by Coralee June
Huxley gripped my shoulders and stared at me. His thick fingers were steadying and firm, as though he was trying to stop me from jumping off the emotional ledge I was on. I saw a flash of pain and uncertainty in his eyes before he shook them away. Huxley then bent over slightly and pulled me to him before claiming my lips with his own.
His lips were cold and trembled with the emotion bouncing between us. Shock was my first reaction, but quickly that feeling faded and a totally new sensation took its place.
Lust. Want. Need.
Huxley kissed me with such certainty that I had no choice but to fall a bit for him in that moment. His lips moved against mine with a force that I felt everywhere. His hands slid down my bare arms, leaving waves of tingles beneath them until he grabbed my waist and pushed closer to me. Our hips rocked like waves against one another. Between kisses, I gasped and whispered out. “What are you doing?”
My back hit his bedroom wall, and in one swift moment, my hands were anchored to my side, preventing them from roaming the large muscles on his back like I ached to do.
A low moan grumbled within his chest. “Can’t you tell? I’m fucking kissing you, Ash.” He continued to move his lips against mine in frantic movements, as if he wanted to drink every last drop of this moment and savor it.
After what felt like hours, he sucked on my bottom lip before exhaling a slow and steady breath. Huxley then slowly pushed me away in a strained display of control. I saw the protruding veins in his arms throb with the evidence of what we just did.
“Now. Sit here and be quiet like a good little Walker,” he said, his voice hoarse. With a smirk, he walked back over to his bed and plopped down in a lying position. He threw a thick forearm over his eyes and sighed in contentment. He looked completely relaxed, and my heart was crushed at how unaffected he was.
I felt unsure of what just happened. Hux kissed me. I mean really kissed me. What did this mean? Why now? My shaky legs and pounding heart ached for rest. I traveled to the corner of the room where his recliner was and sat down, silently agonizing over what just happened between us.
“Ahhh, much better,” Huxley said with a chuckle.
Realization washed over me. The kiss was a distraction. A cheap ploy to get me to stop talking. If Huxley wanted me to calm down that definitely wasn’t the way to do it. I muttered “Jackass,” before walking out of his room and towards the living room.
I resumed pacing, but with much more vigor. I piled my anxiety about my and Huxley’s kiss on top of the other worries that plagued me and stomped my feet loudly. Huxley couldn’t have picked a worse time to mess with my head.
I spied my Tablet on one of the recliners, and in a moment of weakness and determination, picked it up and called Josiah. I knew the guys would be furious at my actions, but I couldn't care less. I wanted answers. I wanted to feel like I was doing something that would aid in bringing back Cyler and Patrick.
Josiah answered it almost immediately, and I was greeted with a pained expression. It seemed to be what he wore daily now.
“Where are they Josiah? I know you know.” I was foregoing pleasantries and jumping right into the situation at hand.
“Ash—" Josiah began, but I saw his bullshit excuse a mile away and cut him off.
“Don’t even start with me right now, Josiah!” I roared in a tone that momentarily shocked us both. “You know where Cyler and Patrick are. You know what Emperor Lackley is planning. Tell me. Right. Now.”
Josiah’s shocked eyes, which were the size of disks, fueled my anger. It felt ridiculously good to let loose the repressed frustrations I’ve been feeling.
“I can’t help you, Ashleigh. He’ll punish me,” Josiah said in a defeated voice.
“So help me Josiah—"
“Who are you–?”
He cut me off and his face grew red with frustration. "The Ash I know would trust that I’m doing what I can! It’s not that easy!”
“The Ash you know is gone, Josiah,” I replied almost instantly. “I’m done worshiping every move you make. Tell me where they are. Please. If you ever loved me—ever felt a sliver of what I felt for you—you’ll help me,” I pleaded as tears streamed down my face.
“I can’t, Ashleigh.”
The silence between us stretched into a large black hole that ate up whatever lingering love I felt for Josiah. I straightened my spine and peered at him with a newfound resolve that charged my hatred for him.
“Josiah, I want you to look at me,” I said in an eerily calm voice. His eyes flashed to mine. “I want you to remember everything about this moment. Catalogue it in the deepest parts of your heart, in the deepest recesses of your memories of me, each and every little detail. Because years from now, when you wonder what happened to the girl that you once knew, the girl that worshiped you. The girl that was your best friend. The girl that loved you. You’ll be able to vividly remember that it was right here, right now, when you completely lost her.”
I clicked the Tablet off and threw it across the room. It shattered against the wall, and I crumbled to the floor in a heap of sadness and relief. It was over. It was really over.
A hot hand rested on my shoulder as I sobbed, and I turned my head to see who was trying to comfort me. Jacob.
“Ash, sweetie. Tallis and Mia are downstairs,” he said in a tentative voice. I looked around and saw Huxley looking at me with profound—guilt? And Kemper looked almost happy. They must have seen and heard everything.
“He wouldn’t help me,” I murmured. “He wouldn’t tell me where they are.”
Jacob’s fingers drifted to my face and he placed a warm, lingering kiss on my forehead before looking deep into my eyes. “We’ll find them, Ash. I promise. Let’s go get them back.”
I wrapped my arm around his, and together we made our way downstairs, followed by Kemper and Huxley. My heart thudded both clumsily and joyfully at the sudden freedom that Josiah’s betrayal left behind.
19
Josiah 18 Months Ago
Josiah!” a loud voice echoed throughout Stonewell Manor.
I was working at my desk when Father came bounding through my bedroom door with a ridiculous grin on his face. His cheeks were flushed, his breath reeked of whiskey. I set my Tablet down as his pudgy body swayed from side to side, the ripples of his movements jiggling his flesh.
“I’ve got good news, my boy,” he said with an exhale while plopping onto my bed and shuffling off his boots. “I figured it out—right oh, I did! I figured out a sooooo-loution,” he slurred.
I faced him with a bored expression, I was quite used to his drunk excursions and rambling. “And what sooooo-loution have you figured out?” I asked, my tone mocking. I adjusted my glasses and sent a message to Ash. When he was drunk like this, it was best that she kept hidden.
“Our debts, Josiah! Our debts will be forgiven. Once I send this pesky message to the Emperor!” he exclaimed while using his greasy index finger to type out a message. I considered allowing him to embarrass himself with a drunk message to Emperor Lackley, but still swiped it from his clumsy fingers before he could hit send. I peered down at the Tablet and saw one letter—X.
“What does Influenza X have to do with this?” I asked immediately, wishing I could snap my fingers and Father would sober up.
Father let loose a big belly laugh and his shoulders shook with the force of it.
“Everything has to do with it, Boy. Everything.”
I stood and waltzed over to him and forced myself to endure his breath and address him at eye level. “Explain.”
“I know what Lackley’s done. I know what he’s planning to do.” Father shrugged, leaning back onto my bed. I noticed that he was so drunk that his pants were soiled. I cringed. Ashleigh would have to wash my sheets tonight.
“What are you saying?” I persisted. I needed to know exactly what he knew and if he had already told anyone. My father loved to spout conspiracy theories, and his credibility had steadily declined in the previous years.
“What do you want, boy?” he sneered. Drops of saliva puffed out of his cracked lips.
“What are you planning?” I balled my hands into a fist and tried not to scream.
“Lackley is in deep shit!” Father finally got his pants unbuttoned, but he decided that pushing his pants down was too much effort, so he gave up. I was desperate to keep him awake so I could hear what he had to say, therefore I helped him shimmy his encompassing frame out of his black, soiled, slacks.
“The greedy fool! We’re all ticking time bombs!” he roared while jolting up into a sitting position and pulling me close. His fist clutched my button-down shirt, and I cringed, all too familiar with his drunken force.
“The Governor’s right-hand man told me himself. We’ll all be vaccine rejects soon—that’s right! Haven’t you wondered why more and more people are rejecting the Vaccinations?” Father was whispering now. As if worried someone was listening in on our conversation. “Lackley would pay a pretty penny to keep news like this from getting out!” Father now chuckled with such malice that my eyes widened. I couldn’t let this happen. Lackey wouldn’t pay my father a dime. He’d simply kill us.
I knew this day was coming. We had been preparing for quite some time now. I was warned that Father was getting too close. He was too curious. Too greedy.
“I know Lackley’s deepest secret,” Father said with a slightly giddy yawn.
I watched him slump back onto my bed and close his eyes.
“Get some rest, Father,” I said in a calm voice.
I knew what had to be done. What should have been done years ago, when his fist first became acquainted with my flesh. When he first started noticing Ashleigh’s body. When Mother first started crying at night. My Father was a stain on society. A waste of oxygen.
Going to war with Emperor Lackley would surely result in my family’s death. In Ashleigh’s death. It’s why I made preparations long ago.
Father’s been a loose cannon for too long.
It ended now.
Within moments he was passed out and snoring quietly against the pillow. I took a moment to watch my drunken mess of a father sleep peacefully. While asleep, he wasn’t a threat. He wasn’t gambling or shoving Mother down the stairs or leering at Ashleigh. He looked almost like what a Father was supposed to be.
But I knew better.
I grabbed the pillow next to him and after a moment’s pause, placed it over his face and pressed down hard. At first he didn’t move. His deep and drunk slumber caused him to feel no pain. I don’t think he felt the fire in his lungs as they burned for air. Or the last few pounding beats of his heart, before the blood simply stopped flowing. He twitched a few times, the last bit of electricity zapping his now dead neurons as he kissed eternity and finally left us.
I enjoyed watching the last little sparks of life flee his worthless body.
I left the door open, so he’d be easy to find. Mother would be home soon from her afternoon tea at the Carmichaels’. I didn’t want the carnage in my room for longer than necessary.
I washed my hands in the kitchen sink, and before slipping outside, I sent a message to my contact. Within three minutes, Emperor Lackley was ringing my Tablet.
“It’s done,” I answered. “Your right-hand man told him. No one else knows.”
“Right oh, my boy. I’m glad we could mutually benefit from this,” he cooed before ending the call with a click.
The warmth of the sun spurred me further, and I walked with a bit of a bounce to my step towards the park.
The weather was divine, and I enjoyed the crisp air. It was a beautiful day for a walk.
20
Ashleigh Present Day
I packed a small bag with stoic determination, while preparing my speech to Huxley as to why I should travel with them. No kiss could distract me from being there for Cyler and Patrick. Especially kisses meant as a distraction tactic—that jerk.
Maverick discovered whispers of hope that Cyler and Patrick were in Galla, which was a fairly anticlimactic discovery. A storefront security camera down the street from the Stonewell Manor caught a glimpse of a government transport zooming by with tinted windows, and a quick heat signature showed two figures handcuffed in the back. I wanted to punch something. Josiah was behind this, I just knew it.
They all sat around the kitchen, each of them looking at Tablets, trying to come up with a plan. Tallis observed them with a smirk while he picked his nails.
“We should just ambush them!” Jacob suggested with fierce eyes that slid across the room with intent. He twitched and seemed eager to act.
“Oh yes, then we can be abducted or killed, too. Brilliant plan, Jacob. Well done,” Huxley said with an eye-roll.
“They’ll be heavily guarded. There’s no way we can out man them. We need reinforcements,” Kemper said matter-of-factly. He peered at Tallis, as if hoping he could offer support.
“The other tribes are still deliberating on even meeting with Cyler, let alone manning a rescue mission for him. I can only offer what men I have, and that still wouldn’t be enough,” Tallis replied. I noticed how he carried himself with calm certainty. He didn’t seem bothered by this at all. He acted as though he was merely intrigued by the problem.
Huxley continued to rewind and replay the footage at the shop while Maverick and Kemp whispered in the corner. Mia sharpened her blade with precision and kept silent and pensive. She was on high alert and observed the room with a stoic glare.
The front door slammed, and I looked up to see a very flustered but still beautiful Jules strolling into the kitchen. The entire room groaned in frustration.
“Oh my! Don’t act so excited to see me!” she exclaimed while plopping down on a vacant chair next to Mia. The two of them exchanged mutual scowls before Jules rolled her eyes and scraped her chair across the hard wood floor farther away from her.
“So what are you doing to get my brother back?” she asked without a trace of malice. She almost sounded genuinely concerned about his wellbeing, which surprised me.
Once again, I looked around the room, praying that someone would come up with a plan to rescue Cyler and Patrick. Something that didn’t involve us getting hurt, too.
Jules huffed. “Oh, the silence is super reassuring. This is a great plan. Just sit here quietly until they just magically appear,” she said while picking the paint off her nails. The gesture was a nervous tick I noticed she had in our few encounters.
“How did you even know they were gone?” Jacob asked with a sigh, leaning forward on his elbows. They both exchanged a sad look that seemed different from the other times I observed their interactions. Something had changed between them, and I wasn’t sure how it made me feel.
“Well, it's no thanks to you lot! It's a small Providence, word travels fast. I had to find out from Tallis that my own brother was abducted. I can’t believe you didn’t think to tell me Mav, after everything our family has been through!” Her screeching elevated the tension in the room to critical levels.
Everyone stared at Tallis who shrugged under their scrutiny. He lifted the right side of his lips in a brief but mischievous smile towards Jules.
“I just can’t believe you didn’t tell me. You never tell me anything, Mav. I’ve always been on the outs,” she complained with her chin raised as she looked down her nose at everyone.
I wanted to feel sorry for Jules in that moment but found it hard. Once again, she was finding a way to make herself the center of attention, when in reality we needed support, not another fight. I expected the tense Maverick to snap at Jules, but instead he collapsed at the table and grasped her hands.
“I’m sorry, Jules. I know we’re a fucked up family, but we’ll get him back. We just need to figure out how to get into the Stonewell Manor undetected,” he said, su
rprisingly calm.
“Well that’s easy!” she exclaimed in an overly chipper voice. She then glanced around the room before staring at me with such self-righteous glee that I had to swallow the rage that bubbled up inside of me.
“You,” she began while flipping her black hair over her bony shoulder and sighing. She enjoyed having everyone hanging on to her every word. “…need a distraction. I’ve been reading the tabloids. There has been a lot of civil unrest in the Walker Zones these days. It would be such a shame if one of their little protests got out of hand.” She shrugged and continued to pick at her nails, feigning indifference, but I saw the burning determination underneath. Despite everything that had happened between her and the guys, she still cared for them in ways that I didn’t quite understand.
“We could spur a riot in the Zone,” I began hurriedly, while clinging to the coattails of what Jules suggested and running with it. “Once the Arches are preoccupied with that, we can make our way to the Stonewell Manor.”
“I mean, that’s basically what I already suggested but sure, go ahead and run with my plan,” Jules scoffed.
I noticed Mia hold a hand over her mouth to stifle a chuckle.
“We don’t even know that they’re at the Stonewell Manor,” Maverick added while rubbing his eyes. I saw the worry lines on his brows and my heart seized.
“I can almost guarantee that even if they aren’t there, Josiah knows where they are,” I said while bunching the edges of my skirt into my fist before pinching my thigh.
“Are you prepared to face him?” Kemper asked softly, walking over to me. He placed his hand upon my shoulder before kneeling down and peering at me with his intense blue eyes that kissed the edges of my soul.
“I’ll do anything to get Cyler and Patrick back,” I whispered. I tried to fight back the tears that gathered in the pockets of my eyelids.