Soul Finder (The Immortal Gene Book 2)

by Jacinta Maree

  “Cut it out, Diesel!”

  Except it wasn’t Diesel. The boy, the Soulless, was awake and pulled himself along the pipe away from me. He quickly snatched a small rock and held it above his head. I turned toward him. The high bun holding up his long, dark hair had fallen loose, the longer strands now catching in his patchy beard. Eyes of light brown scolded me. He tried to stand but his weakened muscles shuddered beneath his weight.

  “Who are you? Where am I?” he demanded.

  My face curled in my anger. I shook my head at him, as if it was his fault Annie was dead. It was his fault. It was. I turned away. His arm lifted higher, preparing to pitch the rock at me.

  “Hit me with that rock and I’ll make you eat it,” I snapped.

  “What did you do to my legs?” He grunted as he tried to lift his knees up. “Where’s Rebecca?”

  “I don’t know what the fuck you’re going on about. And I didn’t do anything to your fucking legs.”

  “I demand to see Rebecca!”

  “You demand?” I spun back at his tone. “What makes you think you’re in any position to make demands?”

  “Do you even know who I am?” He drew his words out as if they were gold.

  I scoffed. “Correction, I know what you are, little Soulless boy.”

  “That’s right. And you better—”

  “And I don’t give two shits.” I turned away and looked outside. The rock hit my back. I spun around and grabbed it, gripping the small concrete ball in my hands. “You hungry, bitch?”

  He stiffened his lower lip. “You’re the one who kidnapped me.”

  “Kidnapped? So you were willingly shoved inside that tank?”

  “What are you going on about?”

  I slumped back against the pipe wall. He has no idea what they were doing to him. I laughed. “You’re so stupid. No wonder you were locked up, going around telling people you’re a Soulless. Such an idiot.”

  “What the hell do you know?”

  I dropped the rock. “If you want to get out of here and return to the comfy tank, then I suggest you get going before Diesel comes back. He won’t be as understanding as I am.”

  “But I can’t walk. How do you expect—”

  “Not my problem.”

  “Fine.” The boy wiggled forward using his elbows along the pipe and through the rainwater. He grunted and groaned the whole while, cursing me under his breath. He reached the lip of the pipe and toppled over into the dirt. I didn’t move to chase after him. He continued down the hill but slipped and slid down into the brick wall. He grunted as he collided with it.

  “You’ll have to go faster than that, number forty-two,” I said, mocking him.

  He continued squirming among the trash until he eventually gave up, collapsing into the dirt. “Come help me.”

  “You got yourself down there. You can get yourself out, number forty-two.”

  “Why are you calling me forty-two?” He called up.

  I swung my legs around and pushed off the pipe. I walked toward him, glancing out across the narrow streets where Diesel stashed us. It was a good spot. We were in a shrunken city, concealed behind the tall buildings and shoved beneath a partially collapsed bridge. Curls of weeds grew out of the old concrete roads. I squatted beside the boy.

  “Where do you plan on crawling off to, forty-two?”

  “It’s Hiro.”

  “Hero?”

  “No, Hi-ro.” He grunted as he dragged his legs around himself and leaned against the dark brick wall. Diesel had covered him in a blanket, but he had nothing on his feet, no shirt or jacket, just shorts. The cold air nipped his pale, yellow skin. He pulled the blanket tighter around himself.

  “What was the last thing you remember?” I asked.

  Hiro clenched his jaw, refusing to answer. His skin crawled with goosebumps and what looked like a rash from the grass.

  I shrugged out of my jacket, offering it to him. “Take it.”

  He did and slipped his arms into the warmth of the sleeves, hugging his arms back to his chest.

  “What is the last thing you remember?” I asked again.

  “Rebecca.”

  “Who’s Rebecca?”

  “My doctor.”

  “Hmm.” I nodded. “What year do you think it is?”

  “Why?”

  “Because I don’t think you know anything that’s been happening to you for the past hundred years.”

  He shook his head, loosening a laugh. “A hundred years? Ha!”

  “It’s true. You’ve been frozen in a tank. Rebecca is long dead. Who knows, she may even be a Robert now.”

  “As if I would believe a single thing you say!”

  “Whatever. I don’t need you to believe me. Doesn’t change the fact that you’re with us now.”

  He straightened his back as he spoke. “Listen, I have special abilities, okay? You have no idea what I’m capable of.”

  “Floating blood and no soul imprint. Pfft, real special.”

  He cleared his throat. “You read my files?”

  “I don’t need to.”

  “Nadia?” I turned at Diesel’s voice. He skidded down the side of the bridge, pulling his large scarf down from over his mouth. Most of his face and messy black hair were concealed beneath a red hood.

  “Oops!” I whispered as I stood. “Time’s up, number forty-two.”

  As Diesel approached, I noticed his hands were bandaged and his backpack was torn. He looked at me then quickly at Hiro, grabbing the boy by the cuff of his collar.

  “Stretching your legs?” he asked with a laugh. Hiro cowered as Diesel shoved him back against the wall. He turned and handed me a can of food. “Here.”

  “How long have we been here?” I took the can and quickly grabbed his hand before he could pull away. There was fresh blood on his knuckles. “You got into a fight?”

  “Old man didn’t exactly want to share his meal.” Diesel grinned. “We’ve been here for only a few hours. I couldn’t get us very far, and we can’t linger. The Dons are everywhere.”

  “Then let them find him. Let the Blue Dons take the Soulless back to his tank. He is only dead weight anyway.”

  Diesel cocked his head. “What’s going on with you?”

  “I just don’t see the point in trying to do this anymore. Annie is gone—”

  “She’ll be reincarnated. You know that.”

  “But not as Annie. Not my Annie. There’s little chance I’ll ever see her again.” I took a shaky breath. Even my hands were trembling. “I just don’t care anymore. I don’t care. I’m done.”

  Diesel crossed his arms. “You don’t care? Or you don’t want to care?”

  “What are you going on about?”

  “You’re so pathetic. You feel heartbreak once, just once, and you shrivel up like a child.”

  “Fuck you! She meant the world to me.”

  “And she’s dead. Big deal. Everyone dies.”

  Anger flared, rendering me speechless. I turned to walk away but Diesel grabbed my arm and spun me back to him.

  “Don’t you dare touch me!”

  “Where the hell are you going? What’s the big deal?”

  “You are such an asshole! What the fuck do you want from me?”

  “I am not here to coddle you, Nadia. That’s not how we work.”

  “Then why are you here?” I screamed.

  “To protect you,” he screamed back. “To keep you safe, goddamn it!” He turned away, gripping his hair.

  Tears streaked down my face and I quickly wiped them off, embarrassed by them.

  He turned back to me, his voice lower. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry I can’t help you through this grieving process. I don’t know how. At least you have nothing else to lose. Nothing else can hurt you as bad as you’re hurting right now.”

  “If you hadn’t had stopped me, I could have saved her,” I snarled.

  Diesel shook his head. “No, you’d be in stuck inside a tank next to him. And i
t would have been for nothing. Your sister was already gone.”

  “You don’t know that!”

  “I saw it. Her brain had been chipped away by the XCELL drug.” Diesel settled his hands onto my shoulders. “The Elite filled her with poison. They did this to her. They’ll do it again, to everyone, to all of us. You have been living on your fear for too long. It’s time to use your rage instead. Take revenge.”

  Behind us, I heard Hiro frantically trying to wiggle away. My chest felt tight. My mind settled into the embrace of my anger. I marched up to him and stomped my foot down in the middle of his back. He yelped and collapsed.

  This world is filth. I understand that now. Good intentions blackened behind greed and cruelty. The FRIM were insane, but they had the right idea.

  I ripped the jacket off Hiro. “This is mine.”

  Diesel cracked a smile. “Let’s get to work.”

  “You do want to eat, right?” Diesel asked.

  I nodded and took another deep breath.

  He stepped around the kitchen island and pushed over an empty garbage bag I was to fill. We hid inside one of the many abandoned houses in a suburban community. The winter months rolled across the city in patches of rain, chilling the air and freezing white along the glass windows. We huddled around the kitchen, our breaths white and our faces pinched pink from the crisp air. There was no electricity, gas or running water. We wouldn’t last long if the wet weather were to turn to snow.

  “We strike in the morning; they have their guards up at night. It’s only a small safety house so there shouldn’t be much resistance. Grab everything.”

  Again, I nodded. We stashed Hiro in one of the bathrooms, wedging a chair beneath the door handle so he couldn’t escape. Diesel tied and gagged him too, just in case. We moved quickly and quietly. The streets were slippery from the passing rain, turning the grass to mud. The safety house wasn’t far. Hanging from the roof was a large banner advertising food inside. It was either an offering of help or a good way to trap people.

  “Doesn’t matter. We’re not staying long,” Diesel reasoned and we stepped out from our crouch behind broken down cars. The sunlight cut across the bleak sky, lighting up the storm clouds with a grey backdrop. My hands tensed around the lead pipe. Diesel carried a shattered glass bottle.

  From his backpack, he fished out a grenade and tossed it through the front window. The exploding pop of the grenade detonating drowned the crackle of glass. Smoke pressed up against the windows and walls.

  Diesel barged through the front door with me close on his heels. The popping grenade disoriented the man guarding the front entrance.

  I didn’t linger to watch Diesel take him out. I moved further into the house, down the hall and followed the bend to the kitchen. Screams began inside the house as gunfire hailed from the front. I pressed myself against the wall, sheltering my body from the shots.

  From my pocket, I pulled another grenade and tossed it into the kitchen. I turned my head to shield my ears. The shouts were quickly lost. Perhaps behind the ringing in my ears, perhaps in death. It didn’t matter.

  I bolted into the thick smoke. Fire caught on the blinds and quickly climbed upward. Diesel was directly behind me, emptying the pistol he’d stolen into the remaining survivors. I turned to the cupboards, pulling their doors open in a frantic search. Empty. Shit! I noticed a pantry in the corner secured with a padlock. I called Diesel over and he blasted the lock off. Inside, the shelves were stocked with food, water, batteries, medicine and bandages. I moved fast, shaking with adrenaline. Sounds of gunshots and screams fell into a wall of noise behind me. I emptied everything into the garbage bag and hoisted it over my shoulder. Just in and out. That was the plan.

  “Nadia! This way,” Diesel called. I ran out of the kitchen, ignoring the small pile of dust-covered bodies sprawled out on the kitchen floor. I wrestled one of the pistols out of a dead man’s grip. Diesel took us downstairs to a car in the garage.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I need this first.” He popped the bonnet up and wrestled the battery out of the engine.

  Footsteps bounded down the stairs behind me. I turned into a lamp thrown at my head. I jerked away but the bulk hit my temple and toppled me into the wall. The remaining survivor continued running, throwing his body against the garage door and outside. I shook my head and instinctively gave chase.

  “Nadia? Wai—” Diesel’s voice disappeared behind me.

  I ran out into the courtyard just in time to see the fleeing man’s backpack swing out of view. Rage pushed me on. He was fast. In his desperation, he flung himself across car bonnets and barged through piles of trash bulking up around each corner. I didn’t ease up. My arms pumped beside me. My legs struck the ground. I ran hard, my vision white with rage. I ran as though this man was Riki. I ran as though he had just killed my sister. The distance between us narrowed. I could hear him panting and the rustle of his pants chaff. I grabbed his backpack and pulled him to the ground. He slammed down hard into the road. I jumped on top and starting tearing at his backpack, trying to rip it off him.

  “No! No! Please! I have children to feed!”

  “Shut up! Give me your goddamn bag,” I demanded. He flopped and bounced beneath my violent thrashing. It was like I wasn’t really there. My body was numb to my actions. My voice scratched and stretched with a fury that sounded foreign. It was the same senseless rage in Diesel. I moved without thinking. I hit without thinking. I ripped his backpack off and threw it over my shoulder. But I didn’t stop. Just having his stuff wasn’t enough. I needed to hurt him. Kill him. I took the gun and pressed the muzzle to the back of his head. My finger found the curve of the trigger. Riki, you fucking bastard.

  Startled gasps spun me around. I turned, pistol raised and pulled the trigger. The bang whistled down the streets. Beside me, a young man hit the ground. Red bled through his grey shirt. The woman beside him screamed. She lingered for a second, looking at her friend before fleeing into the alleyway. My arm locked up. Realization snapped and I quickly dropped the pistol.

  “No! I— I didn’t mean to. I’m so sorry. I’m sor—”

  The man beneath me started crying.

  I scrambled off him. I didn’t stop to look at what I had done. I feared that if I did, I would turn the gun on myself. I left the backpack and ran back to Diesel.

  Night rolled over. I sat in the upstairs bedroom, my eyes cast straight ahead. Rain tapped the windows in rhythm. The streets looked empty in the darkness. Diesel sat down next to me. The mattress sunk a little beneath him. He didn’t say anything. I’m not even sure I would be able to hear him if he did speak.

  Despite the chilling night, Diesel’s body radiated heat. He was stronger now, but lack of proper food and care had shrunk his muscles. He reached over to touch my hand but pulled himself back. I could feel his unease through his hesitation. His head lowered, black hair wet from the rain. We had made it back to the house, bloodied and covered in gunpowder. We ate in silence. Hiro didn’t ask any questions. He cowered away from me as if I was some sort of monster. I truly felt like I was.

  “How do you do it?” I eventually asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

  “Do what?”

  “Live with yourself?”

  Diesel took a moment to answer. “Pain is only temporary.”

  I glanced at him. His eyes looked darker, less kind.

  “Survival is the most important thing. The only thing.”

  “Then what about guilt?”

  Diesel’s jaw clenched. He must have known my next question as he buried his head into his palms.

  “Who is Katie?”

  Diesel didn’t snarl or tell me to mind my own business like he normally would. His body tightened, his lips firmed with regret. The memory must have burnt, reddening his eyes. “Katie was my daughter.” He eased his head out of his hands and looked straight ahead. He took a moment to continue talking, the words jamming up his throat. He took a shallow breath. “She was born
with a severe mental impairment that dulled the sickness of her reincarnation. Her mind was stuck as an innocent, beautiful six-year-old child. I loved her. I loved her so much it was as if I was in pain.” He smiled gently at the memory. Then the darkness sank in. His eyes hardened. His voice bubbled with emotion. “I guess… I couldn’t handle it anymore. I wasn’t good for her. I wasn’t the best dad. I wasn’t going to give her the things she needed. I thought I was doing the right thing when I sold her. Maybe I just convinced myself it was the right thing. It took months before I eventually tracked her down again, but…” His breath shuddered and he shook his head. “I found her on the side of the road, a bruised, bloated corpse lying in a ditch. She must have been so scared. I didn’t even bury her. I just left her there.”

  "Why did you sell her?”

  Diesel didn’t answer. Maybe he couldn’t own up to the truth. It was in his nature to destroy those who meant the most to him. With Diesel, history was doomed to repeat itself.

  “Would you sell me too?" I asked.

  “I was desperate—” His voice crackled.

  “And a desperate man would do anything, right?” I pushed off the mattress. Diesel didn’t follow me. I walked downstairs where Hiro sat around a small fire. He huddled around it, his fingers curved into cold, stiff claws trying to thaw over the flames. He was still in only a blanket and shorts. I sat down beside him. I didn’t know how to process what Diesel had told me. It struck a nerve, making me feel sick. I didn’t think anyone was capable of such cruelty. I knew straight away. I didn’t want to be someone like that.

  “I’m sorry.” I shrugged out of my jacket and scarf and passed it over. “I shouldn’t have been so rough with you.”

  Hiro took them hesitantly. “Why the change of heart?”

  “I learnt something about myself I didn’t like.”

  He slipped his arms into the jacket and wrapped the scarf around his neck.

  “How are you holding up…with everything that’s happening? You must be scared.”