He places me in a seat, covers me with a blanket, and kisses me once more for good measure. “I’m going to have a chat with the TORO. I think I might be able to help in some way.”
“Go be brilliant,” I say.
It’s bizarre seeing Adam talking to the TORO. He wore that uniform just three or so weeks ago. He shakes their hands, pats them reassuringly on the back, doing what Adam does best- making people feel safe. He introduces them to Leoni, and they finally climb onto the bus.
Barking catches my attention. The dog from the barn runs from the trees toward us. Pug trains his gun at him, and he growls menacingly, pacing back and forth in front of them. The poor thing is terrified.
I jump from the van and the dog sees me. He whimpers a little before trotting over to me with Pug still training the gun on him.
“It’s okay. He’s with me,” I say, dropping to his level and letting him nuzzle my neck.
Brick knocks Pug’s gun down, and swats him around the back of the head. “Get your damn gun out of Cub’s face.”
“I thought it was a wolf.” Pug shrugs. We all snigger. “What? It looks like a wolf.”
“In Cornwall?” Coco says, laughing.
“It’s a Tamaskan. My Grammie had one when I was a kid,” says Rio. “They’re loyal to a fault. I think Adam’s got some competition.”
“He’s beautiful,” I coo. “Look at those eyes.”
“He has heterochromia iridis,” says Lizzie. When she realises that none of us know what she is talking about, she sighs loudly. “Simply put, it’s a gene thing.”
“You’re one of the gang, then” I say, as he rubs his head against my neck.
Adam crouches beside the dog and scruffs under his neck. “He’s not got a collar.”
“I’m keeping him,” I state.
“What? No way. That flea infested mutt ain’t getting in my truck,” says Kid.
I lead the dog to the steps. “It’s okay. Pug can ride in the mini bus,” I say.
Everyone bursts into hysterics, and I give Pug a wink.
“Oh, boom!” shouts Brick. “You just got owned, Puggy boy.”
“She’s been around you lot for too long,” Pug says. He can’t hide the smile curling at his lips. “One nil to you, Cub. The game is on.”
“What’s d-do we call h-im?” Seth asks.
I grin at Adam. “Mr Darcy.”
“I ain’t calling a dog Mr Darcy,” Jude says, rolling his eyes.
“Just Darcy, then. Do you like that name, huh? Darcy?” He licks my face. “I take that as a yes.”
“Seriously though, is that dog getting in my truck?”
Brick, Pug, and Rio all turn to glare at him. “Shut up, Kid!” they shout in unison.
***
I stretch and every part of my body aches. My face is squished up against the window. Whispered voices fully rouse me. It takes me two attempts to shift in my chair to face them. “Man, I’m hurting,” I say.
Adam stops me from moving any more. “Take it easy.”
“I think it was that barn you lifted,” Crow states. “It looked kind of heavy.”
“Yeah, it was a bit.” I say, laughing.
Adam rolls his eyes. “You lifted a barn?”
“Or it could have been the chopper she crushed like a tin can.”
“I reckon it was that chopper that left me looking this pretty,” I say, pointing to my red eye. “The explosion is to blame. My back is killing me.”
Adam lifts my top, and his face tells me everything I need to know.
Crow’s jaw has swollen to twice its size, and he has a slight limp. “I’m looking pretty similar. I remember a boom, then hitting the tree, and then Teddie slamming into me. I reckon my knee caused that damage, but fair is fair, your skull did this.” He points to his face and works his jaw gently. “How’s the skim? I thought we were goners when that hit.”
I pull my jersey from my shoulder and examine the grazed and scabby patch of skin. “Forgot about it.”
“I didn’t. My undies need chucking after that,” he says, laughing.
Yana screws her face in disgust. “I’m just glad you are both alive to tell the tale.”
“Why have we stopped here?” I ask Crow.
“It’s safer for us to travel at night. As soon as it gets darker, and we’re all packed up, we’ll head out.”
“Where’s Darcy?”
A face pops up between our headrests, tongue hanging out. I pay him some attention before turning to Crow.
“Have you contacted Grayson?”
Adam and Crow share a tentative look. Crow has concern written on his face. He’s usually so head strong with his plans- all or nothing. “Yes. Syndicate’s holding a rally in a few days.”
“What kind of rally?”
“A peace rally, apparently,” Adam adds. “We reckon it has been planned for a while.” He rubs at the back of his neck and they share another look.
“What are you not telling me?”
Adam takes my hand. “The government have called you out as the head of E.N.C. They’re saying you orchestrated the bombings. However, Grayson has stooped lower than low. Syndicate have announced your allegiance to them against your wishes.”
“He what?” I shout. Crow jumps, grimacing in pain as he does so. Leoni and Jude join us. Leoni offers me a black coffee and I drink it greedily. “He wouldn’t do that?”
“He has. Grayson spouted crap about taking risks, but he left out the bit about those risks being with someone else’s life,” says Adam.
I can’t believe he’d stoop so low. “He must be desperate because I wouldn’t have pegged him as under-handed.”
Jude laughs. “He’s a rat.”
“I read him. Everything he has done has been to make up for that. He has good intentions.”
“Good intentions don’t always equate to good decisions,” Crow intervenes. “I think this rally is a dangerous move.”
Jude rubs at his eyes. “I agree.”
“If you believe that, then why are you taking the kids to him?” I ask Crow.
“Where else can we take them? We’re not a day care.”
“Grayson wouldn’t endanger them,” I say. It’s a bold statement, but I trust in it. “I want to smack him in the face- again- for using me, but he’ll do everything to keep those kids safe.”
Leoni leans over the back of my chair. “His motives make him unstable. Power can blind people; add that power to revenge, justice, whatever you want to call it, and it becomes toxic. We’ve seen that first hand with Isaac Woodman.”
“Don’t compare Grayson to Isaac,” October interrupts. “Teddie is right. He wouldn’t endanger anyone intentionally. Not even Teddie. He thinks he’s making the right call.”
“So you think this rally is a good idea?” Jude asks her.
“There is no basis for good and bad decisions anymore. All we can do is wing it. Somebody has got to do something. At least Grayson is trying. He’s crossed a line, but he’s trying.”
***
I drink watery soup from a polystyrene cup. Thankfully, Emiko found some herbs and grew a large enough bunch to flavour what I’m assuming is practically water with a bit of tomato floating in it.
Cooper sits down with Adam and Wheeler, drinks down his soup in one, and then asks what there is to eat. The kids laugh, and despite his hardship at making relationships with adults, he’s a hit with the young ones.
Darcy hangs about my legs, following my every step. I chat to Yana- just the two of us- a rare occurrence lately. We haven’t properly spoken since the warehouse.
I hug her tightly. “I’ve missed you. We haven’t had a chance to talk properly. How are you doing after the detention centre?”
She shrugs. “You know this might sound weird, but I think it made me stronger. They tried to break us, and they did some awful things.” She rubs at her bruised wrists subconsciously. “But I know what I’m made of now. I’m good- better than good. I always felt like a lost c
ause- little Yana who needed saving, but I’m not that person anymore. I am strong.”
I hug her again. “You’ve always been strong, Yana. Don’t ever forget that. You are a warrior.” She blushes a little. “So, what’s the situation with Crow?” I whisper.
She glances over at Crow. He turns away from us, caught in the act of eavesdropping. We’re not in earshot, but Yana turns away as she speaks. “It’s complicated. We were never in a relationship, but we weren’t strictly friends.”
I chew my lip, and raise my eyebrow slightly. “Okay, I kind of guessed that much, but what does that mean for right now?”
Yana rests her head on my shoulder in mock despair. Well, half mock despair. “Last night was awful, Teds. Ian asked if he could come to my room with me and I said yes. It was going fine until we started getting heavy, and then I just couldn’t do it. I felt guilty.”
“Because of Haydn?” I ask. She turns her head against my shoulder to look at me. “Does Crow even know about Haydn? Perhaps, if you explain it won’t be so awkward. He’ll give you some space.”
“But I don’t want him to give me space. Oh, god, I’m such a mess. I love Haydn, but at the same time I just want... I want...”
“You want a jolly good seeing to,” I say, into her ear.
Yana laughs out loud, and everyone looks in our direction. She guides me a little further away from the group. “Shush, but yes, I guess so. I’ve been through a lot and I want a little fun. I want to be happy again. You know that is the first time I have laughed in ages.”
“It feels good, huh?” I say. “Jokes aside, Haydn would want you to find happiness. We all know that life’s too short.”
“I think I’ve scared Ian away. I’ve bruised his ego.” We both look over to Crow, again he is watching us, and again he quickly averts his gaze.
“Just explain about Haydn. Crow will understand.”
“How are you doing?” she asks me. “I can’t believe Grayson.”
I shrug. “What can I do. It’s done now. I’m as mad as hell, but at least it’s Syndicate claiming me and not the E.N.C, I guess.”
She agrees and falls silent. I want to rewind to thirty seconds ago when we were giggling over boys. I hate it when reality smacks me in the face like- ‘Wake up, Teddie. I’m not done with you, yet’.
I lead her back to the group. “Have you noticed chemistry between Seth and Kesh?” I whisper, trying to claw back our easy conversation. Yana looks to reply, but Cooper tackles me from behind, hoisting me off the ground.
“Do you two need to squat in a bush? Crow won’t let me piss in the hedge. Apparently, I’ve got to see who else needs to go, and we have to make an orgy of it.”
“Bathroom breaks in groups is what I actually said,” Crow calls.
Wheeler jogs over, bringing the toilet rolls with him. “This isn’t weird at all,” he jokes. “Come on, bathroom buddies.”
Cooper stares at him. “Never say that again.”
The bushes have an eerie quality with the night drawing in. We have to venture in quite a way, to find privacy from the camp.
“Okay, here’s good,” I say.
“Nah, I’m laying one down here,” calls Pug from the next bush.
I pull a face at Yana, and she clasps a hand to her mouth to muffle her giggles. “Crow will kick your ass if he knows you’re out here solo,” I tell Pug. He merely grunts his indifference.
We follow Cooper and Wheeler a little further in, and Yana and I find a hidey hole to do our business. Squatting behind a fern, my head is still visible, and Yana continues to chat to me about Crow. Darcy paws at the ground, waiting patiently.
“Throw me that tissue,” I ask. She underarms it in my direction, but I hear a noise. The toilet paper roll lands in the mud, and I shoot to my feet, tugging my trousers up. “Shush!” I say, not that she is talking.
Cooper’s and Wheeler’s heads pop up from behind their bushes.
“Did you hear that?” Wheeler asks.
I try to read the area. “Quiet lads. I hear something.” “They’ll hear us coming.” Thoughts rush me thick and fast. I can’t get a handle on it.
“I think it’s Taggers,” I whisper to Yana. “Is there a drone?”
Cooper zips his flies and rushes to my side. “How many? Can we take them?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, listen again.”
“I don’t know,” I say, firmer. “More than one.”
“Loads more…two…three…come on, Teds.”
“I don’t know,” I hiss through my teeth. I already feel useless enough without Cooper badgering me.
Darcy whimpers beside me, his ears up and on alert.
“Shut it, dog,” Cooper hisses.
Darcy whimpers louder.
“Hush now, Darcy,” I whisper, placing a firm hand on his head.
Wheeler shoves Yana back to camp. “Hurry. Warn them.”
She starts to run back through the trees. Darcy whimpers again.
“Shut that damn dog up,” Cooper growls.
“Go, Darcy,” he pushes back against me. “Darcy go!” I snap at him. He reluctantly runs after Yana with his tail between his legs.
Pug rushes up, trousers round his ankles, and a toilet roll in his hand. “Did you hear th—”
A muffled gunshot echoes off the trees and Pug’s head explodes across my own. His warm blood covers my face. Cooper wraps a large hand over my mouth before I can let out a cry. Pug’s body doesn’t appear to register that it’s dead. He seems to teeter for a few moments before dropping to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
Towley steps out from behind a tree. The soldier behind him fires a weird looking contraption, and a large metal netting covers us, spikes pinning it to the ground. The three of us squirm to get free, but it’s pointless. Many more faces appear behind Towley- many more guns trained on us.
“Don’t bother with abilities, the net will electrocute you at the slightest rise of kinetic energy,” says Towley. He holds my eye contact. “Hello again, Theyda.”
“You didn’t have to kill him,” I scream at Towley. I can’t bring myself to look at Pug.
“He was armed.”
“If it’s me you want, then you’ve got me. Let these two go. Leave them be, and I will go with you.”
“I’ll take the three of you, but you have my word that if you come with us, we will leave your little cult be, for now.”
Cooper takes my hand. “We can’t trust him to keep his word.”
“It’s this or he kills everyone back at camp,” Wheeler whispers.
I look Towley dead in the eyes. “Your word means nothing to me.”
“And I care because...? I will spare your other friends and the children, Theyda.”
A wind picks up, and a black aircraft, barely discernible from the night sky, flies quietly overhead. It descends into the trees and out of sight. It could be something alien for all I know, but I’m guessing it’s military- a stealth plane or something.
“We have our own means to win this war,” Towley states. “Even your Technokin didn’t pick that up.”
I’m not sure how Kesh works. I don’t think he just senses technology around him. He’d never have been purposely sensing for stealth aircraft in the area. How farfetched does this whole situation sound? Let me wake up from it all, please.
Soldiers approach the netting, and the next thing I see is the butt of a gun slamming down into my face.
“I owed you that one,” Towley’s distant voice calls. “Hurry, get them on the plane before the other EVO arrive.”
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
I wake screaming. The feeling of hands on me makes me gag, and Towley strokes at my cheek. It’s a strangely affectionate gesture, but there something in his eyes that puts the fear of God in me. Someone places a mask over my mouth and nose, and although I fight it, my limbs feel useless, heavy, and out of my control. A buzzing noise fills my ears, but I’m drifting again, barely able to keep my eyes open.
Towley leans over me, his features blurring through my watering eyes.
“I didn’t catch that,” he says in my ear, pulling the mask away from my mouth.
I lick at my dry lips. “I said, fuck you.”
***
My dreams consist of Adam’s voice. He repeats my name over and over. He cries my name over and over. I cry out for him to help me. I cry until my dream voice runs hoarse and no sound comes out. Then, I merely sob in the darkness of my mind.
***
I’m naked on a bed. My feet and wrists are bound, and my eyes spot from an intense headache. Someone stirs just outside of my peripheral. I crane my neck back, more agony erupting in my skull. Towley sits in a chair- he’s been sleeping.
He rubs at his eyes and smiles at me. “Good morning,” he says. His shirt is unbuttoned and showing chest hair, and his sleeves are rolled up to the elbows. “I’ve been here all night just to make sure you were well tended.”
I don’t reply to him. I’m not sure I even know the words to say.
“Selective mutism? That’s not like you, Theyda. I have an admiration for your colourful use of vocabulary. You can tell me to fuck off, or go screw myself if you’d like. I don’t like this silence. At least I get conversation out of your friends.”
“Where are they? What have you done to them? You fucking bastard.”
“There’s my Theyda.” He cups my cheek in his hand, and I turn my face away, trying to bury into the pillow. The pain in my skull erupts again and I release a hiss through my teeth. I curse myself; I don’t want him to know my pain.
He’s gentle still. I feel the coolness of his palm brush against my scalp. My eyes betray me, and he smiles a little.
“Yes, that’s right. We had to shave your head to operate. But don’t think on it, hair grows back.”
I bite my lip to stifle a sob. My eyes search his face for something- some clue as to what they have done to me. He’s desperate to tell me, but he knows he can torture me just by withholding information.
“Ask me, Theyda. Come on, speak to me. I know you want to, so just ask. I won’t tell you about this,” he strokes at my scalp, “unless you ask me.”
EVO Shift: EVO Nation Series: Book Two Page 22