Hiro’s mouth firmed. “I’m not scared of you.” He growled at me, as though making a point.
“I don’t want you to be scared of me. That’s not what I meant. Things must be a bit of a shock though. I mean, it’s been how long since you’ve seen the world?”
He shuffled over a little. “This is my first time, actually. It isn’t what I expected. The desperation. The killings. Rebecca told me the world was going to be fixed. That I was the saviour… but I guess she really was just a liar. I can see that now.”
“Did you live your whole life inside that tank?”
Hiro shrugged. “I grew up inside a laboratory. I was told so many things about the world. About the plague. I thought I was a saviour, but you didn’t mean what you said before, right? About the whole frozen for a hundred years thing?”
“I did.” I hugged my legs to my chest. “The Blue Dons froze you to keep the reincarnation gene under their control. To study your biology better.”
“So… my family? Rebecca?”
“Dead and reborn. They are probably around your age by now.”
Hiro let out a shaky breath. “It’s just hard to wrap my mind around it. Why did you break me out?”
“To find a way to break reincarnation.”
“Why do you want to stop it? I would love to live forever.”
I pursed my lips. “There are a lot of side effects to immortality. In the worst cases, people’s minds snap and they become drifters.”
“Drifters?”
“Yeah, you know, completely unaware of their reality. The detachment to their own life and the lives of others around them. Have you not seen a drifter before?” Hiro shrugged. “What did the Blue Dons tell you exactly?”
“That I was important.”
“Aside from that?”
“Nothing really.”
“You never questioned the world? Why people were so sick? What the D400 was for? None of that?”
He looked away, annoyed. “They looked after me. Everything else didn’t seem to matter.”
I chewed on my inner cheek at the thought of how different our lives played out. Hiro was treated with kindness, favouritism and a sense of importance. I was jabbed with needles and locked inside cages. But the difference in our lives was that he was taken in by the Blue Dons, where as I was under the care of Elite McKinnon and Fitzgerald. Two different powerful organizations seemingly after the exact same thing. Or so I figured.
Hours passed. Hiro eventually fell asleep, curled beneath the blanket. I couldn’t rest. In the back of my mind, I could still hear Diesel’s voice. His words shook. It chilled me.
Above the quiet, a distant thumping tickled my ear. I stood up and pulled the curtain back to see outside when loud footsteps charged down the stairs. Diesel tackled me to the floor just before a white, powerful light swept past the window. He scrambled off and smothered the flames. The distant thump grew louder and more defined. A helicopter. The noise startled Hiro awake.
“Grab what you can. We have to move,” Diesel ordered.
I bolted across the kitchen, picking up my backpack and stashing as much as I could inside.
Diesel grabbed the batteries and Rocko’s head. “Now move! Move!”
With Hiro on one shoulder each, we quickly escaped from our small abandoned community. We ran until the sun rose, pulling back the shadows and forcing us into a large vandalized mall with “KEEP OUT” signs. Inside the decaying carcass of an old shopping centre, we found safety in an abandoned clinic. Aside from empty boxes, the shelves were gutted, and disintegrated posters advertised sunscreen. The security gates were mangled in the riots that must have destroyed this place many years ago.
“They must have recognised you on one of the street cameras,” Diesel suggested. “I’m such an idiot. I should have done this earlier.”
“Are you sure it’s going to work?” I asked, eyeing the knife Diesel wielded. I gripped the armrests of my chair.
Diesel shrugged and handed me the wine. I took a long gulp, feeling the alcohol burn my throat. He stepped around and pulled my hair up into a ponytail. In one fluid slice, he cut upward and the weight dropped off my head. Long brown strands curled in my lap. I quickly brushed them off. He deliberately kept one side long and swept it across to hide the scar Doctor Fitzgerald left on my temple.
I changed my clothes, shrugging out of my singlet and into a chequered flannel shirt. Everything I wore was two sizes too big, creating the illusion I was bigger than I really was. He pulled a cotton beanie over my head and rubbed dirt over my face, along my cheeks, jaw and down my neck. I looked briefly at my reflection. My dirtied face looked like a beard, hiding my feminine qualities beneath grim and lumpy clothes. The cap concealed my choppy short hair.
“Take another mouthful,” he instructed.
I did and placed the wine back on the table. I settled back in my chair, my fingers tense again.
Diesel cupped the side of my face and eased his bent elbow up against my nose. “Brace yourself.” He then swung outward, breaking bone.
“Ow! Fuck!” Pain swarmed up into my eyes and forehead. I grabbed my face, feeling warm blood pool into my hands.
“Sorry. Necessity. You are one of the most wanted people in the country, outranking me. I can’t have someone recognising you. Cameras and bots use old profiles to track fugitives. If I change your profile, hopefully your identity will be kept safe.”
“Hopefully? You broke my nose on hopefully?” I bent my head between my knees, watching the red drop. “I guess a simple gasmask was out of the question then.”
“They won’t let you hide your face inside the cities. Now, it’s your turn.” Diesel turned to Hiro who was tied up on the ground beside us.
Hiro wiggled away. “And what? You’re going to turn me into a girl?”
“You’re too ugly to be a girl.” Diesel pulled a lighter from his backpack and an aerosol can. Hiro’s eyes expanded as he watched Diesel test the projection of the flame.
“Diesel, don’t,” I barked, spitting blood.
“Only enough to disfigure him.”
“Oh god! No! You can’t be serious,” Hiro screamed.
“Shut up and hold still!”
“No, Diesel,” I barked again.
Diesel flicked the lighter off. “Fine. We’ll do it your way.” He grabbed Hiro by his hair bun. “But I will need this.” With a fluid twist, Diesel sliced Hiro’s hair off.
Hiro grabbed Diesel’s wrist. “What are you doing?”
“It’ll grow back.” Diesel shook off Hiro’s grip and took mine and Hiro’s chopped hair and shoved it into a bag. “Oh, and of course.” Diesel turned and swung, breaking Hiro’s nose. Blood splattered the ground. Hiro clutched his face and swore loudly.
“Diesel, for crying out loud, stop breaking people’s noses,” I shouted.
“I’m done anyway.” He turned back around and sat by a table on the other side of the room where he set up Rocko and the car battery. “While I work on Rocko, why don’t you try getting the Soulless up and walking about? We can’t drag his skinny ass forever.”
I handed Hiro a cloth. “Here.”
He took the cloth and pressed it against his busted nose.
“Ignore Diesel. He can be an ass sometimes. Let’s see what we’re working with.” I sat down opposite him and started what I guessed was therapy work on his weakened legs. I really didn’t have any idea how to help Hiro walk. I started by resting his feet on my hands and extending and bending his knees like I was rowing, instructing him to try and push back with the soles of his feet. We did this for about an hour with little to no small talk.
“Why are you lugging around that stupid robot’s head anyway, Diesel?” I asked over my shoulder.
“I’m reengineering Rocko’s functions by inputting my work into its code. I’m not going to make removable contacts this time. I am going to make lasers.”
I eased Hiro’s legs down. “Lasers? As in, you’re going to burn the prints directly
onto the eyeballs?”
“That’s right. And I am going to test it out on him first.”
Hiro’s shoulders snapped back against the wall. “What?”
“It’s the only way to get into the Elite district,” Diesel reasoned. “Especially if we want to find and kidnap Elite McKinnon.”
I laughed. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am. He is part of the team to create the D400 serum. Perhaps he can help us with a more permanent cure.”
“I know exactly what Elite McKinnon is capable of.” I jabbed the scar on my temple. “This is Doctor’s Fitzgerald handy work and he worked for McKinnon. He is no closer to the cure than the Dons.”
“You won’t have to worry. He won’t be working on you.” His eyes trailed over to Hiro.
I shook my head. “No. Diesel, we’re not giving Hiro to that lunatic.”
“He’s only cargo—”
“Well, you might think it is okay to sell people but I don’t.” I took a jab at Diesel’s confession with Katie, and my stomach curled with instant regret. I couldn’t see his expression as Diesel pushed away from his desk and left. When he eventually returned hours later, carrying more food, blankets and fresh bruises, he woke me with his loud entrance.
“Hey. You were out this late?” I asked groggily. My broken nose congested my sinuses, changing the sound of my voice.
He didn’t say anything but dropped his backpack to the ground with a thud.
Hiro woke and groaned, curling tighter into the blanket for warmth.
“Did you hit another safe house?” I asked quietly.
Again, he didn’t speak. As he rounded the counter, I noticed his limp. I quickly stopped him and eased him against the table.
“Diesel, what’s going on?”
Diesel shrugged my hand off his shoulder. “You just concentrate on getting him walking.”
An unease shifted through me. “Are you mad at me?”
“Just go to bed, Nadia.” Diesel slumped to the ground by the entrance with his gun resting on his lap.
I sat back down and fell asleep, only to wake to Diesel working at his station. As routine, I continued working with Hiro to strengthen his legs. For the next few hours, Hiro got a lot stronger. I could feel his resistance against my palms, and he had enough strength to stand on his own without collapsing. On our third day, Diesel prepared himself for another scavenger trip and left.
I jumped up to follow him out. “Wait, Diesel. I want to join you.”
“No,” he answered over his shoulder. I grabbed his sleeve but he pushed me off. “I said stay here.”
“Diesel, I want to help.”
Diesel rolled his eyes and turned to leave.
I grabbed his arm. “Talk to me.”
“What is there to talk about?” He shook me off again.
“Fine, then just listen. I wanted to apologise. I know this may seem small in the scheme of things but you’ve really come through for me even after I was a bitch to you at FRIM.”
“You want to apologise over that?” He snorted.
My eyes tightened in my annoyance. “Yes, okay. Don’t be a jerk about it.” Despite his roughness, I felt myself smiling. It was good to see his cocky attitude again after days of silence. “I really do appreciate you looking after me. I mean, looking after us.”
“Nadia, just stop!” He shook his head, not wanting to listen. “Don’t pretend this is something that’s good.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked, genuinely confused.
“Come on, you’re not this stupid.” He took a step back and crossed his arms, angered and tired of talking to me about it. “This cannot possibly end well for us. I’m sure you saw your future in that tank just as clearly as I saw my future in Annie.”
“You don’t think we can do it?”
“I’m just being realistic.”
“I didn’t pick you as being such a scaredy cat,” I taunted him. He turned away and I quickly grabbed his sleeve again. “Seriously, what’s really bothering you? The Diesel I know doesn’t just roll over like that.”
“The Diesel you know?” he repeated, angered and amused all at once. “What the hell do you know? Huh?”
“I didn’t mean it like that… Is this… Is this about Katie?” I whispered her name hesitantly. “I’m sorry. I should never had said those things. I was out of line—”
“Nadia, would you just stop? I don’t want to talk about this crap with you anymore. Just drop it!” He turned and left.
I slumped back into the chemist and kicked at an empty can.
Hiro was stretching his calves out at the back of the room. He struggled to stand. His body shuddered but seemed to move easier than the day before.
“So… that didn’t go so well.”
“I’m used to it,” I mumbled as I sat down facing the wall.
“Why do you put up with his brooding crap?”
I laughed at the question. “And you’re just a cup of sunshine are you?”
Hiro limped toward me and settled on a chair. “He’s terrifying. And I don’t think he likes me very much.”
“Don’t worry. He doesn’t like anyone.”
“He likes you.”
“He tolerates me,” I corrected.
Hiro shrugged. “He should be nicer to you. If you were with me, I wouldn’t talk to you like that.”
I glanced up at him. He grinned nervously. “Keep it in your pants, Soulless boy. And if you kiss me, Diesel will break your neck.”
“As if I would kiss you. Anyway, is he your boyfriend or something?”
I wasn’t sure how to answer that. In many ways, he did feel like it. I had a loyalty to him I couldn’t explain. “Or something,” I answered.
“That’s cryptic.”
“I guess that’s life, isn’t it? Full of doubts and insecurities.”
“Talking about insecurities, what do you plan on doing with me? Are you really going to burn my eyes?”
I took a moment to answer. I could hear the tremble in his voice, the fear that used to shake mine when I was plucked from the streets and strapped into the technician’s chair. And here I was, doing the same thing to him. “No. It was never my intention to drag you into this. I only wanted to meet you.”
“Why?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re not the sharpest tool in the shed, Hiro. But I guess I didn’t expect there to be others either.”
“Others?”
I smiled and extended my hand. “Hi, Soulless number forty-two. I’m number sixty-six.”
His eyes widened. “Wait…you’re a Soulless?”
“Yep.”
“No way.”
“It’s true.” I shrugged. “I was born without any imprints on my eyes. I have no reincarnated memories. Oh, and of course, our special floating blood.”
“But I thought—”
“That you were the only one? Well, so did I until I stumbled across your file at the Blue Don base. There were others before you and me, born centuries ago, but all information about their existence has been wiped clean.”
Hiro propped his head in his palm. “I can’t believe it. Rebecca lied to me… again. She said I was the only one.”
“It’s nice though, isn’t it?” I shrugged. “Knowing you’re not alone anymore.”
“Could there be others out there now? Like a sixty-seventh or sixty-eight?”
“Possibly. The Blue Dons didn’t know about me for a long time. Otherwise, I’m sure I would have been in a tank alongside you. They would do anything to make sure their precious reincarnation is safe. They will experiment on you, cut you up, lock you away with a tube shoved up your arm.”
“Are people really that bad?”
I nodded, thinking of Annie’s bloodied body, of her memories that shook her so badly she screamed throughout the night. I thought of Mum and Dad, of Fitzgerald and Riki lifting his gun to shoot her down. I thought of myself. My kills. My ugliness. “Yes. They are that bad. I wouldn�
��t even call Diesel a good person. But we can trust him to help us—” The sound of footsteps pulled me up from my chair. “Oh, looks like Diesel’s back.”
A flashlight swept past the room followed by more footsteps. Voices bubbled up. A combination of female and male.
I quickly dropped down and pulled Hiro to the ground with me. The bottles around us cluttered. I cupped my hand over Hiro’s mouth, covering his surprised yelp. I could hear the rattle of guns as the group neared.
“Hey, you hear that?” one of them whispered. They slowed when passing by the chemist, the light from their torch stretching out into the room. Footsteps continued inside.
“Pretty sure we’re not meant to be on this level.”
“Our job is to find drifters, yeah? So that’s what we’re doing.”
Oh fuck! Not more poachers! I tensed and held Hiro closer against the cabinet, tucking my knees tightly into my chest. Another three lights moved into the room, sweeping across the area.
“Is someone here?” the female called. “Come out, we’re not going to hurt you.”
My eyes trailed up, quickly spotting all of our food, ammunition and water scattered out across the tabletop. I held my finger to my lips, signalling Hiro to be quiet. He quickly nodded. I scurried around the cabinet, keeping myself in a crouch, which caused my calves to scream in pain. I moved quickly, jumping the gaps in between the standing racks and crawled to where I stashed my pistol under the blankets. Hiro pressed himself against the empty shelves, holding his breath. I could see him out of the corner of my eye. On the other side of the cabinet, dirtied boots stepped into view.
I positioned myself carefully, shielding my body behind the metal racks. I held the gun out and quietly eased the trigger back.
A voice shouted out, “Whoa! We found a live one, boys!” Their footsteps suddenly turned and bolted from the room.
“Go, go, go,” they urged, running further into the mall. Laughter bounced off after them. Eventually silence returned.
I sighed, lowering my aim. I made sure it was clear before moving all of our supplies into one of the empty cupboards. I moved quietly, uncertain if the group was still within hearing range.
“Are they gone?” Hiro whispered. He slowly stood and I signalled for him to stay down and be quiet. I ducked my head out into the mall. Diesel is still out there. I took a step outside, my gun poised, and slowly tiptoed in the direction the group headed.
Soul Finder (The Immortal Gene Book 2) Page 13