My thighs screamed in terror. How could we storm Brighton if I couldn’t even walk?
“Fine.” I forced a smile and hobbled over to Prince. He nudged my hand and I fed him a few sugar cubes I’d snatched from the pantry earlier. This plan wasn’t working.
~~|~~
By the time the sun peeked over the mountains, I could finally see why I was so cold. Prince’s breath fogged out of his mouth.
“Now we rest,” Memphis said as he tied the horses by the stream.
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I slid off Prince’s back and curled up next to a tree with my Sasquatch parka wrapped around me. Sleep overcame me within seconds.
Minutes later, I blinked my eyes open and stared into a fuzzy face. A gasp escaped from my lips and I struggled to sit up. Before I could focus, Jewels was gone.
I scanned the tree line, questioning if I’d really seen her or if I was dreaming. If only Kaden were here. I’d pick him over Memphis any day, even if we were fighting. I’d been stupid. I needed him.
The sun hung high in the sky, meaning we’d slept for hours. I reached over to get water from my pack, patting the bare ground.
“Memphis.” I crawled over to him. “Memphis!” He didn’t wake. I shook his shoulders. He grunted, but didn’t open his eyes. “Memphis, wake up.”
He moaned again, then reached forward, pulling me to his chest and rolled over. I struggled against him, my arms and legs aching with every move.
“Oh, Sugar,” he moaned as he moved in to kiss me. I turned my cheek and felt his lips traveling down my neck toward my chest. He dug his hips into me and trapped me underneath him. “I knew you wanted me.”
His other hand moved down my side and grazed the edge of my breast.
I raised my hand and slapped him across the face. “Memphis!”
He snorted and opened his eyes. “Whoa.”
“Get off me!” I said with gritted teeth. “Now!”
He rolled off and sat next to me, stunned.
Full of adrenaline, I popped to my feet. “Don’t ever do that again!”
Memphis chuckled and stood. “Looks like you were the one who started things.”
My mouth flew open. “What? No. I just…” I exhaled hard and brushed off my pants. “Someone stole my backpack.”
Memphis looked around and cursed under his breath. The horses were gone, too.
“Dammit, Kaden!”
~~|~~
“Now what?” I asked, wishing we had matches or flint to start a fire.
“We should go back,” Van suggested.
“No,” Memphis shook his head. “Kaden did this. He’s trying to prove I’ll quit.”
“We don’t have any food, or supplies, or transportation.” Van removed his cowboy hat and ran his hand through his hair.
“Supplies for what?” I asked.
Van’s eyes flicked to Memphis in concern. After seeing the gun, I wondered what else they’d brought. Explosives?
“Just stuff,” Memphis said quickly. “We’ll be fine. We don’t need it.”
Van let out a gust of air and cursed.
“For what?” I asked again, my tone harder.
Van dragged the toe of his boots in the dirt. “I don’t know ‘bout this anymore, man.”
“We don’t need it!” Memphis rose to his feet. “If my brother can get in and out with only his Sasquatch, then we can, too.”
“No we can’t.” Van stood and slid his hands in his pockets. “No rope, no knife, no weapons, no binoculars, no ammo, nothin’ but a Squatch coat. You know that’s not gonna work, especially hikin’ them mountains.”
Ammo? My glare swung to Memphis. So he did have a gun.
“So you’re going home?” Memphis barked.
Van shrugged. “I didn’t volunteer to be captured.”
“Fine.” Memphis held out his hand. “Give me the gun.”
Van shook his head. “No. You lost yours. This one’s mine.”
Memphis moved toward him and Van backed up. “What do you need it for?”
“Wild animals.”
“I’ll give you my bow.”
“No.”
“We’re going into Brighton. We had a deal.”
Van shrugged. “That was until it became a death sentence.”
Memphis groaned. “Fine, then. Go.”
Van looked to me and held out his hand. “Come with me, Abby. You can’t go blow up that office, not without our stuff.”
Part of me wanted to leave with Van. Part of me wanted to stay. But the biggest part of me wanted to find Kaden. He was out there, somewhere, and he had all of our stuff. He was whom we needed the most.
“Sorry, Van.” I shook my head. “I’m staying.”
He sighed and stormed off into the forest, and Memphis, too proud and stubborn, didn’t call after him.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
After what felt like the millionth step, I cursed the blisters rising on my feet. If I thought riding was bad, walking was a hundred times worse. Kaden had gone too far this time with his insecurity and jealousy.
“Why would your brother do that?” I asked.
“Take our stuff?” Memphis laughed darkly. “Because if I quit, he gets all the glory.”
“Seriously?” I shook my head. What was so glorious about risking our lives and possibly murdering someone? “Why don’t we just try to talk to him and work this out?”
Anger flooded Memphis’ voice. “I don’t need him.”
I bit my lip. “Okay.” Sensing his jealousy, I decided to drop the subject. Correction, both of them were acting immature.
“So…” I asked after a few long moments, “where are the rest of the girls in your colony?”
Memphis chuckled. “Girls? You’re worried about girls, now?”
Thinking back to Van and Memphis’ conversation under the waterfall and the mention of the slim choices, yes, I was quite worried.
“Well, besides Marla and Patty, who are married, there’s no one else… that’s eligible… that I’ve seen,” which seems totally fishy. “That’s all.”
“Well,” he said with a chuckle, “there are more girls at the homestead. They hang out there to bake and stuff.”
“Ah ha!” I exclaimed, a little too loudly. “I knew it.”
Memphis smirked and tilted his head. “You already knew about the homestead.”
“Yes, but it’s not just another campsite. You’ve got a city. Am I right? With bathrooms and kitchens? Homes where there’s electricity.”
“Sort of, yeah.”
I let out a relieved breath. “Good, because campville sucks and the sand, don’t get me started on that. I mean talk about grating.” I snorted. “Get it? Grating?”
I giggled more, feeling punchy. The exhaustion was catching up to me.
“Yeah.” Memphis might have agreed, but his voice was suddenly void of feeling. The further we walked, the broodier he became.
“Wait.” I tugged at his arm, unable to take one more step when an idea hit. If I spared Memphis’ ego and he bailed, maybe Kaden would finally have pity on me. “You don’t have to do this.”
“What do you mean?”
“This…” I motioned toward Brighton. “You don’t have to take me any further.”
“What? No… we’re going to Brighton and we’re taking out that guy.”
“No.” I touched his arm. “This isn’t your problem. It’s mine. And your parents certainly don’t need to be worried about the both of you. Just… go home already. It’s okay, really.”
Memphis laughed and shook his head. “And leave you out here alone? No way. Besides, I doubt they’re worried about me” He sounded sad.
“What do you mean?”
“I never do stuff like this, so…”
I closed my eyes. “I have friends in Brighton that will help me. And like you said, they’ll arrest you for defecting… you’ll end up in Stygos.”
His eyes slotted. “You know about Stygos?”
; I took his hand and squeezed. “I’d never be able to forgive myself if something happened to you,” or Kaden. “I have to do this alone. It’s what my Complement wanted.”
“That’s crazy.” He cocked his head. “I care about you, Abby, way more than my brother does—obviously—and I’m hoping you’ll see that before it’s too late. I admire your bravery, but I can’t let you go alone.”
Fire lit Memphis’ eyes, something I hadn’t seen before. He squeezed my hand and pulled me closer to him. He watched me longingly with a look that said, “kiss me.” Then everything he’d said under the waterfall slid into place. This wasn’t necessarily about my mission, or about his position in the colony. He was fighting for me and he needed to prove himself worthy, prove his manhood. And worst of it, he wasn’t going to give up.
I sighed and let go of his hand, fresh out of excuses. “Okay,” I said quickly. “Then let’s go.”
Maybe once we reached the wall, Kaden would hopefully appear and they could hash this out. I wasn’t a prize in their crazy contest. My mission was real and my future family was depending on me.
~~|~~
After crawling up rocky terrain (I never would have been able to ride a horse over), hiking through the forest, thirsty, tired and completely numb from head to toe, we arrived. The sun began to set over huge spires piercing the clouds and my heart revved to life. This was real. This was happening.
“Brighton,” I whispered.
Memphis grabbed onto my hand and squeezed. “You’d know better than me.”
Nostalgia should have swept over me, but all I wanted to do was throw-up.
“You ready?” Memphis asked as we approached the wall.
I nodded as the glint of silver caught my eye. The guns. Were they active? How’d Kaden get over the wall? All I wanted was his hand interlocked with mine, his reassurance we could do this. Yet he’d sabotaged our trip and remained hidden this entire time, angering me to no end. Had I’d picked the wrong brother after all?
A small whir sounded from the nearest gun as it rose from its perch like a bird cocking its head. I froze, stunned and amazed. A series of red lights flickered at our feet, scouring over the leaves as if they were alive, looking for flesh.
“Wait.” I splayed my hand over Memphis’ chest. The ground danced and moved with the rata-tat-tat of the spray. They were shooting at us. Shooting.
Memphis cussed and we ran, and caught our breath behind a tree.
“It’s okay,” I reassured. “They’re rubber bullets.”
“Like hell they are.” He pointed to the tree next to us. Whatever the bullets were made of, they’d penetrated deep into the wood and were no match for skin and bone.
Pain stabbed into my head and I swayed for a moment.
“Abby? What’s wrong?” Memphis’ hands secured my shoulders.
I reached up, expecting to find blood at my temples. The headache deepened.
“Oh, no. Not now. Not now!” I screamed at myself.
“Abby, are you okay?”
I fell to my knees anyway as Memphis’ hand vanished off my shoulders.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
The all too familiar pop happened again. When I opened my eyes, rain poured down around me in the darkness. Ivy ran the length of the wall, completely hiding the stones.
“Victoria. What are you doing out here?”
I shook my head again. The right side of my brain still throbbed.
“Victoria!”
My eyes slowly focused in on a female with brown hair who stood at an opened doorway set into the wall. “You’re crazy to be out there with the sun setting. Come on.”
I blinked at her for a moment. A moan behind me froze my blood.
“Come on!” she insisted.
Courage pooled in my legs and I scurried to my feet and flew past her. She bolted the door on the inside and grabbed my arms, studying me from head to toe.
“How did you get outside? You’re not supposed to be…”
I tried to catch my breath. She looked so familiar.
The girl yanked her head backward. “Wait. You’re not Victoria. Who are you?”
I sucked in another ragged breath and shook my head, trying to figure out how I knew her. We were the same age. Was this my daughter? “I’m…” I blinked at her, feeling so lost and unsure what to say. I just wanted to jump again and get out of there.
She rested her hand on my forehead, then flipped over my forearm, tracing her fingers over the skin. Her eyes pinched for a moment as she scrutinized me.
“We should go.” She laughed half-heartedly as if to cover her concern, but I knew that laugh. Something was wrong.
I gulped down my hesitation, tempted to bolt in the opposite direction and wait for another headache, but where would I go?
She gripped my waist and walked me up a path toward a small house. Once she opened the door, she shoved me and locked us inside.
“Doctor,” she yelled. “I’ve found one!”
I froze in horror, then tried to get around her. She plastered herself against what looked like the only exit. “I’m not letting you go until you’re checked out by the doctor.”
I backed away from her and moved around the table in the middle of the room. “Let me out.”
Headache. I need a headache. Now!
“Sit and wait for the doctor!” She stepped forward.
I stood my ground and shook my head. At my side, I formed a fist. I’d deck her if I had to.
“Maggie, I’ve got this.”
I swiveled around, my heart pounding, and gawked at the man standing in the hallway, at his use of my mother’s name. This wasn’t the future at all, but the past, sometime before I was born. My legs buckled underneath me and the man moved to catch me.
“It’s okay.” He lifted me to my feet. “I’ve got you.”
The two exchanged a funny look as they escorted me into one of the rooms down the hall. He sat me on a twin bed and pulled up a chair.
“So.” He washed his hands first. “What brings you here?”
“She was outside the wall and I could have sworn she was Victoria. Victoria Hanson,” Maggie interrupted. “She’s not. And she’s unmarked.” She yanked back my sleeve. “See?”
I pulled my arm away and tried to defend myself, but my mouth wouldn’t work. Did I try to say I was related to the Brightons? I’d never been inoculated because I’d gotten the antibodies from mom, but against a totally different virus.
“Hmmm…” The man pulled out a tiny sheet of blue paper. He then swabbed my finger and held a tiny pin to it. “This will hurt a pinch.”
He pricked me, then squeezed a drop of blood from my finger onto the paper. At first, nothing happened.
“See?” Maggie shrilled. “She’s contagious. This is horrible. I knew I shouldn’t have let her in. We have to send her back.”
“Calm down, Maggie,” the doctor said, studying the paper. “I don’t think you have anything to worry—”
He stopped. Her eyes swung over to look at the desk, then her jaw dropped. The paper had changed to pink.
He blinked for a minute, then smiled. “Well, that’s peculiar.”
“What does that mean?” Maggie asked.
My heart pounded, watching them. What did the test results reveal? Would they force me to become inoculated?
“I don’t know…” His brows furrowed. He gave Maggie a look before putting a bandage on my finger. “Where’d you say you were from?”
“The southern province,” I squeezed out. My brain cycled through the Brighton family, for someone to impersonate. “I-I’m Alice. Alice Brighton.”
“You’re far from home.” The doctor stood. “I don’t know what they approve of in your province, but it’s not safe to leave the wall. You’re lucky Maggie was there. You know the importance of keeping the rules, especially being a Chosen. I don’t think your grandfather would approve”
“You’re right.” I nodded my head. Was he buying this? Or stalling?
I sucked in a breath and choked on my spit as she pulled out some mushrooms and weeds from her pocket, laying them on the desk.
“Good.” He clasped his hand over hers and lingered longer than I liked.
I continued to cough, unable to catch my breath.
“Get her some water, Maggie.” Dr. Declan came over and massaged my back as my mom left the room. “Are you okay?”
His name kept ringing in my ears. Not only was I furious he openly flirted with my mom, the time jump had given me a golden opportunity to fulfill my task. On the dresser was a pair of scissors. I could stab him and then the Declan in the future would be gone, too. My body broke out in a cold sweat. How could I do this? How could my Complement think I was capable of doing this? What if my mom came around the corner? There’d be blood. There’d be screaming. A mess…
“I don’t feel so good,” I said.
“You don’t look so good.”
“I think I might be sick.”
He turned to fetch the garbage pail and I tried to will myself to stand. To take the scissors. To not think about it. To just plunge them into his back and run. To get it over with. But I couldn’t move.
He swiveled around and handed me the plastic pail. “I’ve got something that’ll help. Hold on.”
He disappeared around the corner. Another wave of nausea hit and I held the pail tighter. Maybe I really did have the flu. Then the pain sliced through my skull, and I grit my teeth and groaned.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
At the pop, a pair of big brown eyes of a little girl peered up at me in terror.
I scanned the room at the toys and purple paint. It wasn’t a makeshift doctor’s office anymore, but a child’s room. The garbage pail clattered to the floor and the girl screamed, “Mommy!”
I scrambled to my feet and ran into the hall. The girl continued to wail.
“Baby? What’s wrong?” a woman’s voice said from a room further down the hall.
I clamored in the opposite direction, through the same living area I’d just been in and fled to the front door, swinging it opened. Flying outside, I scrambled toward the bushes to hide. Moments later, a woman peered out the front door and scanned the street. Then she clicked her DOD watch face open. “Yes, I need the authorities. We’ve had a break-in.”
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