And Mila.
I inhale sharply and freeze as I stare at her. She’s sitting in the middle of the path, running her fingers through the gravel. Her gaze is intent, and her eyes are Untamed.
Snakes of ice slither through me. My chest shudders.
No, it’s not her.
She looks up.
Keelie, she says.
My mouth drops open, and I feel the cold breeze against my bottom teeth.
“I’m not mad,” I whisper. “Not mad. Not mad. Not mad.”
I turn quickly, heart pounding. Mustn’t look at her. She’s not real. She’s trying to distract me.
Keelie! Don’t!
I walk away as quickly as I can. My hands feel clammy, and I clench them into fists, then wipe them against my dark jeans. Just need to keep breathing, need to stay calm, mustn’t let my mind distract me.
Trails of anger whisper around me. My skin feels too hot, like it’s been taken off, heated up, and then placed over me.
My hand finds its way to the Luger in my belt, hidden under my hoody. Its presence is reassuring—as is the knife in the pocket of my shorts.
Keelie! No!
I walk faster and faster, until I see them: Elf and Yani.
They’re talking, their heads together, as they look left. Elf nods, and then Yani steps forward a little, looking farther down the pathway that leads to the next ornamental garden. My brother points at something, and both of them nod again.
But neither looks toward the three Enhanced men who are watching them.
I step against the soft leaves, melting into the hedge, watching. My heart pounds as I peer through the foliage. Elf and Yani are still oblivious. I need to signal to them. Need them to look toward me.
And why the hell haven’t they noticed they’re being watched?
Come on! I will them to look around.
Neither does.
I shift my weight slightly, stretching up so I get a better view of the Enhanced. Three men, crouching about fifty yards from Elf and Yani, and downhill too. Two look like they’re my sort of age, one’s a little younger. They haven’t made any moves yet toward Elf and Yani, and I can’t see any communication devices on them. But it’s three against two—if I don’t get involved.
A quick look around tells me they’re the only Enhanced here at the moment.
One of them stands up. The light flashes through the leaves as he takes a glass vial with red liquid from his pocket.
My heart pounds.
Two options. Yell out to Elf and Yani—and risk drawing more Enhanced here. Or sneak over there, startle the Enhanced, and kill them with minimal noise.
The first would mean the Enhanced would know there were three of us, and it could mean Rahn would have no backup, as well as making it difficult for me to carry out the distraction.
The second would be the least disruptive to Seven’s rescue.
Treading carefully and keeping light on the balls of my feet, I make my way around, sticking close to the shrubbery line. Leaves tickle my face, and something cracks underfoot. I wince, my eyes on the Enhanced the whole time. The one standing, with the augmenter, hasn’t moved, but they’re all definitely watching my brother and Yani.
I inch closer, skirting around the Enhanced a little, so their backs are to me, and listen hard. I pick out the word Untamed in their hushed whispers, but the rushing in my ears prevents me from hearing the other words.
My hand finds my gun, and I debate on pulling it out. If I need to shoot, I will. But it will start the distraction, and the stopwatch tells me it’s too early at the moment—Rahn’s team may not be in place yet. I edge closer and closer to the Enhanced. More saplings tied to canes with red twine line this path. I stare at the red twine for a moment.
Quickly, I rip two lots of the twine away, and the saplings bounce toward me. The twine comes away in loops, and I grab my Swiss army knife and cut above each knot so I’ve got two lengths.
Then I make my way closer still to the enemy, pocketing my knife once more. My heart pounds deliciously. And it’s just like before, when my siblings and I were traveling. Any feelings of pain in my body melt away, and I feel strong. Invincible.
“The signal’s not good here,” one of the Enhanced says. So they have got a communication device?
I am feet behind them. I flex my fingers. They’re not clammy now. Carefully, I wrap the two lengths of twine together, making one thicker piece, and hold an end in each hand. My breathing increases. The gun in my belt is reassuring.
“But I won’t need it,” I whisper—whisper so quietly.
Join me, Mila replies. A bullet for each of us.
I take a deep breath and lunge forward, throwing the length of twine around the neck of the youngest Enhanced man. He cries out, but I’m fast, and I yank him back, the twine cutting off his squawk.
The other two spur into action, turning toward me. I kick out at one—a deft hit to the lower abdomen that doubles him over, moaning—while still yanking the youngest one back by his neck. As the second man goes down, I pull hard on the twine around the first, bracing his struggling body against my own. I pull tighter and tighter. He splutters and splutters, trying to turn.
The third is close now, and I kick him back, but not with as much force as I did the second man because most of my energy is going into strangling the first man.
“Don’t make a sound!” My voice is beautifully calm as I address the third. He’s recovered from my kick, but hasn’t made another move toward me. The augmenter is in his hands still.
A glance upward tells me that Yani and Elf haven’t noticed the commotion. From this angle, they’re farther away than I thought, and the breeze must be carrying these sounds in the opposite direction. Or maybe the plants are insulating. My pulse races. I can’t help but smile. I’m good. This feels good.
The second man’s still down, and the first man finally goes limp against me, no longer spluttering and wheezing. I lighten the pressure of the twine around his neck, use my fingers to check for a pulse—can’t find one. Then I punch him hard in the side of his face to be sure. He slides down to the ground, and I spring toward the third, yanking the twine with me.
“No, please!” he yells, fear written all over his face. Fear that he shouldn’t feel. Oh, what a lie that is.
What a lie they are!
His voice is loud, and, if I wasn’t so fired up with adrenaline, I’d wince. Instead, I leap toward him, pulling my Swiss army knife out again and flicking it open. He turns, starts to run, but I’m fast.
I grab him.
“No, no—”
I slice the blade across his neck, aiming for the jugular vein. Blood spurts out, and I let him fall. Then I stab him in the stomach for good measure.
Two down. One to go.
“Help me!” a voice yells out. The second Enhanced. He’s crumpled on the ground still, clutching his stomach, his face a brilliant shade of crimson.
I bare my teeth as I advance. I’ll strangle this one with my bare hands. No twine or knife needed—I shove them into my pockets.
“Keelie!” Elf’s voice.
I look up, see him yelling at me from the other side of the hedge, his face broken up by foliage, and—
Footsteps, behind me.
More of them?
I turn, knife ready, and—
“Use your gun!” Elf yells, and I could curse him, revealing himself to be Untamed like that. “The gun!”
But, no, I can’t. It’s not time for the distraction yet, is it? How much time has passed? I go to grab the stopwatch—but its cord isn’t around my neck. It’s gone? Lost in the fight? I swear loudly. How much time has passed? But I can’t shoot now; it’s better to leave it longer—to be sure Rahn’s team is in place.
“Keelie!” Elf screams. I can’t see Yani next to him—at least one of them has got sense.
Keelie! Mila echoes.
I turn and face the Enhanced. I’ve got the twine. I’ve got the knife. They’re both in my
pockets. I can use both of those. My heart pounds. My lungs feel strange. My breaths make scratchy noises against my throat.
This is it. Yes. Adrenaline dances through me. Eight Enhanced, advancing toward me. Some look cautious. Some look determined.
And I’ve killed two without the gun.
I can take them on. I can do it easily.
And it’s just like when I was eleven. When I was living to kill them—and the desire never left me, it was suppressed. Suppressed by Rahn; he was controlling me, stopping me from doing what I love.
And killing Enhanced is what I love: killing them with knives and twine, killing them with my hands, wrapping my fingers around their throats, squeezing the life out of them, like how they try to squeeze the humanity out of mankind—how they’re doing it, destroying us all, replacing our genuineness with their artificiality, thinking they know what’s best for us.
But no, they don’t.
Fire burns through me.
Yes.
Run! Mila yells.
Start the chase early? Have them chasing me? My head pounds. Yes, I could…and then I can fire some shots when it’s time for the actual distraction—draw even more after me. Lead them away so I can kill them all.
I grin.
“Your gun!” Elf screams, and then he’s pushing through foliage and trampling on flowers. He hurtles toward me.
“What are you doing?” I scream. “Get away! This is the distraction!”
“I’m not letting you kill yourself!” he yells.
I pull my gun out, direct it at him. “Stay away!”
For a moment, Elf looks shocked. Then he pulls his own gun out, and I stare at it. All that time he was yelling at me to use my gun, and he had one? But thank the Gods he didn’t use it!
“You can’t shoot now! It’s too early!” My whole body shakes and pounds, threatens to burst with adrenaline. I need to do something. I need to use it up. Need to fight, need to kill.
Kill….
I turn, look at the Enhanced and—shit—they’re so close. Too close.
Run! Mila begs.
“Come on!” I scream at the eight Enhanced. And why aren’t they moving quickly toward me now? They’re just walking, tense and careful and scared. Because they know I’m a threat. We may be low in numbers, but we do what they despise: we kill. We’re bad.
“Put the weapons down, Untamed Ones,” the nearest Enhanced shouts.
I wave the gun around. “Run after me, and I won’t shoot any of you,” I say. The Enhanced who I kicked—and was going to strangle with my hands—is starting to crawl away. I see him moving slowly.
“Keelie, no!” Elf says, flicking the safety off his gun. He lines it up with the nearest Enhanced.
My mouth dries. “No guns!” I yell at him. But—oh hell. He’s going to shoot.
Think!
I point at Elf and look at the Enhanced. “Leave him alone, chase me, and neither of us will shoot you!” I yell. Before anyone can reply, I turn, energy flooding me. And I run. “Come on!”
I sprint as fast as I can, kicking up gravel and dirt as I tear across the gardens. I turn my head, see some of the Enhanced coming after me. Yes. But not all of them. Two are looking at Elf. A stationary stand-off.
My brother lifts his gun.
No.
No.
No. He can’t! Rahn’s team might not be ready—will they? I don’t know, has it been thirty minutes yet? I try to look again for my stopwatch—in case it’s just got tangled in my hoody or something—but my vision’s blurring, and everything’s foggy. And where’s Yani? Has he gone? I pray that he has, that he’s hiding, remaining undetected. He’s the only one who can help Rahn’s team now that Elf’s revealed himself.
“Chase me!” I scream at them. “Come on, run! All of you! He’s going to shoot you! I won’t! Come on! Chase me! Catch me!”
More power sets in.
They all chase me.
Alarm bells go off in my head about the danger I’m in. But I like danger. I like it a lot. And I’m doing what Rahn wanted—he wanted me to do the most dangerous task of the mission. And, when it’s time, when I draw all the other Enhanced of New Kimearo after me and away from Rahn’s team, away from Seven, it’ll be even more dangerous. I promised not to shoot them, but I’ll still kill them…later.
I love the way the word dangerous tastes. I want to swallow it. I want it to be part of me always.
This is what being alive feels like.
This is better than riding my motorbike.
This is better than fighting the Nbutai villagers.
This is better than sleeping with Red.
This is better than just ambushing and killing Enhanced men and women.
Being chased.
This is freedom—I’m not tied down, not bound by rules. And I’ll have no people after this; I’ll be on my own. A butterfly. Free.
I’ll be responsible for myself, no one else.
I’ll be able to do what I want.
And this is what I want to do.
I scream at more Enhanced as I pass them, and they look at me, shock on their faces. Shock! I burst out laughing, and it slows me, but more adrenaline kicks in. I duck under a low branch, wave my gun about to attract more attention.
Shouts fill the way behind me, my own personal tail.
I keep running, diving down new pathways. Gravel sprays up everywhere. I slip, skid on some mud, and fly forward. For a moment, I think I’m going to fall, but my free hand catches onto a branch—ripping my bandage off in the process—and I hurl myself forward, land on my knees, on grass.
I turn, jumping up. The Enhanced are still coming. Yes.
My heart pounds as I run faster, faster, faster. Got to keep going. Got to. Got to. This can’t end. The game can’t end.
Somewhere, a shrill siren goes off.
No, Keelie! Mila shrieks, and I look for her—look for my madness. Because that’s what it is.
And maybe I am mad. But mad is okay if mad is being alive.
And I am alive.
“I am alive!” I scream.
I grin, see my deranged expression reflected against the smooth black marble plane of the water-feature as I sprint past. My dark glasses have gone. Seeing my Untamed eyes fuels me, and I run faster and faster.
Pain drills into my chest as I snake out of the center of the gardens and into a courtyard. My boots make slap slap slap sounds on the concrete squares, and the concrete squares remind me of a chessboard.
Of playing the game with Red.
And it is all a game. Everything is the game.
Life is a game.
“Stop at once, let us help you!” a female voice cries out.
Run! Mila yells.
Huh, as if I’m going to obey the enemy over my sister.
I run faster and faster, then I’m back in another of the gardens—one with a neatly cut lawn and big yellow flowers—and it’s at the edge of the complex, because I’m back by the brick wall. I plow through, and the Enhanced follow me. I shriek with excitement as the wall ends, as I get to the open field-like space and turn, see them all behind me. So many.
I run faster, zigzagging. The gray building is in sight. The maze hides inside it. And part of me tells me I’m not supposed to go in there yet, not until after I’ve set off my gun, done the distraction properly—but I don’t know if it’s time yet and—
A hand lands on my shoulder.
I shriek, whirl around, kick out. The Enhanced man falls, his mirror eyes throwing distorted reflections everywhere. I turn; butterflies fill my stomach, and the pounding in my head gets faster and faster.
Run!
I run and reach the building, yank open the gray door, and—
An Enhanced man looms in the doorway, steps back when he sees me.
“Keelie?” Red’s voice is full of disbelief. Then he grins and grabs me.
I punch him, twist around, see the others. And Red looks up at that moment too, sees my entourage. Because
they’re right behind me.
And I don’t think—I don’t think about the others, about Rahn and Corin and Elf and Yani and Kayden and Esther. I just do it, go against my plan, the plan. Or maybe it’s time now, I don’t know.
But I grin as I lift the gun up and point it at Red.
“Checkmate.” My word is a whisper that tells me it’ll be okay.
I pull the trigger.
The moment I pull the trigger, Red shoves the gun out of the way. The bullet hits the wall, and something hits me. Something hard and sharp and jagged, in my right arm. I look down, and suddenly I feel scared. The emotion pours through in waves and waves. So many waves, and I’m going to drown. Can’t breathe. Can’t….
And so much blood.
I’m bleeding.
Death.
But I’m alive.
You’re alive, Mila whispers.
I turn, try to see her, need to see her. But I can’t.
It’s just me. Me and Red.
He grabs the gun from me, and I let it slide from my fingers.
No, don’t!
“Oh, Keelie.” Red’s voice is soft. “The Untamed darkness is destroying you. Come on, I’ll make you better.” He looks up as the Enhanced behind me, and he’s shouting at them. “I’ll take her for a full conversion—I’ve got the authority for it, all of you can only do first taste. And Owen Sykes is here. Yes—this is Keelie Lin-Sykes. A familial relation present would be best for her, given she’s so stressed and wild—and Owen arrived earlier.”
Conversion.
My mouth dries. That’s not how my game ends. No.
Pain inches into my head, but then, suddenly, it’s everywhere, the pain. Every part of me hurts.
The door shuts. Darkness.
Red flicks a light on, but my eyes don’t adjust properly. I can’t see where we are, but I think it should be a corridor….
“Your father’s here, Keelie. It’ll be okay now,” Red says, and he pulls me to him in a tight hug. His shirt is scratchy against my face.
Get out. Get out. Get out.
I blink back more pain as I lean against Red, turn my head the opposite way, try to see where my gun is. Is he still holding it? But I need the gun, need to keep doing the distraction, draw the Enhanced away from Rahn’s group. But the movement of trying to look around for the weapon pulls at my shoulder—my right shoulder—and more pain takes hold of me. My arm. What’s wrong with it?
A Dangerous Game Page 35