Persephone’s Curse

by Sandra Bats

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  “Yes. Your sister once offered me some of her extra rations. That’s how I know.”

  “Well, if she gets to be in the courtyard each day, we could cause a diversion and get her out through the pipe Elin mentioned,” Josh proposed.

  I was shocked that it might work. We threw around a few more ideas. In the end, Josh’s plan seemed the most promising. People started to file out of the room after I’d once again thanked them, and I felt a little more hopeful. Of course we still had a lot to do, still had to scout the labs, but we had the beginnings of a plan.

  I walked over to where Elin sat, staring at her feet. I crouched down in front of her in the nearly empty auditorium. “Are you ok?” I asked a little breathlessly.

  “Yeah. Just feels odd, you know, them knowing about everything.”

  I tucked a curl of her hair behind her ear. “Well, if it helps, I think you were incredibly brave for telling your story like that.”

  I pulled her close so I could kiss her. Her lips had just touched mine when Maddy suddenly spoke up right next to us.

  “When you guys are done being disgusting, I have one more thing to say.”

  We looked up and Elin frowned. Maddy didn’t have a track record of being amicable around me.

  “I wanted to let you know that you’ll need to hurry. Girls like your sister, the ones that are promising … they try getting them pregnant as fast as possible to see if their experiments paid off. If you don’t want a dead sister and a little niece or nephew, you better hurry.”

  She turned away so quickly I had to call out her name to make her stop.

  “Thank you for helping me, Madison. I know you’re not a big fan of me, so … it really means a lot.”

  “It’s, not your sister’s fault you’re an ass.” There was humor in her voice and then she grinned a little. “You can call me Maddy.”

  ◆◆◆

  “We’ve watched her for a week. It’s been long enough!”

  Maddy’s warning was a constant nagging voice in the back of my mind.

  “No! Your information is spotty — to say the least. You don’t even know how much backup they have. There could be dozens more guards inside, ready to pour out once you attack. It’s insane. Especially considering you want Josh to steal your diversion car,” Cam objected, pacing my office.

  “Man, he’s just going to hotwire a random car and let it roll down the hill. It’s not like he’ll be in danger.”

  “No,” Cam said. “I’m sorry, Jayden, I know you’re eager to get Abby out, but not like this. That’s my little cousin you’re talking about. There’ll be military everywhere. You want to do it this week, fine, but Josh won’t come with you.”

  I scoffed. “You sure about that? He said he’d help no matter what you say.”

  My plan actually required Josh to not only short-circuit a random car, but also to estimate the perfect angle for it to roll down the hill. We didn’t have many people with that kind of knowledge.

  “I don’t care if he swore to do it in his own blood. I’m responsible for him and he isn’t coming. Period. Find someone else,” Cam yelled on his way to the door.

  “Stop,” Elin raised her voice sternly. “Both of you, stop. Cam is right, this is rushed.” Betrayal cut through me at her taking his side. She cut me off when I was about to object. “But we don’t have more time. Maddy said we need to hurry, and I believe her. So we’re rushing, yes, but it’s all we have. Is there anybody who could take Josh’s place?”

  Cam and I stared at each other for a moment. I ran my hand over my face. “I don’t know. Maybe Will, or Brady if Josh explained it to them beforehand?”

  Cam agreed to that. “Yeah. Will would be better, I think. Brady’s cousin has been kidnapped as well. Not saying he wouldn’t help just … might be better if it’s someone who is less involved, is all. I’ll talk to him.”

  Cam had been right to worry about Josh. I just had different priorities. Cam stared at me with that sympathetic look I’d gotten from everyone over the last week. I was sick of it.

  “Jay, you’re desperate to have Abby back, I get it. I just don’t have a very good feeling about this,” he voiced carefully.

  “Well, it’s not your decision, is it? I don’t like it much, either, but I’m out of options. Besides Will and Elin, I don’t want anyone there.” I turned towards her. “I’m guessing it’s of no use to ask you to stay behind?”

  “Not gonna happen,” she confirmed with a smile.

  “Yeah, I know. You’ll stay up on the hill, though. Give us covering fire when we move out. I don’t want you any closer than that.”

  Cam left the room and Elin sighed softly. “So, tomorrow then?” she said.

  “Hopefully by tomorrow night this’ll be over,” I murmured in response and she stepped into my arms. If everything turned out right, my eight-year long nightmare would soon be over.

  Thirty-Five

  Jayden

  I’d been nervous throughout the next day. I had mixed feelings. I dreaded going into town and couldn’t wait to get it over with at the same time. I barely managed to eat. Played it through in my mind again and again. I was even going over it as I was in the middle of it, lying face down inside the concrete pipe. Will was to report that he was in position and then we’d start.

  I exhaled a shaky breath. The plan had its faults. I was aware of that. If they sent out more guards than expected, I’d be in trouble. I only had Elin providing cover fire from outside the fence.

  “I’m ready,” Will’s voice crackled over the radio unit.

  “Copy,” I responded and shuffled forward in the pipe.

  I’d already cut the wire fence, and was waiting for Abby to appear in the courtyard. When I’d first seen her a week before, my heart had skipped a beat. For the first time I’d fully understood why Elin had wanted to throw caution to the wind when she’d seen Maddy at the market. Every bone in my body hurt with the effort to not run towards her. To not let her name force its way from my throat. If I hadn’t been holding Elin’s hand, I may not have managed. She’d grounded me in reality. Now, lying on my stomach in a pipe, that pain resurfaced. I caught a glimpse of Abby’s blonde hair as she stepped into the courtyard. I kept my eyes on her position as accurately as possible while giving Will the go-ahead.

  From where I was, I couldn’t see the car, but I heard the sudden commotion as well as the ear-splitting noise as the car broke through the fence and crashed. That was my cue. I rushed from my hiding spot and paused for a millisecond to assess the situation.

  I was on the far left side of the courtyard. Abby was in the middle, a good five hundred feet from me. She and the guard by her side had taken cover on the ground. He was about to drag her back inside, already grabbed her arm. I took off running as fast as I could.

  “Abby!”

  Her head swirled towards me and her eyes went wide with recognition. She struggled against the guard’s arm and kicked him. He raised his gun on me. I was a moving target and he turned towards her instead.

  “Get down!” I shouted, aiming at him.

  I was twenty feet from her. Abby dropped to the ground. The sudden movement made him lose his grip on her. I didn’t hesitate to use the somewhat clear firing range. He went down with a bullet in his chest. I reached Abby. Snatched her hand. Dragged her to her feet. The other guards had figured out our scheme and their attention had shifted to us.

  Unnecessarily, I shouted at my sister to run. As we raced towards the pipe I felt bullets zipping past us. I pulled Abby behind the corner of the building and peeked back around. I shot one of the guards coming at us, the other was hit from the side. Elin must have gotten to him. I couldn’t make her out in the chaos on the street though.

  “See that pipe? We’re going through there!” I shouted at Abby. Held her back for another second. I took down another guard, but the courtyard was already flooded with more of them.

  “Now!”

  I shov
ed her forward. I stayed behind her, though I would’ve been faster leading us through the pipe. A guard was approaching. I aimed for his chest, but the bullet struck his arm. He kept upright, only dropped his gun. We raced on. I felt a sharp stab in my leg as we passed him. Adrenaline kept me going. Abby dropped to her knees and disappeared in the pipe. I turned and fired another round. Emptied my magazine into the crowd before I followed Abby into the duct. It stopped them for maybe a second.

  We stumbled to our feet on the other side of the fence.

  “Straight ahead! Keep going!”

  I half shoved my sister up the hill. This was the most dangerous stretch. The guards on the roof had free range. Abby was slowing down, growing out of breath. I pulled her with me. Ran in zigzags instead of a straight line. Hoped they wouldn’t get a clear shot at us.

  A bullet pierced the window of an expensive electrical car. Abby squeaked in fear as the shards hit the ground. I pushed her farther and risked a glance. People were running scared. It was chaos.

  When we made it to the top we ducked into the first alley only to stand right in front of an off-duty guard. I’d been just a few steps behind Abby, but she crashed into him. He grabbed her; held her in front of him as a shield.

  “Let her go!” I ordered.

  I tried aiming my empty gun at him. It was futile. Even with a bullet in the chamber, I’d never be able to fire a shot without injuring Abby. He knew it and lifted his gun, aiming it at me.

  Everything moved in slow motion. I was unarmed, and he had the better position. Abby stared at me in sheer horror. I didn’t want to, but I believed that I’d die right there. Then suddenly, a red flash and a clanking noise. The guard went down and lost his hold as he unconsciously dropped to the ground.

  Elin grinned wickedly, her rifle still lifted from when she’d pistol-whipped him. For a moment I just stared as she collected his gun and held it out to me. “Let’s go!”

  I made sure to look around the next corner before we picked up our pace. We were panting like crazy when we finally reached the pickup. Will waited with the engine running, speeding off as soon as we jumped in.

  We tried catching our breath for the first few seconds until I finally managed to ask whether everyone was all right. One by one, Will, Elin and lastly Abby confirmed they were. Elin twisted in the front seat to meet my eyes, hers wide and her breath still coming in small pants. I smiled at her as relief flooded every cell of my body. For a few more seconds we remained in utter silence until Abby sobbed loudly. When I turned towards her she’d folded in on herself. Her face was buried in her hands.

  “Hey,” I whispered, gently draping my arm around her shoulders. She was far too skinny. “Hush, it’s ok. You’re safe now.”

  Abby took a shuddering breath and looked up at me.

  “How did you find me?” she asked, tears in her eyes.

  “I never stopped looking. I’m sorry it took so long,” I uttered, hugging her close once more.

  Abby wrapped her arms around my neck again and I finally felt like I could relax the tiniest bit for the first time since I’d last seen her.

  “Thank you, too,” she murmured as she glanced towards the front of the pick-up.

  “You’re most welcome. It’s nothing to thank us for, really. I’m Elin. And that’s Will.”

  Will lifted a hand in greeting but didn’t take his eyes off the road. Abby glanced from Elin to me.

  “So you’re …” she drifted off and I grinned.

  “Yeah. She’s my girlfriend.”

  “Most days. If he doesn’t mess up and does something stupid,” Elin joked.

  I raised an eyebrow at her.

  “Oh you wanna talk about doing something stupid? What were you doing in that alley? You were supposed to be back at the pickup,” I pointed out.

  “Lucky for you I wasn’t,” Elin bit back and while she was right, it didn’t mean I liked it. I didn’t want to argue with her. Instead, I turned my attention back to Abby, quietly filling her in on where we were going.

  ◆◆◆

  A few hours later Abby had settled into her room. I’d offered her to stay in ours, and Elin offered to bunk with someone else but Abby refused. She said she didn’t want to intrude. In the end, we paired her with Diane. That way I knew someone could keep an eye out for her. Diane had always been good at that kind of thing.

  There I was, walking along the forest line with my sister, hoping we could catch up a little. Now, showered and dressed, she looked a bit better. The clothes were very baggy on her skin-and-bone body, though. She was shorter than me, probably somewhere around 5'6''. Her hair, same color as mine, was cut in the short prisoner’s haircut. The saddest part of her were her eyes. They’d lost the vibrant glow they’d had in our youth. The way she anxiously looked around made her seem so fragile. It wasn’t the same defiant look Elin and Maddy had worn. It was a sad notion of acceptance of all things evil in the world and a deep helplessness.

  She asked me about the last eight years, and I filled her in. Unlike Maddy, Abby was understanding of my past and sighed.

  “I don’t know how people can do this to others. Maybe it would be better if humanity ceased to exist.” She sat down in the grass, exhausted.

  “It’s not all bad, though. Some days it feels ok. It’s a long way to that, I know, but you’ll get there.”

  She didn’t meet my eyes when she showed me a fake smile. Pulling on the grass, she changed the topic.

  “Tell me about her.”

  “You mean Elin?” I asked. “What do you wanna hear about her? I mean you already know how we met.”

  “I want to hear the important stuff.” Abby tested the waters. “What’s she like?”

  She was trying to use my words as a distraction the same way she had when we were kids. When she’d been scared of the shadows in the streets at night, I’d tell her about everything and nothing. I looked up at the sky and said the first thing that came to my mind.

  “She’s brave. Unbelievably caring and stubborn. I can’t do anything to keep her from following me into danger if she thinks she can protect me. She’s terrified of being close to the labs, for example, but she wouldn’t have stayed back if I’d asked her to.”

  Abby had a wistful smile on her face and asked how long I’d been with Elin. I frowned doing the math. It was mid-May.

  “She’s been around for almost seven months and we’ve been together for four and a half now.” I chuckled and shook my head. “Seems much longer to me. Things have been kind of intense between us. I can barely even remember how I got along without her.”

  “So, you really love her?” Abby asked.

  “Yeah.” I couldn’t manage to not grin when I said it. “I feel … I feel like I can be myself with her, you know.”

  Knowing what Abby had gone through the last years, it felt awful to tell her how good life had treated me recently. At first, I’d thought the change in her voice was from sadness and fear. That maybe I just didn’t recognize her voice anymore. But I came to understand that her voice lacked any emotion. Over the years I’d seen people lie and I’d come to know the little tells of honesty. There was no honesty in her emotions. She showed sadness where it was required. Anger and happiness too. But it was all fake. She was pretending to feel. At points, she vacantly stared, not hearing what I said. Other moments, her eyes were empty, her reactions and movements slowed as if they required immense strength. I wanted to help her so badly, but I didn’t know how. I’d been prepared to help her through hatred and grief, even devastating fear, but I hadn’t expected it to be like this. I hadn’t expected it to be so painful for me, too.

  “I’m really so sorry I didn’t find you sooner. I wish I could’ve spared you some of that,” I uttered, clasping her hand in mine.

  “Doesn’t matter. It’s over, right?”

  It was obvious in her posture and the haunted look in her eyes that this was far from over. She’d suffer the repercussions for the rest of her life.

  ◆
◆◆

  Shortly after dinner Abby excused herself to go to bed. Eating in the cafeteria with so many people seemed to have overwhelmed her. I’d gone outside to sit on the bleachers and catch some air. Even I grew a bit tired of everyone asking about my sister. My answers felt like lies anyway. After all, how could she truly be all right after all she’d been through. I exhaled and lifted the whiskey bottle to my mouth, taking a long swig. Soft footsteps approached, and I didn’t need to turn to know it was Elin. I could hear it in her steps and her breath. Even felt it in my heart.

  “How are you feeling? You were pretty quiet during dinner,” she asked as she sat next to me.

  “I’m ok. Bit worried about Abby, but ok.”

  “She’ll need time. You knew that beforehand.” Elin snatched the bottle and took a drink herself. “How’s your leg?”

  “It’s fine. Just a small cut. Didn’t even need stitches,” I responded, slowly reaching for her hand. “Abby seems depressed. She plays along and fakes emotions, but it’s like she’s bottling it all up. I don’t know what to do. She doesn’t seem to want to talk to me. Just changes the topic. I think maybe it’s because of my past.”

  Elin leaned into my side and I played with her fingers for a moment.

  “It hasn't even been a day ... ” Elin said softly.

  I sighed. “I know. Just ... I can't explain it. I just have a bad feeling. Like this isn't simply about her adjusting.”

  Elin glanced at me, her lips pursed in thought. “Maybe I can try talking to her,” she offered.

  “Would you do that?” She said she would and I kissed her temple. “Thank you. You’re absolutely amazing, you know that? I never want to lose you, so no more crazy stunts like today.”

  She scoffed. “Are you still hung up on that? I saved your life. Get over it. Or, better; thank me.”

  I raised an eyebrow and lifted the bottle of whiskey a bit. “I have just the idea, you know,” I muttered, and she blushed.