The Sanctuary

by Sara Elizabeth Santana

  At first I thought he was ignoring me. He seemed to be making time for everyone in the camp, and his smile seemed condescending, since he always walked away from me. When I pointed it out to Erik, he thought about it and reasoned that he wasn’t ignoring me, but only giving me a patient smile, letting me know that he didn’t have an answer for me yet.

  “Wake up, Zoey, wake up!” Astrid’s singsong voice came through the thin fabric of the tent. I groaned. My eyes opened for a quick second and when I saw that it was still that gloomy gray of morning, I groaned again and shut my eyes, turning away from the door.

  “Go away, Astrid,” I grumbled, yanking the sleeping bag over my head.

  “I guess I could go away, but Liam just came to tell me that Greg would like to see us so…” Astrid trailed off but I was already up, kicking the sleeping bag off my bare legs. It was the third morning that we had spent in Hoover and I was impatient to go get Ash. There was a part of me that hated to leave, and wanted to stay in the safety of this camp, but this place meant nothing if I could not share it with Ash.

  I threw on a pair of shorts and stuffed my feet into my boots. I ran a hand through my hair. I felt like I was going to a job interview and, despite my excitement and impatience, I was suddenly full of nerves.

  Astrid and Liam were waiting outside my tent, looking just as nervous as me. Astrid’s thumb was back in her mouth and Liam was pacing back and forth, kicking up dirt in the process. They both looked up as I exited and smiled. I returned the smile as best I could.

  “You ready to do this?” Liam asked.

  I shrugged and the nodded. “Yes? I think so?”

  He raised his eyebrow at me and I shook my head, taking a deep breath. “Yes,” I said, quickly. “Of course, I’m ready.” Ash was counting on me to be ready.

  The three of us picked our way through the camp. There were very few people awake; it was too early for most of the residents. There were sentries on duty and a few people preparing for breakfast but most of the camp was quiet. The early morning air was chilly and I wrapped my arms around myself, keeping my head down.

  We reached Greg’s tent within minutes. Kris was already waiting there for us. She smiled at us all, and it was her smile, more than my two companions, that calmed me a little. Her smile was confident, unwavering, and not nervous like the ones plastered on the faces of my friends. She lifted the flap of the tent, indicating that we should step inside.

  Greg was sitting inside, bent over a large leather bound book. He was scrawling quickly. He smiled at us as we entered but continued to write for a few moments. This was the first time I had been up and close with Greg and I had the opportunity to study him. He was much younger than I thought, even from the distance glances I’d had, only in his late thirties, maybe early forties. He had sandy brown hair that looked as if he’d stuck his fingers in a light socket. His face was tanned and tired, wrinkles crinkling at the corners of his eyes and mouth. He looked steady though, despite the fact that he was tired.

  “Sorry about that,” he said, finally, tucking the book to the side. He looked up at the four of us. “Sit down, sit down. I’d rather not stare up at you. It’s pretty uncomfortable.”

  The four of us took a seat in front of him. I shifted uncomfortably on the ground, afraid to make eye contact with Greg. He didn’t look like much but he also put out an air of leadership and authority and, unlike with Octavia, it was incredibly intimidating.

  “Astrid. Zoey. It is so nice to finally officially meet the both of you. I’m sorry it has taken this long,” he said, sincerely, extending his hand to the both of us. I shook his head. “I’ve heard much about the both of you.”

  Astrid and I exchanged looks and both looked over at Liam. He shook his head, a small smile at the corner of his lips. “All good, of course,” Liam assured us.

  I rolled my eyes, ready to dispel some of the tension that had filled the small tent. I looked over at Greg, who was studying me carefully. My face flushed under the scrutiny, and I resisted the urge to let my hair fall in my face.

  “You know, most people would think you’re on a fool’s errand, ” Greg eventually said to me. I opened my mouth to protest but he cut me off before I could. “I’m not saying that I think that, but most people would.”

  I opened my mouth and then closed it again.

  “I think anyone who doesn’t understand what Zoey is doing hasn’t loved someone the way she loves Ash,” Astrid spoke up. “I think many of us would go on a fool’s errand to save the people we care about, or so we’d like to think. Zoey actually has the guts to do it.”

  Greg smiled at Astrid, appraisingly, and turned back to me. “I agree, Astrid. Which is why, even though it took me some time, I have agreed to help. I’m afraid I don’t have a lot of help. We are a community of survivors, of family, not soldiers. I don’t have what you need to storm into that facility.”

  “I know,” I cut in quickly. “I would never ask you to do that.”

  Greg held up his hand. “And I know this. I know that you hadn’t even planned on coming to us for help. I also know that it was the suggestion of Erik for you guys to come here in the first place. This is why I want to help you.”

  “How can you provide help?” Liam asked, his brow furrowed.

  “I can’t ask anyone to go with you. That’s not what I’m about. I welcomed every single member of Hoover in here as part of a family and you don’t send your family to something like this. However, I can ask if anyone would like to voluntarily go with you.”

  I sat up straight, my eyes wide. “And did anyone volunteer?”

  He nodded. “As a matter of fact, yes. You have four people who would like to go with you.”

  Liam whirled around, his eyes landing on Kris. “You,” he said, accusingly.

  Kris smiled, revealing a dimple in her left cheek that I hadn’t noticed before. “Me,” she replied, cheerfully. “Come on, did you really think I’d let you go storming the castle without me?”

  “You know you might die, right?” Liam asked, his voice sharp. “This isn’t exactly a trip to Disneyland.”

  Her smiled disappeared, replaced by a scowl. “I know that, Liam. But I’m coming along. So is Erik. So is Nathan. We’re doing this, with you. We care about you and you care about them.” Her eyes drifted over to where Astrid and I sat. “So we care about you. It’s not rocket science.”

  Liam looked over at Greg, who shrugged, still smiling. “I cannot stop them from going, Liam. You asked for help and your friends are ready to provide that.”

  “You said four people,” I pointed out. “Kris, Erik and Nathan only make three. Who is the fourth person?”

  Liam frowned. I could see that he was trying to figure out who else in this place would volunteer for such a crazy mission.

  “Ah, yes,” Greg said, clapping his hands together, indicating toward Kris. Something passed between them quickly and Kris ducked out of the tent. “This is what took three days to come up with. I knew I had something…or rather, someone, that could help you but it was a matter of speaking to him about it. He was reluctant at first to share his help, understandably so, but in the end, I think his acquaintance with Mr. Garrity and Ms. Valentine is what convinced him in the end.”

  I leaned back, surprised. “Me?” I squeaked. “With me? But I don’t know anyone in Hoover. I mean, I didn’t until a few days ago.”

  “I think you’d be surprised, Miss Valentine,” was his only reply. His eyes lifted toward the entrance to his tent and he nodded.

  I looked over my shoulder, barely registering the person standing in the doorway. Then I spun around, my legs scraping against the rough dirt floor. My mouth dropped open and my heart slammed in my chest. I didn’t know him well but I owed him for eternity for saving my life when I thought all hope was lost. The last time I had seen him was after I had punched him in the face, trying to make my escape.

  But he was dead. I had heard the gunshot.

  A smile spread across his handsome
face, which didn’t quite match the anxiety in his eyes. Liam drew in a sharp breath behind me, but no one else reacted. No one else knew who he was. “Hello, Zoey,” he said, his voice even. He looked past me. “Hello, Liam.”

  “Tommy,” Liam said, dumbfounded.

  “You’re supposed to be dead,” I replied, unable to come up with anything else to say.

  Tommy winced but his smile didn’t fade. “I probably should be,” he admitted. “But I’m not. So there’s that.”

  “That’s all fine and dandy,” Astrid cut in impatiently. “But who the hell are you?”

  Tommy opened his mouth to reply but I replied first. “Tommy used to work for Sekhmet. He helped me escape, but he was…” I paused. I had heard it with my own ears. Razi had taunted me with his death herself. “He was shot. He was dead. You were shot! How on earth are you not dead?”

  “It’s not a very exciting story,” Tommy admitted, shrugging. “I’m lucky.”

  Liam and I exchanged looks before turning back to him. “Explain,” Liam said.

  Tommy’s shoulders sagged for a moment and there was a faraway look in his eyes, as if reliving something in his own mind. He stepped away from the opening of the tent, closer to us, and took a seat right next to Tommy I couldn’t help it. I reached for him, poking him on the thigh. He glared at me. “Really? Poking me? I’m real.”

  “You can’t blame me for checking,” I shrugged. “Or you’re a new version of an Awakened.” The dread of it filled my throat and I looked at him, as if waiting for blue skin or deep black eyes to spring up out of nowhere.

  Tommy shook his head. “Don’t be ridiculous.” He sighed, fidgeting slightly. His eyes met Greg’s and Greg nodded, encouragingly. I reached for him again, this time, sliding my hand into his. His palm was warm and comforting and he smiled at me. “I should be dead. I really should. I should be dead or I should be an Awakened. There are no other options, not in Sekhmet.”

  “What do you mean?” I whispered. “If she decides to kill you, she just brings you back as an Awakened?”

  “Bingo,” Tommy praised me. “Razi Cylon doesn’t hesitate to kill anyone that steps out of line. There is no room for mistakes in her world. I made a mistake. I helped you escape. So she shot me. It knocked me unconscious. Just the blow from it alone…” He shuddered, remembering. “I have never felt anything like that before, and I would rather not feel it again.”

  “They left me in the room as they went to go chase after you. They thought I was dead. I thought I was dead. I was bleeding everywhere, in and out of consciousness before I finally just passed out. The next thing I knew I was in the middle of the woods.”

  “What the hell?” Liam interrupted, his eyebrows raised.

  “Right. I was confused. One, I didn’t know how on earth I could still be alive. I was in so much pain. I could barely register what was going on. Two, I didn’t understand how I had ended up there. Unless…” he paused and then shrugged. “I’m just guessing at this point but I figure they thought I was dead, and didn’t bother to check. Why they didn’t try to make me an Awakened, I’m not sure.”

  “I do not that since you escaped, Razi hasn’t been at her best. She’s making mistakes left and right. She’s not nearly as composed as she was before. No one knows why she does anything she does nowadays. Letting the two of you” Tommy indicated to Liam and Astrid, who looked surprised at being addressed, “go was something she would have never done before, no matter what game she’s currently playing. She’s dangerous right now, even more so than before.”

  “Wait.” I held up my hand to stop him. “How do you know all this?”

  A quick smile flashed across his face before he continued. “I have my ways. Anyway, there I was in the woods. I wasn’t dead but I was well on my way there. I had no idea where I was. I had no idea where to go. I had no idea if I could even move. I’m sorry to say that I basically gave up,” Tommy admitted. He looked sheepish. “It embarrasses me to say that in front of you, of all people, Zoey. You would have never just laid there in the middle of the woods and just let it happen. You wouldn’t have given up.”

  I blushed. “You guys always give me way too much damn credit. You were shot! You were bleeding out!”

  “Yeah, well, either way, I was done. Until these guys found me. They were scouting in the area, had heard some things about Sekhmet and wanted to stay as clear as possible from the place. Instead, they found me. They brought me back to Hoover and somehow, they saved my life. I’ve been here ever since.”

  “That is…” I fumbled for the right words.

  “Crazy. Unbelievable. Insane. Lucky as hell. Trust me, I’ve thought them all.” Tommy let out a loud breath and it filled the stunned tent. Kris and Greg had already heard the story, I assumed, but the rest of us were still letting it soak in. we were still reacting to it all.

  Finally, after a while, I turned and looked at Tommy. His eyes met mine, patient, waiting for me to catch up. “So, you volunteered to help us? To go back there? Are you insane?”

  “I’m no crazier than you are,” he pointed out. “Besides, I know that place. I spent a long time working there. I can help you get in and I can hopefully get you back out.”

  “But why?” I asked. “Why the hell would you want to do that?”

  Tommy thought about it for a moment before replying. “Because I hate that place, Zoey. It stood for something amazing in the beginning. Because Razi Cylon had beautiful visions in the beginning, you know? She wanted to help people. Somewhere along the line, she fucked up and I watched as it fell to pieces and I watched as she orchestrated millions of deaths. I’m over it. I’m tired of it. It’s why I got you the hell out of that place. It’s why I’m glad I’m not there either. And…” he trailed off. “And I didn’t help you get Ash out. Somehow you got him out anyway, but I didn’t help. So this is my way of making it up to you.”

  “You don’t have to make anything up to me,” I mumbled, under my breath. I looked up and saw everyone staring at me. I sighed. “Not that I don’t appreciate your help. It’s actually…probably the best news I’ve gotten in a really long time.”

  “I think I have a way to get us in, with little to no detection at all, and get Ash out. It’s going to be hard as hell but I think it’s possible,” Tommy explained. “And with a small group like this, it’ll work even better.”

  I sat up straighter. Finally, after what felt like forever, something solid was being set and we were making actual plans to save Ash. This wasn’t just me leaving Sanctuary in the middle of the night with my friends following me on a whim. Tommy knew Sekhmet. He knew how to get us in. This was starting to feel real. It was starting to feel like we could actually succeed.

  Tommy started fidgeting again, and I resisted the urge to put my hand on his knee to stop him. “There’s more to it.”

  “What do you mean, there’s more to it?” I asked, slowly. “More than just storming into a well-guarded, top-secret, death trap of a facility? There’s more than that?”

  Tommy cleared his throat, looking nervous. “Look, Zoey. I can get us into Sekhmet. We can get Ash back. It won’t be easy. It’s going to take a lot of work, a lot of stealth and a lot of luck too. But I think we can do it.”

  He took another deep breath before plowing on. “But if we are going to do it, I think we should accomplish more than just rescuing Ash. Not that we shouldn’t rescue Ash,” he assured me, hastily, but I waved my hand, impatiently, urging him to continue. “I’m just saying, if we sneak in, we should do more. We should have a larger mission.”

  “Wait, are you saying…” My brain was moving slowly, my thoughts crawling at a snail’s pace. I understood what he was saying, but it hadn’t quite caught up with me yet.

  “I’m saying that I know how to take down the Awakened, Zoey. I know how to shut down Sekhmet for good.”

  I LAUGHED. THE noise of it bounced off the vinyl of the tent and reverberated back to us. Everyone was staring at Tommy and my laugh faded.
<
br />   “You’re kidding, right?” I finally said. “There’s no way. Tommy, come on.”

  “I’m not kidding,” Tommy said, his face clear and firm. “The one thing that Razi always tends to do wrong is that she trusts her employees, completely. She keeps nothing from anyone. Well, when you kill anyone that disobeys you, you don’t really have to worry about your secrets getting out. She didn’t really count on me surviving.”

  “Everything about the Awakened is down to control. She showed you just a small portion of what goes into controlling them. It’s all about controlling the neurons in the brain to react the way we want them to.”

  “This is all very science-y to me,” I told him. “What are you trying to say? Cut to the chase, Tommy.”

  “Every single person who has been made into an Awakened has their own unique chip installed just below their brain. This manipulates the brain, sending signals that we specifically set. This is what causes them to migrate to certain areas, to attack or be docile. Everything they do is controlled, even if it doesn’t feel like it. We never targeted specific groups, not after sending them into the large cities, but without that chip in their neck, without the control that Sekhmet has over them, they’re dead bodies. Period.”

  I stared at the ground, my brows furrowed as I concentrated. “This is information that we already knew though…”

  “To an extent you did,” Tommy pointed out. “But what you don’t know is how exactly it’s controlled. The chip lies dormant in the back of their necks until we send out a signal. Most chips aren’t dormant because we have a constant signal feeding out to them, keeping them active and hungry. Everything is controlled by computer and satellite signals, Zoey. Its tangible.”

  Liam shifted next to me and I looked over at him. Clarity spread across his features. He had reached the end of Tommy’s thoughts before I had. I turned back to Tommy. “So everything is controlled…”