Ruin

by N. M. Martinez

  There are some mean looking men guarding the extra tunnel. They see us enter, but they seem to recognize Alex as he walks up with his free hand in the air. They take a look at me and they can see right away that I'm no threat. I'm nothing, just a human girl, and they let us pass.

  At the end of the tunnel, there's no cloth. A man sits in a seat faced with a few other men who are talking to him. They turn to look at us when we enter. At the sight of Alex, most of them seem surprised. They step to the side and Alex stops just behind them, his grip on my hand starting to hurt.

  The man in the seat looks from Alex to me and a smile breaks out on his face. He doesn't look like anything special, but something about him makes me uncomfortable anyway. His eyes rake over me from the bottom up before he looks back at Alex. “I didn't expect you'd return. Who's this?”

  The other men who had been in front of him step back along the walls to give us room, but stay close enough to watch.

  Alex keeps his eyes on the man in front of us. “Brandon's weakness.”

  The man stands up. He's taller than Alex. He wears no shirt, exposing plenty of handmade tattoos that are rougher than Alex's across his chest and on his arms. On his chest there is a scorpion, a creature of myth supposedly based on a real animal, with its tail pointing threateningly at anyone he faces.

  “Who is she? What's her connection to him? He doesn't keep pets.” The man looks down at me and I shrink behind Alex.

  Alex hesitates. The man looks up at Alex, but where he was just curious with me, he looks annoyed now. “Well?”

  “She's their mother's daughter.”

  Alex says it quickly as if I won't hear it if he can speak fast enough. It catches me off guard to hear him lying, He's horrible at it. Even if I didn't know, it's clear that he's not being honest. In some small way, it relieves me to know that he's not a great liar. But why is he trying to lie now about something so basic too? Why doesn't he want this man to know how I'm related to Brandon?

  There's a telepath in the room. I remember when I catch the eyes of the girl behind the man. She's small, probably only fourteen. Her eyes are clear and grey and her hair is cut short exposing her delicate neck and bony shoulders. When I see her, that's when I realize that my thoughts aren't free. A tingle jumps down the base of my skill, and I give a small shudder.

  “You're not being honest,” the man says. He's watching me again, a strange light in his eyes. "She's Henri's. Even better, not that he'll care until I've killed his second in command.”

  Henri hardly knows me. I don't know how or why my relation would make a difference, but from the look in the man's eyes it makes a big difference.

  Alex still looks away. The man smiles at me. “So I have a little sister.” He laughs at my sudden confusion. “I'm Killer, your oldest brother.”

  Twenty-six

  My brother named Killer watches me with a smile. He has to bend down a bit to look at me properly because he's so tall. Unlike Henri and Brandon, he's not wide, though he is muscular. Fine lines crinkle around his eyes and the corners of his mouth, worn into his skin by dark smiles at things he shouldn't smile at.

  But it's his eyes that are the proof. If I wanted to doubt him, it would be difficult with those brown eyes looking at me, the same ones that Henri has. The same ones I have. In his face, I can see Henri, the same nose and even the same mouth though they act very differently. Killer lets himself enjoy the moment. He smiles when I haven't even caught a smile on Henri by accident. The idea of smiling seems completely foreign to Henri.

  “Not much to say.” Killer reaches a hand out for me, either for my neck or my chin, but Alex's hand shoots out to grab him by the wrist.

  “My daughter.” I can hear the slight tremble in Alex's voice, but his hand is steady as he holds onto Killer.

  Behind us, there's a scuffle of feet on the stone. Alex and I turn slightly to look behind us. Two people walk down the tunnel to the room. It takes a second, and then the smaller one, barefoot and clad in old overalls, screams and comes running at us.

  Alex lets go of Killer and me to turn around just as the little girl launches herself at him and grips him around the neck. Her long hair trails down her back in two sloppy pigtails. Against his shoulder she sobs, right into his neck, with her long legs wrapped around his waist. Alex holds her somewhat awkwardly. She isn't a young toddler. The girl is most likely six or seven years old.

  He speaks to her softly, trying to get her to detach herself from him even as he shushes and comforts her, but she won't let go. My stomach drops.

  Killer is completely unmoved by the scene. “You can go now.”

  My head snaps up. Why would we go through all this trouble just so that Killer can hand Alex his daughter over without a fight? My brain runs through all the possibilities but the most obvious one. Killer isn't talking to me.

  Alex has both hands around his daughter, holding her to him as she shakes against him. We're surrounded by Killer's men, all of them watching us hungrily as if daring Alex to make a move. He looks at me with a face so stoic it hurts, and I just nod. He should go. This is what we came to do. Clearly, this had been the plan all along.

  But he hesitates. Killer's hand falls to his belt where a large knife is sheathed. “Are you staying?”

  Alex looks at me one last time and I shake my head, hoping to encourage him to go. As soon as I do it, I realize he might think I want him to stay. His lips press together, but he leaves, walking up the tunnel, leaving me behind with Killer and his telepath.

  I blink furiously and try to calm my heart. Killer grabs me by the hair and drags me back to the telepathic girl. She doesn't flinch when he tosses me to the floor beside her. The men around the corner of the room step forward, leering at me, wondering out loud about the things they can do to me.

  Killer quiets them with a look. “No touching her. We need her to draw Brandon in.” He turns back and looks at me, his eyes narrowed and cold despite the warm brown color. Even Henri never looked so cold.

  I rub the roots of the chunk of hair he pulled and curl into a ball by the foot of the telepath. My eyes stay down on the worn stone tiles under everyone's feet. He wants Brandon. Then he must know that Brandon is the next leader. Why else would he want him?

  Killer kneels in front of me to examine my face which I keep turned away from him. “What was that?”

  His hands are in my view, large and rough, the fingernails dirty and broken. Those are hands he puts to use constantly, and I expect him to grab me and force whatever answer he's wanting out of me, but he doesn't. Killer stands up and turns just as the telepath darts behind Killer's chair. There's a sound from the entrance, and I look up to see two more people entering the room. My brain goes numb, and I stand up, all the aches from my muscles gone.

  The men in the room freeze at the sight of the new comers, and I don't blame them. Kyrene stands at the door. The few who are in her way are swept back quickly by an invisible force, and from the way her small lips are bowed in a little grin, it's clear that the invisible force comes from her.

  Next to her stands Jimmy in a ratty old shirt, dirty and covered in specks of fresh blood. He pauses long enough for her to clear the room and then he jumps at Killer. I hardly have time to get out of the way.

  Killer is slammed into the ground by Jimmy's heavy body, the air knocked out of him. As Jimmy pulls back to punch him again, Killer throws a hand up and hits Jimmy in chin. It catches him by surprise enough that Killer manages to get out from under him and hop up on his feet, drawing his own knife quickly.

  Jimmy is up just as fast, but his lip is bleeding. Not that it fazes him at all. He draws his own knife and smiles. Then the fighting begins.

  The two move fast. Killer lunges at Jimmy with his knife in his hand and Jimmy side steps him, drawing his knife up as he does it. It cuts Killer shallowly along his side, ripping his clothes and drawing some blood. That makes Killer pause. His hand goes to the cut side.

  Jimmy's back is to me, but I have
a clear view of Killer's face. His knotted brows lift ever so slightly, and then he's at it again. Instead of lunging recklessly with full power, he steps into Jimmy's space and tries to grab him, but Jimmy is too fast. He won't be caught. Each time Killer gets a hand on him, Jimmy turns the grab around and stabs at him, never enough to kill him outright, but enough to draw blood and do damage.

  Jimmy is just playing with him. Killer is a dangerous fighter but not in comparison to Jimmy. Jimmy's better, and he knows it. I press my hand over my mouth. It's hard to breathe, but I don't look away. I blink furiously, too scared to even cry.

  Kyrene suddenly cries out, grabbing at her head and bending over. The men she had been holding back move hesitantly, all of them looking over to the small telepath standing behind Killer's chair and watching Kyrene with her sharp eyes.

  Killer and Jimmy fight between me and the telepath. It's so vicious that I can't just step around them. They take a wide berth, moving far very quickly. For a while, it seems that Jimmy doesn't notice Kyrene's problem as the men surround her, their lips curling.

  Then the fight pauses with Jimmy's knife on Killer's throat. “Call them back.”

  Killer gives a laugh, his movement restricted by Jimmy's knife. “Why should I? You'll still kill me.” Killer's bare side is to me, the long rip in his clothes from Jimmy's knife showing his shaky breaths, and the smooth skin of his side with a thin line of blood.

  The bag from the trip through the woods with Alex is still over my shoulders. I slip it over my head. No one is looking at me. With one hand, I swing it fast to let it get some momentum and then let it loose, the water filled canteens helping it sail towards the telepath not too far away. It hits her in the arm which is enough to break her concentration. She gives a squeak, her clear eyes opening wide and falling on me as she steps back. Before she can use her power, I run at her, darting past Killer and Jimmy, and hit her in the face with my fist. The feeling surprises me, the pain jolts down my arm almost to my elbow. Her face scrunches in pain as well, and she falls to the ground with a hand on her cheek where I hit her.

  There's a tickle in my mind, the feeling of fingers raking over my brain tissue as if readying to clutch at my thoughts and pull them up the same way Killer dragged me around by my hair, but the fingers disappear. The girl stares at the middle of the room where Jimmy stands over Killer with blood dripping from his knife. Killer is on the floor, his eyes open wide as he gurgles and gasps for breath. For good measure, Jimmy kneels down and stabs his knife into Killer's gut, pulling it along the edge of his pants to create a huge gash for more blood to pour through.

  The telepath next to me gasps. She scoots into the corner and presses herself against the wall. Maybe it's me who gasps. My hands press against my mouth as the entire room falls silent, even the men who had been circling Kyrene who are now pressed against the wall again.

  Jimmy stands up again and spits on Killer as the blood pools out around Jimmy's feet, touching his toes like dark water. “That's for Mary.”

  The room is silent and still. Kyrene watches Jimmy with sharp eyes as if she knows what will happen next. Jimmy steps away from Killer's body and over to the men held against the wall, the blood on his feet trailing after him, making smudged impressions on the stone. At the first man, he lifts his knife and cuts the man's throat without saying a word or looking at any of us.

  Kyrene squints, her lips open, but no sound comes out until he stands before the second one. “They could be under the telepath's control.”

  Jimmy pauses only for a moment. His hair covers his eyes. He doesn't turn to look at her. “I'm not a mind reader. Are you? We can't take the chance.” Then he cuts the throat of the next one.

  Kyrene lowers her head and gives a nod. She pulls a small knife from her waistband and then she starts on the one nearest her.

  My knees start to shake. The large eyes of the telepath are on me as if she knows I'm the only one who can save her, but I'm not sure how. When they're done, Jimmy turns towards me and then the telepath.

  The hard, cold glare that he turns on her stops my breath. He takes a step forward, closer to her and closer to me. Despite my weak legs, I grab my bag from the ground and run towards Jimmy, hoping that he'll stop this and wishing that he was a mind reader so that he could hear my desperate plea.

  I avoid stepping in the blood, holding the bag strap in my two hands clasped in front of me. “Please, can we just go?”

  That catches his attention, and I fight to not break down and start crying in front of him. Behind us, there are heavy footsteps at the entrance of the room from someone running down the tunnel. Jimmy turns just as the man enters the room and stops.

  The man takes in the sight and then looks at Jimmy. “I'm here to get you out.”

  Jimmy nods. The man is vaguely familiar, but I can't place him and I see Kyrene hesitates too until Jimmy says, “He can be trusted. I remember him.”

  Kyrene starts towards the man, and I try, but my legs are weak and frozen. Jimmy gives me a push from the back that helps get me started. I stumble briefly, but I follow after the man quickly, Jimmy and Kyrene both behind me.

  The man pulls his lips back in a tight smile. “Do you even remember wanting to know my name?”

  That sparks the fuzzy memory of asking someone their name earlier, but I can't remember when or who I was with and it's not exactly the best time for memory recall. I shake my head and hold my lips tight, trying to hold in the tears until we're hopefully outside and away from the room that will be the stuff of my nightmares.

  Outside it's dark, but I still run into it to get away from the tunnel. I crash into a solid body. Arms snare me, and I jerk back, trying to get away, but the strong arms hold me tightly and whisper an apology into my hair over and over again.

  “I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.”

  And then my knees give out. His arms hold me tight, holding me upright before he finally lets me go and we both slip to the ground. I let the hot tears wash my hands as I hold them to my dirty face. He pulls me against him, letting me cry against his shoulder the same way his daughter had when she saw him.

  I try to stifle my crying. Behind us there's the cracking of dried leaves and dead grass under feet. Jimmy is behind me, and it makes me think of the scene back in the tunnel.

  “Thank you,” the man with no name says. “Killer is like a parasite. Once he gets in, no one can get him out.”

  Jimmy doesn't say anything. It's Kyrene who speaks. “It was nothing.”

  “Please pass on my thanks to him too.”

  I'm not sure what he means at first, and then I realize he's talking about Alex because Alex played as important a part in this as Jimmy did. He was the one who got us inside. Using me as bait.

  I pull back and wipe my tears, sucking back anything that is intent on seeping out. Jimmy and Kyrene are just a silhouette against the soft light coming from the tunnel opening. Both of them are faced towards us. The dim light falls forward, and I can see the terrified eyes of Alex's little girl as she takes in all the shadows around her and her father.

  She steps forward and puts a hand on his shoulder. “Can we go home now? I wanna go home now.”

  Alex tugs her forward, “Shh, Odessa. Soon.”

  Twenty-seven

  We walk into the dark. Odessa sits on Alex's back, clinging tightly to him. He must be as exhausted as I am, but he doesn't say a word.

  I slip a few times, tripping over a root, and Jimmy is the one to catch me. I try not to flinch away from him. His touches are gentle, yet firm. He doesn't offer to carry me, and I'd refuse him if he did. I'd rather be left behind than be carried.

  Once we're far enough away, they build a fire. Alex sits on the ground preparing the small animals for cooking with a large knife. It's too much for me and I have to turn away, scooting away from Alex and his daughter.

  Jimmy pokes at the fire, making it flare up brightly. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him glance over at Alex then at me. Jimmy ends up taking a seat
between Alex and me, blocking the cutting from my view.

  I curl up, bringing my knees up to my chest and hiding my eyes in my arms in case I start to cry. My muscles quake with tiny tremors that make it hard to hold myself together. All I really want to do is become a pile of goo on the dirt.

  Jimmy glances at me with some concern, but he doesn't move to comfort me, probably realizing he's not the best man for the job considering that I've watched him slice up more than enough people today.

  Kyrene glances around at all of us from her spot across the fire. “We just got rid of a monster. We should be celebrating.”

  All of us lift out heads a bit and catch each other's eyes. Alex glances away from me quickly.

  Beside me, Jimmy stiffens. “We shouldn't celebrate death. Even his.”

  Kyrene doesn't look surprised. Her dark eyes soften. “That's your problem-- you're too serious when it counts. That's why we've never slept together.”

  She gives him a tight smile, half mocking, waiting to see his reaction. I expect him to reprimand her or something. He is the one with the highest rank. But then he smiles, a bitter yet similarly teasing smile. “We've never slept together because I respect you too much.”

  Alex glances up from the meat, his forehead crinkling. Odessa rests against him on his shoulder.

  Kyrene doesn't laugh, but her smile does widen. Even Jimmy seems to have a mischievous, yet somber glint. My foot slides on the dirt so that my knees aren't so tight against my chest and I blurt out, “Well, just so long as you two don't start, like-- right now.”

  My insides contract and my hand flies up to my mouth as Jimmy turns to me with his grey eyes wide. And then he laughs, a soft chuckle of surprise.

  Kyrene laughs too across the fire, covering it with one of her hands. “We should behave. There is a child present.”

  Odessa half dozes against Alex's arm, showing no sign of understanding or caring. Then I get it. “You mean me, don't you?”