Calico Descending

by Keri Lake

  On a roar, Cadmus charges toward Valdys, who pushes him back. By the look in his eyes, wide and determined, he isn’t trying to attack Valdys, or hurt him. I’m certain he’d make a formidable opponent, if that were the case. Instead, he seems to be trying to escape that box. In the scuffle, his gaze falls on me, where I stand hidden, and he slams a fist into Valdys’s face. The two wrestle each other, as Valdys wrangles him back toward the box, until one hard lob at Cadmus sends him flying backward, and Valdys closes the cage.

  Hands set at either side of the silver box, he pauses, his back expanding and contracting with hard breaths. “I thought I told you to stay back,” he says, without bothering to look at me.

  “I’m sorry. I just needed to see.”

  He looks over his shoulder and turns to face me. “See what?”

  “That he was okay.”

  “What is your sudden interest in his wellbeing?”

  I lower my gaze at the bluntness of his question, and here I am again, trying to explain something I can’t. “What will you do with him?” I ask, changing the subject.

  “I’ll probably kill him at this rate. He’s a threat to all three of us. He’ll die out here in his state of mind, anyway, if I set him free.”

  “He saved us back there, you know. If it hadn’t been for Cadmus, I can’t even imagine what those men would’ve done to Neela and me.”

  With a frown, he looks away, as if my words have stabbed him in the heart. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

  “I’m not telling you this to wound your pride, but surely the man who spared me from something so horrible deserves more consideration than death.”

  Lowering his gaze, he nods. “He does.”

  We drive through open desert for hours, until the air turns cooler, thinner, without the dry bite. Much of the ride is in silence, aside from the few brief exchanges between Titus and Valdys, discussing supplies, and hives they once knew that have been leveled to empty gaps along the route. We pass small groups of Ragers that chase after the vehicle, and I watch them disappear in the side mirrors, behind clouds of dust, as we keep on. There was a time they were the most horrible monsters to walk the desert, but I’ve since learned there are some far more dangerous.

  The sun hangs off to the west of us, dipping below the high mountains, by the time Valdys pulls the truck off the main path.

  Titus points toward a mountain of rock that he seems to remember, from the days before he was captured by Legion soldiers. How he can remember so much of the landscape is a mystery to me, considering I don’t remember much, at all.

  Even with the drop in temps, the sweat clings to my body, as we climb out of the truck and follow Titus along a path through the dusk colored rocks. Legs wobbly from the drive, I slip on a small plateau, and Valdys catches me from behind, setting me back on my feet. I pause at the constant sound that started as white noise, but has since grown louder. A steady hum that doesn’t seem to trouble either of the two, as we climb toward it. We traverse the tall stretch of rock, until my eyes are greeted by the most breathtaking view I’ve ever seen. In a clearing stands a long creek, flanked by shale and rock, and I trail my gaze along its path toward a majestic waterfall spilling into a crystal pool.

  Like staring at a lucid dream.

  With a burst of laughter, I slap a hand over my mouth, overcome by the awe and magnificence of this place. “It’s so beautiful!” I turn to Valdys, whose lips stretch with a more reserved smile, and he jerks his head toward the pool. “’The hell you waiting for?”

  On a high of excitement, I climb down the rock, with Valdys and Titus at my heels, until I reach the edge of the creek. I don’t even remove my clothes, as I walk across the small jagged rocks that eventually turn into soft sand. The water bathes my ankles, while I wade deeper and deeper, until the silky fluids climb to my neck. All sound goes mute for the water rushing past my ears, as I dip below the surface to the quiet there, and it’s as if I’m in another world. Weightless and soothing, while it engulfs the wounds scattered across my flesh.

  I’d stay submerged in it forever, if not for the tug at my chest, begging for air.

  Standing on the rocks across from me, Valdys and Titus remove their shirts, and arms stretched over his head, Valdys dives in on a splash of water, disappearing below the surface.

  With a smile, I glance around, waiting for him to come up for breath.

  A force crashes into me, lifting me up into the air, as Valdys scoops me into his arms. Giggles and a scream fly out of me, when he hoists me over his shoulder and spins me around. The otherwise heavy world feels light, as he tosses me into the air, and I slip below the water’s surface again, reveling in the rush of fluids across my skin, before coming up for a breath.

  He’s there when I surface again, wiping the excess water from his face, as he looks around. “I’d say this is a good place to set up camp for the night.”

  Eyes trailing over the surroundings, I drink in the beauty of this seemingly untouched place, and I catch Titus standing beneath the waterfall, the monstrous Alpha collecting the rapid streams in his palms. Smiling, I turn back to Valdys. “I say we just stay here forever.”

  Head tipped, Valdys cups my cheek, running his thumb across my stretched lips. “If that would keep this smile on your face, we will.”

  I push through the water, and wrap my arms around his neck, allowing him to pull me in for a kiss. “It would.”

  For the next hour, we swim and play beneath the waterfall with such childlike wonder. I don’t even remember being so carefree in my life. Surely, we had these moments with my mother, but they’re long forgotten for the misery I’ve lived since then. My clothes are a little more than damp by the time we set up a campfire on the shore.

  “I’ll take one of the blades and see if I can scavenge some food.” Titus rifles through the supply bag and pulls a knife with a gut hook at one end of it. With so many resources, it seems unlikely that the soldiers would’ve perished in the desert, if not for stumbling upon the marauders so soon. But then, they’ve never lived beyond the safety of their wall to know much about survival out here. For those of us who are born into it, it seems innate.

  “Don’t get into trouble.”

  Titus raises a brow, before turning away, and I lower my gaze with a flare of embarrassment heating my cheeks, recalling the night before when he caught Valdys and me.

  The wall of rock at the opposite side of the canyon is where he begins his hunt, as he makes his climb, and when he disappears behind it, Valdys moves in closer to me, urging me to lie down with him.

  “I want to show you something.”

  Easing onto my back, I lie beside him, and look up to the sky, where the moon has already begun its ascent, made almost translucent by the light still blazing from the sun.

  “Do you see the edge of the moon?” he says, pointing toward it.

  “Yes.”

  “It’s visible where it faces the sun. It’s massive reflection illuminates the moon’s surface, and the rest hides in the darkness of space.” The way he articulates when he speaks tells me there is so much more depth to him than the killing machine into which he’s been made. “It’s incredible to think what lies beyond this world, isn’t it?”

  Smiling, I turn my gaze to see him staring up at it, too. “If only we could hop inside a spaceship and fly away together.”

  He rolls over my body, caging me beneath him, and tips his head forward for a kiss. “Cramped space. No gravity. Total blackness. You wouldn’t get sick of me?”

  Wrapping my arms around his neck, I giggle at that and tug him to me for another kiss. “Never.”

  “Then, I better get started on that ship.” His lips find mine again, and he dips his tongue, deepening it, while I lie beneath him. We kiss like this for a while, exploring every corner of our mouths, every flavor.

  His kiss, this place—it’s heaven in the thick of hell.

  And yet, a twinge of sadness aches inside my chest. As if he can sense it, V
aldys tips his head, brows knitting with concern.

  “What is it?”

  I hesitate to tell him what’s troubling me, for fear of ruining this moment, but the nagging feeling won’t go away until I do. “Cadmus. We can’t leave him in that box.”

  Huffing with exasperation, he pushes off of me until sitting beside me, and rests his elbows on his knees. “He can’t stay with us. I can’t risk that he’ll … hurt you. I will kill him, if he tries.”

  “Valdys, I know you question my sudden concern for him but--”

  “I don’t question it.” He keeps his gaze from me, his voice holding a somber tone. “I know why you feel that way.”

  “You do?”

  “You were never meant to be mine alone. You were made to bind with all three of us.”

  Frowning, I shake my head at that. “No. No, Doctor Ericsson said I have your blood. It’s why I crave your scent.”

  “You have Alpha blood. You crave my scent because they made it so, but it doesn’t keep you from sharing a bond with the other two.”

  I chew on his words for a moment, and maybe that’s why I don’t crave them the same as I do Valdys. “They told me that, while in isolation, some Alphas have committed suicide, or tried to hurt themselves. They get so lonely that--”

  “I know.” He offers a quick glance and nods. “I know what Alphas do in isolation.”

  Of course he does. Valdys was no different when I first met him. Cold. Hard. Cruel, even. “I want to try to … help Cadmus. Maybe I can calm him.”

  “Absolutely not. I won’t allow him near you.”

  “He’s still in there somewhere, Valdys. I saw it. When those men … “ I swallow back the disgust churning in my stomach at the thought of them. “When they tried to hurt me, I called out to Cadmus. I saw a flicker of something in his eyes.”

  “You set off a trigger. The same trigger Neela set off.”

  “No. This was different. He didn’t hesitate. He went straight for the men attacking us, and he never once came after Neela and I afterward.”

  He rubs the top of his head, and I hate that I’m backing him into this position. I hate that I’m forcing him to contemplate the consequences of if I’m wrong, but I can’t lie here beside a beautiful waterfall, beneath a gorgeous multicolored sky, and pretend that everything is perfect. Not when the man who fought on my behalf sits trapped inside a dark box.

  “Let me try to calm him. To try to reach him.”

  “What you’re suggesting is dangerous, at best.”

  “Then, be there, in case something happens, but I need to try, Valdys. If you decide to kill him, or set him free, and he dies out here alone, I at least want the opportunity.”

  “If you do, if it’s a success, he’ll want you for himself. That’s how it works.”

  Setting my hand against his cheek, I smile. “You were mine from the beginning. You’re mine now. He can wish and want, but it’s you I choose. It’s you who has my heart, Valdys.”

  Eyes closed, he huffs and shakes his head. “Let’s get this over with.”

  Chapter 33

  Standing before the silver box, which somehow seems bigger than before, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a little nervous. Cadmus might be slightly weakened in mind, but his body is still as strong as an Alpha’s.

  I run my finger over the canteen strap slung across my body that could very well act as a means of strangling me, if Cadmus is ambitious enough.

  Beside the box, Valdys stares back at me, his eyes holding both determination and uncertainty. “Bear in mind, I will not hesitate to kill him.”

  Okay, maybe not so much uncertainty. “Only at my signal, or unless I’m knocked out and unable to speak.”

  “You find humor in this.”

  “A little, maybe?” With a nervous smile, I shrug. “Okay, no. But he is going to come at me, I’m certain of it. All I’m saying is, don’t make a move until I’ve had a chance to calm him.”

  “Fine. But I know Cadmus better than you. And I won’t hesitate if my instincts tell me differently.”

  “Deal.” Inhaling and exhaling a deep breath, I give him a nod, and the switch is flipped.

  Heart pounding inside my throat, I wait for the door to slide open, and the moment it does, Cadmus lunges forward. Tripping over my own feet to get away, I fall backward onto the bed of the truck, and he scrambles up my body, mirroring the behaviors of a Rager.

  In seconds, his hands are at my throat, eyes dilated and crazed.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see Valdys lurch toward him, and I hold out my hand to stop him, while I attempt to pry his fingers loose with the other hand.

  Setting my gaze square on Cadmus, I don’t so much as flinch. “Cadmus,” I rasp, as the air withers from my throat. “Cadmus!”

  His grip doesn’t wane, as he squeezes my neck like he hopes to wring every drop of air out of my body.

  Stars explode before me, the blackness on the fringes shrinking my field of view, and I lift my hand to signal Valdys.

  “Cadmus, please!”

  Caught by his neck where Valdys’s massive bicep nearly strangles him, Cadmus releases me, and as I roll to the side to suck in a breath, I catch the same flicker in his eyes that I saw back in the tent. A cross between clarity and sadness.

  “Cali?” he asks, while Valdys drags him away.

  “Wait.” Holding up my hand again, I cough and wheeze, gasping for air.

  Valdys pauses, his arms flexing around Cadmus’s throat, as the two of them crouch across from me. Cadmus doesn’t fight, or scramble to get away, instead he frowns back at me, looking disoriented, as if he’s just awakened from a nightmare.

  When the air finally fills my lungs again, I sit forward, onto my knees, and face the two of them.

  “Cadmus?”

  “I hurt you.” He lowers his gaze from mine, the lines of his furrowed brow deepening.

  “I’m fine. It’s okay.” I slide closer, and he flinches against Valdys.

  “Cadmus, I want to know … what happened to you down in those tunnels?”

  He exhales sharply, and with his gaze still cast downward, he shakes his head, pulling at Valdys’s arm to get loose.

  “Cadmus!” The sharp bite of my voice seems to stun him, and he snaps his gaze to me, eyes brimming with perplexity. “What happened to you? What did you see?”

  He stills against Valdys, and stares off somewhere beyond me, and his gaze turns vacant as if he’s been transported back to that very moment. “They lowered me down into the ventilation shaft. Must’ve been four … five hundred feet down. I don’t know, for sure. The air got thinner. Colder. By the time I reached the bottom, I swore I fell into winter. I unhooked the line and turned the brightness of my light up. At either side of me were long stretches of dark, concrete tunnels that just seemed to go on forever.”

  Perhaps sensing a calm in his voice, Valdys releases his throat and crouches beside him.

  “I started walking in one direction, when I heard something in the other direction. I turned around and headed that way, instead. Felt like … something was watching me the whole time.” His throat bobs with a swallow, while his eyes remain fixed on the unseen visuals inside his head. “I lifted my flashlight, and I saw something ahead. A girl. I called out to her but she wouldn’t stop. I don’t know how long I chased after her, but somehow I lost her.”

  His breaths hasten, brows flickering, as if panic is only on the fringes. “But then I heard this sound. This Godawful scream. So I followed it to a … cave. Something told me not to go inside, but I did, deeper and deeper, until it opened up to a room, a maze of tunnels made of dirt and stone. Gathered in the center of it were these … things.” His body trembles, and I watch the terror in Cadmus’s eyes brimming to the surface, turning his skin somewhat pale. “I’ve seen all kinds of things in that shithole. I’ve watched them turn men into fucking monsters, but I’ve never seen anything like these. They had no faces, just a mouth, but I’m certain they sensed me th
ere, just by the way they turned toward me when I entered the room. Their skin was ghost white, like the mutations, but they didn’t look human. And they didn’t attack, at first. It’s like they wanted me to see what they were gathered around, because a few stepped aside. And those screams … those screams were so fucking loud inside my head. I lifted my flashlight, and I could see … a woman. Stuck to the wall in some kind of cocoon. Covered in a cluster of something that moved. I rushed toward her, knocking those faceless things out of the way. They still didn’t attack me. And when I reached her … I swear to fucking God she looked like you.”

  His gaze lifts to mine, and I recoil at that, the cold, creeping sensation settling inside my chest. “All across her naked body were … all these … small, clear circular sacs clustered together. Like eggs. All stuck to her skin. Pulsing, like they were feeding off her. Like she was keeping them alive. And those faceless things were eating them.” He swallows again, lips peeled back in disgust. “I picked one of them up, and there was a fetus inside of it. A small, unformed baby with no face. It was attached to a cord, and it moved, like it was breathing, somehow.”

  Hand pressed to my mouth, I shake my head, crystals of ice turning my spine stiff and cold.

  “She was crying. Begging me to help her. She reached out for me. But then those faceless things … it’s like they knew I was there for something. That I was there to take something from them. I could feel them shifting around me. Getting restless. I could feel it on the back of my neck.” He reaches around to rub his nape and I notice he’s still trembling. “I ran out of there. Through those tunnels. I could hear them behind me. Growling. Scratching at the cement. I knew they weren’t going to let me leave. At first, I couldn’t find my way back. I was running through dark tunnels, searching for the rope. Finally, I found it. I hooked myself on. When I scanned the flashlight, they were all standing around me. Thousands of them, packed in either direction. I yanked the rope to send me back up, but it didn’t move. So I pulled myself up, and those things started after me, scratching and clawing at my legs and arms, trying to pull me back down with them.” He pauses to rub one of the scars on his arm, and I study it, noting the jagged nature of the wound, as if little needles were lodged into his skin. “Everything went black. When I woke up, Valdys and Titus were standing outside the door.”