When Night Falls (Regeneration Series Book 1)

by Airicka Phoenix

  “Well we have to do something.”

  Mac interrupted with another series of gestures that they turned to Kiera for translation.

  “He’s heroically offering to go alone.” She folded her arms. “Well, I’m not going. We barely made it out alive the first two times.”

  Mac patted his chest and nodded his head.

  Scarlett grinned “Well, I’m in.”

  Kiera rounded on Mac. “Are you actually going to do this? You’re going to leave me here?”

  Mac signed something that had Kiera’s lips pursing.

  “You’re being unreasonable!” she exclaimed. “You’re going to get killed!” More signing, these ones frustrated and almost bitter. “What do you mean what do I care? Of course I care!” Mac signed something that made Kiera gasp. “I promised my father—”

  Mac’s hand gestures became fierce, nearly a blur, but it was the hurt and anger on his face that told the story.

  “What do you want me to say?” she practically screamed. Tears brightened her eyes, making them sparkle.

  Mac’s gestures slowed, became jerky as his face contorted with pain.

  “You know I want to be with you.” Kiera’s voice wavered.

  Mac made one final gesture, shrugged his shoulders and dropped his hands to his sides. He was breathing hard. His nostrils flared with the effort, but he never looked away from Kiera.

  “I don’t know!” Kiera growled through her teeth.

  The absolute heartbreak on Mac’s face wrenched Scarlett’s insides. He gave Kiera a shake of his head before turning on his heels and marching away.

  “Mac!” she called after him, but he never glanced back.

  With an aggravated snarl-sob, Kiera whirled around and sprinted in the opposite direction.

  Scarlett and Hunter exchanged glances.

  “That was awkward,” Hunter mumbled.

  “That was heartbreaking,” Scarlett corrected. “God, what is wrong with her?”

  Hunter snorted. “Hell if I know, but I’ll gladly take him off her hands. She clearly doesn’t deserve him.”

  Chuckling, Scarlett started in the direction Mac had gone. “I don’t think he plays for your team.”

  “Sweetie, they all play once I teach them how.”

  Mac stood by the stairway, head bent as he adjusted the holster at his hip. He glanced up when they approached. He signed something slow and remorseful.

  Scarlett shook her head. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault you two are fighting.”

  Mac waved his hand dismissively. He sighed and ran a hand back through his hair. “Love. Her,” he groaned out, his voice thick and awkward.

  The sound of it momentarily rendered her speechless before she caught herself.

  “She loves you, too,” she said. “She’s just … confused.”

  “Stupid,” Hunter added behind a feigned cough.

  Scarlett elbowed him.

  Mac grinned a little and nodded. With another burdened sigh, he pointed to the door and made a walking motion with his two fingers.

  “I’m with you,” Scarlett said with a nod.

  Together, they walked to the door. The marshals there eyed them as they approached.

  “You don’t want to go out there,” one of them said.

  Hunter folded his arms over his chest. “Yeah, that’s what I said. No one listened to me either.”

  Scarlett shot him a glower before facing the four in front of them. “We need to leave, but will return when we find our friends.”

  “A stupid decision, clearly,” Hunter added.

  Scarlett ignored him.

  “You will be risking your lives for a possibility that may not exist.” Silos made his way towards them, his footsteps barely audible in the large room.

  “It’s a risk we’re willing to make,” Scarlett said. “They wouldn’t leave us behind.”

  “Well, I’m sorry, but I can’t let you.”

  Scarlett stiffened, as did Mac and Hunter as they all turned to face the man watching them.

  “What?”

  He unclasped the hands he’d folded in front of him and splayed them palms up. “We have no way of knowing what’s on the other side of that door if we open it. I can’t let you risk the lives of all these people.”

  “You let us in,” Scarlett reminded him. “We were surrounded and—”

  The door behind them clicked, casting the entire level into an unnatural silence. For a full stuttering heartbeat, no one moved or even breathed as they watched the locks disengage.

  “Lights!” Silos hissed. “Marshals, positions!”

  It happened so fast. One minute the lights were on and the marshals were standing post by the doors. The next, darkness descended throughout the level and Scarlett, Hunter, and Mac were the only ones left standing in place, not yet familiar with the protocol of such an event.

  Hunter grabbed her hand as Mac positioned himself in front of them. And although she couldn’t see the other marshals, Scarlett knew they were there, weapons drawn, waiting. But in no way did that ease the icy dread leaking down her spine. The terror was a physical wave tearing through her. Her hand tightened in Hunter’s as the door gave way, spilling a thin stream of light from the stairway into the murky darkness inside. It formed a square carpet across the polished floor, punctured by two lumpy and distorted figures.

  Scarlett slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle the gasp that bubbled in the back of her throat. She was only vaguely aware of Hunter propelling her back, concealing her with his bulk.

  One of the figures shifted. Something long was removed from somewhere on its side. There was a click and Scarlett winced as light burst from the object, chasing back the darkness Silos had so wisely put into place as protection. The door was shut behind them, sealing them in with the rest of the survivors.

  “Scarlett?”

  The gasp did escape then as the familiar voice whispered her name. Her heart stuttered a moment, as she stood torn between disbelief and euphoric delight. It wasn’t until it was said again, a little louder that she came to her senses.

  “Rolf!”

  The light swung across the room in her direction, but she was already tearing away from Hunter and running. Her bag hit the ground as she tore it off and removed herself from the weight keeping her from reaching him faster. The light bobbed once then dropped with a deafening clatter as he reached out and scooped her into his arms just as she threw herself at him. Her arms bound around his neck as his went around her middle and she was lifted off the ground.

  “Scarlett.” Her name left him in a murmur one reserved for prayer, and she tightened her arms around him.

  “You’re back,” she breathed into his shoulder where the fabric of his blazer was wet from her tears.

  He shook his head. “Nothing was keeping me away.”

  Drawing back, she kissed him. It was rash and impulsive and no doubt a very stupid mistake, but common sense no longer had control of her. She couldn’t think beyond the wild drumming of elation and relief coursing through her, fueling the desperate need to be as close as humanly possible to the man crushing her in his arms. At her back, his hands fisted in her top as he returned the frenzied and reckless kiss. His hunger drove her to push harder for more. Her finger curled into his hair and held him to her as the world around them melted and vanished.

  He pulled back when breathing became a necessity. His hands came up to take her face gently between them. His dark eyes devoured her with a wild abandonment that left her blood scorched under her flushed skin.

  “Tell me you don’t greet all your friends that way.”

  Her chuckle came out wet and weak as her fingers traced the harsh contours of his face. “I’ve been so worried. I thought I would never see you again. I thought…”

  “I told you I would find you.” He smoothed her tangled hair off her tear-stained cheek. “Are you hurt?”

  She shook her head. “Are you?”

  “Nothing that won’t heal.” He studie
d her face as though he couldn’t get enough of seeing it. “Scarlett—”

  “Uh, Rolf…”

  Having been lost in the isolated bubble cocooning them, the rude intrusion was like a shove back into a reality neither of them wanted to be in. They blinked and raised their heads.

  The lights were on, which explained why she could see him so clearly. But more than that, they were surrounded by a little over a hundred people, all watching quietly.

  Heat rushed up Scarlett’s body that had nothing to do with the way Rolf made her feel and flooded her face. She quickly detangled herself from his embrace and stood shakily smoothing down her top as she avoided looking at anyone.

  “Perfect timing.” Silos broke away from the crowd as he had before and walked to where Rolf and Scarlett stood. “You must be Rolf.”

  Rolf gave the smallest of nods as his gaze swept over the room. He bent down and snatched up the torch he’d dropped. He flicked it off.

  “What is this place? How are you all here?”

  “This is currently our home,” Silos told him. “Possibly the last of the survivors of this ship.”

  Scarlett glanced past Rolf at the only other figure standing there, looking as bloody, exhausted and wary as Rolf.

  “Rolf, where’s Lance?”

  Rolf cast a glance over his shoulder to where Jack stood cradling his enforcer. Grief danced over his features when he turned back to her.

  “He didn’t make it.”

  Scarlett gasped. “Oh no! I am so sorry.”

  He shook his head, but didn’t speak.

  “But you’re here now,” Silos interrupted. “You’re safe.”

  Rolf met Silos’ calm gaze with narrowed ones. “No one’s safe so long as those things are still out there.”

  Silos nodded in agreement. “Which is why we need to speak once you’ve cleaned up.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Scarlett showed Rolf to the washroom. Jack opted to go second then disappeared somewhere with Hunter, leaving Scarlett alone with a guy that she couldn’t be trusted with. But neither of them spoke as they made their way through the sections to the back. She was all too aware of the eyes watching them with every step, but that could have just been paranoia on her part. The people there had no idea who she was or the situation between her, Rolf, and Kiera. She had no reason to feel like a leper.

  At the washroom, Scarlett stepped back and let him go in alone. He paused on the threshold, one hand on the door and glanced back. He looked on the verge of speaking, but he shut his mouth at the last second and shut the door between them.

  Deflating, she slumped against the wall and closed her eyes. Her mouth continued to tingle from the kiss she never should have taken. Her senses reeled from the lingering taste of him on her lips and she had to fight the temptation to run her tongue over them. The situation had already taken such a wrong turn without her adding to it by encouraging herself to do it again.

  She opened her eyes and glanced over her surroundings. Spirals of white bled through the soft color of peaches coloring the walls. A painting, framed in a boarder of glossy wood, hung across from her, the portrait of a man in a blue jacket and closely cropped orange hair against a blue backdrop. She recognized the painting, vaguely. Art had never been her specialty. But she had always had a fond love for old things. Post-United History had always been her favorite. She had often wondered what it would have been like to have automobiles and money. She’d of course seen them at museums and in holo-discs, but it wasn’t the same. After the New Leaders took power, everything old was deemed unsanctioned and unnecessary. With the new power came new changes that no one bothered to stop.

  Scarlett sighed. It didn’t matter anymore. Everyone and everything was gone. It was just them, the hundred or so locked away on a ship, surrounded by infected creatures. There was some kind of irony in surviving the end of the world only to die in space.

  “You!”

  Scarlett jumped at the high pitched screech. She leapt away from the wall and turned just as Kiera stormed towards her, a flurry of anger and tears. Caught by surprise, she wasn’t quick enough to see the smack until the crack resounded in her ears and stars had exploded across her vision.

  “How dare you kiss my Rolf!” Kiera seethed.

  Rubbing the burn on her cheek, Scarlett straightened her shoulders. But she didn’t speak, because there was nothing to say to make what she did all right. Kiera didn’t seem to need any words. She was on a roll.

  “Oh I’m not nearly as stupid as you think I am, Scarlett. I’ve seen the way you look at him.” Her fingers clenched and unclenched at her sides. “But he’s marrying me!”

  “I…” Still, not a damn thing came to mind to say.

  “I don’t want your stupid apologies!” She crossed her arms. “I don’t care what he told you, he is marrying me. He promised.” She shifted from her right foot to her left foot and wet her lips. She took a deep breath, seemingly straightening to her full height of five nothing. “I know this isn’t what he wants, that I’m not what he wants, but we have an arrangement. He can be with anyone he wants, but he has to marry me.”

  There was logic in there somewhere, there had to be, but Scarlett couldn’t see it.

  “I don’t understand…”

  Kiera huffed, exasperated. “It’s called common decency. Don’t flaunt your affairs where people can see!”

  “We’re not having an affair!” Scarlett finally found her voice.

  “But you love him.” Kiera smirked coldly. “That’s the same thing. Your kind can just marry whomever you want. You have no idea what it’s like … but I’ve worked too hard and for too long to let you take him.”

  “I don’t … I don’t want to take him.” But her words sounded false even to her own ear.

  “I don’t care what kind of agreement you two have. It’s like I told Rolf, you can have him. Just don’t embarrass me like you did.”

  “I am so lost!” Scarlett rubbed her face, trying to appease the throbbing in her temples. “You want us to have an affair?”

  “Of course not,” Kiera scoffed. “What woman wants that? But I would rather Rolf had his … fun, than lose him and I’m willing to look the other way.”

  “To keep him,” Scarlett finished.

  Kiera nodded. “I’m not delusional. I understand that he feels like now that we no longer have families we can just forget our promises, but I’m not willing to do that. I promised my father that I would marry Rolf Gray and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. If that means I have to let him keep you, well, sacrifices must always be made.”

  “Are you insane?” Scarlett exclaimed before she could stop herself. “If you love him why would you—”

  “I don’t love him,” Kiera said evenly. “This is business, not pleasure.”

  “But you’re marrying the guy, how is that not plea—”

  “Like I said, our fathers wanted it.”

  “So, you won’t let Rolf go because of some dead promise that no one is ever going to hold you to.”

  Kiera’s delicate facial features flexed as though the strain of her thoughts were pushing down on her nerves. Her blue eyes snapped from Scarlett to the wall behind her and back, unable to hold contact.

  Scarlett threw her arms open wide. “Look around you. Who the hell is going to judge you? You could marry a fish and no one would blink an eye. The only person hurting you is yourself.”

  Kiera planted her hands on her hips. “If the last thing your parents wanted before they died was for you to marry someone, would you forget that promise because you’re suddenly free to do so? No. You do your best to make it happen. No matter how miserable you are.”

  “Your parents wouldn’t want—”

  “Don’t presume you know what my parents wanted,” Kiera interjected sharply. “I made a promise. Rolf is mine.”

  “I’m not.” Rolf stood in the bathroom doorway, a towel in one hand and his pack in the other. His dark hair glistened under the ligh
t, freshly washed and swept back from the hard expression on his face. He stared at Kiera. “Give us a moment, please, Scarlett.”

  Grateful to get away from the craziness, Scarlett did. She pushed past Kiera and hurried away in search of Hunter.

  She found him, tucked away in a deserted corner with Jack. The two were in the middle of a serious battle that involved a lot of tongue and anxious hands. The heat coming off the pair should have set the emergency heat sensors built into every floor in case of a fire. Scarlett stood nearly ten feet away and could still feel the lashes as though standing too close to an open flame.

  Hunter broke the fierce kiss. Their labored breathing beat like bird wings through the air. He fisted his large hands into Jack’s hair and gave a tug, eliciting a low groan from the other boy. They stared at each other a long moment before Hunter took Jack’s mouth again with a violence that should have hurt while simultaneously shoving Jack further into the wall. Jack didn’t seem to mind as he slipped his hands under Hunter’s top. It was then Scarlett quickly turned on her heels and bolted.

  She made her way back to her sleeping area and found Mac sitting on his cot. The boy looked up when she approached and gave her a small smile.

  “Hey,” she said for lack of anything better.

  He gave her a slight wave.

  “You okay?”

  He started to nod, then broke off in a shrug. He raised a hand and rocked it from side to side in a so-so motion.

  Scarlett crossed over and took the empty cot next to his. She knew the owner wouldn’t mind. He was too busy fondling a marshal in a dark corner.

  Mac pointed to her and made a sign that made her frown in confusion.

  “How am I?” she guessed.

  Mac nodded.

  “I am…” she trailed off, shaking her head. “I have no idea.”

  He signed something else, something longer and complex.

  Scarlett watched until he stopped, then shook her head. “I have no idea what you just said.”

  His face broke into a wide smile, completely unaffected by the lack of understanding between them. He reached down for his pack and flipped open the top pocket. He fished inside and came up with a data link. Scarlett watched as he typed something then passed it to her.