“So what do we do?” Nico asks. “Kill him, grab the truck, and go?”
“No,” I say. “We avoid a confrontation.” My chest tightens, and I feel like everything in my body is squeezing together, laughing, trying to choke me. “We leave. It’s the sensible thing to do.”
Nico frowns. “Is this really you speaking?”
I take a deep breath. “If we go and kill him, it’ll bring all the others out. We’ll end up fighting them. Chances are at least one of us will get injured. If we just leave, we’ve got a better chance at getting away unhurt.”
And it’s right, isn’t it?
No, you just don’t want to use the gun. You’re scared. But there are other ways to kill. Beat him to death! Or use your knife! You can’t leave him alive!
“Okay,” Nico says. “So, we wait him out, up here? Then get our truck when he leaves it?”
I bring a hand to my chest. My skin is hot and clammy. “That won’t work. He’s seen it, he’ll know there are Untamed here… He’ll be calling for backup, staying by our truck, thinking we won’t go without it. If there are others about—and there probably are—they’ll search for us, find us eventually. We have to get away on foot.”
Nico’s face pales considerably. “But what if one of them does see us? They can run faster than us.”
“We would still have the gun,” I say. My stomach hardens. “And our knives. If that happens, then we shoot or stab them. Last resort.”
Elf shakes his head, then runs a hand through his hair. It looks thicker than usual. Maybe it’s the light in here. “What about those other Untamed that are out here—can they help us get away?” He glances at me.
“No, we don’t know where they are,” Nico says.
“If they even exist,” I add.
Nico grimaces. “We’re on our own.” He looks at me. “You think we should run now?”
I nod, feeling less and less like myself. “Yes. While we’ve got the chance.”
“Run back to Nbutai?” Nico looks at me.
“No. In case we’re trailed. We’ve got to keep going anyway, got to find Bea.” I press my lips together, hoping that we haven’t left clear tire tracks to Nbutai. But we shouldn’t have, right? There’s a fair breeze, and the ground is hard. But dusty too.
“We’re going to have to go,” I say. I slide the gun from Elf’s loose grip, and I don’t know why I want to hold it when it makes me feel sick. “I’ll go first and look around—I’m smallest, less noticeable,” I add quickly, seeing the looks on their faces. “I’ll signal to you if it’s clear. If I’m caught, I’ll say I’m alone. There’s a crevice opposite—there, that wall. Hide in there if they catch me.”
Not that the crevice would do much. If the Enhanced catch one of us, they’ll look for others. Like the Enhanced, we stick in groups, and they know that.
I move cautiously, slowly, back out to the cave’s entrance, then onto the ridge. My heart hammers against my ribs, and the rhythm makes me feel sick. It’s going too fast.
I stick close to the cliff face, feeling for handholds on the warm rock as I make my way. Then I lean around, as slowly as I can, and look.
The Enhanced man is still by the truck. He’s leaning against the bonnet, arms folded. Waiting for us? Waiting for backup?
I scan the area. My eyes smart from the effort, from looking into the sun. I search for movement, for anything, but I can’t see any more Enhanced Ones. It’s just the one man. I press my lips together. If one’s here, there must be others…but I can’t see anyone.
They must be well hidden.
Or there really is just one.
If there’s just one, you should kill him, take the truck, and run.
The thought makes me stiffen, and I see Mila’s body in my mind. Dead.
Kill.
Kill.
Kill.
No.
No more killing.
Not even them?
You’re an Enhanced lover now?
No. I’m human. More human than I’ve ever been.
I take a deep breath and scan the rest of the area again. I step to my left, looking farther and farther. Movement catches my eye, but it’s just a little of the low-creeping vegetation moving in the breeze. Not human movement. Not the Enhanced.
I try to keep calm as I look back around. I can just about see Elf’s and Nico’s shapes in the cave entrance. Both are watching me.
Hurry up, I tell myself as I continue checking the immediate area. We can’t waste time. And it’s clear, isn’t it, if we go the opposite way to where the truck is?
I head back to the cave and—
“Keelie!”
I whirl around at the man’s shout.
The Enhanced man. He’s there, suddenly fifteen feet in front of me, sweat pouring down his face, his whole body shaking.
“I thought I’d lost you! And you’ve no idea what that did to me…when you’re all scattering, moving, and how would I find you? And—and it was a clever disguise, your sister on your bike! And I’m so glad you’re here, that I’ve found you! Because I knew I had to, just had to get away!”
The world stops as I stare at Red.
A thousand indecipherable feelings bolt through my body as I stare at him. At Red. Enhanced Red. But looking the same as the undercover Untamed Red. Because he would. Of course he would.
And he looks good, wearing a tight T-shirt and casual jeans.
But his mirrors are real.
“You know where Bea is? You’ve seen her?” My words sound strange, like they’re not mine.
Elf and Nico are by my side in an instant. Nico’s knife’s out. So much for them hiding.
“Don’t!” I yell at Nico, then look back at Red. “Where’s Bea?”
“Keelie!” Red says again, and his voice sounds the same as before—as when he was Untamed—and it’s full of wonder. The same voice. It paralyzes me. “I thought I’d never see you again, because you’re not easy to track, and I’m….”
He takes a step toward me, and I’m just here, frozen. Stupidly frozen. Thinking of the things we did together, how he tasted, how he felt. And I feel everything inside me try and pull me toward him. Like he’s a magnet, and I’ve got to see him. Got to be with him.
No.
Nico grabs my arm. “You know him?” His tone is dark. “What’s going on?”
“It’s Red,” I say. “My friend, Red.”
But is he still my friend?
For a moment, Nico’s eyes widen. He breathes heavily, his nostrils flaring. “I thought he was dead.”
“So did I.” I swallow hard and try not to remember that last night at D’Elinous. Then my stomach hardens. “But he survived, Untamed. Only he got caught, and now he’s Enhanced. Properly Enhanced.”
Elf wrenches the gun from me, marches forward, and—
I go cold.
“Don’t shoot!” Red yells, hands in the air. “I—I want to be like you!”
Elf stops. “What?” He sounds strange, angry.
Nico and I step nearer, until the three of us are facing Red, only a few yards between us. I’m breathing hard, panting. I feel color rushing to my face in the most unattractive way—
It doesn’t matter how unattractive you look. You can’t be with him. He’s the enemy now.
“It’s a lie,” Nico shouts, looking around frantically. “Elf, shoot him! There’ll be others coming, and—”
“No!” I yell. “He’s seen Bea!” I point at Red. “Where is she? Where’d you see her? On a motorbike?”
Red stares at me, looking both curious and confused. “Last night.” His eyes look me up and down.
“Did you follow her?” Then my eyes widen. “Did you convert her?”
“We need to get away,” Nico hisses at me, but I wave my hand at him.
“She was too far away…” Red says. “And I don’t… When I realized it was her, I… I told you, I’m joining you.”
I look around quickly—but no one else has appeared, no o
ther Enhanced.
“You want to be Untamed?” Elf stares at Red. He’s still pointing the gun at him, and I try to see if the safety’s on. “You’re not making sense.”
“Because I’m running lean! I want to be Untamed, but my brain is….” He breaks off, grimacing. “I have to be with you!”
“So he doesn’t know where Bea is now.” Nico shakes his head, then rolls up the sleeves of his checkered shirt. “Just shoot him, Elf. It doesn’t matter what he says. It’s a ploy. He’s not seen Bea, and he doesn’t want to join us. Shoot him, and we can go. He’s buying time until others get here…they could be seconds away, and we have to move.”
“Others?” Red says, and then he’s looking at me. Straight at me, and it makes my heart do a stupid fluttery thing. “It’s just me, Keelie. Why would I call others here?”
“Because you’re Enhanced,” I say, and the words feel good to say because I’m saying them out loud, as if that will teach my heart. I shake my head hard, to drill the same words into me.
“But I haven’t been Enhanced for long…just a few days—help me! I can resist… And I need to join you, Keelie, I need to be with you.”
Nico mutters something dark under his breath.
Red’s pleas twist through me, make me think of all the stuff we did. I feel my face going even redder, and I try not to look at Nico, hope that he hasn’t worked it out. That he won’t.
Red spreads his arms wide, and I stare at his tattooed biceps and how the tightness of his T-shirt emphasizes their form. “Look,” he says. “I’ve not brought any augmenters or anything—and I’m not trying to convert you… I’ve got no radios to contact them! You have to help me! Untamed save Untamed!”
“You’re not Untamed though, mate,” Nico says.
Elf nods. “And no Enhanced One wants to become an Untamed, become wild. Even if they’re new,” he says. “They can’t resist enough to leave the compound themselves. They need help to do that.”
I stare at Elf. Did I tell him about Red being converted and no longer undercover? I must’ve, when I explained about Mila, but I can’t remember. But he’s definitely treating Red like an Enhanced, not an Untamed. Not his friend.
But then again, I can’t remember much. Not really. Not since Mila died. Everything’s in snatches.
“No, it was just me,” Red yells. “Please, K….”
Elf’s nostrils wrinkle. He holds the gun steady, glances at me for a second, then turns back to Red. “I don’t buy it. The addiction to augmenters is too strong. You shouldn’t be able to voluntarily give it up.”
“It’s a trap,” Nico says. “But, look, we’re nearer the truck now. No others have shown themselves. Elf, shoot him, and then we can go.”
“No!” I cry at the same time as Red, and his eyes dart to me. Those mirror eyes. And I try to read him, but I can’t. Is he resisting the augmenters? Is it true? He wasn’t before—he tried to convert me.
“Stop looking at her,” Nico snarls. He steps closer to me, then Elf does too. “We need to kill him.”
“No,” Elf says, and I glance at him in surprise. “If there’s an Enhanced One who’s resisting enough to escape by himself, we need to keep him. There could be more like him… We need to know. Could…could be big for the Untamed.” His voice is quiet. So he is seeing him as his friend? But he was going to shoot him just now.
Nico nods, reluctantly though. Then he points at Red. “How did you get here?”
Red folds his hands together carefully. When he looks up, his gaze is on me. “I walked.”
“How did you find us?” I ask.
Red’s eyes bore into mine. “Coincidence. I had no idea where a group of Untamed might be heading off to.” Then he frowns. “Are you all scattering, relocating?”
“What?”
“Going off in small groups. Or individually?”
“Bea’s run away,” I say. “We’re looking for her.”
“And any other Untamed out here,” Elf adds.
Red looks up at the rocky mountainside, then back at us. “So you’re letting me join you? We can look for Bea together?”
And he looks delighted. But I don’t buy it. He knows roughly the area where Nbutai is. Yet he’s out here. My skin crawls as I remember how desperate he was to convert me after I killed Mila. No. He wouldn’t change like that, would he? But it’s within the seven-day period….
No. He wants to find the village, find all of us. And his memory’s warped, thanks to the conversion process. He’s Enhanced….
But he’s resisting! And hope raises its head in me, even though I try not to let it. Need to remain level-headed. And it’s not as if Red and I can ever be together now. Not when our secret meetings were the cause of Mila’s death. And now Bea’s gone too.
No. I can’t be with him. No matter what I want.
“Maybe,” Elf says, lowering the gun. “Maybe not.”
“I’m on my own, I swear,” Red says. “And I can’t lie. Honesty is still in my system.”
Elf snorts.
“We need to go,” Nico wails. “We’re doing what he wants—waiting here until others come.”
“We can’t abandon one who’s resisting,” Elf says. “Not given what it could lead to.” He glances at me.
I nod quickly, my heart pounding. Red’s back?
“We need to search you,” I say to Red, but my voice wobbles, betrays the calm persona I’m trying to keep. “Elf keep the gun on him. Nico?”
Nico and I search Red quickly, and Elf keeps guard with the gun. I try not to react when I touch Red, and try not to let my fingers linger, but his eyes are on me, and I’m sure I know what he’s thinking of.
And he’s resisting because of me? Because he wants to be with me?
But he didn’t—not at the compound. And he’ll have been converted even more since then.
The hairs on the back of my neck lift up. I don’t like this. There’s too much suspicion in me, fighting my hope, and it’s twisting round and round in the tangled mess that is my feelings.
“What are these?” Nico asks, as we both pull several augmenters out of Red’s pockets. With them is Red’s ID card that says Robert Yearling on it, and I see Elf leaning closer to look at it. He frowns for a long moment.
“You know what they are,” Red says.
“Why’ve you got them if you want to join us?” I hold one augmenter up in front of him, dangling it like bait in front of a fish.
I let Nico take the others from me, and he smashes them on the ground along with the ones he was holding, lets the earth soak up the liquid.
Red’s watching me carefully. “I had them because I needed them. But I’m making myself run lean.”
I let the last augmenter drop from my hands, then stamp it into the earth.
“Don’t do that!” Red winces. He points at my foot. “You’ll cut yourself.”
“My soles are thick enough. But that’s not the reason you don’t want us to destroy them, is it?” I lean in closer, and Nico puts a hand on my shoulder. “It’s because you’re craving them, and this is all a game to you. You don’t really want to join us…” I feel suddenly sick. He really is just buying time for the others to get here. Trying to keep us here. Disgust ripples through me as I realize how easily I’ve been tricked. I should’ve listened to Nico. “Come on, let’s go. We’re wasting time. We need to find Bea and—”
“No!” Red shouts, and he whirls toward me, grabs me by the shoulders, looks into my eyes, and…and into my soul. That’s what it feels like.
A jolt of feeling burns through me, a thousand words never said, lost, broken, gone. But here. Between us, with us, around us. Me and Red. And I stare at him, feel as if everything else has stopped. It’s just me and Red, the only people in the world. The two of us.
It’s your second chance, Keelie. Your second chance with him. Take it.
“Let her go,” Elf shouts, and his words startle me, yank me out of my daze.
And I feel…weird.
Then Nico kicks Red, and Red staggers back, and I’m free. Only it doesn’t feel like it, feels like…like I’m lost. I look at my shoulders, at where Red’s hands were just moments ago. My body tingles, but everything feels empty.
“You okay?” Nico glances at me.
I nod.
“Look! Just listen!” Red’s voice gets more frantic. He waves his hands around. “They’ll find me! They’ll realize I’ve run. Please! Rescue me! Keelie, please.”
“Too late,” Nico says, shaking his head. He’s holding his knife again now.
“No, hang on,” Elf says to him.
I step nearer to Red, still feeling strange—and I don’t know what to think. I feel the connection between us, and my heart says to keep him with us, but my head tells me no, that it’s too dangerous. That it’s a trap.
“Why do you want to join us?” I ask.
“Because…because I don’t want you to get hurt.” Red blinks rapidly.
I don’t understand that answer, and a quick glance at Nico and Elf tells me they don’t either.
Red grins at me, and I try not to feel anything. Because my feelings, they’re my weakness here.
I fix my gaze on Red, feel heat rush to my face. My head pounds as I look at him. And Elf and Nico, they’re waiting for my decision—I can tell.
And can I do it? Send Red away? Leave him behind again?
Second chances are rare.
But it doesn’t have to be permanent, does it, this decision? I can change my mind later if I realize that Red’s not sincere.
I nod at him. “Take off your clothes.”
Nico makes a startled noise, shock written on his face.
“We need to make sure he’s not hiding any more augmenters there,” I say. “Or weapons. A radio, a phone, whatever.”
“We’re not taking him with us,” Nico says, looking at me in disbelief.
“We are,” I say. “Untamed save Untamed.” Only my voice sounds strange, not quite like me.
Elf nods in agreement. “He’s resisting. This is big.”
“The Enhanced are non-violent people,” Red says, rolling his eyes. “You don’t need to check me for weapons. You just want to see me naked.”
A Dangerous Game Page 24