He brushed his lips beside my ear. “I’m talented in many ways, Abs.”
Squirming, I broke loose of the spell he’d cast on me. “I’ll have to take your word for it.”
Laughing, Gray said, “For now.”
“You sure are confident.”
He shrugged. “You’ll see.”
I rolled my eyes and he started laughing again. Smacking him in the chest, I snuggled into his warm arms and let the train lull me back to sleep. If it weren’t for the tiny life inside me, I wouldn’t have been able to settle down, but early pregnancy does make one sleepy. Very sleepy.
Someone was chasing me down the streets of Olympus. I tried to run faster, duck behind something. There’s nothing to hide me. Two guards pop out from an alleyway in front of me. Their guns pointed aimed directly at my heart. The tiny red dots from their rifles hover and dance just above it. I grind to a stop, almost falling to the concrete below. A hand clenches my shoulder. I turn to look. It’s King Harrison Cole. An evil sneer is stretched over his face. “Did you think you could come back, sneak into the city and that I wouldn’t know it. You’re being tracked, Abigail.”
“Where are the others? Where’s Crew?”
He laughs maniacally. “I couldn’t leave any liabilities. No witnesses, no crime, right?”
“You killed your own son?”
He laughed. “I didn’t kill anyone, Abigail. Crew sealed his own fate when he chose you over his obligation to his city. No son of mine will be with a LESSER!” he shouted, spittle spattering the skin of my face.
“You are the Lesser. You’re pathetic. Evil. You’re going to rot in hell for the things you’ve done.”
“There’s no one powerful enough to hold me accountable. No one left.” He chuckled. “Take her away.”
The guards approached quickly and seized my arms. I screamed but no sound came from my mouth. Cole just stood there laughing, waggling his fingers, mocking me.
“In what reality could a Lesser have beaten a Greater, Abigail? Certainly not this one. You’re in my world. I own you.”
I woke up frantically clawing at Gray like a frightened kitten. “Shh. I’ve got you. You’re okay.” He searched me for answers that I was afraid to even speak.
“Oh, God! The tracking device! Olympus will know I’m here.”
He looked at me questioningly, his brow furrowed. “The Vesuvians deactivated it. Didn’t your mother mention that?”
“No. She didn’t. Maybe she did. I can’t remember.” I clutched my chest.
“Wanna talk about it?”
“About my mom?”
He shrugged. “We can. I was talking about the nightmare though.”
I shook my head. I didn’t want to think about how dangerous this was.
“We’re slowing down.”
I remembered the enormous city gate, how we’d passed through it and how it had slammed shut behind us, effectively trapping us in the city. You know how you get bad feelings about people or situation. Yeah, that. I had a very bad feeling about this.
The train slowed more and Gray helped me stand up. My legs were weak and tingly. I wanted to freak out, wanted to scream that they were going to be waiting for us at the train station. Would they be? I didn’t know. I wouldn’t put it past Cole at this point.
Slower still. Gray grabbed my hand and laced his fingers through mine.
“Please, Abs. Don’t do what I think you’re gonna try to do. We just need to get the girls and get out.”
“This is about more than just those girls. We need to get all the Lessers out.”
“Where will they go?”
“Doesn’t matter. They just need to get out of the city wall. I have a feeling that Olympus is about to fall. I don’t think Vesuvius is concerned with the well-being of anyone within these walls, except for those girls. Do you know why?”
He squeezed my hands. “They need them.”
“Exactly. They want control. This is so messed up.”
“I know. But I’m here. I’m with you. No matter what, I’m with you, Abs. Don’t you dare run from me. I know you’re going to try to go after him, too.”
I nodded. I would try to get Crew out of the city. He didn’t deserve to die, either.
“We’ve traded one tyrant for another.”
“Tyranny loves company.”
I snorted. “Yeah, I guess.”
“Your mom seems nice though.”
I looked up at him. “She’s doing their bidding. She has to be nice. Lulu always said you could catch more flies with honey.”
“Lulu was wise.”
“Yep.” I grinned and nudged him with my elbow. “Like someone else I know.”
The train’s wheels screeched to a stop. Dawn was just breaking. We could see it through the rusted holes in the train car. Gray looked through the holes as the world passed by more and more slowly. “Seems clear, but we need to move. It’s almost daylight.”
We both moved to the door, crouched down at the ready. He slid open the train car’s door as quietly as was possible. The squeaky protests of the metal grinding upon metal made my heart slam against my chest. They were going to catch us. We were inside the belly of the beast.
Gray carefully looked outside both ways. “There’s a building not too far. We need to make a break for it.”
I nodded.
“I’ll jump down and lift you out of the car.”
“Okay.”
Gray nimbly jumped from the car, landing easily on his feet. What was he, part feline? I’d seen cats jump from high up in trees and land the exact same way. I sat down, my legs dangling from the car. He reached up and grabbed my waist and moved me forward. I grabbed his shoulders. He slid me all the way down his body slowly and I almost forgot I was in danger. It literally took my breath away. He was all hard, tense muscle and smelled like spices.
His eyes dilated for a moment and his mouth moved toward mine. I eased forward, wanting so badly to feel him. “We’ve got to go,” he whispered, breaking the spell.
You have got to be kidding me. I straightened my shoulders and ticked my head toward the building. He grabbed my hand and we ran across the short distance together. We’d made it. Now, just to get the others, find Crew and warn the Lesser population.
I knew where I was the moment I woke up and I knew exactly who had placed me there. I was in the prison beneath the amphitheater. My father had me thrown in here. He was probably getting ready to behead me. He must have found out about my dealings with the resistance. I wondered if Marian was safe. I had not heard her voice among the others imprisoned in the cells on either side of me, but it was a long row and they were all stuffed full of people.
The only person I recognized was one I wanted to avoid. I knew he and his father had been arrested and brought to Olympus, but I thought my father would have released them into the Lesser section. Instead, he had imprisoned them. A few cells across from me and to the right was none other than Zander Preston. He rested his forearms on the cell’s cross bars lazily, looking blankly out as if there was nothing there at all. I was just glad to have avoided him thus far.
The only thing I wanted to do was to beat him to a pulp. Memories of Abby being beaten flew through my mind. He had held the rope. He had caused her pain. I was glad my father had not released him. I wanted him to suffer. He deserved worse than a spot in the prison cells.
An old man with bushy white eyebrows, wrinkled sun-scarred skin, and a solitary tooth looked me up and down and laughed. “You Greaters think you’re so much better than every other human being out there. Look at you now. You’re locked up with us, Prince.” His voice dripped with sarcasm and disdain.
He was a Lesser. His eyes were the same color he was born with. The other occupants of my cell looked between the pair of us nervously. They obviously sided with him, as they should.
A small shaft of sunlight filtered in through the tiny window, our only link with the outside world for now. Occasionally, guards would shove molded
loaves of bread and jugs of water into the hole. The stench of urine and feces emanated from the corner we were forced to utilize. This was hell on Earth. I was certain of it.
I was wearing a path into the boards in the depot and annoying Julia at the same time. Win. She wasn’t so bad. Actually, she’d been really sweet. I looked at her. She was analyzing reports of Orchard’s needs and placing orders for the next supply train. Her brows almost touched when she concentrated and she stuck her tongue out a little, unconsciously. I laughed to myself and kept scanning over the comm’s that had come in last night.
Two Vesuvian guard’s sauntered in. “Julia. How are things going?” the jerk who spoke looked over at me and smirked. He continued, “Too bad you are stuck in here with the Lesser.”
“It is not as if they are contagious,” she giggled and winked at me.
“How do you know they are not? Something caused the deaths in the other cities.”
I snorted. Right. It was us. We should have thought of that years ago and gotten rid of all of them.
The guard who had been talking stepped over toward me. His hair was long and almost black, his skin darkened from the hot southern sun. With a wide nose and broad shoulders that he was trying to make broader, he challenged me. “Something funny about that, Lesser?”
“Just that you think we had anything to do with it.”
He lifted his arm and shoved me hard into the wall behind me. “Stop!” Julia yelled, running over to step between the two of us. “Stop it, Emory. You need to leave.”
She pointed to the door. “You’re asking us to leave? Unbelievable.”
“He has work to do. Now, go!”
Emory glared at me. With teeth clenched, he said, “Fine. Come on. We are out of here.”
The door slammed behind him.
I looked at Julia. “You shouldn’t have stepped in front of me.”
“He is a guard. He could have killed you and no one would have questioned or cared why, Kyan.”
Now, my pride was hurt. “You think we don’t know how to fight? I’ve worked my ass off in these fields every day of my life. I was born to work hard and fight harder. Don’t think for one second that I wouldn’t have wiped the floor with that bastard because I would have.” I was steaming. Julia nodded slightly and didn’t say a word.
I softened my voice. “Probably would have been hanged for it, but I would have.”
“I am sorry. I was not thinking. I did not mean to offend you in any way, Kyan.”
I pressed my lips together. “It’s okay.”
“Thank you for your forgiveness.” She offered me her hand. I had shaken it once before, but this time when our hands touched, it was different. She felt it, too because she looked up at me, her eyes widening.
“You are so warm.” She looked at me like she was in awe.
I laughed. “Yeah, I guess.”
We stared at each other for another moment before she cleared her throat and pulled her hand away. “We should finish our tasks.”
“Yeah. We should.”
Gray and I quickly made our way deep into the Lesser portion of Olympus, winding through the makeshift huts and shanties. Remnants of a recent snow still clung to the edges of the narrow, muddy streets. It was busy, with people walking in every direction. Some made their way to the factories, others back home from them. We finally made it to the tiny home I’d stayed in before we made our way home. The others weren’t here when we left, but with help, we would find them.
Izabel, the woman who had loaned me her dress, poked her head out of the door before we even had a chance to knock. She snarled her nose up at us until she realized who we were. Relief washed over her face. “Abby? Gray? Come in! Hurry.”
She held the door open and we stepped inside. My eyes had to adjust to the darkness. But, on the couch sat none other than Laney. “Laney?!”
“Abby? Oh, my God!” She stood up and almost tackled me, but Gray held me up. Both of us burst into tears. “I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again,” she sobbed.
“I know.” I just held her tight and cried with her.
Gray cleared his throat. “Do you all know where the others are?”
Izabel spoke up first. “Yeah. They’re all close by.”
“Good,” Gray said, “We need to get them and you out of here.”
“How?” asked Laney. Her golden ringlets had been cut boy short, but it didn’t diminish her beauty at all. It added to it if anything.
I sniffed and tried to calm myself before answering her. “A train. It won’t leave for three more hours. We have to be on it.”
“What’s going on? Why the urgency now?” she asked.
I looked at her. She was smart, no longer the naive girl I’d loved from the village. She’d been changed. We all had.
“Vesuvius is coming.”
“Vesuvius?” Laney blew out a breath.
I nodded. “They sent us to get you out, but we need to get all of the Lessers out, get them to safety. But if they all go for the train, someone’s going to notice.”
Izabel spoke up. “The tunnels.”
“Tunnels?” Gray asked.
“We’ve made a way out of the city. There’s an extensive maze of tunnels beneath us. We can get them out that way.”
I promised to catch her up on all that had happened recently, but we had to move. She and Izabel went to round up the other girls. They would slowly make their way toward the trains and try to sneak aboard. Then, Izabel promised to help us spread the word to all the Lessers. I hoped they would find safety and freedom through the network of tunnels.
We were walking toward a house that Izabel said housed three of the girls from the Lesser villages, when Gray pulled me to the side of the rickety shanty and crouched down. “Guards. I know them.”
I tried to still my breathing, but was worried they’d hear my heart slamming in my chest. Four guards passed by, clad in black with assault rifles slung across their shoulders. They laughed with each other as they patrolled the area. When they were completely out of sight, Gray pulled me up. “That was close,” he said, and then blew out a tense breath.
“How well did you know them?”
“They would have recognized me. No question about it.”
“How are we going to do this, Gray? How can we get everyone out? Why don’t we tell the Lessers now?”
He looked around, his eyes and body on alert. “If they find out there’s a train, it’ll be mobbed. People always take the easiest path. We need to get the girls and get out, then spread the word for them to go through the tunnels.”
He was right. We would all be caught. But a sinking feeling in my stomach kept bothering me. Getting everyone to the train was going to be hard enough and there were eighteen other girls.
Gray took my hand. “Let’s weave through the homes. We need to stay off the roads and out of plain sight. It’s safer that way.”
“Okay.”
He nodded once, grabbed my hand and together, we took off behind the house. The squalor the Lessers in Olympus lived in was horrific. Their houses were built of plywood, pieces of metal, plastic tubes, anything that they could find. Most looked as if they would fall over if a stiff wind blew their way. It was sad. But more than anything, it angered me. These people were good enough to work for the Greaters, but not good enough to receive the basics that they required; shelter, food, and clothing.
Trenches that reeked of human waste ran along either side of what they called streets. They were muddy pathways, well-trodden by those traveling to and from work in the factories. We weaved between clothing that had been hung on a line to dry. The garments looked as though they were basically frozen, stiffly swinging in the light winter wind.
We arrived at the back door of the small house, which was little more than a piece of cardboard. Gray knocked. A surprised face poked through the crack of the door. It was a girl I recognized from Wheat.
“Hey, you’re that girl!” she shrilled.
“Yeah. Hey, are the others here.”
“Our shift doesn’t start until evening.”
I nodded.
“Who’s he?” She studied Gray’s eyes. “He’s a Greater! Why would you bring one of them here?”
“No. He’s not like them. Just trust me. We came to take you home.”
She waved us inside. The inside of their shack was worse than the outside. The other two girls were huddled under a thick, obviously homemade blanket, in a useless attempt to try to keep warm. I think that they were both from Coal.
There was no furniture. The two girls were sitting on the cold ground. Gray quickly explained the situation, told them that we needed to get them onto the train that could take them home, take them away from here. That was all they needed to hear. They jumped up and began packing what little food they had available.
Within a few short, but frantic minutes, the five of us were weaving our way between hovels, toward the giant steel beast that would carry us home. It took forty minutes to reach the train station. One by one, we snuck across the yard and climbed into the train car. Those already aboard helped pull the others up and into the safety of the rust bucket. There were more trains in the yard now, which offered more cover.
Laney and Izabel said that all were on board. I looked at Gray. “We have to go back and tell them.”
“I know why you want to go,” he bit out.
Laney looked at me but addressed Gray. “Why does she want to go?”
“Crew.”
“You cannot be serious, Abby. Do you even know how involved in all of this he was? The Harvest was his idea, not his father’s. He suggested it, organized the whole thing. It was his idea to take our eggs and implant the Greater women. He came up with that plan, not the King. The King might have taken the idea and run with it, but Crew has always been his closest adviser.”
“No way. There’s no way he was the mastermind.”
“His bed. On the train. It said, ‘May the Harvest Be Plentiful,’ for a reason, Abby. Wake up! Before you get us all killed! They’re beheading people left and right here.”
“They have guns, why do they behead people,” I asked. And how did she know about his bed on the train? Why did she think he was the architect of this evil?
Resist (The Harvest Saga Book 2) Page 11