She must have paced for hours, just counting the same steps over and over again, and somehow she missed her white tray disappearing, replaced with the red one. This one didn’t smell bad at all. There was a bowl of some dark brown stuff with a plastic spoon stuck in it. She tasted it tentatively. Brothy and salty meat chunks swimming in not quite liquid. This wasn’t bad at all. She identified a few potatoes and carrots and some herbs and veggies she didn’t know, but all of it was decent enough. At least they weren’t going to starve her to death. She slept, or tried to. She was getting rather tired of sleeping, so she stared at the glass ceiling, the only thing she couldn’t really see anything through, nothing but untextured darkness.
And finally she did sleep, only she couldn’t recall any of her dreams when the sound of the swishing doors woke her up. She was staring at an immaculately white face of a woman whose age she couldn’t determine. She jumped up and stood against the far wall, afraid. The woman smiled at her, using only her mouth to do it, and said in a surprising pleasant voice that her name was Rindar, and she would be her keeper. She didn’t know what that meant, but didn’t want to ask her.
“I am going to take your slave band off, Trina. You won’t be needing it anymore,” and she walked up to her and put a finger on some spot on the band. It slid right off her hands, clanking loudly against the glass floor. She felt herself flinch at the sound, and hoped this woman, this Rindar, did not.
“Come with me. I’ll introduce you to everybody. Good to have you with us. I think you are the prettiest one yet. You should be proud,” and she walked ahead of her to the swishing doors.
She watched her glide across the floor in the overly long white dress, somehow not tripping on it. She could see the outlines of everything through it, the woman’s slim frame hugged as if this dress was made especially for her body. Somehow everything on her had that feel, of being made especially for her: the way her hair fell in straight sheets of white, not one of them moving as she walked, her face without any wrinkles or freckles anywhere on it. If she didn’t just talk to her the way she did, she’d think the woman was a droid.
They walked in silence for a long time, going through four long, empty hallways and then down a few floors in an also empty elevator, and another long hallway after that. She still hadn’t seen a single person or droid or whoever these people were. Finally the woman put her finger on a slot of a giant metal door in front of them and it slid open, soundlessly, and she heard human noise coming out from the inside.
“This will be your home for a little while, Trina. This is our best facility, truly,” and she pushed her gently through the doors. The room was enormous, the largest she’d ever seen or even imagined. She couldn’t see the far wall from where she was standing, couldn’t even tell if there was a far wall. All the human noises stopped. There seemed to be hundreds of people, all wearing white dresses, like this woman, and the men with white coats over something dark, and they were all staring at her. Rindar took a few steps in front of her and smiled at them, “Meet Trina. We are lucky to have found her. Make sure she wants for nothing while she is here.”
She looked at her, and handed her a small metal circle, that was moving slightly on her hand, “This is a comm. You just have to press your finger, any finger to it, and say anything you want to say to me, and I’ll hear it, but only I. It is my job to make sure you are taken care of here, Trina. I’ll be checking up on you at least once a day unless I hear from you through this device,” and she left her standing in the midst of all these people all staring at her like she was indeed some strange animal. They were smiling at her strangely, and suddenly the small cage they had her in before didn’t seem so bad.
THE EXCHANGE
Riley
[May 8, 2236, Woods Outside of Reston]
He saw Brody making the fire outside when he ran out to pee, the sun just starting to come up. It was far too early to be making breakfast, so he felt something was up, but he needed more sleep to process anything important, and this seemed important. He said good morning to his friend and raced back towards the cave.
“Riley, I know it’s early, but I have to tell you something, before the others wake up,” Brody’s voice caught him, sounding far too awake for how early it was. He needed some of that stuff they called coffee that Stan gave them. Tea just wasn’t going to cut it. He ran into the cave, found a pouch of the stuff by touch and went back to the fire, showing the pouch to Brody, letting him know he needed this before he could hear anything he had to tell him. It only took a few minutes for the little bit of water to boil in the small kettle, and he poured himself a steaming cup, and took a few tiny sips, still hating the taste of it. Brody let him do all of it, tending to the kettle of tea for the others, not saying a word.
“All right, I am up enough now, damn you. What is it?” Brody sat next to him then and told him what he did last night about Hassinger, and that he also got to his crew and he’d have a dozen of the best trained of them waiting for them when they get there, just in case. He was listening to him talk, getting more and more angry with every word, and finally he lunged at him and dropped him on the grass, throwing punches at him, not holding anything back either. His friend just put everyone here in danger without so much as asking him first. He pummeled him, as hard as he could until his arms got tired. Brody didn’t even try to defend himself, just lay there, not even covering his face, letting him do it, watching him. It seemed pointless to keep going, so he got up and walked away from him, to the other side of the fire, trying to get his breathing back to normal.
“Never thought I’d get you to throw a punch at me, or a hundred,” Brody grinned at him. “If you had let me finish, I’d have told you that I had a plan, and I wasn’t going to put anyone here in danger, but me, and Laurel, but only if she was okay with it, and only if we knew for sure she’d be safe. None of you are coming, just me and Laurel, if she wants to. The rest of you will be safe here until we get back with Hassinger and hopefully, Trina.”
He walked over to him, looking at him with a smirk on his quickly bruising face, “Want to hit me some more, before the rest of them wake up?”
He didn’t. He let him fill in the other details of the plan, and he knew he’d be going with him, whether Brody wanted him to or not, but he didn’t want to argue with him over it just yet. He was still far too angry at him to want to talk. He went back into the cave, packed a small bag with everything he thought he’d need, stashed it under his blanket and waited for Laurel to wake up.
Brody was letting him be, staying by the fire. He knew him well enough still to give him space when he needed it, just not well enough to know that his friends were off limits, and he had no right to make any decisions that could put any of them at risk. He didn’t feel the least bit guilty for pounding on him.
Still sleepy-eyed Ams and Laurel ran out of the cave toward the woods or the stream to do their morning business. He wanted to talk to Laurel about this without Ams. He could see Ams losing it on Brody for this, could see her shooting him to keep Laurel safe. He knew she still hated the boy, and he still didn’t get a chance to talk to her about him. He could see her hatred for him in the way she looked at him, throwing daggers at him for just being, and he couldn’t imagine her being okay with what Brody was planning. He walked out to the fire, ignoring the bruises on Brody’s face, and poured himself another cup of coffee, drinking the bitter liquid, not saying anything to his friend, not even looking at him.
The girls were walking back now, Laurel looking at Brody, and then at him, surprise written all over her face. She said something to Ams, and he saw her run back into the cave, not looking at any of them. Laurel walked quickly to where he was sitting on the log and stopped right in front of him, staring at his face, waiting, and finally when he didn’t say anything, couldn’t think of anything to say yet, she spat at him in her angry voice, one he’d only heard her use once before, “I don’t see any new bruises on you, not a one, and an awful lot of bruises on him. That
tells me you two didn’t have a fight. A fight I would have been okay with. But this? This looks like a beating. I didn’t think you had it in you, Riley. Did you tie him up for this too? Point a gun at his head? Do you bloody feel better now?”
He shook his head at her, embarrassed, set his coffee on the grass and stood up, keeping his head down. She seemed angry enough to want to hit him, and she almost did, too, only suddenly Brody was there, pulling her away, making her look at him, instead of Riley, “It wasn’t his fault, Laurel. I swear it wasn’t. I could have fought him or stopped him if I wanted to. I didn’t. It looks worse than it is. And it’s not what you think it was. Please, let it go. There is something we need to tell you. It’ll make a lot more sense after that, I promise,” and he took her away and sat her down on the log, handed her a cup of steaming tea, and told her what he did, told her his plan, quickly, in a rush to get it all out before anyone else came out of the cave.
He stood where she left him, watching them, hoping Laurel thought it was a lousy idea, hoping she’d change her mind about wanting to go back in the first place. But she was nodding her head at whatever Brody was telling her, too softly for him to catch anything but an occasional word. She got up finally and walked over to him, “You have to let us, Riley, you just have to. It’s a good plan. It’ll work. She can’t tell anyone she lost us, not right before the Selection, so she’ll come, I know she’ll come, and she won’t have but a few guards with her at the most. She can’t call this in, you know that. And they can’t hurt me.”
Nothing he could do about changing her mind, so he didn’t try. There was no point.
“All right, but I am going with you, or you can’t go. I’m not going to argue over it either. I am going. And one of you is going to have to tell Ams. I can’t be the one to do it. Not that. I think it should be you, Laurel. I have a feeling she’ll kill Brody to keep you from going if he tells her,” he said quietly and walked away from the fire toward the stream, wanting more than anything to wade in and let the cold water run all around him in icy waves, and not think about what he just did to Brody, or seeing Hassinger’s face again.
It was almost time for them to go when he got back to the camp. Ams wasn’t talking to him. Wasn’t looking at him either. So Laurel did tell her then. He’ll have to deal with it later. There just wasn’t enough time for it now. Drake and Ella were sitting on either side of Ams on the log, Drake’s arm draped around her. Laurel looked like she had spent the last hour crying, her eyes so blue they looked almost violet, but her face was all pink and splotchy. He wished Ams made it easier on her friend. It was cruel of her to make her hurt like that now. But that’s what they did, he and Brody and Ams. They hurt the people they loved.
“I am packed and ready to go. I just need to change my clothes,” he whispered and walked into the cave to grab his bag and put on a dry shirt. Nobody was saying anything to anybody when he got out. Brody and Laurel had their small backpacks on them already, and he could see an old metal gun strapped to Brody’s belt, and a stun gun at Laurel’s waist. They seemed ready.
He walked over to Ams and crouched in front of her, trying to look at her face, “I am sorry, Ams. It wasn’t my call, it was Laurel’s. I’ll make sure she is safe, I promise. We should all be back by morning.” She didn’t even look up at him, so he leaned in and planted a kiss on the top of her head, catching Ella looking at him sadly. He kissed his sister on the cheek, and walked into the woods, knowing that Brody and Laurel would follow.
They had more than enough time to get there, so they walked slowly, not wanting to be exhausted in case something went wrong. He had a feeling that something would go wrong, and couldn’t make sense of it. The plan was solid, he knew that, but he couldn’t keep the feeling of dread from settling on his stomach. Brody and Laurel were walking just behind him, not speaking. It’s as if they all ran out of things to say to each other.
They stopped for a few minutes at roughly the halfway point, quickly ate a small meal of cold smoked meat and tea, all of it in silence, and were on their way again. After a few more hours of this silent walk, Brody signaled for them to stop. He could see the clearing through the trees now. They still had almost an hour till Hassinger was due.
He spotted one of Brody’s boys running towards them, gun drawn, and pointing at him.
“Ellis, sir, is darky a prisoner?”
“Stand down, Trelix, you idiot. If he was a prisoner, he’d be tied up. Stand down. And don’t call him darky again. His name is Riley and you will protect him.”
The boy lowered his gun, looking at him with unguarded hatred, “I am sorry, sir. It won’t happen again.” He whistled and the rest of the boys came towards them, no guns drawn this time.
He took Laurel away from where Brody was talking with his crew, and sat her down on the soft patch of grass, crouching in front of her, “I have to tell you something, Laurel, and I hope you don’t get angry at me for it. I think I know why you want to go back. I’ve seen how everything bad that’s happened since we ran makes you feel, how you don’t seem to get over any of it. So I don’t fault you for not wanting to see the ugliness and the sadness ever again. I couldn’t fault you for that. But I need to be absolutely sure that you know what you are trying to go back to. The ugly things the Alliance does, you couldn’t see it then, not at the compound, but you know it now, you’ve seen it. I think you are the wisest person I know, the way you seem to get everything about people anyway, but I don’t think you’ve thought all of this through.” She was looking at him with those guileless blue eyes of hers, hands playing with the blades of grass.
“Laurel, I don’t know what’s going to happen in a few minutes, but I have a bad feeling about it. I can’t explain it. I know it’s a good plan, and that Brody is very good at whatever it is he does with those soldier boys, but I am worried, and I think it’s something to do with you. That Hassinger will try to get you to do something that would be dangerous for you, manipulate you in some way. I don’t trust her… She is like that boy Drake shot, Anders. She gets off on other people’s pain, and I don’t trust anyone who is like that. I promised Ams to keep you safe and to bring you back. I have to do that. And if you still want to go back after that, I’ll help you make it happen, I promise.”
She nodded at him and got up, and when he was standing, came up to him and took his hands in hers, looking right at him, “I know what you’re trying to do, Riley. I knew you would, too, because that’s how you are. I am not running away because of all the bad stuff I see here. It’s more selfish than that. I see you and Brody and Ams, and I know you weren’t the way you are before. I can see you as a happy little kid, Riley, can picture you like that, but I never even see you smile. And Ams… It’s like all the gentleness has gone out of her, and she was the most gentle person I ever knew. And your friend, he is the saddest of all. I think he wants to die, Riley, so if you need to worry about anyone, it should be him, but you don’t even see it. That’s why I want to go back. I don’t want any of this to change me like that. I wouldn’t know what to do with it. But I will be careful with Hassinger. Let’s go find your sad friend, and get ready. Maybe we’ll get Trina back and he would want to stick around a while. I kind of like having him around,” and she smiled at him then, full on big smile, eyes crinkling in the corners.
He would miss this girl, but for now, he just hoped he could keep her safe.
They found Brody crouching behind a thicket, signaling to them to get down next to him on the ground. They did, and Brody stretched what looked like a net made entirely of leaves and grass and branches over them. He couldn’t see any of his crew from he was. Brody pointed up at the trees, and he looked really hard and still couldn’t see anything, but he knew his boys were well trained to blend in, and blend in they did. He checked the time on his screen. 17:50. Brody spotted the flier first, and whispered something that sounded random into his comm. His heart was racing now. He drew his gun, and watched Laurel do the same.
The flier sat th
ere in the middle of the clearing, the doors facing them, but nothing was happening. Minutes went by in absolute silence. He could hear his own heartbeat, and hoped he was the only one. Finally, the door slid open, and the stairs dropped to the grass. He saw a large, light haired man step down, gun drawn and sweeping the area, moving the way Brody moved, like a soldier. He signaled to whoever was behind him and another guard or soldier or whoever they were stepped down after him. They stood at either side of the stairs, weapons buzzing loudly enough for him to hear them.
He switched his on, and whispered to Laurel to do the same. And then he saw her, Dana Hassinger, gliding down the steps in that way she had, taking her time. She seemed unarmed. She stopped a step behind the guards, looked around and walked a few steps forward, saying something quietly to the guards. He felt Brody’s breath catch, and then he saw her, the girl he hadn’t seen for three years now, looking very much the same still, only she was wearing some ridiculously long white dress that hugged her as if there was nothing to that fabric, as if it were made of skin. She was walked down by a giant of a man. He had his hand on her shoulder and a gun pointing at her temple, he guessed so they could all see it. Brody didn’t move, but he could hear his breathing change.
The Cross (Alliance Book 2) Page 7