Hundred Stolen Breaths

by Campbell, Jamie

  “Your guard comrade has been keeping us updated,” Leo explained. “He said you were guarding the president’s complex today and suspected you weren’t going to waste the opportunity.”

  So Davis was a member of the Resistance too. My gut was on fire. Hopefully it would continue to offer me good advice when I needed it.

  Leo continued. “We already knew Wren was being held captive in the complex so it didn’t take a genius to work out that you would need assistance sooner or later.” He offered up a small smile but it was kind rather than mocking. “When we heard the alarm, we knew it was time to act.”

  “Thanks,” was all I could say.

  He nodded and climbed into the front seat of the van. We were racing along the streets, faster than the speed limits, I suspected. I wanted to tell them to slow down or else we would attract unwanted attention but I had to trust their judgment. For all I knew there were a convoy of guards in their black SUVs chasing after us.

  They might not shoot Wren, but they wouldn’t hesitate with the rest of us. If they could take a shot, they would. Memories of seeing the Resistance member being taken down in Aria Square flooded my mind and I had to push them away with everything I had to be rid of them.

  I turned to Wren who was still clutching the floor as she dragged in breath after breath. “How are you doing?”

  She fixed me in her gaze, her eyes weary and scared. “I’ll survive… for a while longer.”

  “Did they hurt you? Do you have any injuries?” My eyes travelled over her, truly taking her in for the first time since we’d started running.

  I couldn’t see any blood, just a bit of dirt from the ground where she’d stumbled. She looked to be in good condition, healthy even. Her skin was no longer ashen, but had a rosy color to it. Her cheeks were fuller and no longer sunken. Her eyes sparkled with life. Even her dark hair shone with the little light in the van.

  She looked absolutely beautiful.

  My breath hitched in my throat.

  “I’m fine,” she replied, pushing herself up into a sitting position on the floor. “They didn’t hurt me, they didn’t dare. My foot hurts but that’s normal.”

  She smiled and it was like the world stopped for a few moments.

  How could this girl have such an effect on me?

  “Where are they taking us?” she asked.

  I realized I was staring too late. Shaking my head, I had to keep my head in the game. “I’m not sure, probably to a safe house.”

  “No, not a safe house. I want to get out.” Wren lunged for the door as I grabbed her mid-flight. She struggled against me, pushing at my hands to let her go. She was stronger than she was before, fighting me with more force than I thought her capable of. “Let me go! I want to get out!”

  “Shh, Wren, it’s okay.”

  “No, they’ll lock me up! I don’t want to go with them! Let me go!”

  The penny dropped. She was remembering the last time she’d been to a Resistance safe house. They’d locked her in the basement and kept her a prisoner until I’d found her. She’d been treated that way her whole life, there was no reason for her to believe it would be any different now.

  “Wren, I’m not going to let them do that to you,” I said quietly, soothingly. “I promise they won’t hurt you, they’re not going to lock you up. I promise.”

  She went limp after a beat, allowing my words to infiltrate into her horrible memories and chase them away. I loosened my grip around her waist so she could crawl back to her place by the wall. She pulled her legs up to her chest and cradled them against her.

  “They might do it again,” she whispered.

  “No, I won’t let them.”

  “Why?”

  “Why? What do you mean?” I asked, completely confused.

  Her head rose up so I could see her eyes, they were watery as the light hit them. “Why do you keep helping me? I’m just a Def. I’m not worth it.”

  I wanted to wrap her in my arms and hold her tightly until she knew exactly how I felt about her. But as she sat there, it looked like she was made out of glass and so fragile just one touch might shatter her into a million pieces.

  I wouldn’t be the one to break her.

  There were no words I could offer to explain why I was helping her. It was a feeling, deep in my belly, that told me I couldn’t walk away. She was special and every part of my being told me how true that was.

  Wren was everything to me. She was the world, the stars, the sky, the earth. How could I possibly explain that I couldn’t exist in this world if she wasn’t in it? That helping her was a compulsion without the need for an explanation?

  I didn’t know how to not help her.

  “Don’t call yourself that,” I said eventually. “You’re not just a Def. You’re more than that.”

  Her eyes held mine before I had to look away. Looking at Wren was like looking at a radiant sun, I couldn’t look for too long before she would blind me.

  She swallowed and took a deep breath as the van swayed around a corner. “You didn’t answer my question. You don’t have to help me, you could have left me.”

  “I promised you I’d help.”

  “So you’re just keeping your promise?”

  That wasn’t it at all but it seemed like as good a reason as any to give to her. “I always keep my promises,” I muttered. She looked away immediately and silence lingered between us.

  We remained that way for the rest of the ride.

  Street lights started to flicker on as we drove further away from Stone’s estate. It felt like we’d been driving for hours but my watch said it was little more than one hour that had passed. I suspected the driver was weaving an intricate web, driving all around the city just in case we were being tracked.

  Everything suddenly went dark. Wren clutched my arm as she huddled beside me. We didn’t have long to wait in the blackness before the natural light of twilight changed into the artificial lights of fluorescents.

  Wren still didn’t let go of my arm. I was acutely aware of everywhere her skin made contact with my uniform.

  The van came to a halt before I risked a look out the front window. We were in an empty room surrounded by concrete and not much else.

  Leo and the driver jumped out of the car. I tested the side door and pulled it open. They didn’t stop us as we crawled out of the van, finally getting a chance to stretch our legs for the first time since running for our lives.

  “Where are we?” I asked, knowing Wren needed to hear the answer as well. Information was golden to us both, it was the only thing that could settle our nerves right now.

  The driver walked away, leaving Leo to answer me. “In an underground complex owned by the Resistance. It’s off all maps and radars, nobody will know you’re here.”

  Unless we had a traitor, that is.

  The risk of that happening was always present.

  “Come on, I’ll show you around,” Leo offered as he started walking toward a single door breaking up all the gray concrete surroundings.

  The door led to a thin corridor before opening up into another room. From there, more corridors went off the main room like a spider’s legs. I could only imagine where they all led to. If we were underground like Leo said, they could have led down a labyrinth of passageways.

  “This is our central hub,” Leo said, gesturing to the room. “We have our meals here and also impromptu meetings that involve everyone. It’s not normally this quiet, most people have gone on a food run or are doing their other allotted tasks.”

  “Where do you get your food from?”

  “We buy it with funds from our supporters. Still, we live basically so we stretch every dollar as far as it will go. Don’t expect any gourmet meals around here.” Leo winked and headed toward another corridor. “This hallway leads to your rooms. It’s all you’ll need to remember, really. I guess the tour isn’t as grand as I thought it would be.”

  Looking down the corridor, more doors were lined up on either
side for as far as I could see. If all the hallways were the same as this one, they could have been housing thousands of people here underground.

  A woman stepped out of one of the rooms and approached. Her tangled red hair was lit up like a halo from all the artificial lighting. Wren clutched onto my arm tighter. “Ah, here’s Autumn. She’ll show you to your rooms and get you settled in.”

  The woman looked to be about twenty years old up close. She had a warm smile and black rimmed glasses perched on her nose. “We’ve been expecting you. Reece and Wren, right?” We both nodded. “Come with me, everything is all ready for you.”

  I turned to thank Leo but he was already gone. I hadn’t even heard his retreating footsteps. We followed Autumn, needing to walk fast just to keep up with her. The further we walked, the more Wren leaned on me for support. Her foot was probably absolutely screaming with pain.

  Autumn finally stopped in front of two doors side by side. “These are your rooms. They aren’t much, but they are sufficient for your needs. You learn to live simply down here.”

  She opened the doors to reveal rooms that contained little more than a bed, a chair, a desk, and a rack for clothing. They were lit up well, considering we were buried deep underground. The walls were painted a soft yellow, like butter spread on bread.

  “I want to stay with Reece,” Wren said, the first words that had passed her lips since we left the van.

  “There’s no need to share.” Autumn smiled warmly but now it looked a little on the fake side. Maybe she was losing patience with us. “The rooms are right next to each other, you won’t get lost.”

  Wren tugged on my arm, her eyes pleading. “I don’t want to be alone. They could…”

  She choked on the rest of the sentence but she didn’t need to finish for me to understand what she was trying to say. I turned to Autumn. “We’ll stay together, if it’s all the same. I appreciate your hospitality but we will be fine in the one room.”

  “Whatever you want.” There was that smile again. “Dinner will be in a few hours. If you need anything, just return to the central room and someone there will be able to guide you further.”

  She left us alone, her footsteps echoing off the walls and bouncing around until she was well out of sight. Wren and I entered the room to the left and closed the door. She finally let go of my arm and it felt cold without her touch.

  “I don’t trust them,” Wren blurted out as she sat on the edge of the bed.

  I leaned against the wall, my bones feeling weary and tired. The bed was beckoning to me, calling me to lie down and sleep until all my problems were long gone.

  “We need to be careful,” I replied. “To be honest, I don’t fully trust them either. But right now they’re offering us a safe place to sleep and we need somewhere to hide. Every guard and trooper in Aria will be looking for you right now.”

  “And you too. What will happen to you if you’re found?”

  I’d hoped she wouldn’t ask, but I wasn’t about to start lying to her. “They’ll execute me.”

  She nodded slowly, like she already knew the answer and it was just confirmed for her. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. None of this is your fault. I knew what I was getting myself into. I was involved in the Resistance before I met you, it would have happened eventually anyway.”

  “Still…”

  I needed to change the subject. Wren didn’t need any more guilt piled on top of her. “We’re going to have to be careful about what we say to anyone here. They might even have cameras around the place. We have to look like we’re going along with everything they say.”

  “I can do that,” Wren said decisively.

  “Good. While we’re doing that, we’ll come up with a plan. Something that will let us go free so we don’t need to rely on them for anything.”

  “Do you think we’ll ever be free?”

  “We can hope, right? They can’t take that away from us.”

  She crawled further onto the bed, taking her knees-to-the-chest position again. It seemed to be the way she retreated into her own little world, allowing her to stay sane in all the chaos.

  “How’s your foot?” I asked.

  “Fine.”

  “Liar.” Her head shot up at being called out. When she saw my teasing smile, she returned it with one of her own. “You’ll be able to give it some rest now.”

  A knock on the door interrupted the moment. I didn’t get a chance to open it before our visitor did. Autumn was back. “Joseph wants to speak with you. Please come with me.”

  “Now? It can’t wait until morning?”

  “He wants to speak with you immediately.” Wren went to move off the bed but Autumn put out a hand to stop her. “No, just Reece. You can remain here.”

  “She comes with me,” I said, using the tone of voice I mimicked from my superiors. The one that said not to argue with me.

  Autumn gave me her fake smile again. “Joseph has requested only your presence.”

  “And he’s getting a two for one deal, lucky him. Come on, Wren.”

  I locked eyes with the woman before she finally blinked first with resignation. I took Wren’s hand and we followed her down the corridor, into the central room, and down a different hallway before stopping in front of a door.

  There was nothing different about any of the doors, I had no idea how they managed to differentiate one from another. Autumn knocked and the familiar voice of Joseph, the Resistance leader, told us to enter.

  Autumn disappeared as we joined the old man. He sat behind a desk, his hands clasped underneath his chin. His white hair gave away his extensive age. “You’ve brought a friend, I see.”

  “This is Wren,” I said, pulling her into the conversation. “She’s President Stone’s clone, the one I was telling you about. Wren, this is our leader, Joseph.”

  “We’ve already met. How nice to see you again, Wren,” Joseph said, but the tone of voice he was using was razor sharp. “I did ask to speak with you alone, Reece. Perhaps your friend would be so kind to leave us in privacy?”

  “She stays. There’s nothing you can’t talk about in front of her.”

  Joseph pursed his lips, rolling them together while his mind whirled with thoughts. He could think about it all he liked but I wasn’t backing down on this. I asked Wren to trust me and that meant keeping no secrets from her. She had every right to know what was happening around her.

  “Fine. Sit down,” Joseph conceded. He gestured to the plastic seats across from his desk. I led the way and sat before Wren followed. She was not comfortable with any of this, her concerns rolled off her in oceans of waves.

  “Thank you for sending a team to pick us up today,” I started.

  “You are welcome. We couldn’t have one of our most loyal members lost to the enemy. However, I can’t say I’m pleased with how everything has transpired.”

  “I had to take the opportunity to rescue Wren. Davis gave me an opening and I had to take it.”

  “They were going to kill me today,” Wren added, catching my attention. I wanted to know everything she’d gone through at the hands of that monster, but it would have to wait for later. Now wasn’t a time to discuss it, not with Joseph listening.

  “It seems like good timing then,” he said, leaning back in his chair but still keeping his hands linked together under his chin. “That does not change the fact that Cadet Guard Thompson still had much work to do in his role. All my plans have been ruined.”

  “I’m sorry, sir.” I wasn’t going to apologize for getting Wren out of there, but I would apologize for causing trouble for the Resistance. That was never my intention, but it came second in my list of priorities.

  Wren was, and always would be, first.

  “Now you have exposed yourself,” Joseph continued. “You cannot return to society. You are now a wanted man, there is a hefty bounty on your head.”

  “I realize that, sir.”

  “You will remain under our protection until we
reconfigure our plans and decide what our next move will be.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “Now, there are details in which I must speak with you alone. Wren, would you please be so kind as to give us some privacy? I can assure you this does not involve yourself.” He directed his gaze at Wren and I wanted to step between them so he didn’t, but I couldn’t. I looked at her myself, making it clear she didn’t have to leave.

  Her eyes travelled between us, flicking back and forth quickly. “I’ll wait outside.”

  I had to bite my tongue to stop myself saying something I shouldn’t. All I could do was sit there while she left the room and closed the door behind herself.

  “You can trust her,” I said when we were alone. “There is nobody that hates Stone more than her.”

  “She is Stone, always remember that, Reece. It is Stone’s blood that runs through her veins, Stone’s thoughts that sound in her head. They are one and the same.”

  My mouth opened to argue but stopped before I did. There was no point. Joseph didn’t change his mind and nothing I said would convince him of Wren’s true nature. Like every other human in Aria, he saw only a clone and Stone’s was the worst.

  “I want to use the clone against the president,” Joseph continued. I couldn’t believe those words were coming out of his mouth. “Now we have her in our custody, Stone will do anything to get her back. She can be quite useful to our cause.”

  “She’s not in our custody,” I said through gritted teeth. My fingers were clenched so tightly into fists that my nails dug into the skin of my palms. “Wren is here seeking protection and safety, the same as all of us.”

  Joseph studied my face like I was a work of art, assessing me for my value. “We are here for change, to right the wrongs the government has forced upon us under Stone’s reign. In any revolution there must be sacrifices.”

  “Wren is not a sacrifice. She is a victim.” I yelled the last word, losing my temper. Joseph was talking about Wren like she was nothing but a pawn in a game of chess.

  I would never let that happen to her.

  It wasn’t only to keep my promise.

  He stood and I followed, not allowing the leader of our rebel organization to lord it over me. I had done many tasks for him, undertaken dangerous missions in the troopers to further our cause. I had never refused him anything before.