they let him anywhere near the stations in the Hub, not with their security.”