The Warrior - Initiation Driven Subversive Redemption Justice

by Rebecca Royce

  “Thanks for trying, Deacon.” I reached out to grasp his hand. “It means a lot you remember you saved me from the Werewolves before.”

  “It came back to me slowly. I don’t know everything yet. Just pieces of things here and there. But I distinctly remember telling you not to die one time before.”

  “Right.” The pain had all dissipated. I couldn’t feel anything. “I’m going into shock. This time I think I’m a done deal.”

  “Stay with me, Rachel.”

  “Promise me you’ll bring my body back to Genesis. Let them bury me. Let them know what happened.”

  He hissed in his breath. “We don’t need to talk about bodies. Yours or anyone else’s.”

  If he said something else, I had no idea what it was. Blackness came, whether I wanted it or not.

  ***

  “Rachel.”

  I turned at the sound of my name, clicking my cell phone off. All I needed was my teacher confiscating the thing two weeks before graduation. Mr. Endover taught really well, but boy could he be a stickler for rules.

  Something about that thought felt…wrong. I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly. I shrugged. Who cared? High school had almost ended. In just two weeks’ time, I wouldn’t have to worry about any of this stuff anymore.

  “Yes, Mr. Endover.” I smiled. He’d been my favorite teacher and history hadn’t even been my best subject. Maybe it was the strawberry-blond hair and chiseled features that made him so enjoyable to look at day in and day out. Behind his back, my friends and I referred to him as Keith.

  “I liked your final exam.” He smiled at me and I grinned.

  “Well, it all came together in the end. I wasn’t sure I was going to get the paper done. There were so many angles to take on the military-industrial complex. I could have written forever.”

  I stood up and walked with him. He had a great Irish accent. It made me think of green pastures and future trips I could take. As soon as I graduated.

  “Well, that’s a good sign. I really think you should continue to study history or political science in college.”

  “Maybe.” I didn’t want to disappoint him but I’d already promised my mother I’d study business and since my parents were paying for it….

  “Rachel.” I jolted as Jason ran down the hall toward me. He looked great. In fact, he had a glow to him. I blinked and it cleared away.

  “Hi.” I reached over to hug him. It felt like it had been a long time since we’d seen each other, which was weird since he’d brought me to school each morning.

  Hadn’t he?

  “Rachel.” I jumped turning around. Had someone else called my name?

  No one was there. Mr. Endover and Jason both stared me.

  Finally, my boyfriend spoke. “Are you jumpy today or something? Too much caffeine?”

  Mr. Endover laughed. “If she got caffeine, she didn’t get it here. You know they’ve eliminated it from the cafeteria.”

  “I don’t know what happened. I thought I heard my name. It was weird.”

  “Ghosts?” Jason put his arm around me and we all started walking. I had somewhere to be but right then I felt content to just stroll with them. Where did I have to go? I scratched my head and thought about asking Jason. He’d inform me but then he really might think I was weird.

  “I was telling Rachel she needs to study history in college. She has a knack for it, sees it as the story it is.”

  “Maybe I should study creative writing.”

  Mr. Endover shook his head. “No. History, Rachel, trust me. I know these things.”

  A thought struck me. “Jason, shouldn’t you be at school or something?”

  I was a senior. That made him a sophomore in college. Where did he go? And why had he brought me to school each morning if he’d left for his own studies? I really couldn’t remember all of a sudden. The gaps in my memory were becoming a problem.

  Maybe I needed to see a doctor. Jason’s father was one. If I asked, he’d help me, even though I’d always had the impression he didn’t like me very much.

  Students were coming out of their classrooms into the hall. I could hear the distinct sound of lockers opening, the air seal being broken while kids swung them open. The bang the door made if it hit the locker next to it and the slam while the person closed the door that protected their stuff during the day.

  The people all looked blurry to me.

  I grabbed onto Jason’s arm, digging my fingernails into his skin. “Jace, I think there’s something wrong with my eyes.”

  He shook his head. “Rachel, you’re fine. You’ll get used to it shortly.”

  “Get used to what?”

  Mr. Endover sighed. “She really doesn’t know yet.”

  “Know what?” I looked between the two of them. Someone needed to give me an answer or I was going to scream.

  “That you’re dead, pixie-girl.”

  I hated that nickname. I shook my head. Why was I focusing on such a small detail when Jason had just launched an alarming piece of information at me? I am dead?

  “How?” I could barely get the words out. “How did I die?”

  Mr. Endover—no, Keith. If was dead, I was going to call him by his first name. Keith answered me. “It will all come back to you, sweetheart. And faster than you’ll like.”

  “Tell me.” I stuttered my words. Nothing made sense. “Please.”

  “The Werewolves.” Keith’s eyes held compassion in their blue depths. “They ate you up and tore you to bits.”

  “Werewolves?” Why did the idea feel so foreign to me? “There’s no such thing. That’s all made-up stuff.”

  Except it wasn’t. Jason, whose arm I gripped so hard I had to be bruising him—he was a Werewolf, too. I dropped my hands.

  “Come on, Rachel.” Jason reached for me and I stepped back. I didn’t want him to touch me right then. “I never hurt you. I’d never tear you to pieces. I loved you. Don’t you remember? I loved you.”

  ***

  My eyes flew open and I panted but couldn’t seem to catch my breath.

  “Easy, now.” Darren petted my head. “She’s up.”

  Seconds later, Deacon stared down at me. “Nice to see you. I thought maybe you were leaving us.” He squatted down. “But Darren here had the presence of mind to rob Andon of his antibiotics and medical tools before he took off his head. We were able to do a little doctoring out here.”

  “She’s okay?” Deacon’s father, who I had helped rescue, came over.

  My friend shook his head. “She hasn’t said anything yet. Very un-Rachel.”

  Darren petted me again. “She’s hurt. Give her a break here. We’re out in the middle of nowhere and she almost died a few dozen times. I might not feel like talking, either.”

  I closed my eyes. They simply wouldn’t stay open.

  ***

  Jason stared at me, waving his hand in front of my face. “Where did you go?”

  I stood, back in the high school hallway again. Everything around me had blurred and only Jason and Keith remained as objects I could see.

  My Werewolf ex-boyfriend expected some kind of answer. “Um. I was in the woods with Deacon and Darren. And then I was here again.”

  Jason looked at Keith. “What do you think that means?”

  My former teacher shook his head. “It means she’s not really here with us.”

  “I can see her. I can talk to her. You can, too A few more minutes and it’ll all clear up for her. Just like it did for us. She’s here.”

  He pulled me against him. I could hear his heart beat in his chest.

  “I’m sorry, Jason. But I think if she’s still able to see Deacon and Darren in the woods, then she isn’t here with us. Not really. It’s not her time. Did you do any traveling around when you were first here? I didn’t.” Keith looked away when he said those words. For a second, I saw pain flash in his eyes before it vanished. “I would have loved to go see Tiffani.”

  “No.” Jason let me go and
moved away. “I didn’t go anywhere. This just isn’t fair. Here I think she’s here, and it hasn’t been much time. She’s not married yet. Maybe this is where we’re supposed to be together.”

  “I don’t think so.” Keith took my face in his hands. “Rachel still has lots to do. Don’t you, Rachel?”

  ***

  My eyes shot open and I tried to sit up but I couldn’t. I lay on a blanket of some kind, on the ground. A tree behind me gave some cover over my head. The sun had set and a fire behind Darren, who squatted in front of me, was the only light I could see.

  “Are you really awake this time?” He looked exhausted, like he hadn’t slept.

  “How many times have I not been really awake?” My voice sounded hoarse. I tried to clear my throat and the boy I’d once rescued from a cage arrived, carrying water.

  “Talking is an improvement.” He lifted the cup to my lips.

  “About half a dozen.” My former trainer answered my question.

  I nodded. “Can you help me sit up? I’m really weak.”

  “Well, it could be so much worse.” Darren took my back and helped me until I sat up straight. The effort made me sweat, which prompted my savior to give me some more water. He was really being…nice, which could only mean he wanted something. When I had more energy, I’d ask him about it.

  “Why aren’t I dead?” I should have been. Those Wolves were two seconds away from eating my insides. I pushed the memory away. If I managed to get home, then I’d let myself spend a lot of time dwelling on the horrors of this night. “And did I hear you say Andon was dead?”

  Had they told me at some point, or had I simply been delirious? My head swam. Weird thoughts and images came and went. Jason, Keith…school lockers? As quickly as I could see those things, they fled my thoughts.

  “You aren’t dead because as much as he was a scoundrel, Dr. Icahn made Warriors pretty invincible. We heal faster than we should. So while most people would have died from blood loss before the antibiotics could work, you managed to live to fight another day.” Darren smiled. “Deacon here hates the thought because it means someone experimented on him and he doesn’t remember it.”

  In the distance, I could hear whispered voices. My friend’s family. I’d helped them all escape. How cozy.

  “And as for your second question,” Deacon nodded toward the other man, “he took care of all of them. No beasts from the Wolf pack will ever bother any of us again.”

  I nodded, an unwarranted sadness creeping into my veins. All of Jason’s people were dead. I didn’t mind Andon’s demise. In fact, I thought we would all be better off for it, but the rest of them? They’d tried to eat me, tried to end my life. Tormented me.

  Why did it bother me so much to think them all destroyed? I took a deep breath. Because Luna and Autumn had once been girls I’d known in high school and they’d belonged to a time when Jason had been sweet and I’d been clueless.

  All of it was dead now. Icahn was dead. Andon was dead. Jason was dead. Keith was dead.

  But I wasn’t dead.

  I lay in the woods, listening to the night sounds around me. Had I been dead? I took another sip of water. There was a thought in my head. Something I’d dreamed but couldn’t hold on to. Like the smoke from the fire, it scurried upward where I’d never see it again. Of course, I had no idea what that image even was anymore. I rubbed my head when it started to pound.

  Chapter Ten

  “We can’t stay here indefinitely.” Wherever here happened to be. The two guys had been so preoccupied with tracking me, neither of them was actually sure how far north we had gone.

  When I had suggested we were in Canada, Darren had grinned. Deacon had no idea what Canada meant. The differences between having lived in Before Time and only being born After could be striking.

  Deacon covered me with another blanket. He’d become a bit of a mother hen. I also had no idea where he’d gotten all of his supplies. I’d given him little notice to run from the complex. Had they stored a bunch of stuff somewhere just in case?

  The more my body healed, the more I wanted to get going. I wanted to go home more than I had ever wanted to before.

  How long had it been since I’d seen Chad? Had he moved on? I closed my eyes. I couldn’t think about those possibilities. Doing so didn’t help anything.

  “Rachel.” Darren patted me on the knee. “If we move before you’re ready, you’re going to tear a stitch.”

  “I still have a hard time with the idea you stitched me up.”

  He shrugged. “Basic medic training.”

  “Right.” I had disliked Darren immensely, for very valid reasons. Now, however, he seemed to be growing on me. I wasn’t exactly sure how I felt about that.

  “Anyway, you can probably move today. It’s been a week. We’ll go slowly.” He stood up, offering me his hand. I hadn’t walked on my own since the attack and getting up proved to be the first of many problems I had.

  Ten minutes later, having managed, with Darren’s help, to move from the tree line to the fire pit a distance away, I had to sit down again. As far as I could remember, I’d never been this injured before.

  Or maybe I had been. A Vampire had almost killed me once and two crazed Wolves had stuck me in the hospital. Both times, drugs had kept me pretty out of it. Being cognizant of my own injuries constituted a very different kind of healing. I think I preferred being knocked out.

  “Darren.” I sat down on the ground to give my shaking legs a break. “I need to thank you. If you and Deacon hadn’t….”

  He waved away my concern. “I know you don’t like me, Rachel.”

  I didn’t try to deny that was how I’d felt and he didn’t need to hear about my ambiguity toward him now. It would be really easy if I could turn a switch and just like the guy. But, he’d been one of Icahn’s right-hand men for years. He’d stood there when they’d slaughtered Keith, as one of the gang watching. Even if he hadn’t known about it beforehand.

  The fact that his judgment could be so askew concerned me to no end. Deacon’s, too, but for some reason, maybe because we had such strong history, I felt more inclined to give him a pass.

  “I’ve always watched out for you, whether you know it or not. Before I went into my own cryogenic state I checked on you every day.”

  I’d heard this story many times. The fact he’d shoved me into the machine itself could be looked at as betraying me or saving my life, depending on which version of the event I felt like accepting. I just remember feeling like the whole thing was inevitable and there hadn’t been a thing I could do about it.

  Maybe that’s why I hated this feeling of weakness so much. I’d been trying for so long to regain control of my life.

  Needing someone to walk me around equaled a big step backward.

  “I appreciate everything, Darren.” My parents had taught me manners. Occasionally, I could pull them out and use them. “I really want to get home.”

  He patted my leg. “I know, kiddo. We’ll get you there. Even if I have to bring you on my back.”

  I shuddered at the thought. Days riding piggyback on Darren? How many humiliating experiences did I need all at once?

  Deacon walked over to us. “Darren, man, give me a minute with Rachel, would you?”

  Darren nodded. “Don’t make her upset. We have stuff to do. She wants to get home, and I want to get her there.”

  “Me, too. Well, I want to get Rachel there. I don’t particularly want to go back to Genesis, myself.”

  “Why not? It’s home for you, too.”

  Deacon shrugged. “Not really. The Vampire tunnels were my home, but I don’t want to go back there, for obvious reasons. Genesis was home because you were there and I hoped you’d be my girl.” He didn’t drop his gaze from mine when he uttered his statement. I had to give credit to Deacon. When he went for something, he laid it out there. He never held back. “But you’re in love with Chad. I’m not going to keep beating a dead horse.”

  I rolled my
eyes. “Thanks for the comparison. Everyone wants to be metaphorically aligned with dead animals.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  I nodded. If he could be straight about it, so could I. “Sure. Go on.”

  “Now? I want to be with my family, but I also want to be out there in the world, seeing things, really having some action under my belt. I don’t want to be back in Genesis living under the rule of the Lyons family.”

  “It’s a democracy. If you don’t like it there, you could try to change things.”

  “The Lyons are always going to be royalty. The best Warriors, the smartest…. Anyway, you don’t need to hear this anymore. I’ve never managed to talk you out of them and now you’re going to be one of them.”

  “I don’t know. Even if I make it back there alive, Chad was pretty angry with me when I did what I did. He stormed off. Maybe he was actually relieved at my departure.”

  Deacon shook his head. “You don’t believe your own nonsense for a second and neither do I. If you did, you’d have left him already. You love the boy and he loves you. And if he doesn’t, if he’s bad to you or somehow completely undeserving, you’ll come with me.”

  “On your grand adventure?”

  “Right.” He sat down next to me. This reminded me of the old days, the way it had been before everything went haywire. This was the Deacon I had missed. My best friend, the easy comrade.

  “I can’t see myself going anywhere. I’m really homesick, if you want to know the truth.”

  He nodded. “I get what you’re saying. It’s because you’re not feeling well. We always want what’s familiar when we’re hurt. Listen, I need to tell you something.”

  I turned to regard him. Deacon had such a handsome profile. Really, he’d grown to be a beautiful man from the skinny, malnourished boy in the cage he had been. Yet I didn’t see him in a romantic way. For about thirty seconds’ worth of time I’d considered it, when Chad had been dead.

  But when I’d come back from being away, I’d never picked those feelings back up. Probably because he had been such a jerk to me when he hadn’t remembered me.