by Bec McMaster
Lucius grinned, stepping back and gesturing to the rock wall in front of them. “Yep. Why? Afraid of all the monsters in the dark there?”
“There’s something in there. I could hear it. It freaked me the hell out.”
“Which is why you ran?”
“Part of the reason.” Riley dug her toes into a toehold and heaved herself up the wall. “Mostly, I was trying to get away from you.”
* * *
Wade led her around the facility. Night was falling, and both of them could clearly see the cook fires the reivers had set up out in the open, in front of the main building at Black River. Kneeling on the top of a cliff, Wade stretched out flat on his belly and peered through the sight of his rifle.
“I’ve got the two wargs,” he said. “Eight... Nine reivers. Others must be inside.” A slight pause. “There’s the boy.”
Riley tapped his shoulder. “Can I see?”
Wade shifted slightly, letting her lie down beside him. Moonlight silvered his tanned skin, highlighting the growth of dark stubble along his jaw. She could feel his eyes on her as she peered through the sight, a slightly uncomfortable feeling. Especially with the chorus of warg-song fluting high over the desert winds.
The camp leapt into view, men sprawled about with abandon, sharing the remnants of a meal. One of the wargs paced along the perimeter. The other was nowhere in sight. Reivers might be lazy when it came to defending their camps – or arrogant – but the wargs were obviously not.
“I don’t see him,” she whispered, watching the one he’d called Colton sit in the shadows of a jeep, wetting the paper on his cigarette.
“Tied to the back of the jeep,” he replied, voice emotionless.
Riley swung the gun then sucked in a breath. Jimmy was hog-tied, his face swollen and black, a gag tied painfully tight through his bared mouth. One of the reivers knelt beside him and hauled him to his knees, then started dragging him toward one of the buildings.
“They beat him.” She swallowed hard.
“Could have been worse.”
Riley shot him a glare. The son of a bitch had the empathy of a rock. “Fuck you. He’s just a kid.”
Wade’s eyes narrowed sleepily. “I’m only speakin’ the truth. There ain’t a lot of women out here. And reivers ain’t real particular.”
“Neither are wargs,” she shot back.
His eyes darkened. She’d scored a hit, though she didn’t know how. “If I weren’t that particular, I’d have had you in the first hour. True?”
He wanted to force her to admit it. Riley ground her teeth together.
“I ain’t touched you, darlin’. I ain’t made a single move, and I could have. So you take that back, or the deal’s off.”
“Fine,” she snapped. “You’re the exception.”
Wade smiled. “Did that hurt?”
“I’d like to make something hurt,” she muttered under her breath.
“I’ll bet.”
He took the gun off her and slung it over his shoulder. Starlight glimmered behind his shoulders, outlining the stark shadow of his shape. He’d stripped to a black tank, the pewter chain around his throat tucked under the neckline. They didn’t have enough weapons, but Wade didn’t seem concerned.
A thought struck her. “It’s night,” she said. “You’re not going to go all hairy on me, are you?”
A sidelong glance through those wickedly thick lashes. He stroked the amulet around his throat through the tank. “This keeps it under control. I lose this, and you better get the hell out of there.”
“Colton and his friend were human too.”
Wade looked away. “Colton’s got one too. I can only assume he found another one. The shaman who made them for us died not long after, so maybe they found someone else.”
“So that’s how you stop it,” she mused, her gaze running hungrily over the metal. “There’d be a lot of people out here who’d pay good money for that. We all lose friends, family....”
“You mean you shoot them,” he said, watching the settlement carefully. “Before the first change.”
Riley fell silent. “What else are we supposed to do? If I ever got turned, I’d want someone to kill me. We all would.” She thought of her father and the sacrifices he’d made. “But if there was another option....”
“You’d what? Lock them in a cage until you got your hands on one of these? Then what?” Wade snorted. “I’ve seen how that game gets played, darlin’. Nobody wants a monster in their midst, no matter if they’re leashed or not. They’re better off dead.”
Riley opened his mouth, but he cut her off with an abrupt slicing motion of the hand. “No,” he said. “You talk too much. Now you need to shut your mouth and follow me. The reivers are moving inside, probably to sleep. You and I are going in under the south caves. We’ll come at them from within.”
Within? Riley swallowed hard then nodded. The ground surrounding the compound was too open, and the jeeps each had a heavy, mounted spotlight. They’d never get close enough, even if the wargs didn’t hear them coming beforehand.
Caves it was then.
* * *
There was a small animal track heading along the cliffs that cut off Black River from the south. Wade led her along it, both of them plastered against the cliff face as they edged their way forward. Sweat drenched Riley’s hair and shirt, but Wade moved as if he did this every other day.
“Not far now,” he whispered. “Caves are just ahead.”
“How’d you find them?” she muttered.
Wade suddenly disappeared, and Riley’s heart started thumping. She hurried forward, then saw the narrow opening that disappeared into pitch black. A hand reached out and hauled her inside. Riley stifled a squeak of surprise, almost anticipating the hand over her mouth.
It didn’t come.
“Keep walking,” he murmured. “We’ll strike a light up ahead. Just hold on to me, and don’t let go.”
His hand was hard and callused around hers. An odd feeling. Riley staggered through the darkness, feeling almost trapped in some airless vacuum. The only link to the world was Wade’s hand, and the knowledge that his warm, broad body was just a step ahead of her. She had to fight the urge to grab hold of him with her other hand, just to reassure herself that he was there.
He stopped and Riley hovered at his side, her body trembling. “You need to calm down,” he whispered. “It’s a wonder they haven’t heard you breathing.”
Riley swallowed, her eyes rolling. “I can’t help it. It’s just so dark. I can hardly breathe.”
“There’s plenty of air.”
“I know that,” she snapped. “It’s just so still in here. No wind. I can almost feel the mountain pressing down on me.” The thought sent a droplet of sweat between her breasts. “Oh, God,” she whispered. “What if the tunnel narrows? What if it collapses?”
Warm hands cupped her face. An electric presence she could almost feel along her skin as his breath trembled over her cheeks. She found she could breathe a little easier, knowing he was there.
“The tunnel doesn’t narrow. I’ve been this way.”
She could see nothing in the dark beyond his faint silhouette. But she looked up anyway. The soft pads of his fingertips stroked lightly across her cheeks.
“Where’s your courage now?” he whispered. “Where’s that brash, in-my-face attitude you’ve been throwing at me at every chance?”
Riley licked her lips. “You left me underground.”
“I left the lights on.”
“There was something coming. Something deep in the facility... And you left me there.” Her breath was a harsh pant. She clenched her fists, hating the vulnerability. She’d always been tough. Her daddy had taught her to pick herself up when she fell, and this was no different. But she couldn’t chase away the fear prickling over her skin, or the sensation that a vise was slowly squeezing her chest.
“I won’t leave you here, darlin’. I promise.”
Riley looked up, tho
ugh the world was nothing but darkness. The words were close, whispered. But how much could she trust them? How much could she––
Warm lips brushed her own. The world stilled, and Riley froze with it as Wade kissed her. So light, almost a phantom touch, the whisper of his mouth like cool silk after the hot desert sun. Her lips parted on a gasp, and he stepped closer as if that were permission, hands cupping her face, his mouth covering her own.
He kissed her slowly, as if there were all the time in the world. As if he knew she wouldn’t – couldn’t – push him away. The first brush of his tongue made her shiver, her hands rising to his chest hesitantly. This was madness. She’d never felt the way she did right then. All hot and shivery, her nipples hardening into tight peaks. His tongue brushing her own, dancing with it, tempting her to kiss him back.
Before she could realize what she was doing – what she was letting him do – he lifted his head. “There now,” he murmured, humor thick and lazy in his voice. “Now you’re not breathing at all. Won’t nobody hear us coming now.”
He laughed softly.
“Son of a bitch.” Riley shoved him away, her hand drifting to her lips. She could taste him still, feel the imprint of his chest against her fingertips. What the hell had she just done? Or let him do, rather? She could pretend as much as she liked, but she’d offered not one ounce of token protest.
She spun around, but the world was a wall of blackness. “Don’t you ever do that again.”
“Now she protests,” he muttered under his breath, turning away from her. “Don’t get excited. Just tryin’ to take your mind off things. Looks like it worked.”
Worked? Her lips burned and she could taste him still, the imprint of his touch burned into her skin. “I wasn’t getting excited,” she retorted. “Just so you know.”
Faint laughter. Her hands balled into fists, but he was right. She wasn’t thinking about the oppressive dark anymore. She couldn’t get the memory of that kiss out of her head.
The sound of flint striking echoed in the darkness and a small light flared. Wade held his piece of tinder up, searching for something along the walls. “There it is.” He reached up and flipped a switch. “Emergency lights. Solar-powered.” Tracks of light sprang up along the walls, shooting away into the darkness. It was just enough to highlight the tunnel ahead, some of them buzzing and spitting from disuse. “Come on, princess. This way.”
Riley stared ahead. There’d be more dark, more enclosed spaces. And maybe whatever had been making that noise. But this was the only way to get Jimmy back, and though she didn’t have any family left, out here in the Badlands, the people of her settlement were family. She’d been in charge of their expedition, and she’d made the choice to hunt one more nestling, knowing the sun was sinking toward the horizon. If she’d left it alone, she and Jimmy would have gotten back nice and early, and none of this would ever have happened.
Steeling herself, she took a deep breath and brushed past him. “Call me ‘princess’ again, and I’ll crown you.”
A soft chuckle followed her down the tunnel.
The floor was worn smooth, the tunnel carved from the mountain. The light was just enough to see by. “This is obviously man-made,” she whispered. “Who makes a tunnel that ends at a cliff face?”
“Someone who wanted an escape route.”
“Escape from what though? What were they doing out here?” Silence greeted this question. Riley risked a glance toward him, certain she’d find him still gloating, but the only expression on his face was an intense one. “How’d you know this existed?”
Blue eyes flickered toward her. “Maybe I did some exploring when I first set up camp.”
“Yet you never came across anything that might have been making a noise?”
“Maybe it didn’t want to come across me.” Wade glanced ahead. The tunnel ended in a corner. He put a hand out and Riley stopped, letting him go ahead. The shotgun in hand, he peered around the corner, and then slowly stepped around it. “Lights are out in this section,” he said. “Strange.”
Riley wet her lips. Buck up, princess. Somehow, her inner voice sounded a lot like Wade. “You hear anything coming?”
“Barely.” He gestured her forward. “You’re making more than enough noise to cancel anything else out.”
Scowling, she stepped closer to him. “How far does this section go?”
“A quarter mile,” he murmured. “Then there’s a heap of steps that open into the lower level, where most of the quarantine cells were.”
“Are there lights ahead?”
“Hopefully.” A slight pause. “Though there should be lights here too. The globes can’t all have busted.”
“Come on then.” She swallowed hard. “You’re a warg. You should be able to smell anything coming, shouldn’t you?”
A long, weighty silence.
“Follow me.” All traces of humor had dropped from his voice. She was surprised at the brusque tone and no-nonsense nature.
Was there more to Wade than she’d first expected? Hints of an almost military efficiency kept sneaking through. As though the devil-may-care attitude was just a façade, easily worn, easily cast aside.
Footsteps shuffled and she scurried after, running straight into his broad back. He caught her by the hip, holding her still as he sniffed the air. His palm was warm through her jeans, the heat of his body seeming to leech through to her skin. “Hold my shirt,” he said. “Don’t make any noise. If I tell you to run, you get the hell out of here.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t like this.” Wade breathed deeply. “Something stinks.”
“Like what?” Riley could detect only the faintest, slightly musty odor.
There was a long moment of silence. The darkness only made it heavier. “How badly do you want the boy back?”
Riley’s heart leapt into her throat. “Why? What is it?” What could scare a man like Wade? What would a monster fear? Unfortunately, her mind could provide all sorts of answers, here in the dark.
“You were right,” he murmured. “There is something here. Something that stinks of rot.”
Her breath caught in her throat. “Revenants?”
“Revenants,” he confirmed. “So, I’m asking again... How much does the boy mean to you? Because I’m fairly sure we’re not alone down here.”
Four
WHEN THE WORLD blackened and turned, the wargs weren’t the only creatures to come out of the shadows. Stories had been passed down from the old folk at Haven about men who’d hidden in underground bunkers and caves near the Great Divide. Years passed, the skies cleared, and settlers began to venture back into the world. Communities began to form, and traders travelled from bunker to bunker. There was a rumor of precious minerals being found near the site where the meteor hit. Minerals that were rare on Earth, like iridium. Hundreds headed into the Great Divide, near the landing site, digging in and settling down, trying to scrape out enough to sell to the tech whizzes in the Eastern Confederacy.
And then, one day, the meteor site went quiet, where they'd been digging below to get at chunks of the meteor. All the miners who lived there never came out of those tunnels again.
The nearest mining camp sent others in, shielded by gas masks and old pre-D hazmat suits. They found every single one of the bodies down below and took them back for a decent burial. A gas leak, some claimed.
Three days later, the bodies crawled out of the earth they’d been buried in, and one thing became very clear – they weren’t human anymore.
Whatever the pathogen was, it hadn't come from Earth.
Riley’s breath caught in her chest, and she shook her head. “Revenants.” Only one thing frightened her more than the thought of being alone in the dark. They said once a revenant got hold of you, they didn’t stop to kill you first before they started eating. And being eaten alive made you one of the lucky ones.
Her fingers curled in Wade’s shirt. For a moment, fear was so thick in her mouth that she th
ought about turning around, leaving Jimmy to his fate.
Coward.
She’d never forgive herself. But at least she’d be alive.
“Well?” Wade’s sultry voice pushed at her. “Your choice, darlin’. Though I’m inclined to get the hell outta here.”
“They might not smell us,” she whispered, arguing with herself as much as him. “We might get past them. There’s a lot of tunnels down here, aren’t there?”
“Dozens,” he confirmed. “But I don’t like your chances.”
“Why?”
“Can’t you hear that?”
Riley cocked her head. Silence. “Nothing.”
“I can hear something moving. They like the dark, the cool,” he said. “That’s why you find ‘em in mines and caves. Which means they don’t see real well. They hunt by scent. Best we go back.”
Jimmy. She bit her lip. When he was just born, she’d been only a little girl. Mabel had let her in to see him, with his bright thatch of fine red hair and blinking, sleepy expression. He’d been the little brother she’d never had. A bit too scrawny to keep up with the other kids, he’d been mocked by the boys for his red hair. Riley had taken pity on him, teaching him the things every borderlander needed to know. How to hunt, to fight, to use a gun, knife and bow.
Heck, she’d only recently taught him to drive.
“How do we kill them?” she asked.
Silence.
“Better to ask how do we avoid getting eaten ourselves?” he said in a disgusted voice. A sigh. “We’re going after the kid, aren’t we?”
Riley nodded, before she could change her mind. “I’m not leaving him in the hands of reivers.”
“You’re a fool,” he said softly.
“You’re still going to help me?”
“Gave my word, didn’t I?”
Another incongruity. “I wouldn’t have expected that to hold.”
His hand slid from hers. “You know nothing about me.” He gave a jerk and his shirt tore from her grasp. Riley found herself half-reaching for him.
Fabric rustled, and she could hear his breath near her waist. “What are you doing?” she asked.