“Ryder, I had a feeling you were in on something. I just wasn’t sure what until now, but it’s great to see that my instincts are still strong as ever.”
I heard Ryder’s boots thud against the floor as he took a few steps toward us, the tension in the air between them palpable as King remained focused on me. I met his eyes, fear no longer driving my actions as rage poured through me as if a dam opened.
“But Mila, dear, after what happened with Cato I would’ve thought better of you. I was hoping you learned your lesson.” He turned to look away from me, his eyes searching over Julius and Caius. “I see you have recruited others to your cause. You have just doomed them all.”
“You have doomed us, King. No one else,” Ryder protested from behind me. His voice was shaking from the adrenaline.
King made a clicking sound with his tongue and said, “Now, Ryder, is that any way to talk to an authority figure? I don’t think so.”
I was speechless with no clue of what to say in this situation, but then it hit me. “Only a coward uses fear to control others. You’re nothing more than a bully. A tyrant.”
His eyes met mine then, hardened as if bent on destruction.
“You have no idea what you have started. Cato was only a test that you passed with flying colors. I expected to have to kill all of you, but you two made it way too easy. I must have been too generous with my demands. Now, you have spat in the face of my kindness, and someone has to pay the price.” He turned and walked away, raising a hand in the air as he did so. The four soldiers moved in and removed something from their holsters as they neared us and I recognized them instantly. Tranquilizer guns.
Each one of us fell within seconds of seeing them, not even aware of the fact that we had been hit with a dart until it was too late. Darkness overcame me as King walked away, and I knew we had failed.
Chapter 30
I awoke with a sharp intake of breath, my chest barely felt like it was moving underneath the pressure of a restraint across my chest. My wrists and ankles were bound. Everything came into focus. It was too bright. Too white. I recognized the room through the haze of the tranquilizer and knew it was King’s doing. He only placed us in that room to torture my mind and possibly my body into submission.
My throat was dry and scratchy as if I had been wandering in the desert with no water to drink. I blinked past the blurriness, everything beginning to come into focus. The chair I was tied to wasn’t the only one in the room. Turning my head, I saw my companions tied to the same style of chair, black on metal and highly uncomfortable. Only one of them was struggling to free himself from the restraints. Julius was conscious while Caius and Ryder were still out cold.
“Julius,” I choked out, my voice cracking with the sound.
His head swiveled, and when he saw me. His eyes grew thankful, relief flooding his features in an instant.
“Mila, where are we? I’ve never seen this room before.”
I knew what room we were in, but I looked around, seeing the blood stained tile from where Cato’s life had come to an end. A silent tear rolled down my cheek as the sadness overtook me again, images of his life leaving him flashing through my mind as I stared helplessly at what remained. King had done it on purpose. I knew that.
I let my eyes drift back to Julius’ face and as soon as my eyes met his he understood. Tears spilled out of me as his expression broke what little was left holding me together. I had pulled myself together long enough to attempt to make things right, but only ended up making it worse, and now Julius was going to pay for what I had done.
“I’m so sorry, Julius,” I sobbed as I watched his face crumble in inner turmoil.
“No, stop. We will get out of this. You hear me?” I shook my head, barely hearing his words past my pity. “Mila, look at me.”
I did as he asked, and the words he uttered next tore me to pieces.
“This isn’t your fault.”
A familiar voice broke the silence that came between us, shattering the illusion that it was just us inside of the room.
“Oh, but Julius, it is.” Nero stepped around us, dressed in all black. He came to stand in the center of the discolored section of the floor, holding his arms out at his sides just to draw Julius’ eyes to the spot. “King wanted to see what she was made of, and he got the show of his life. Right here.” He knelt down and rubbed his fingers on the floor to make a point. “And Cato paid with his own.”
“Nero, you don’t understand,” I objected.
His eyes shot up to me, and he closed the distance in one fluid motion, placing his hands on mine and squeezing painfully. A pained cry flew from between my parted lips no matter how hard I tried to stifle it.
“No, you don’t understand. When you gave into King, you betrayed us all. I don’t care what Cato said to you or showed you. I only care about what I can see with my own two eyes, and you’re not looking too good old friend.” He shook his head and then pounded his palms on the head rest of the seat on either side of my head. “So I chose a side, and I’m sure you can guess which it was.”
“Don’t get too close to those hands, Nero. You know what they are capable of,” King mocked as he walked into the room through the same door he had escorted Cato through on the day that changed everything. I shook the image away. I couldn’t let the sorrow inside of me turn me into a sobbing puddle of tears. King pointed at Caius and Ryder and said, “I think it’s time to wake these two up. I knew that dose was too high for them. Bring her in, Nero.”
With a nod, he disappeared through the same door and the metal door muffled a startled, feminine cry. I recognized it immediately and watched helplessly as Nero shoved Doctor Aserov inside. She fell to the ground, sobs echoing through the entirety of the room as I watched her helpless form fall. The once white coat was smudged with dirt and blood. There was a split in her bottom lip, a lesion open and bleeding. She had a black eye, her glasses completely absent and eyes pleading for mercy.
King walked around her, staring down at her with all the disdain I could see coiled in his frame. He then kneeled down in front of her, using his index finger as a hook under her chin to bring her gaze to his. There was no ounce of forgiveness in his movements. Only anger at our defiance.
“Wake them up, Madeline. Before I lose my temper.” His voice was bitter and edged with fury.
It didn’t take me long to realize that he was the one that had beaten her to the mere shadow of the strong woman I had come to know. I hadn’t noticed before, but his knuckles were bruised and scraped. Everything that I had felt before this moment that drove me toward revenge was flooding back, causing me to jerk on the restraints so that I could act upon it. “Now, now, your turn is coming soon. No need to be hasty. We have plenty of time.”
He stood as Doctor Aserov rose to her feet on shaking legs, her knees nearly buckling as she stumbled to the other side of the room. I couldn’t see her past the headrest. All I could hear were the sounds of metal drawers opening and closing, wrappers and instruments rustling as she scrambled to find what she needed. When I saw her again, I noticed she was missing one of her heels, causing her to walk unsteadily as she neared Ryder with a syringe filled with an amber liquid I couldn’t identify.
After injecting the both of them they were awake, confusion easily readable on their faces as they struggled to make the connection. When Ryder focused on the good doctor and me, he began to pull on his restraints, anger causing the veins in his neck to become more noticeable underneath his skin as he strained and pulled.
“Let her go or I swear to…” Ryder’s threat was interrupted by King’s raised hand, signaling the end of his tirade as his green eyes flashed even brighter with fury.
“I have an offer to make, Ryder, and I suggest you listen up,” King announced as he came to stand in front of him, looking down at him with scorn plain on his face. His hair was slightly disheveled now, but not so much where he lost his clean and elegant demeanor. Just enough to make him look menacing.
/> “I’m not giving you shit, King,” Ryder spat.
He meant the words he said, but for how much longer? I was even curious to see what he had to offer. I loathed the man, but that didn’t mean anything when an offer was on the table that could mean the difference between life and death.
“Even if it means you and your friends walking out of here unharmed? Well,” he paused, “most of them.”
His eyes shifted to me, and all I could see in his dark eyes was greed.
Ryder stopped and stared up at King, trying so hard to hold himself together despite the terror I saw in his beautiful eyes. The green of them was deeper somehow now than it had been before.
“What do you want?” Julius questioned, his voice sharp and shrill.
He was willing to do anything. King’s eyebrows rose in surprise at the question, and he pulled a tiny box from within his suit pocket, gripping a toothpick between his fingers and placing it between his lips. His dark eyes flicked to me again and back to the men tied up in front of him. We were all at his mercy, and their answer to whatever offer he made would determine whether we would walk out of this room or not.
“Leave the girl with me and you are all free to go. No harm, no foul.”
All noise in the room stopped as if everyone was holding their breath, but it wasn’t long before all three men were shaking their heads in unison and a sigh of relief left me. My head drooped as the panic left me deflated, my heart pounding in my chest and barely slowing. King then did something surprising. There was knowledge in his eyes as he stared at Ryder, chewing on the end of his toothpick. He leaned down and looked Ryder in the eyes, seeing something there that caused a condescending smirk to cross over his thin lips and a chuckle to form in his throat. Then the uproarious laughter came, King slapping his knee at the hilarity of what he had just seen in Ryder’s face.
“Now, this I couldn’t have planned for.” He stopped laughing and walked toward me, placing his hands on the restraints as I recoiled.
I couldn’t go anywhere, but I didn’t want him near me. I was stuck.
His laughter died away, but the grin remained. “Looks as if you have an admirer, my dear.”
This was something I knew, and he could see it in my expression as well as my feelings toward his traitorous soldier. His amusement returned as quickly as it had disappeared. I could see Doctor Aserov over his shoulder, jumping every single time King made a sound and tried to focus on only the man in front of me. As soon as he stood erect in front of me again I felt the impact of his open palm on my cheek, stinging as my head jerked to the side because of the power of the action. The room swayed for all of a moment as I recovered from the jarring blow.
Julius had turned away as Ryder watched in absolute horror as the onslaught continued, a blow to my abdomen causing me to forget about the stinging in my cheek entirely. Coughs racked my body, and I felt as if my ribs would crack from the force of them. I tried my best to swallow down the acid that rose from the impact of it, succeeding in just that small way as I was able to hold onto my stomach’s meager contents.
“Stop,” I whispered, still slumped in the chair as pain flared through my body like a wildfire from King’s attack. “Just let them go. You can have me.” I raised my head to see King was beginning to walk toward a metal table on the other side of the room I hadn’t noticed before. “Just let them go.”
Ryder shook his head and screamed, “No.”
“Ryder, please,” I begged.
“Yes, Ryder. Listen to the poor girl,” King mocked from his position across the room, his back turned to all of us. I couldn’t see what he was doing, but I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. “After all, she only wants to save you. How could you deny her that? I mean, she’s already killed one of her best friends. Let her save you by sacrificing herself. Not like that’ll make up for it, but it’s a start.” He shrugged. It was a small movement of muscle beneath the fabric of his suit jacket.
With a flourish, he turned back toward all of us, brandishing a new syringe in his hands that contained something that was nearly a fluorescent blue. It was practically glowing inside the tube that enclosed it. Ryder recognized it instantly, pulling at the restraints again as Julius registered that something wasn’t right about what King held in his hand. Caius’ wide eyes drew my attention and, with that, I knew what was inside the syringe. Doctor Aserov’s eyes showed too much white as she gasped and Nero only smirked next to her, his arm gripping her upper arm in an attempt to keep her from acting out.
“King,” Ryder yelled. “Don’t.”
King ignored him, walking toward me with the syringe raised in the air and making sure I saw it and its contents before stopping in front of me to tap a small air bubble that had formed inside of it. His smile only widened as he took in our expressions, mine full of confusion and fear.
“Now, time for the coup de grâce!” A showman at his core, for certain. “This, my dear, is what those like you have come to fear when I lead them to this room. As you may have noticed, some of your fellow inmates have disappeared and were given a choice. Some have made the right decision.” He looked to Nero. “And some have not.” His look of disapproval then fell to me. “I’m sure you’re wondering what this is, but Caius can enlighten you. Can’t you?” He walked to Caius and kicked his bound foot, causing him to jump nearly out of his skin.
He didn’t speak, but his body stiffened in response. Caius knew what this serum would do because it had been used on him. Five years ago he was brought to this compound and forced to make a decision. He had chosen wrong according to King, made to watch as what made him different was taken from him and given to another. He was one of the lucky few who were still awake and alive, getting to take in the show as King reigned over us all.
“You won’t tell her?” King’s amusement was growing as he spoke past the toothpick. He strode back toward me, smiling all the while as he registered my terrified expression. “This serum helps me to extract your power and give it to someone else, and since I know you won’t join me willingly, this is the only option. Your power is so incredibly unique.” He said those last words with reverence in his voice and expression as if he was standing before the Virgin Mary in all her glory. “We had brought thousands here over the past five years and had never seen anything like you before. I was going to give you a chance to choose, but since you have shown me that you want nothing to do with my plans, this is our only option.”
I heard all three of my companions struggling to free themselves so they could get to him before he could touch me, metal clanking against metal in my ears as I sat frozen in terror. My stare was too focused on the looming needle to do more than that. Doctor Aserov stood like a statue behind him, never once taking her eyes off his back as he moved to close the distance between us. The horror in her eyes was unmistakable. The yelling around me was drowned out, muffled by my heart beating in my ears. I only had eyes for what King held in his self-righteous hands.
My head began to shake. While the power inside of me terrified me to my very core, it was all I had to save us, and I could feel it building. Panic rose in my throat, choking back the cries that wanted to force their way past the lump that had formed just inside. He leaned down, bringing the needle to the bend of my elbow as I struggled to free myself from the confines of the chair. Desperation licked at my mind like a fire burning, taking over everything as something snapped inside of me.
“Stay away from me,” I screamed as the alarm set in, taking all the composure I held onto and kicking it to the curb. Would he truly inject me with that serum, or was he giving me the push he felt I needed? Killing Cato had not had the desired effect. He thought that would cause me to use the power more than I had, but that wasn’t the case. Now, all bets were off.
“I’ll kill you if you do this, King,” Ryder spoke through gritted teeth, straining against the confines of his chair to launch himself at the man.
Those were the only words I heard before what had snappe
d inside me completely gave way.
Chapter 31
The needle was cold on my skin as King held it there, eyes boring into mine as the intensity in his gaze increased. He was giving me a chance to make the decision that he wanted, but little did he know he had just broken the dam, and the room was about to flood. With Cato, he wanted a show and had won, bringing the desired outcome. The show he was about to get would bring down the house, and he would fall with it.
I jerked against the restraints that held me, feeling the point of the needle as he pushed it into my skin. A scream rose from my vocal chords, and something else came with it. Power exploded within me and flowed outward in a whirlwind that was strong enough to send King into the wall on the opposite side of the room. My power unclasped my restraints in one fluid motion along with the others, but I was the only one to stand.
Doctor Aserov huddled against the wall as the wind whipped at her hair and lab coat; her silent cries drowned out by the pulsating air around us. Nero crouched next to her, hand gripping the handle of his handgun as he prepared to have to use it. I knew he wouldn’t need the weapon. He had a power he had been hiding from me, from us all, and we were about to see what he was made of.
The air moving around us caused my hair to whip erratically in all directions, each slap against my face stinging with so much force my eyes watered. The only sensation stronger than anything around me was the pure, resilient, and petrifying power. I was drunk with it. My focus was only on the two men who had brought me into this room to torture me and break my spirit. They hadn’t known it would only fuel me and turn me into something unstoppable.
Nero felt betrayed, only running to the same solution when he chose to join King’s forces. Hate and manipulation were the only things King knew, and he used them to his full advantage. This power flowing inside of me and outward was what I knew.
The Harvested (The Permutation Archives Book 1) Page 21