The Outer Dark (Central Series Book 4)

by Zachary Rawlins

  The girls listened quietly, Eerie leading the way with Derrida at her heels, Katya lingering behind with a strange expression stamped on her face. The Waste was brutally hot, and a layer of grey chalk atop the arid ground kicked up around them with their footsteps and the gusts of indifferent wind, drying throats and stinging eyes.

  In the near distance, a bank of metal towers the color of raw aluminum gleamed in early afternoon sun, kilometers of salt-flat and radioactive glass rippling with heat obscuring the view. Overhead, a battered and diminutive moon lingered in the washed-out sky, while an identical twin peaked out behind the horizon.

  “You probably both already know that I had a thing for Emily Muir, even before Alex showed up.”

  Katya knew already, judging by her frown. Eerie scarcely seemed to be paying attention.

  “When she joined the Anathema, I…don’t know. It hurt. More than I knew how to deal with.”

  Katya grimaced.

  “Shit, Vivik! You don’t mean…?”

  Vivik shrugged and gave her a hapless smile.

  “I wanted to talk with her again. We were friends! Why should we have to stop being friends, just because of some stupid cartel feud? So, I found a way.”

  Katya dropped her pack in the sand. Eerie stopped and glanced back at them, her eyes wide and blank, while Derrida whined softly.

  “This isn’t cartel stuff, Vivik. You helped Emily Muir return to Central?”

  Vivik nodded. Katya’s expression reddened.

  “You helped the Anathema evade the Barrier?”

  Vivik shrugged and looked embarrassed.

  “No. I never showed her how – there was a trick, and I…I didn’t think about it that way,” he admitted. “I was lonely.”

  “Do you love Emily?” Eerie held her hands clasped at her chest. “Are you in love?”

  “Maybe,” Vivik said, reddening. “That might be.”

  “Oh, Vivik!” Eerie squealed. “That’s so romantic!”

  “You betrayed everyone you know to get laid?” Katya snapped, eyes wide with disbelief. “That’s fucking pathetic. I expect that sort of shit from Alex – he doesn’t know any better. You’re supposed to be smarter than that.”

  “Hey, come on. You don’t even know what I was trying to do!” Vivik protested. “Emily and I are just friends, anyway. It’s not…not a romantic thing. You see, I have this idea…”

  Katya howled with laughter.

  “Oh, this is too fucking much! You betrayed Central to get friend-zoned? Holy shit, Vivik! You are a fucking nerd.”

  “Hey! What the hell does it matter if we aren’t…?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Katya said, chuckling. “It just makes this all the lamer. As for Emily – you think she’s too stupid to figure out your trick with the Barrier for herself? Shit, Vivik – once the Anathema knew a bypass was a possibility, how long do you think it took them to reverse engineer your solution?”

  “I didn’t consider that. This isn’t…listen, you need to hear my idea, there’s a reason for…”

  “The Anathema attack on the Far Shores. Remember that? I saw Emily there, Vivik. She helped arrange the whole thing,” Katya said, giving Vivik a half-hearted shove in the back. “That’s on you, Vivik. Everyone who died, Alex being taken, all that shit.”

  To everyone’s simultaneous surprise and embarrassment, Vivik nodded stoically.

  “I know,” he said quietly, pursing his lips. “Don’t you think I don’t know that? That’s why I’m here, Katya. I’m trying to make amends. I have a plan.”

  “That so?” Katya gave him a contemptuous look. “Let me be the first to tell you that you fucking can’t.”

  Vivik just stood there, eyes leaking and mouth hanging open, while Katya took Eerie firmly by the arm and dragged her and Derrida off, leaving Vivik to hustle after them across the Waste.

  “Katya! Eerie! Wait! I know you’re upset, but you need to hear me out!”

  Or not, he supposed, trotting along hurriedly. Vivik scrambled over dust and dry earth, wondering if this was going better or worse than he had expected.

  ***

  Alex was in the Circle, circling Steve with a broken left hand and a nose filled with partially clotted blood, so that he panted from the mouth like a dog. His footwork was too slow; Michael had taught him just enough to realize that. Steve knew it, too, advancing without regard for Alex’s jab or his guard, confident that neither would be enough.

  Steve must have calcified the front of his hand, because his knuckles pulverized Alex’s ribs into mush with a devastating combination, dropping Alex in an instant. He hit the ground with a chest full of gravel, his lungs flexing spasmodically. He gagged and spat blood, rolling helplessly on the ground from one agony to another.

  “Did I say no protocols?” Miss Aoki from somewhere in the darkness beyond the Circle, cold and angry. “I know I did, Steve. Would you rather I was your partner?”

  Steve stood on the other side of the circle, hands encircled in bloody wraps, not even breathing hard.

  “No, Miss Aoki. Sorry. Won’t happen again.”

  “Better not. Reset.”

  ***

  It took him several minutes to catch back up. Katya was practically towing Eerie along, she was so intent on setting a pace. The Changeling was agitated, chattering away about boundaries and arrivals, but Vivik was not in the mood, and apparently, Katya was not either. Derrida hopped in a furious circle around Katya, alternately barking and whining, trying to free the babbling Changeling from her grasp.

  “This is the worst fucking club,” Katya muttered to herself. “Ever.”

  They rounded a long, low hill, and there was green and water for the first time since the Club had encountered the Waste. The bickering of the Rescue Alex from the Outer Dark Club was silenced by the unfamiliar and exaggerated beauty of the stream and the graceful willows and white-barked sycamore which lined it.

  Or, maybe they were just shocked, to see Emily Muir waiting for them there, wearing a simple white dress and a straw hat for the sun. She had waded out into the creek, and currently stood about midway, up to her calves in gently flowing water.

  She waved when she saw them.

  ***

  The pig looked at him hopefully, and Alex felt a horrible weight on his chest. The animal was tethered next to a convenient drain, to handle the blood, and the knife in his hand was ludicrously sharp. He took one step forward, and his legs shook.

  “Come on, Alex,” Ms. Gallow chided, somewhere in the dark behind him. “We all gotta eat.”

  ***

  “Give me a break, Vivik.” Katya’s face was pale. He wasn’t sure whether that was shock or anger. Not that it mattered. “You can’t have fucked things up this badly, right?”

  “I know how this looks…”

  “Looks like your pretty damn cozy with the Anathema,” Katya said contemptuously. “Shit. I thought you were such a smart guy.”

  “You’re misunderstanding the situation!” Vivik yelped, taking a big step back. “Please, Katya – the timing is off, here. Emily was supposed to arrive in a few hours, to give me a chance to explain. Please! You need to hear me out…”

  “What is there to explain?” Katya pointed at Emily, who wandered in the little creek that separated the aridity of the Waste from indistinct ground and impossible sky of the Outer Dark. “Emily Muir. Anathema. She turned you. What else is there to know?”

  Eerie sucked in air and hugged Derrida tightly about the neck.

  “Is that true, Vivik? Are you bad now?”

  “No, Eerie – it’s not true! I’m not bad. I’m just trying to deal with complicated issues.”

  “You don’t even know how bad your problems are, do you, Vivik?” Katya’s tone was acidic. “You’re a damn traitor! You’ve got a date with the Auditors waiting. Are you really so deranged that you’d associate with that Anathema bitch?”

  “Not happy to see me?” Emily gave the assassin a wide-eyed look. “Katya, I’m hurt.�
�

  “Not yet, you aren’t,” Katya said, glancing at her. “Bother you much, the last time I filled your frontal lobe with sewing needles?”

  “Oh yes!” Emily nodded urgently. “Obviously not fatal, but it’s rather an awful experience. Let’s not repeat that, shall we?”

  “Katya, please, calm down!” Vivik put his hands out in supplication. “Let me explain!”

  “Eerie, stay behind me.” Katya delivered the order with calm authority, and Eerie followed in mute obedience, Derrida guarding her fearlessly. “You know I’m going to kill both of you, right, Vivik? You and your Anathema whore.”

  “The mouth on this one,” Emily muttered, splashing deeper into the creek, holding her hem primly above the waterline. “Vivik, you have terrible taste in friends.”

  “I’m not Vivik’s friend,” Katya snarled. “Not even.”

  “We aren’t all friends?” Eerie looked worried. “Oh, no! I had hoped. We are all members of the same club, though! We all made the club together. We are the Rescue Alex…”

  “Oh, Eerie,” Katya moaned. “Please don’t.”

  “…from the Outer Dark Club! I made up the name.”

  “How delightful!” Emily smiled indulgently. “I hope you have room for new members! It’s nice to see you again, Eerie.”

  “I guess,” Eerie said suspiciously. “Last time I saw you, you weren’t a jerk. Is Alex okay?”

  “That’s…” Emily looked briefly troubled, and then she smiled. “I’ll say this – he is doing better than when you last saw him, and none of the harm that has come to him is my doing. I’m trying to help him, I swear.”

  “I don’t really get it.”

  “He’ll be okay, I think. I’ll do my best to see that happens.”

  “But you…aren’t…you know?”

  “We aren’t…? Oh!” Emily covered her mouth in surprise, and then giggled. “Oh, not at all! I’m completely over Alex, I assure you.”

  “I guess that’s okay, then. You want to join our club, then?”

  “Sure!” Emily’s eyes sparkled. “Why not?”

  “I can think of a reason,” Katya snapped. “Alice fucking Gallow, torturing both of you to death.”

  “Oh.”

  “Hmm.”

  “Where is Alex?” Eerie asked, while Derrida barked madly. “You left with him and…and…”

  “Your sister?” Emily cocked her head. “Samnang Banh says she is your sister, you know.”

  Eerie deflated like a punctured balloon.

  “That’s not entirely true,” Eerie said. “It’s just genetics! I don’t even know her; really, we just have the same father…”

  “That, uh, makes her your sister,” Katya explained gently, patting Eerie on the shoulder. “It’s a biology thing.”

  “I don’t like her, though!” Eerie wailed. “We never even met until right then – and when we finally do get a chance to talk, we don’t get along very well.”

  “Is the poor girl,” Emily whispered, nudging Vivik, “having trouble with her tenses?”

  “I wish it were that simple,” Vivik said ruefully. “It’s a long story.”

  “My tenses are fine,” Eerie said. “Where is Alex?”

  “He is in the Outer Dark, with the sister that you don’t like.” Emily smiled obscurely. “Buried and frozen like a popsicle, but alive. Mark claims that Samnang is interrogating him, but I can’t say for sure, since to me they both appear to be soundly asleep.”

  “Well, actually,” Eerie said, cheeks ashen, “that’s probably how Samnang would ask questions.”

  “I’m concerned about that as well. I was thinking that perhaps we could work together, as far as freeing Alex is concerned. You see…your arrival is not as secret as you might have hoped.” Emily waited politely for the news to sink in, while the Rescue Club exchanged frowns. “Anathema precognitives divined your coming almost before you left, and my understanding is that the very worst of them…”

  “Of them?” Katya appeared a slight provocation away from throwing punches. “Don’t you mean of us, Emily?”

  “If you like,” Emily agreed graciously. “Your picture of the Anathema is badly distorted, though. You may see us as a monolithic threat, but we’re no more united than you are in Central, my dear Black Sun assassin.”

  “Why should we cooperate with you, Anathema?” Katya demanded, edging closer to Emily. “Even if you’re telling the truth – not buying that shit at all, by the way – then what’s to stop you from turning on us the minute you get…ah…what did you need from us, again?”

  “It’s complicated. This isn’t what you think, Katya,” Vivik explained, with a great number of distracting gestures intended as reassuring. “I wouldn’t…”

  “Yes, as he said, it is complicated.” Emily smiled at them. “Perhaps one favor from each of you would be fair?”

  “What?” Vivik vacillated between shock and outrage. “I thought we just needed…you didn’t tell me…”

  “No, I didn’t. Why would I?” Emily touch Vivik’s shoulder softly. “It isn’t just your help that I require, Vivik, dear. I require the assistance of the…what was it again?” Emily tried to keep the laughter from her voice. “Oh, yes! The Save Alex from the Outer Dark…”

  “Rescue. It’s the Rescue Alex from the Outer Dark Club,” Eerie corrected sternly. “We aren’t taking new members, so don’t even ask.”

  “Truly? That’s too bad.” Emily offered a brief faux pout. “What if you can’t manage the rescue without me?”

  “Why would that be true?” Katya said, eliminating another half-meter of the distance between them. “You gonna try and stop us, Emily? Wait, let me rephrase that. Please try and stop us, Emily.”

  “Heavens, no,” Emily said, with a wave of her hand. “Quite the opposite. I also want to save – sorry, rescue – Alex.”

  Katya planted the soles of her hiking boots in the center of the path and paused to consider Vivik and Emily, her expression one of grim fury.

  “Why?”

  “Katya, listen,” Vivik pleaded. “I’m going to be completely honest…”

  “Only liars say that, Vivik.”

  “I’m not lying! I haven’t lied to anyone. I do need your help, though…”

  “We need,” Emily reminded. “Us.”

  “Of course,” Vivik agreed. “We need a favor.”

  “Two favors,” Emily corrected. “Maybe three. After all, the dog…”

  “Cut the shit,” Katya demanded. “What is going on?”

  “You can’t really expect me to explain,” Emily said. “Isn’t it enough to know that, when it comes to Alex, our interests align?”

  “Not even close.”

  “Perhaps if I swore an oath, and joined the club?” Emily suggested optimistically. “I am prepared to provide you with transport to the Outer Dark. I can help you evade the Anathema forces that are already hunting for you, Alistair and John Parson included. I can protect you. You won’t make it very far without my help.”

  Katya spat on the path between them, her saliva sinking rapidly into the dry ground.

  “No.”

  Vivik started forward, his expression a picture of beaming civility.

  “Katya, please…”

  “Don’t come near me, Vivik,” Katya said sourly. “I’m very seriously considering perforating your dumb brain.”

  Vivik halted. Eerie cleared her throat, and then hesitantly tapped Katya on the shoulder.

  “What are we gonna do?” Eerie delivered the question to Katya in a ridiculous stage whisper, audible to all. “We can’t fight the Anathema on our own…can we?”

  Katya seized the Changeling by the shoulder, shot Emily and Vivik a warning glare, and then dragged Eerie and the dog a short distance away for a hushed conversation – or, rather, a lecture, judging from body language. Emily gave them a few minutes to stew, ignoring Vivik’s plaintive looks, before circumstances intervened and she was forced to tighten the screws.

  “I
do so hate interrupt,” Emily called out, waiting until she had their attention, “but I have just received a telepathic update from a colleague in the Outer Dark, and I’m afraid that your presence has been noted.”

  “Imagine that,” Katya said, taking a sewing needle from a hidden pocket and then testing the sharpness on her own index finger. “Wonder how they found out?”

  “I told you, we Anathema are no better than the cartels in Central,” Emily said, not doing everything within her power to mask her irritability. “Alistair and I can safely be considered unfriendly. Whatever you think of my motivations, be assured that I wouldn’t lift a finger to aid that man – particularly after what he did to Alex.”

  That was a dark memory for all involved, and the group spent a second or two in remembrance. Katya stuck in her pricked finger in her mouth and sucked on it thoughtfully.

  “Don’t trust you,” Katya said, toying with the needle. “Not going.”

  “I realize that you don’t care for me, or my help,” Emily said, with a hint of urgency. “Surely you don’t mean to wait here for Alistair instead?”

  Katya grimaced and glanced back at Eerie.

  “Any chance you can get us out of here?”

  “Not quickly,” Eerie hummed, shifting her weight nervously from one foot to the other. “I mean, we’d have to walk, and the only way I know how to go is forward to the Outer Dark, or back the way we came. If Alistair really is coming…”

  “He will be here shortly, and that is bad for all of us,” Emily assured them. “Please believe me.”

  Katya’s jaw worked from side to side as she considered Vivik and Emily in turn. Abruptly, Derrida rose to his feet, pressing himself against Eerie’s legs and growling determinedly at nothing obvious.

  “What else are we going to do, Katya?” Vivik asked, his face glistening with nervous sweat. “We need Emily’s help…”

  “You maneuvered us into Anathema hands.” Katya dumped her bag on the dirt and then kicked it aside. “I don’t need to hear any more from you, Vivik.”

  “How about from me?” Emily asked. “We are running out of time, Katya. It’s time to make a decision.”