Regress (The Alliance Chronicles Book 1)

by SF Benson

  “I want to see my mother and Zared,” I demanded through gritted teeth.

  She flicked a hand before her nose as if to get rid of a bad smell. “Give up the card and you can.”

  “I can’t do that.”

  “Can’t or won’t?” She stared down at me.

  “I can’t give you what I don’t have.”

  “Don’t make this difficult.” Eden huffed. “Once again, where is the card?”

  “I told you, I can’t help you.” I struggled to my feet. I wouldn’t let Eden see me weak.

  “I'm not playing games here!” She slammed her hand on the desk. “The sooner you talk; the sooner we can get this over with.”

  “I'm not playing games either. I don't know anything. No, I take that back. I know you’re an idiot and a coward.”

  Eden stood. “You don't know who you're dealing with.”

  “Is that supposed to scare me?” I lifted my chin.

  She rushed around the desk and kicked my legs out from under me. My shoulder popped when I hit the floor. I bit down on the cry of pain before it escaped.

  She squatted next to me. “It should, since I decide whether you live or die.”

  I ground my teeth. Pain seared through my body. It hurt to breathe. My shoulder might be dislocated. Stay alert. “Like I said, you’re a coward. Take off the restraints. Let’s see who gets the last hit.”

  Eden laughed. “I’d wipe the floor with you.”

  “You think so?” I pushed myself up off the floor. Bad move. Nausea rolled over me and the room spun. I blinked away the darkness lingering at the edge of my vision. A dislocated shoulder would prevent me from fighting off a fly. I was defenseless. Provoking Eden any further might not be a wise decision. “I know you killed Cris. Did you ever love him?”

  “I never loved Cris.” She walked away from me.

  “Then, why did you marry him?”

  “Payback.”

  “Payback?” Sweat dripped from my forehead. The lights dimmed. “For whom?”

  “I’ve had enough.” Eden pushed a button on her desk. A security team member entered the room. “Take her downstairs with the other traitors. I'll be there soon.”

  The guard grabbed my arm. Intense pain pulsed down to my hand. My legs spasmed, and I hit the ground. The room went dark.

  I opened my eyes to plain whitewalls and mirrors. A large fluorescent light hung over my head. The intense light reflected off the shiny floor and even the door. I lay with my head in Zared’s lap. The restraints were gone; the pain lingered. I felt like someone ripped my shoulder in half.

  He stroked my hair. “Hey.”

  I gritted my teeth. “Hey, yourself.”

  “What happened to you?”

  “It’s my shoulder,” I grimaced. “Eden caught me off guard. I think it’s dislocated.”

  He lifted me and laid me on the table ever so carefully. “I can fix it.”

  Tears ran down my face. I choked back another wave of nausea.

  Zared bent my arm at the elbow in an L shape. He moved it toward my body. “What did you say to her?”

  “I refused to give her the card.” I winced as he externally rotated my arm. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

  “Do you trust me?”

  “It has nothing to do with trust. It’s more like…” He stopped moving my arm, lifted it, and then, twisted it across my body.

  “So they took you to Eden’s office?” Zared kept manipulating my limb.

  “Yeah.” The pain stopped. “What did you do?”

  “Slipped your shoulder back in place.” He helped me sit up. He removed his thermal shirt, tied the sleeves behind my neck, and inserted my arm through the loop. “You need some ice and pain meds.”

  “I’ll be fine. Where did you learn to do that?” His bulging muscles rippling under his thin white T-shirt took the edge off and increased the heat in the room.

  “Something from the Corps.” He sat by me on the table. “They’ve already questioned me. Have you seen your mom yet?”

  “No. Have you?”

  “No. I'm guessing she's on this level somewhere.”

  I leaned against him and surveyed the room. One of the mirrors had to be a two-way. But which one? “They're planning on killing us. What are we going to do?”

  “Figure out how to get that proof,” he said solemnly.

  “Are you serious?” Which was worst? The pain which relocated to my head or his ridiculousness? I scooted off the table and paced the floor.

  “Our circumstances changed. The situation is still the same,” he explained.

  Selfish jerk! People were planning to kill us. They might have killed my mother already. He was concerned with a stupid mission. “Game’s over, Zared! Guess what? We lost!”

  “We lose if we quit. With everything we’ve been through, you’re ready to give it all up?” His tone was so gentle. If our situation wasn’t so dire, I would agree with him.

  “We don’t have a choice,” I murmured.

  “So, Cris’ death was senseless.”

  His harsh words discouraged any further movement. My heart crumbled. How dare he say that? “Not fair, Zared.”

  He exhaled deeply. “Y’know, you asked me why I was doing this. Well, what about you?”

  How was I supposed to answer that? Before it was all about the vaccine. I just wanted to avoid it, yet things changed. It wasn’t about me anymore. Bigger things were at stake, but we were held captive on an island. End of game.

  “Were you just trying to avoid your Inoculation Day?” He raised an eyebrow.

  This guy I’d given my heart to crushed it into a million pieces. How could he doubt me now? After all we’d been through…after all I’d been through…I thought he knew me.

  Zared walked around the table. He tried to put his arms around me. That was the last thing I wanted. He wouldn’t put his hands on me. Ever. Again.

  I put my good hand up and backed away.

  He held out his arms to me. “Tru, I'm sorry.”

  I wouldn’t deny I still feared the vaccine. And, yes, I planned to avoid it. But then Zared came along. I believed the things he told me and I volunteered my help. Although I lost my brother and my mother betrayed me, I never stopped wanting to help him. I swallowed the lump in my throat. I thought someone else in this effed up world got me. That he even might just…maybe a little… I guess I was wrong. About everything. I wiped my eyes.

  “With all that we’ve been through?” My voice cracked. “With all I’ve done because of you? How could you go there?”

  I couldn’t be anywhere near him. I pounded the mirrors and screamed to whatever asshole watched us. “Let me out of here!”

  “Tru.” Zared whispered. He put his hand on my good shoulder. “I'm sorry.”

  “Don’t.” I moved away from him.

  “Please, talk to me. I’m an idiot. I shouldn’t have said those things.”

  “But you did,” my voice shook.

  “I said I’d never hurt you. It’s obvious I did. Please forgive me.”

  “Why? So you can insult me some more?”

  “I’m sorry about what I said. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He edged closer. “Can you forgive me?”

  “You may not have meant to hurt me, but you did.”

  He hung his head. “What do you want me to say? I don’t want you mad at me.”

  My head said, Stay mad. He deserved it. He wasn’t thinking straight. Yet, my heart ached for his warm, inviting embrace. Nope. Let him wallow for a minute. “Can we talk about something else?”

  “Wait a minute.” Zared walked up to one of the mirrors. He rubbed his hand along the edges and then tapped on it. He walked up to the next one and did the same thing. After checking out each one, he took my hand and led me to a spot underneath the mirror on the left side of the room.

  “What did you do?”

  “The mirror we’re sitting under is the two-way glass. It’s set into the wall. The other three are hanging
on the walls. This mirror sounded hollow when I tapped it.”

  “Good to know,” I scooted closer to him.

  “Am I forgiven?” He asked, his voice full of hope.

  “Still thinking about it.” I bit my lip to keep from smiling. Of course, I wouldn’t stay mad at him, but he didn’t need to know that…yet.

  “I've been thinking about our capture.”

  This wasn’t the time for speculating and placing blame. I already knew what he thought. “What about it?”

  “We were set up.” It wasn’t a question.

  I crossed my legs. “By?”

  Zared tilted his head to the side. “Do you want me to say it?”

  “How do you know it wasn’t Motown?”

  “Motown’s no snitch. He’s always had my back. I trust him.”

  “And you don’t trust my dad.” I leaned my head back on the wall and grimaced.

  “You okay?”

  I smiled weakly. “Never been better.” I cleared my throat. “So why do you think my dad set us up?”

  “If anything, we should have been discovered by Riza. It was a little too convenient to be caught by Eden and her crew.”

  “Point taken.” I shifted my position. “So how do we get out of here?”

  His shoulders curled over his chest. “Good question. I don’t have a clue yet. Y’know I'm really sorry.”

  “You still apologizing?”

  “I didn’t intend to hurt you.” His eyes begged me to forgive him.

  “I know.” The dizziness worsened. Sleep sounded like a good thing.

  Zared moved, and I reclined with my back against him. He embraced me, allowing my head to rest on his arm.

  “Did you learn anything in Eden’s office?”

  “She said something about payback. She wouldn’t tell me for whom.”

  “I’ve no idea.” He squeezed me. “Getting out of here won’t be easy.”

  “Duh,” I snarled.

  “I guess I deserved that one.” He stroked my arm. “I promise you we’re getting off this island.”

  “What if we tell them we know where the card is, but we have to take them to it?”

  “That might work,” his voice brightened.

  “But it won’t help my mom.” I didn’t want to think about her. We had no assurance she still lived. The possibility hurt too much.

  “We'll get her out. I promise.” He lowered his mouth to mine when the door flung open.

  Eden hovered over us like a threatening storm. “Isn’t this cozy? I don’t have time for your games. Where's the damn card?”

  Zared helped me to my feet.

  “Eden, we'll show you where it is,” I said.

  “I'm not stupid, Tru. You tell me right here, right now.”

  “No.” I angled my body away from her.

  “Fine.” Eden placed her hand on the doorknob. “I can have my team execute you for treason.”

  “I don't think so, Eden.” Zared stepped up. “If you kill us before you get the card, you lose. For all you know, we gave it to someone for safekeeping. Who knows what happens to it if we don’t show up.”

  Eden opened the door and allowed her crew to enter the room. “Take the boy. If he tries to make a run for it, kill the girl.”

  “I will remember that I remain a member of society with special obligations to my esteemed leadership.”

  —Hippocratic Oath, 2020

  Splitting up wasn't an option. We had to stay together. Thankfully, the cursory search the guards performed didn’t reveal the card nor my knife. But, this was different. A lie might seal our fate. I’d rather meet my end with Zared than without him. I needed a plan. And I needed it now.

  “Wait!” I held my hands in front of me.

  The men stopped with their guns drawn. I didn’t see Eden. Perhaps she had returned to her office.

  “Can I have a moment alone with my boyfriend, please?” I jerked my head toward him.

  The two men, one of them younger and on the nerdy side, exchanged looks. Nerd-Boy said something to the older guy, and they backed out of the room. I pointed at the two-way glass. Zared got the message and we returned to our spot on the floor.

  “So, I’m your boyfriend?” He smiled.

  He would notice that now. I put my good arm around his neck and whispered in his ear, “We're not being split up. We can take them.”

  “We?”

  “Yes. I can handle myself.”

  “Not with your shoulder.”

  “The pain isn’t that bad,” I lied. If I didn’t fight through the pain, ultimately there’d be nothing left to fight for. I removed the makeshift sling; it would slow me down. “I'm not going down without a fight. You in or out?”

  He said those words to me what seemed like eons ago. A smile dangled on the corner of his lips. “I'm in all the way.”

  My heart swelled, and my hands tingled. This might be the best time to tell Zared… “In case…”

  He put a finger to my lips. His eyes glowed with desire. “Nothing's going wrong.”

  “But—”

  “I know.” He cupped my face with both hands and kissed me intensely.

  This guy meant everything to me. He was my present and my future, and I wouldn’t lose him. I clung to him. I wanted the moment to last for all time. But, for once, I told my heart to shush, listened to my brain, and broke off the kiss.

  “Let's do this.”

  “Follow my lead.” Reluctantly, I moved out of his embrace, went to the door, and opened it. “We're ready.”

  The younger guard grabbed me by my elbow.

  Zared yelled. “Hey, she’s injured. Take it easy.”

  The guard loosened his grip and pulled out a set of restraints. Nope. Not happening. He needed convincing not to use those on me. “If I promise to cooperate, can we do without those?”

  “I'm not supposed—”

  That’s when I resorted to the lowest trick a girl could pull. Something I swore I’d never do. I looked into the younger guard’s eyes, batted my eyelashes, and licked my lips. I tilted my head and gave him a slight smile. Beads of sweat shone on his forehead. He reminded me of those geeky guys from the learning center. They were all book smart and knew nothing about females. Okay, go in for the kill. I reached out and stroked his forearm.

  In a raspy voice I said, “I just want to hold his hand. We may never ever get to again.”

  The guard wiped the sweat trickling down his forehead. “I’m not—”

  Man, I thought I had him at the touch. I edged closer to him. “Haven't you ever been in love?”

  The guard stepped back covering his crotch with an open hand. “Nothing funny. You understand?”

  “Oh, I promise.” I gave the guy a peck on the cheek. “Absolutely nothing funny.” I backed up and reached for Zared’s hand.

  Our footsteps echoed through the narrow corridor. As soon as the elevator doors closed, I wedged myself into the corner near the button panel and nodded to Zared. The elevator started to ascend. I inhaled, braced myself, and punched the stop button. It jerked to a stop, throwing the men off balance. Before they reacted, I kicked the calf of the younger one before me. Immediately, I pulled him backward with my good arm and removed his weapon from its holster. The other man withdrew his weapon. Zared deflected his wrist, stripped the weapon, and elbowed the man across the face. While Zared restrained the older guard, I picked up the discarded weapon, keeping a gun aimed on the young guard.

  “You okay?” Zared tightened the restraints on the young guard’s wrists.

  “Just peachy,” I hissed. My eyes watered when the muscles in my shoulder started to spasm. I bit my lip. I swore I saw stars. We didn’t have time for me to wait for the pain to pass. I placed a gun in my waistband.

  “Nice job.” He glanced at the young guard. “How come you never flirt with me like that?”

  I clasped his hand gently and whispered, letting my lips touch his ear, “I’ve never had the opportunity.”

  He g
roaned, slid an arm around my waist, and pulled me close. His hot breath grazed my neck. “Don’t do it with anyone else, okay?”

  “Jealous?”

  “Were you serious about what you said back in the room?”

  I trembled. My fingers ached with the need to touch him. Now was not the time to analyze my feelings, though. I put my hand on his chest and backed away.

  Zared took a weapon from me. “We need to move. Where to?”

  He shook his head. “Let's go find your mom.”

  The elevator doors reopened on the ground floor. We shoved the men’s Riza caps in their mouths and stepped off the elevator.

  “Which way?” I asked.

  He gestured to the left. We made our way down the silent, dark corridor. My heart thudded against my chest. Sweat trickled down my back. Once again, something wasn’t right. Where was everybody? And then, I heard the far-off sound. The heavy footsteps clomping down an unseen hallway grew louder.

  “Find a door,” he whispered.

  I ran my hands along the wall and stumbled across an unlocked door. We entered the room, and the door shut behind us. A bank of monitors lined a wall. Zared pressed some buttons on the console. An in-house network of cameras flickered on, revealing different areas within the building. Security teams were dispatched. They knew we escaped. One team ran by the room we’d just entered.

  I studied the screens, and spotted Mom sitting at a table with her wrists restrained. She appeared to have a black eye. She spoke to someone off camera. The person crossed in front of it. An imposing Asian man with dark hair, frosted at his temples, stood to her side. The chiseled jaw and even the way he held his mouth seemed familiar.

  “Z, my mother’s alive. But who's that?”

  “No.” His mouth slackened, and his eyes grew wide. “It can't be.”

  “If used in a responsible matter, the nations of the world will be able to treat disease but also eradicate certain illnesses. Irresponsible use afflicts new forms of discrimination and social injustice upon the public.”

  —UN Worldwide Genetic Engineering Advisory Board, 2020