Soul Finder (The Immortal Gene Book 2)

by Jacinta Maree

“Why?”

  “I found something that’s really crucial to our mission. You want to cleanse the world, yeah?” I pulled the piece of paper from my pocket and unravelled it. “I think this boy is the answer.”

  Riki leant in. “Who is he? And what’s a Soulless forty-two?”

  I gulped, choosing my words carefully. “He might be a cure.”

  I only told Riki as much as I felt was necessary. I completely skipped over the part about the printless eyes, the lack of reincarnated memories and the floating blood. I repeated the passage from the old script about the Soulless and Riki’s doubt softened into plausible optimism.

  “Inhuman blood. So, this boy may have the cure in his blood?” His voice went high with hope.

  “Possibly. But it’s really important that no harm comes to him. If he is killed, the cure will be gone. Forever.”

  “We will need help to kidnap him.”

  “I agree, but can you honestly say Miranda would be able to keep someone like this safe from the other leaders? From Diesel?”

  Riki pondered the question then sighed. “She’s strong, but she is only human. So what do you suggest? We can’t sneak him back in here.”

  “Right now I just want to know if he is even alive and find where they are hiding him. Later, I think we should both go back to the surface to check it out. Since there are only two of us, we should be able to sneak around easier.”

  Riki slowly nodded. “Yeah, okay. I’ll just finish up with what Miranda needed and we can discuss what to do after dinner.”

  I waited for Riki to return but he never showed. I had licked my bowl clean, but still felt too anxious to return it to the dining hall. I cautiously stepped out of Miranda’s quarters into the empty hallway. The unusual quietness tightened my spine.

  When I walked into the dining hall I stumbled back at the mass of bodies sprawled out on the floor. Vomit ran down the walls, tables and floors. White froth bubbled out of their slack mouths, dribbling down their chins. I took a step back. Poison? I quickly grabbed my stomach, suddenly weary of the meal I had eaten hours earlier. But this attack seemed to be instant. Those who ingested it must have died within minutes of swallowing. Questions burned. I searched for Diesel and Riki among the gawked faces. Thankfully, they weren’t there but it still didn’t explain why this happened or where the rest of FRIM was.

  Apprehension pushed me on. More bodies filled the halls, scattered out in an attempt to run for aid. There were signs of fighting. Stray bullet holes marked the walls.

  A distant noise rose from the back hallways. I followed it, noting a horrid stench becoming stronger. As I rounded the corner, I nearly collided with a body hanged by a noose. It took two blinks to recognise the slack, burnt face and what was left of her shoulder length hair. Miranda. She had been set on fire, her clothes disintegrated into a pile of ash beneath her swinging corpse. Smoke lifted from her red skin in strings and hugged the ceiling in a thin, shifting fog.

  The burnt rope suddenly snapped and dropped her. I screamed and fell backward into the wall. What the hell is happening? On the wall behind where her body had been hanged was Riki’s name written in blood. Sudden dread filled me, drawing out the detail of the distant cheering. They were chanting to fight. To kill. Riki must be there.

  I ran toward the fighting ring. The room was only partially packed, but the noise could have tricked me into thinking it was full. People shouted, screamed, laughed and booed. The noise slammed into my sore head. But the men hollering were not members of FRIM. I hesitated and stepped back. Standing at the front of the pack was a man I could never forget. The moment I saw him I thought back to the I.O.S camp and imagined the smoke caught in my lungs. I searched his hands as though expecting him to toss Frankie’s decapitated head at me again. He crossed his arm and watched the fight.

  In the centre of the circle was Riki. Blood marked his face as he struggled, exhaustion weakening his legs. On him, with his foot pressed into Riki’s throat, stood Diesel. Diesel pressed his foot in further. Riki choked.

  I shoved my way to the front and threw myself onto Diesel’s back. He stumbled off and I heard Riki suck in a loud gasp of air. The crowd roared louder.

  “Diesel! Stop it! Stop,” I screamed. Despite being within inches of him my voice was lost in the chaos of the excitement.

  Diesel turned and looked at me. Black hair glistened with sweat, flicking up like horns. Darkness hugged his frame. Anger tightened his muscles, sharpening his glare with an intensity I had never seen before. He looked at me like I was something he wanted to destroy. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. His power was in his silence, in the terrifying wake of his dark, calculating stare. This was the monster who swallowed the light in Diesel’s eyes. This must be Krane.

  I took a step back. I will not say his name aloud in fear he’ll take it as an invitation to stay, that I’m acknowledging and welcoming him to this body and reality. I didn’t know what I should do. What I could do. I looked into his eyes, searching for signs of Diesel’s presence. He smiled cruelly.

  The noise dulled. Fear chilled my limbs. I glanced down at Riki. Blood covered his entire face. He coughed, spitting red across the mat. Beside him, in the curve of the circle, was Callous. Her purple body was bruised and twisted. Her head had been cracked so far back the top of her crown could almost rest in between her shoulder blades. If she had smiled during her death, the grin was long gone now.

  Fear moved me. I turned and ran. The crowd dispersed, clearing a path. When I glanced back Diesel was stepping off the stage. He ran too.

  Their loud cheers for my capture followed me down the hallway. My speed slid me sideways, skidding and hitting the wall. Using the momentum, I kicked off, running desperately. Footsteps followed behind. Corridors twisted into long blurs of grey as I ran down the passageways, through doors and leapt over furniture. Diesel was on my heels, the distance between us narrowing. I could feel his presence on my neck. I ran hard, fast. He ran harder, faster.

  I didn’t slow until I reached the large warehouse filled with hanging robots. I crashed into the room, sprinting straight toward Rocko. I jumped up, trying to reach the switch at the back of its neck to power him up. Unlike Booza, most of Rocko’s weight was in its thick armoured chest and bulky forearms. The door opened behind me before I could turn the machine on, so I quickly snatched a screwdriver from one of the workbenches.

  Diesel crossed the room, undeterred, as I held the screwdriver out.

  “Back off!”

  He didn’t slow. “Nadia, enough!”

  His tone felt like a slap. Was this actually Diesel? I don’t know what I feared more, if Diesel really was gone or if he was capable of doing these horrible things.

  “I mean it, stay away from me!”

  “You don’t have to be scared anymore.” Bloodied hands cupped my face, turning my head up. He kissed me, but all I could taste was sweat. I jerked my head away.

  “What are you doing? Stop it!” I slashed sideways with the screwdriver, but he caught my hand and disarmed me. I stepped back. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  The question made him laugh. “You’re angry, I get it. But I had to send you into the ring; it was the only way to make sure you were safe for when the Hell Risers arrived.”

  “Wait, what? What do you mean you sent me into the ring?”

  “I had to be sure your injuries were serious enough first. It had to look natural. People were watching me.”

  “This is despicable. Why are you doing this?”

  “Calm down.” He stepped closer, soothing my shoulders. His touch was hot and uncomfortable. “I told you I had this handled. I weakened the FRIM numbers just enough so that the Hell Risers could clean out the rest. It was only a matter of time before they tried to assassinate me again. I had to do it.”

  “Wha— You…you couldn’t just tell me that?”

  “How? People were watching me. I couldn’t slip you a note or anything. Plus, they would be suspicious if you
were suddenly housebound for no reason. I know it hurts but your wounds will heal.”

  I shook my head. This must be a nightmare. This must be fake.

  “This isn’t you, Diesel. This is Krane’s influence. You’re sick but once you get some D400 into you, you’ll be you again.”

  Diesel’s voice tightened. “I’m not sick. Don’t you get it? Krane, Diesel, there’s no difference.”

  My breath shuddered out. All this time, everyone referred to him as Krane but I had ignored it. All this time I was warned of Krane’s cruel capabilities but I was so certain Diesel wasn’t the same malicious person. But Krane wasn’t a separate entity held behind a wall of D400. It was just another name fitted to a different face.

  I stepped back. “You’re disgusting!”

  “Nadia.” He smiled as though I was joking. He reached out to touch me. I jerked away.

  With all the coldness I could master, I gritted through my teeth. “Men like you remind me that there are such things as real monsters.”

  My words hit something dark inside of Diesel and immediately he dropped his smile. “Hmm, so what do you call those that love monsters like me, huh? How disgusting are you then?”

  He was right. We were a candle on fire, destined to destroy each other. He was a flame, clinging to me, not letting me go as I melted beneath. I could feel myself weaken in my core, my sides running with wax. The more the flame ate and picked me away, the further my body hollowed until all that was left were brittle walls melting into a puddle. Once I was gone, he’d snap shut into smoke.

  “Maybe you are right. Maybe love really is just poison an idiot drinks.”

  Diesel’s eyes narrowed. “Didn’t you say nothing could break you?”

  “I’m not broken. You are. And this is a poison you can now drink alone.”

  “Nadia! Come on! Wait— Nadia, wait!”

  I turned away. When I wanted to cry, I held my head higher. When I wanted to scream, I clamped my jaw shut. I stepped around him calmly, feeling my heart shatter around my feet. Strength hollowed out through the cracks, weakening me, emptying my body until all I felt was despair.

  “Nadia. Don’t walk away.”

  I slammed the door behind me. His words taunted me. Only someone who has not felt love’s pain would eagerly welcome it.

  Chapter Twelve:

  When my parents used to look at me with a coldness in their stare, it had left an unbearable ache in my chest. As a child I couldn’t understand this longing I had to be with others, especially when the world seemed to run as a self-centred entity. As I grew and those cold stares came from my friends, teachers and neighbours, I was able to teach myself how to shake the feeling away. But with Diesel, it wasn’t that simple. Like a virus, that same ache I used to shrug off had mutated against my defences. It was a wound I couldn’t stitch closed. It crippled me from the inside. Even as I walked the halls I could feel it bleed out in droplets.

  The FRIM base was completely overrun by the Hell Risers. Le’Ron and Brien were executed that night and any remaining FRIM members were killed or held prisoner in the drifter pens. The night I left Diesel, he set fire to all of the robots, destroying the warehouse. Despite his brutality, he spared Riki’s life. Everywhere Diesel went Riki was right behind him, curled beneath his feet like a shadow. Hound followed me in Riki’s absence. I found the German Shepard tied up with the other dogs in the pens. He had been hiding in the corner, tail curled in between his hind legs and ears pinned back. Now he walked beside me, weary of our new houseguests.

  Within a day, the Hell Risers had completely destroyed everything FRIM had created. They had trashed everything they could. Smashed bottles lined the halls and the stench of their piss was thick on the back of fumes. I spent the whole day down with the drifters, hiding among them. While I was there I looked for people who still held some understanding of reality. Plus, I wouldn’t bump into Diesel in the pens. And thankfully, the Hell Risers didn’t seem to have any interest in the drifters either. Well, other than the yellows, of course.

  At every corner my body clenched up, expecting Diesel to appear. I didn’t trust him around me. Or maybe I didn’t trust myself around him. I felt myself become obsessed. I needed to know what he thought. I wanted to see him. Make sure he was okay. I wanted to go back to the moment where Diesel’s greatest flaw was his intense nature. His fractured trust. Breaking open, for me. Me only. I couldn’t explain this irrational yearning to know what was going on inside his head. I just needed it. I also knew I couldn’t hide with the drifters forever.

  I was hungry, thirsty, but I couldn’t bring myself to eat the bagged dog food. The number of drifters had dwindled into only handfuls. The cause of their deaths was unknown and numerous. Bodies were taken out onto the tracks to burn.

  As I walked the aisles of the few that remained of the Blues, I heard a tap coming from the far corner. It was urgent but rhythmic enough that it wasn’t random. I wandered down and was stopped by a hand waving me over. I knelt by the bars. A pair of hands reached forward and bony fingers curled around the metal bars. Shadows cut across the young man’s face, and I caught a glint of a red beard.

  When a set of blue eyes peek up I staggered backward. The familiar iced blue dulled beneath a bloodshot gaze. The boy inched forward, jerking his head left and right to ensure no one was listening. He held a finger to his lips, signalling me to be quiet, and then he reached forward and gently placed his palm on my chest, over my heart. The gesture was gentle. I gripped his hand in response. They were roughened with scars.

  “Oh my God, Vance, you’re still alive?” He tilted his head but his expression was lost in his thick mop of red hair. I didn’t want to look down at his body, fearing he’d have limbs chopped off and eaten. I reached in to take his other hand. “I am so sorry for not coming back for you. I thought you were dead.”

  He shook his head.

  “Can you walk?”

  He nodded.

  “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you speaking?”

  Does he not have a tongue? Was his voice box ripped out? I immediately regretted asking myself the questions until I heard his stuttering grunts.

  “N-N-Not a-a-allowed.”

  “Okay, it’s okay.” I stroked his hand as his grip tightened fearfully. He had been a prisoner of the Hell Risers for so long, I couldn’t imagine what he had gone through. Guilt flared up followed by a surge for the need of justice. I can finally do something right. “I’m going to get you out of here. I promise.”

  There was one question that had been gnawing at me for hours. Why did Diesel spare Riki? Initially, I thought it was because of my eagerness to save him and Diesel was just showing me kindness, but the more I thought about it the more I doubted Diesel would save someone he didn’t want to save.

  My fear dwindled with my desperation to eat. I armed myself with what I could find lying around, which was only a chuck of splintered wood. I reached the dining hall and walked into a room where fifteen heads swung around at my entrance. Scraps of food, beer, wine, cash and what appeared to be bags of drugs were scattered across the table. Hound was a small assurance for my safety, but a single dog against a drugged-up gang wasn’t much hope to hang onto. I immediately regretted walking into the dining hall, especially as the leader was among the faces.

  He rose from his seat. His voice never rose above an unthreatening whisper. “My…if it isn’t the elusive whore herself.”

  This was the first time I really got a good look at him. His long brown beard thickened around his jaw and wrapped around his neck like a tight scarf, drawing my attention away from his shaved and tattooed head. His eyebrows kissed in the middle as they arched over dirt brown eyes. I may be a Soulless, but this man was the soulless one here. Scars lined his cheeks, eyebrows and lips in delicate curves. A festering wound wrapped his shoulder on his exposed right arm. I tried not to react as I held my head a little higher.

  “I’m looking for Krane.”

  “Krane, huh?” He pretended
to check around the room. “Sorry, love, looks like Krane isn’t here. He’s been holed up in that little bunker of his, no doubt shitting himself. Betraying the entire FRIM organisation can make a man rethink his immortality.” He took another step forward. “I was wondering when you would show yourself. Oh yes, big bad Krane has been very clear about what we can do with you.” I took a step back.

  Two more of his men stood.

  My hands clenched into fists. “I don’t have time for lowlifes like you.” As I turned to leave, the remaining men stood, the screech of their chairs sliding back synchronized.

  “Now, that’s just impolite.”

  They moved closer.

  I squared my shoulders, checking their hands for weapons. Hound panted beside me, and then whined. They circled me, cutting off my exit.

  The leader’s eyes moved to Hound. “Nice mutt. I’ve always wanted a dog.”

  I pulled Hound closer to me. “What do you want? Why help Krane?” I demanded.

  The leader smirked. “Oh, no, this isn’t just some favour for dear Krane. He had to pay up big for our work.”

  “Pay you what?”

  “This. Everything. Everything FRIM had is now ours. The control of the east borders, the line of D400 stashed in the walls and the toys we can fuck. But, I think Krane can sacrifice a little bit more.” He reached forward and trailed a finger down my cheek. “I’ll break you in half. I’ll even let him watch.”

  “He won’t let you touch me.”

  “Krane has no one left in his little pack of mutts—”

  “So the wolf said to the cornered sheep,” a voice called from the doorway.

  I spun around. Diesel stood by the entrance with Riki at his flank. I was instantly relieved to see Riki again. Hound bounded toward him and licked Riki’s clenched hand.

  Darkness pillowed Diesel’s eyes, sinking his face into that of a narrow, pale man. He spoke without looking at me. “Yet he did not know that the sheep was a wolf in disguise. Don’t underestimate me, people who do tend to end up in pieces.”