He expected tears at least, not this. Maybe there was a way to convince Fuller to let him talk to his lab, make him think that it’s all he had access to somehow. He could relay enough of this to Dyrig in code, they knew each other well enough to do that. If there was a way to fix this, Dyrig would find it. Maybe they could override the soldiers’ implants….
The door opened and Fuller and one of the guards walked in. The guard slowly walked over to the girl and pulled her up by her banded hands. Fuller told her to sit in the chair. She did, and he knew Fuller wanted her to be close enough for him to see what he would do to her.
“Bring me a bloody light, will you? It’s too damn dark in here,” Fuller barked at the guard.
This was his chance then. “You win, Fuller. I’ll get to Brody. I just need to borrow one of your screens. Let her go.”
Fuller smiled and shook his head at him. “Not until my son is here, Maxton, not until then.” He took out his screen and typed something into it and walked over to him, took the band off and tied his hands in front of him, and then handed the screen to him without a word and leaned on the door of the cell.
Lancer typed quickly, coding as much as he could so Fuller couldn’t figure out what he did quickly enough, signed off, and handed the screen back to him.
Fuller stuck the screen back into his pocket and proceeded to pace around the room, his fingers tapping against his side. He noted that he walked like Brody, straight-backed, graceful. It annoyed him that he kept finding things in this man that reminded him of the kid. Tishana sat unmoving, eyes down, not looking at anyone.
Finally, the guard was back. He stuck a bright lamp to the wall opposite him and flicked it on. The room was suddenly flooded with light, too much light, making him blink. He could tell now that the walls were green, not gray as he’d thought before. He looked at the girl and noted with dismay that she had nothing on but that shirt and underwear, and her legs, too, were bruised and scarred, as if they beat her mercilessly for days. Only her face seemed untouched. One of the scars on her leg was opened, oozing blood. He flinched looking at it.
“Just as I thought, Maxton. I picked her for you because my men were rough with her, you see. Ordinarily, they are better at controlling themselves, but with this one—she was an animal, screaming bloody murder at them, kicking them with those little feet of hers. It was pathetic to watch, though, I must say, entertaining. She wouldn’t let them touch her, so they did what boys do, and got a little carried away.” The man laughed, then said, “You see, I have no patience for brutality of any kind, Maxton. You wouldn’t believe it, I know. My men know better than to touch the Zoriners, but when one is this feisty, I guess biology takes over. She is useless as a breeder now, but my men got to have a bit of fun, so it wasn’t a complete waste…. Get some sleep, Maxton. If all goes according to plan, this is likely going to be your last night. Might as well enjoy it.”
He walked over to him and pointed at the girl with his head, a smirk on his face, and he suddenly knew what he meant by it, what he expected him to do with the girl, and it took every bit of control not to lunge for him. He felt he could easily crush his skull with his bare hands. Lancer gritted his teeth, staring at the man blankly, not moving a muscle, and finally, Fuller motioned to the guard and they were gone.
He wished there was something he could cover the girl with. It was chilly in the room already and it would only get colder at night. The cot was a thin bit of plastic with no blanket or pillow on it, but it was still warmer than the bare floor. He walked over to her and told her softly that the cot was hers. She just shook her head at him.
“I am not going to hurt you, kid, I promise. I’ll figure out a way of getting us out of this. It’ll be all right.” He leaned in and helped her up, touching her only by the band around her wrists, not wanting to scare her, and led her to the cot, waited until she got down on it, and then walked away to the wall across from her, slid down on the cold floor and closed his eyes. He’d slept like this before, too many times to count. He could manage it.
“What’s your name? Your first name?” She was lying on her side, watching him.
“Lancer.”
She nodded. “What happened to your back, Lancer? It looks worse than anything. Did they do that?” She pointed with her head at the door.
He shook his head, softly. “I don’t want to talk about that, Tishana. You should get some sleep. Maybe if we are very, very lucky tomorrow, we’ll get out of here.”
There was no chance of him getting out of this place alive, but she didn’t need to know that. He wanted to give her a little bit of hope if that’s all he could do. It surprised him what she said about not giving up your friends and the fierceness in her voice when she said it, and he wondered what had happened to her, how she ended up here in the first place, and about all the people who’ve let her down. He had a feeling that list was far too long for how young she was and he hoped he could do something for her in the end, erase some of the distrust, some of the sadness.
Even if only for a few small moments, he wanted to make this girl smile.
17
Orphan
Brody, June 12, 2236, The Flier
Brody knew he was screaming, screaming at all of them, but he couldn't help it. It was his fight, not Lancer’s, and he was beyond mad at him and mad at Drake for not letting him do what he needed to do. Drake was holding him down, pinning his wrists to the chair and he felt a needle in his arm and saw a fuzzy shape of Ella’s face hovering over him. He could tell they were flying because everything seemed lighter, shakier. He tried, really tried to turn his head to look out the window but it wouldn’t move for anything. He felt Ella’s hands on him, unbuttoning his uniform and peeling it off, and then taking off his armor and his shirt, and Drake sitting him up so she could see his back. They were looking for something, only he couldn’t, for the life of him, think of what it was, and then his eyes failed him, just like his neck did before, and he couldn’t see anything anymore.
He smelled the fire and jumped up. There were no trees in Crylo to make a fire from. Something was wrong. And then slowly, it all came back: Lancer holding his father by the neck, Drake dragging him away, him almost getting everyone killed.
Nobody was in the flier, so he walked to the door, unlocked now, and down the steps. He saw Laurel running to him. She pulled him into a hug, but he couldn’t do this, couldn’t hug her, so he shook his head at her, and kept walking toward the fire. Riley stood, facing him, likely expecting him to lash out at him, only it wasn’t Riley he was mad at.
He noted with some confusion that all the Zoriner girls they saved weren’t there.
“Where are the girls, Riley?”
Loren walked over to him then, handing him a mug of something steaming hot. “We dropped them off in a place I know. They’ll be safe there. You were still asleep, or we would have talked to you about it beforehand.” He lowered his head, as if embarrassed.
“You need to eat something, and then we need to talk,” Riley’s said.
He wasn’t hungry. He couldn’t force himself to eat if he was, either.
“Lancer?” He sat down next to where Riley was, making him sit, staring at him, waiting.
And he finally talked. He told him about the call they got on the flier comm from Dyrig at the old lab, and that from everything Dyrig was able to decipher, there were a bunch more civilians at Crylo and Fuller was threatening to use them as leverage against Lancer, until he got Brody back to him. He told him, too, that they all thought Fuller just wanted to kill him, that it was just that stupid and personal for him, and that he seemed willing to kill an awful lot of people to make it happen. And that they didn’t have a plan yet, but Dyrig was working on something with Loren, trying to find a way of hacking into Crylo soldiers’ implants or something to that effect, but they haven’t had any luck yet.
He got up. “Thank you, Riley. How far away are we and did the flier get fixed?”
Riley looked up at him, conc
ern all over his face. “About three hours flight time, and yes, we fixed the shields and the reactor works now….”
He knew they’d all fight him on it, but there was no way he would let anyone else die because of him, even if he didn’t know them. He had to go back, and he couldn’t wait for Dyrig to do whatever it was he was doing, couldn’t risk it.
“One of you is going to fly me back, Loren or Trelix, I don’t care which. We are going in the morning, first thing and I don’t want to fight over this. I have to do this, and you all know why, so please, spare me this. I don’t want to remember you like this. I want to remember the other things…. I’m going to wash and change,” Brody said and walked away from them to the flier.
He found a black t-shirt and a pair of dark pants, grabbed a pair of boxers, soap, and a towel, and went to wash at the stream. He didn’t need them to tell him where the stream was. He could tell by the neatly packed grass even in the dark. And there it was, a smallish stream surrounded by flat rocks on both sides. He stripped and waded in, the water swirling warmly around him. It felt good to be in the water, hearing nothing but the rustling of the trees and the soft swishes of the stream around him. There was a half-moon hovering above him. He floated on his back staring at it for the longest time, thinking of all the times he was too tired or pissed-off to look up, and he smiled at himself, at how sentimental he was becoming.
He flipped over and saw her, standing on the bank watching him, her face a pale circle in the dark. “I am completely naked, Laurel. I was hoping for some privacy.”
He didn’t want company now, least of all hers. He couldn’t take it, her tears or her begging. She had to be smart enough to understand that, to know that it was killing him to do this to her, to leave her like this, and yet, he watched with dismay as she took her shirt off, and her bra and then the rest of it, and walked slowly, cautiously through the rocks and into the water, and in far too short a time, her hands were on his back and she was pressing him to her, making him ache, making him hurt all over.
“I’ve seen you naked before, Brody. I didn’t come out here to stop you from going. I know why you have to. I came because I wanted to be with you for as little as we may have left, and you should let me. I won’t think any less of you if you don’t, but I wish you would.” She said it softly and there was no anger in her voice.
Her impossibly blue eyes stared into his, no tears in them, and he couldn’t help himself. He pulled her in close, kissing her, not saying anything, just enjoying the feel of her. He picked her up after a while, still kissing her, and he could feel her shaking in his arms, so he pressed her closer and closer until there was no space between them at all, and he hoped he could take this with him, the feel of her soft skin on him, the way her eyes got and how she didn’t try to hide it from him…. He hoped he could hold on to all of it for as long as he had left.
They washed each other afterward, Laurel giggling when he inadvertently got soap in her eyes, and when they finally made it to the fire, everyone was gone, asleep on the flier. He snuck a few blankets for them without waking anyone up, and they slept out in the open like they did the first night they ever spent together, Laurel’s head on his chest, her eyelashes fluttering, tickling him. He watched her sleep for a long time, running his hand through her hair, watching the curve of her lips, flashes of waning firelight making her face glow. She was stunningly beautiful and he couldn’t recall if he ever told her that. He hoped he had. This girl needed to know that. And he hoped she wouldn’t hold on to him the way he held on to Trina. That him being gone wouldn’t damage her like that, and that she would let herself fall in love again without fear, without the guilt.
Drake getting the fire going woke him up. He was alone, wearing nothing but his boxers, Laurel’s blanket gone. He sat up and looked at Drake, only the man was ignoring him.
“Spill it, Drake. Whatever it is….”
The man kept throwing sticks into the fire, not talking to him.
“All right. Tell me what you would do in my place then. Bloody tell me! Because I can’t, for the life of me, see any other way for this to go, Drake. I wish I did.”
Drake looked at him but still wouldn’t say anything.
“Do you remember him? My father, from before?”
Drake shook his head. “He never spoke to me, Brody, not once in all the years. I’d say hello when I saw him on the street, only he always made like he didn’t hear me. Maybe he didn’t. I don’t know. But no, I don’t remember him beyond that and how Riley was trying to find them for you when they were gone. I remember that. Him and Ella walking all over Waller, Riley asking every person he saw if they knew where his friend’s parents were and asking these strangers to tell them to come home. It was the most heartbreaking thing for Ella, and she’d cry over it, but she still went with him over and over again, until finally, something must have told him that it was no use and he gave up. I remember that….”
It was strange that he never knew this. Riley never said a word to him about it, but then he didn’t talk to Riley or anybody for a long time after his parents were gone, couldn’t talk to anyone. But he could picture Riley doing it, walking around Waller like that for him, and he felt even more guilty for pushing him away and for everything else that followed. And now, for losing Lancer, whom Riley loved with all his heart, loved like he never loved his own father, and that, too, he took away from him…. He put his head into his hands, trying to calm himself.
He felt Drake’s hands on his shoulders, lifting him up, pulling him into a hug. “I’m sorry, Brody, sorry for all of it. I wish Lancer would have just left it the hell alone when I was out there. I am sorry, kid,” the giant said and let go of him.
Brody put his clothes on and ran into the flier to get the rest of his stuff together. He grabbed a stunner and a gun, checked his knives, threw in a few blank screens and his comm, and went back down to the fire.
“You’re going to have to make them let me go, Drake. I have to do this.”
Drake nodded calmly. “I know.”
The tea kettle was boiling now and finally, he watched Riley and Ams come down followed by sleepy-eyed Laurel and his boys.
Loren walked up to him. “I’ll take you, Brody, if it’s all right with you. We’ll go as soon as we’ve had some breakfast.”
He nodded, walked over to where all the cups were, and poured himself tea, waiting for the rest of the stuff to cook.
Drake was making smoked meat stuff and eggs. They must have raided a quail’s nest or something. He needed to force himself to eat, the soldier in him knew that much. He sat on the log, not looking at anybody. Laurel’s soft hand wrapped around his after a little while and she smiled at him when he looked at her, a sweet smile, and he wanted more than anything to have her keep smiling at him like this. He planted a soft kiss on her head and took his hand back, not looking at her again.
He saw Riley staring at him from across the fire and called him over. He stood when Riley was in front of him, took him by the arm, and walked him away from the fire, just far enough to whisper without being overheard.
“I’ll do everything I can to get him back for you, Riley, I swear,” he whispered.
Riley reached over and hugged him, hard, staring at his face. “Promise me you’ll get you back to me, too. I need to know you won’t do anything impulsive, rash, Brody-like. I need to know you’ll come back.”
He couldn’t promise him that, and he knew Riley knew it, and that for the first time in as long as he’s known him, Riley was asking him to lie. He nodded and walked away, not looking at him again, sitting down in the one empty spot he could find.
Ella finally handed him a plate and he ate quickly, silently, hoping they wouldn’t make this any harder than it already was for him. And they didn’t. Nobody said anything when he got up and nodded to Loren that he was ready. Nobody tried to stop him or screamed at him. They stood up at the fire and smiled at him, and he ran into the flier, hoping he didn’t burst into tears in front o
f them, trying to hold it together for a few more minutes until the flier was up and their faces blurry. They were waving at the flier until he couldn’t see them anymore; until they were high enough up to where he could finally stop looking at them.
He walked into the cabin, Loren calm behind the controls, and slumped into the seat next to him. He put his head into his hands and was surprised at the feel of stubble on his chin. It seemed like such a stupid thing to have forgotten, it made him want to laugh.
“I forgot to shave, Loren. All this, and I bloody forgot to shave,” he said and he laughed then, couldn’t help it.
Loren watched him strangely for a while. “You know, Brody, it wouldn’t matter if you shaved. Your hair would keep growing for a long while after you are good and dead. Strange, how that works.” Loren was laughing too now.
And he thought that whatever awaited him in Crylo, it would be all right. He would make himself okay with it. That no matter what his father wanted to do to him, it wouldn’t change this. All those people in the clearing they just left smiling at him. Him and Loren laughing. Laurel coming to him last night at the stream. His father couldn’t take any of it away from him.
He closed his eyes, thinking of all the best moments in his life and how most of them had nothing to do with his family, except for Andy…. It has always been Riley, and Trina, and then his crew, these boys he grew to love, and all those people he just said goodbye to, and Laurel. The one person in the world he would give anything to hold again.
The comm beeped and he heard an unfamiliar voice of Dyrig talking to Loren. He was paying attention now.
“I think we got it, but we’d need a day to make the virus that’ll drop our neuros into their net. I can’t get it done any faster than that….”
Alliance: The Complete Series (A Dystopian YA Box Set Books 1-5): Dystopian Sci Fi Thriller Page 49