by Amy Braun
It took little over a minute to get the rest of the bolts unscrewed. I put the screwdriver back on my belt and grabbed the cable, giving it a fierce yank. The cable made a loud, angry pop as it was released, air hissing into the new space.
Then the whine of machine began to dull. I pulled my arms back and stood up, turning to Abby. Blood no longer flowed into the tubes on her body. I had to believe the same could be said of the other survivors.
Sawyer and Riley worked together to gently pull the needles from my little sister. I choked on a sob when I saw how long the needles were. They might as well have been daggers. Refusing to stand there and do nothing, I rushed forward to help them, pulling the last of the needles free. I sobbed again, trying not to look at the blood staining patches of my sister’s shirt. I quickly unstrapped Abby from the plate, starting with her legs. As soon as I undid the straps around her chest, she toppled forward. I caught her and carried her with me onto the floor, tears spilling from my eyes.
“It’s okay, Abby,” I whispered, smoothing down her tangled curls. “It’s okay, baby sister.”
There were subtle noises in the background, what I assumed were Sawyer and Riley working to remove the other victims. I couldn’t do anything but sit on the cold floor and rock my sister back and forth, hoping she would breathe again.
Please, baby sister. Please don’t leave me like this. Please.
Another sob wrenched from my chest. I held her tighter, wishing my body heat would be able to warm her again. She felt so cold and tiny. I didn’t know what to do–
There was a slight breeze against my neck.
“Claire?”
Her voice was hoarse and frail, so small I thought I imagined it. Then I pulled back just enough to see her chest bumping against mine.
She was breathing. Abby was alive.
I pulled her close to me again, wrapping her up as best as I could and stroking her hair again. I’d never felt this kind of relief before. The joy was painful.
“I’m here, sister,” I told her. “We’re getting out of here.”
“You shouldn’t be here,” she whispered. “They’ll come back. They always come back.”
My heart ached, and I prayed that I hadn’t lost her to the insanity that gripped Riley when we found him. I gently pushed away from Abby and held her shoulders, being as mindful of her injuries as I could.
“They won’t touch you again. I swear it, Abigail.”
For the first time in what seemed like forever, I met my sister’s eyes. They were filled with a horror and suffering I would never be able to take from her. There was the possibility that she wouldn’t forgive me for her torture, but I pushed those thoughts aside. Right now, I just needed to get her out of here so she would be safe. I’d deal with the consequences when I finished my actions.
“Can you stand?” I asked.
Abby bit her lower lip and nodded. She was still terrified, but she trusted me. I threaded my fingers through hers and slowly stood up with her. I kept her close to my side, wrapping both arms around her shoulders as we turned to Sawyer and Riley. She didn’t scream when she saw the strangers, but Abby still whimpered and buried her face in my ribs. I held her close, looking at the marauder and the prisoner as they helped the others from their metal plates. Sawyer spoke in low voices to some of the stronger boys and girls, telling them to help free the prisoners. I released a few, but it was difficult with Abby refusing to let go of my leg.
After a while, a hundred victims stood huddling in the middle of the nightmarish room. Bloody holes covered their bodies, and while no one was shrieking right now, I could see them teetering in on the edge of sanity.
I looked at Riley. “What was done to them?”
The young man looked down, his shoulders slumped as if he were responsible for the suffering of these people.
“Their blood is divided. Half of it feeds the Hellions on the ship, and the other half goes through the Breach to the Vesper.”
That explains why the tank is so big, I thought. A lump formed in my throat, and I quickly swallowed it.
“That’s some intimate knowledge you have,” Sawyer pointed out aggressively.
Riley gave him a sharp look, his first defiant stand. “What do you want me to say? That I enjoy being tortured? That I want others to go through all that I went through?” He swept a hand along his body, indicating his scars. “I found out whatever I did because they thought I would die. I’ve struggled to live, holding onto anything that might save me. I want these monsters more dead than you ever could.”
Sawyer’s fists tightened with outrage. His restraint was collapsing. His distrust of Riley was obvious, and it would only take one more nudge to shove him over the edge. At the same time, Riley had experienced his own suffering at the claws of the Hellions. Whatever anxiety Sawyer had caused him earlier was quickly giving way to indignation.
I cradled Abby as best as I could. “We need to move. We’ll get the survivors back to the skiffs. Gemma and Nash should be at the door by now.”
Sawyer nodded eagerly, his worry becoming obvious. After the tortures we’d just witnessed, he wanted to find his friends and ensure they didn’t suffer as these poor souls had. He looked at Riley.
“Help Claire move the ones that can’t walk very well. We’re going back to the docking bay and we’ll get them off the ship, but you’re staying with us. We’re not done with the Hellions yet.”
Riley shook his head. “You can’t save them all. There are too many. I know how to fly a skiff, but it won’t hold a hundred people.”
“Good thing we have access to five skiffs, not one.”
“Still doesn’t make a difference. I can’t be five places at once, and if someone doesn’t know how to pilot those skiffs, they’re just going to crash–”
Sawyer turned sharply to face the skiffs. “Anyone here know how to fly a ship?”
Silence fell. Most of the children and teenagers shifted on their feet. Sawyer cut to the chase.
“If you can fly a ship, you’ll be able to go home.”
Heads perked up. Hope glistened in weary eyes. Twelve tentative hands raised, the arms belonging to some of the men who were our age. I wondered how long they’d been trapped up here, if their memories and minds were still intact enough to remember how to operate a ship.
I decided to go on faith. It was the only thing we had time for.
Satisfied, Sawyer said, “Figure out who’s the best captain. You’ll be taking groups of survivors down to Westraven. Where doesn’t matter. Just get them on the ground. Get them home.”
The victims said nothing, their eyes still wide with fear and hope.
Sawyer turned back around. Riley flinched, but he didn’t argue. The marauder captain was furious, barely holding onto his temper. I wasn’t sure what began to set it off, but I had no intention of getting in its way. Not after Sawyer had risked so much for me.
He turned to face the survivors, piercing them with his fierce gold eyes.
“None of you will make a sound. You do exactly what I tell you to, or I’ll drag you back here myself.”
I frowned at Sawyer’s harsh command, though I could see the reason behind it. Escaping the Behemoth would be tricky enough. The last thing we needed were a hundred survivors screaming our location to any other Hellions that might be on the ship.
Sawyer turned to the door and drew his cutlass from the scabbard on his back. The survivors cringed at the sharp metal, but no one screamed. Maybe they’d spent too long taking orders from the Hellions. Yet another circumstance I didn’t care to think about.
While Sawyer stormed out of the nightmarish room and Riley gently urged them to follow. I led my sister to the doorway.
“They won’t let us leave,” Abby whispered.
I held her arm tightly and smirked down at her. “Good thing we aren’t asking their permission.”
Abby didn’t smile back. She clung tighter to me. I turned and knelt down in front of her, holding her shoulders and
trying not to see the blood smeared on her neck and seeping through her clothes. Her wounds weren’t gushing, but she was weak and hurt. If I didn’t get her out of here soon, she would lose consciousness.
“When we came here, we made sure the Hellions were raiding. I have a plan to get rid of the Behemoth once and for all, but you have to trust me. Can you do that, Abigail?”
Can you still believe in me after I let you down? The words lodged in my throat, destined to strangle me if I spoke them aloud. I read her eyes, desperate to know if she would forgive me.
Abby swallowed her sob, though tears shone in her big green eyes. “I trust you.”
That was all I needed to hear. I stood up and took her hand, pulling her with me. Riley watched me as I led her out of the torture room. He walked with us, glancing at my baby sister.
“We’ll be out of here soon, Abby. Your sister will keep you safe.”
I looked at Riley and smiled. “Thank you,” I whispered.
Riley smiled back, quickening to follow Sawyer. We walked in silence, reaching the furnace room. The survivors huddled together and whimpered. Riley stiffened and looked away from the furnace. Abby pushed closer to me.
“Is the cockpit far from here?” I asked Riley, both to learn and to distract him.
He sounded grateful for it when he answered, “No. But we have to get back to the main hallway. I’ll take you there.”
I hesitated. “You can just tell us where to go…” I trailed off as he shook his head.
“You stood up for me. You’re probably saving my life. Helping you take these bastards down and getting the survivors out of here is the least I can do.”
The intensity of his gaze caused my heart to speed up. I’d never really taken responsibility for someone’s life before, aside from Abby, but that was what I felt when I looked at Riley. That I fought to help him, and he was mine to protect now.
The idea didn’t comfort me, since Abby was a reminder of how terrible I was at protecting others.
I looked away from Riley and focused on Sawyer, still leading the traumatized survivors. I noticed their tension hadn’t abated since leaving the furnace room. As we approached the door across the hall to the docking bay, they mumbled and shook, some of them whipping their heads back and forth as they looked in the massive, arching hallway. Abby trembled in my hand. Her breathing became hitched.
Sawyer whirled around and tried to hush the survivors, but they slowed down, gasping, clutching their heads or stomachs, whimpering and crying.
Something was wrong.
Abby suddenly grabbed both my hands in hers and pulled. I looked at her and saw fear blazing through her eyes.
“They’re here,” she breathed. “Claire, they’re here!”
Just as I opened my mouth to ask what she was talking about, and how she knew, the door to the docking bay screeched open. I pushed Abby behind me, hoping to keep her from seeing whatever it was she feared.
There was nothing I could do about my own fear, though.
They stalked through the door like oily shadows, their raspy growls muffled under the masks they still wore. The mere sight of the twelve Hellions blocking our only exit caused the survivors to start screaming. They dropped to their knees, writhing in some kind of unseen agony. Sawyer maintained his focus, lifting his cutlass and taking a step back to plant his feet.
One of the Hellions strode forward, confidence and power pouring off of him. The large Hellion that had been stalking me for a long time had finally trapped me. I couldn’t escape it now, even if I wanted to. I’d walked right into its home territory.
But when the Hellion removed its mask and let its jet black hair tumble around its face, its gaze didn’t lock on me.
It went directly to Sawyer.
The Hellion’s smile was sharp and carnivorous, its red eyes wild with violence and hunger. But they didn’t chill me half as much as its words did.
“Hello, brother,” the Hellion said. “Did you miss me?”
Chapter 14
While my heart pounded with fear, my brain struggled to grasp the situation.
Not only could the Hellion speak Aonian perfectly, it–he–had memories. He knew exactly who Sawyer was. And he was related to him.
No, I told myself. This has to be a mistake. Sawyer had two brothers, and they both died. There was no way he could have lied about that.
But that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have hidden other truths from you.
Unable to think properly, I pushed away my thoughts and concentrated on what Sawyer was saying.
“You’re supposed to be dead,” he accused. He struggled to keep the fear out of his voice, but I heard it. Sawyer was afraid.
The Hellion chuckled, taking slow steps toward his so-called brother. He never blinked, and didn’t seem disturbed by the survivors screaming behind Sawyer.
“Bet you were hoping for that, huh? You never were strong enough to keep up with me or our father. That’s why you played with Micah. He was the only one you knew you could beat in a fight.”
“Leave him out of this,” Sawyer warned.
The Hellion only laughed. “Still protecting his memory? That’s cute. I’ve never seen you protect anything. All you do is run.”
Sawyer didn’t flinch as the Hellion stepped in front of the sword, oblivious to the weapon pointed just inches above his heart. Sawyer could have ended the monster’s existence right here and now, saving countless lives.
But he didn’t move.
“See?” The Hellion taunted. “I’m right here, and you can’t kill me. Not even when you know what I’m capable of.”
He moved faster than I could see. One minute Sawyer was holding his sword at the Hellion. Then the monster knocked the blade away and punched Sawyer in the jaw. He lost his balance, his head pitching to the side. The Hellion’s fist rocketed down, crashing into Sawyer’s temple and sending him onto the ground, opening him up to a flurry of kicks from the Hellion.
“Sawyer!” I screamed.
I grabbed Riley’s arm and yanked him in front of my sister, hoping he got the message. Then I took out the second knife that Sawyer had given me and charged the Hellion.
For the briefest second, I thought the Hellion didn’t see me. He was so concentrated on hurting Sawyer that I didn’t think he would register my presence until my knife was in his back.
I reached him with my arm raised, prepared to drive the knife home, when the Hellion whirled around and grabbed my throat in his claws. My swing missed, flying harmlessly in front of the Hellion. He chuckled and squeezed my throat, digging in his talons.
“You really think I didn’t see you, darling?” He pulled me closer, letting me smell the blood on his breath. “You think I don’t know who you are?”
The Hellion kicked my feet out from under me, causing my knees to buckle. We dropped onto the ground, his hand still wrapped around my throat. My head smashed against the cold floor, sending white spots through my vision. Sawyer and Abby’s screams rose above the rest, but I could barely hear them past the pain in my skull. The Hellion hovered over me, slowly cutting off my air and covering my body with his cold touch. He leaned in close, the tips of his inky black hair brushing my face and his eyes burned into mine. I tried to move, to do anything to throw him off of me, but he was too strong. I was trapped.