A few answers were muttered regarding the fact nobody knew it stunk so much.
“The new recruit?” the woman asked, now a few steps from the cart, her whole body turned toward Marie.
Marie came forth and climbed down the vehicle, helped by gentle hands. Once on the ground, she turned to thank them and saw their eyes behind the masks. Tears had splattered on the glass. The woman from the recycling center took her arm and dismissed the others with a mere nod. “This way.” The woman pointed back at the building, as if there were any doubt where they were headed. Or if she had any freedom to decide to go with her or not. The other suited figures hadn’t lowered their arms the whole time; the only difference, now the rifles were pointed at her head.
Still partially drugged, she fought the urge of easing their worries by saying she had volunteered to come. But the pain from her wounds was coming back, and although the mask shielded the worst of the stench, what reached her nose was enough to make her breathe in shallow mouthfuls of air. The exercise left her dizzy in a few steps.
“You’ll get used to it.” The woman dragged her by the arm she was still holding. Her gesture wasn’t mean, but still caused Marie pain. “What the…?”
Marie saw the woman walk around her and then curse.
“What did they do you?”
The woman was taller than Marie by a whole head and she couldn’t see her face, but by her tone, she reckoned her wounds must be hideous. She didn’t bother responding.
“I have orders to take you to the inner chamber, but—” The woman stopped a few yards from the door, causing a few of the suited women by the wall to nervously step forward. “She needs medical assistance first.” She accompanied her words with one raised hand and they went back to their positions.
She needed to see Grant first, but she lowered her head and endured the walk that followed the woman’s decision. Instead of entering the building by the door the suits were still guarding, the woman took a different path that wound around the whole length of the recycling center. Respectful of Marie’s condition, she slowly made her way to what looked like a gash between two columns of pipes and instead turned out to be the entry to a metal staircase that led down. Yellow illumination scarcely lit their descent. Marie wondered how the woman could see anything at all with her helmet.
Soon, unbearable heat rose from downstairs and met them in waves. Her broken skin reacted to the surge in temperature and she choked back a scream. She wasn’t sure why she even bothered. Maybe the need to prove she was better than them. Maybe stupidity. She stepped out of the staircase soaked in sweat and longing for the spiked water the pure breed had served her. The landing was darker than the stairs, but it took only a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dimness. Behind her, the whole squad of suits had followed in silent fashion. They unnerved her, looking more like visions from nightmares than women. They all walked to the opposite wall where light passed under a door, illuminating its frame. They waited for the door to open, and a few seconds later, only Marie and her chaperone were allowed entry.
Marie blinked at the sudden brightness of the place, and she realized they were in an antechamber, waiting for another door to open, this one sturdy looking and armored. The woman spun the wheel at its center with some effort. The hissing sound announced it was opening, but they had to wait a few seconds before its thick wall left enough space for them to pass through. As soon as they were inside the small chamber, the woman pushed the door closed. A distinctive pop in her ears told Marie the place was pressurized. They waited some more and then finally the door before them opened with another long hiss. As soon as they were on the other side, the woman took her helmet off, revealing a cascade of red curls, soft-brown eyes, a big nose, and generous lips.
“We’ve a wounded girl,” she called to someone and then looked at Marie and pointed at her face. “You can remove it now.”
It took a moment for her to realize she didn’t need the mask anymore. The stench lingered in the air, but it didn’t belong to the place. It wafted in waves from their clothes.
“Name’s Corinthia.” The redhead pointed at herself. Then her eyes went on Marie’s branded arm. “I only have your numbers.”
“Marie.” She looked around to get a feeling for the place. It wasn’t just an infirmary as she had thought. It was a cavernous space opening into hallways and alcoves. Pipes lined the ceiling and they stood on a concrete floor. Lamps hanging down the pipes gave the unsettling feeling of a festive place. There were people, lots of people. A woman had heard Corinthia’s shout and was hurrying their way. She was rail thin with sleek back hair that reached the front pockets of the gray scrubs she wore over a lighter version of her chaperone’s dark suit.
When the woman reached them, Corinthia didn’t waste time in preambles. “Marie was whipped.”
The woman walked around Marie and then gasped. “For the Goddess’s sake!”
“What kinda beast would punish a child so savagely?” Corinthia’s face reflected her words.
Marie felt comforted by her demeanor.
“Fortunately, the cuts were immediately covered with a salve.” The newcomer was removing what was left of Marie’s shirt.
She flinched and automatically stepped back, her hands crossed over her chest for modesty, and she felt trapped in a déjà vu loop.
“I’m sorry, but I need to take a good look at your back.” She patted Marie’s arm. “I’m Luna. Let’s go back to the clinic where I can clean you up.”
“The clinic?” Marie didn’t understand where she was.
“This is a dangerous place and we’ve a clinic to cure people exposed to toxins and radiation.” Luna had started walking and turned to answer her.
“Radiation? What radiation?” Toxins she understood. The stench itself was enough to kill a person; she could only imagine how dangerous the waste could be to the skin. But radiation? No rumors about waste plants had ever mentioned radiation.
Corinthia bit her bottom lip, exchanged a look with Luna, then shrugged. “Well, it’s a long story, but the recycling center uses power that creates radiation as a byproduct. But don’t you worry about that now.”
“I’ll patch you up good and then you’ll rest a while.” Luna and Corinthia exchanged another look. “She can’t show up at the inner chamber like that.”
“What I thought.” Corinthia sounded relieved. “You’ll spend the rest of the day here and then we’ll find an accommodation for you.”
Marie didn’t utter a word. She was wary of the unexpected welcome and the pain now spreading through her body. The effect of whatever the pure breeds had given her was unfortunately gone. The two women ahead of her didn’t realize she wasn’t following. Not because she had decided not to, but because her body refused to.
“She must be in more pain than I thought.” Corinthia’s voice sounded muffled.
Marie watched as they looked at her, worried expressions on their faces, and then she closed her eyes. A prick on her arm roused her enough to open her eyes again, but only for a moment because a sense of warmth spread through her and with it, a sense of peace. She had the strange feeling of floating and her mind went back to one of the few times Madame Carla had allowed a field trip to the beach. She and Idra had escaped the adults’ vigilance and dove into the crystalline waters of the Great Blue Ocean before someone could stop them. She was hovering now as she had done then. And it was beautiful. The experience lasted long enough for her to slip into unconsciousness with a smile on her face.
“Marie?”
She loved that voice.
“Marie? Are you waking up?”
No, I’m not.
“Is there something wrong with her?”
“No, she was in so much pain her body shut down.”
“But is she going to be fine?”
“Yes. Give her time. She was mercilessly whipped who knows how many times. If it weren’t for the salve and narcotics someone gave her while she was being transported here, she’d be in
way worse shape.”
“I didn’t even realize the seriousness of her situation when she arrived. She was walking by herself…”
“Why would they do something like that to her?”
“I asked. She stabbed a pure breed, apparently for no reason. It seems she snapped and tried to kill the soldier.”
“What? Why would she do something like that?”
“Who knows…?”
“Still, she’s a girl!”
“If not even a girl is safe…”
“Even knowing she deserved a punishment, it still was barbaric what they did to her—”
“Callista went too far. She should’ve been judged in a trial.”
“I want to kill that woman—”
“Get in line.”
Marie was too tired to keep listening and so she went to sleep again.
“Marie? You’re scaring me. You should be awake by now.”
That voice she liked so much.
“Marie? Please, wake up.”
She heard the pleading and tried to open her eyes, but they were so heavy and she wanted to rest some more. She hadn’t rested in years.
“You must do something! This isn’t normal.”
“You saw the extent of the damage on her back.”
“Yes, but—”
“Give her time.”
She had already heard that, but her head felt full of cotton and sleeping was easier than trying to understand what those voices wanted from her.
“Marie?”
Someone interlaced their fingers with hers. Her name was repeated several times. Her hand was raised to someone’s lips and a soft kiss was laid on it.
“Look at me.”
Soft lips brushed hers.
“Look at me.”
The kiss deepened.
“Look at me.”
Grant’s voice was as soft the caresses on her face. Happiness radiated from the inside of her chest and soon filled all of her. She felt the blood pumping through her veins and her heart beat loud. Her eyes opened and he was there. No awakening had ever been so sweet.
“Hi.”
“Hi,” she tried to say but wasn’t sure she had.
His bright green eyes widened, joy suffused his face, and that told her everything she needed to know. “You scared me to death.”
“I’m here.” She had succeeded. The pain and humiliation hadn’t been for nothing. Then, the realization that she would have done it again hit her. And it was like being hit by a freight train.
He squeezed her hand and then turned to face someone. Marie saw his head had been shaved. His dark-blond mane was gone; his tan skin was marred by bruises in various stages of healing. She heard the approaching steps a moment later.
“Didn’t I tell you to leave her alone?” A curtain was drawn to the side and Luna walked into her line of sight, and as she progressed toward her, Marie saw she was in a small room, no bigger than a cubicle. Everything was white. There was only space for the bed she was lying on and the chair Grant must have used until a moment ago.
“I couldn’t.” Grant smiled at the woman.
Marie couldn’t help but notice he hadn’t broken contact. Her hand was still firmly in his. She needed that. She wanted him by her side.
Luna smiled back at him and laid a hand on his shoulder in a familiar gesture. Her eyes went on their united hands lying on the coverlet, then up to Marie’s face. “Hi, there.” She bent over her to take her free wrist in her hand. “Welcome back. How do you feel?”
She wasn’t sure.
“We made you sleep for a while. You weren’t in good shape and your body needed time to heal.” Luna sat on the bed and briefly checked her eyes. “You’re coming out of it just fine.” She stood up and patted Marie’s legs. “You should go to bed,” she said to Grant.
He shook his head. “Not now.” The hold on Marie’s hand tightened a bit.
She wasn’t ready to let him go yet either and was glad for his answer.
“Okay, but promise you’ll go to sleep soon.”
“I will.” The smile on his face dimpled and his eyes brightened.
“You’re terrible at lying.” Luna left with a chuckle.
Marie waited for them to be alone and then looked at the curtain. Grant understood her request and closed it. “Grant—” She didn’t know what was going to say. Her mind was a chaos of questions that were soon forgotten when his eyes locked with hers and he smiled.
She waited for him to sit on the chair and take her hand again. Silently, she looked at him, her eyes lingering on his scalp. In her dreams, she always passed her fingers through his hair. Still, he was handsome. Lips chapped and a long cut running from his left eyebrow down to his cheekbone, he was breathtaking.
He saw her looking at his mouth and his green eyes darkened. Then he left the chair and went to lie on the bed with her. Silence and shallow breaths. The length of his body along hers. Arms touching arms, legs touching legs. But only for a moment, as if he were deciding what to do. Then he turned to the side, propping his head on his bent arm.
His gaze on her was hypnotic. “Grant…” She couldn’t stop looking at how red his lips had become.
Something stirred behind those green eyes and he leaned over her, only to stop a few inches from her mouth. He didn’t touch her, but she felt all the oxygen contained in her lungs rushing out. Dizziness came and she welcomed it. She liked that feeling when he was close. When his lips lowered over hers one more time, she stopped breathing altogether, her heart frantically trying to escape her ribcage. He finally kissed her and tears escaped her eyes. His mouth looked for hers, at first tentatively, but her hands reached around his neck and she lowered the rest of him over her. She didn’t care that he was pushing her back against the bed. The pain was nothing compared to the ecstasy she felt at having him so close.
“You kept sleeping and I—”
She heard the words whispered in her mouth and felt the tremor in his body. He had straightened his arms and was now separated from her by a few inches. She didn’t like it and tried to pull him down, but he resisted her effort and the seriousness in his face made her desist.
“You weren’t waking, and at first, Luna didn’t let me stay, but I couldn’t stay away. I had to see you. I had to talk to you.” He took her hand still circling his neck and kissed it.
Marie tilted her head to better look at him. “I thought of you. Always. Since the first time I saw you at Redfarm.” Her thoughts had taken several forms, but she could now admit he had been in her mind from the beginning. She wasn’t sure when he had taken possession of her heart. She had tried to resist, but it had happened over time.
Grant’s mouth relaxed into a smile. “It was night and I was outside in the backyard. I saw you looking down from your window, and I hoped I could get a closer glimpse of you. I was hauling a beam to build that blasted gazebo when you walked down the stairs…”
Marie couldn’t believe he remembered. She wasn’t even sure he had seen her. Her mouth opened and then closed, unable to say anything but happy beyond reason. He had seen her.
“I thought of you, even then.”
The way he said it, she understood he felt guilty for that. Joy spread through her.
She must have been easy to read, because he smiled at her and then nudged her nose with his. “I looked for you when I shouldn’t have.”
“But you were angry at me all the time!” She saw him back then, defending Carnia and looking at her with disdain.
Grant hid his face between her neck and shoulders, his lips brushing the spot under her ear. “I was angry at me.”
She shivered at his kiss, half of her mind gone. “Why?” Talking didn’t come easy when her body seemed to have ideas of its own of what she should be doing instead.
“Because I wanted to see you, and Carnia needed me.” He was still whispering to her throat, which eased the pain she felt when he mentioned her name. But, even dulled, it was more than enough.
It was irrational, but her heart ached when he said it, and only the kiss that followed stopped her spirited retort from ruining the moment.
“I’ve wanted to do this since the first time I saw you.” He gently pushed against her mouth until she parted her lips for him.
Marie knew what was coming but wasn’t ready to feel so lightheaded. He explored her slowly, and after a moment, she found herself breathing through him, glad he had moved and was now over her. Her hands roamed over his back and then up to his scalp, where she passed her fingers through his stubble. The sound of people walking by startled both of them. Grant was on the chair before the curtain opened to show Corinthia’s amused face, followed soon after by Luna’s.
“I see you’re awake and feeling much better.” Corinthia winked at her and walked the two steps to the bed.
“She does have a dedicated nurse.” Luna carried a tray on her hand. “Are you hungry yet?” She looked around for a place to put the tray.
Grant reached out, offering his arms for the task.
“Thank you.” Luna gave him the tray and then turned to face Marie. “Have some breakfast, and then, if you want, we can talk.”
“We imagine you have a few questions about this place, about us.” Corinthia stood by the curtain, her back outside the actual perimeter of the small room.
Marie nodded. She had just remembered she did have questions. Under the two women’s gentle scrutiny, Grant helped her eat the sweetened porridge and drink some of the tea. There was easiness in the way his fingers brushed hers that made her blush. It felt intimate and they weren’t alone. Then, and it came as a surprise, she realized she hadn’t felt ashamed a man was touching her, only conscious they were exchanging affections before other people. But neither Corinthia nor Luna seemed offended by the display.
He must have felt her embarrassment though. “You’ve some porridge on your chin… there.” His finger stopped before touching her face to clean the spot and simply hovered to indicate where it was. “Yes, there.”
Marie was mesmerized by his voice, his eyes, his lips he tended to bite a lot when he talked. Questions could wait, couldn’t they?
Marie's Journey (Ginecean Chronicles) Page 24