“That’s terrible. How long has that little girl been locked up in here dad?”
“For about five years. Her mother volunteered. She wants her daughter cured. Look at this man. He had a disease that causes unhealable lesions. I flushed his blood and the lesions started to heal. But without an aboriginal it came back. The mixed blood of the Amaranths in this day is not the same. They can be killed by bullets, knives, any weapon that can hurt us. They don’t get diseases but they can die. They don’t have to wait for someone to sever their life-ring, they are too vulnerable. Be proud my darling you have brought us a cure for the whole world.”
“How will you harvest all of his blood without draining him dry dad?”
“I’m going to create hundreds of him first. Initially I have an Amaranth woman that needs to be activated by him. So I will have them mate while he is sedated and then I will see if they can have a child. Then I will harvest blood from them and continue their bloodline.” I’m horrified. My father is frigging crazy.
As we walk through the underground lab I look through the one-sided glass to each room. There are literally hundreds of patients sedated and locked away. My eyes bulge as the tears fall. My heart breaks for these people that my father and this faction are using as lab rats. I can’t believe that he even did this to his own daughter, me. He expects me to take over this disgusting legacy but I swear I will do the opposite. I will destroy it.
I search each window for Keyan, but I don’t see him. My dad must have locked him away so that I can’t find him. My whole life has been one big lie. He used me as a hound to track and find Keyan to bring him back here. I’m as terrible as they are for following through.
“Dad can I explore alone?” he gives me a suspicious look and nods.
“Take Mr. Grant along with you.” he says as he walks in the opposite direction as me and the guard that is now assigned to babysit me.
Chapter 19
I eye the muscle that trails me and he watches my every move. I explore the facility searching for the love that I have condemned to a life of something worse than solitude. I frantically look into each room hoping that I will see his blue eyes again.
Suddenly I see a door. It’s large, steel, and bright red. It has a sign on it that reads Restricted. I stop walking and turn to face the guard.
“Mr. Grant. What is behind that door?”
“I can’t tell you that Ms. Duvall.”
“Why not?”
“Only authorized personnel has access to that area.”
“Are you authorized? Because I sure hell am authorized.”
“Yes I am.” He lifts a key card and it snaps back to the badge that it is dangling from. I search the hall for a potential weapon.
I quickly spot the fire extinguisher perched high onto the wall.
“Well are you going to show me your badge so that we may proceed?”
“Yes. Give me a second.” I dig into my empty pocket as he suspiciously watches me. I lean against the wall that has the extinguisher on it. I fumble with it and he frowns.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh, I…ummm…was…uhh…admiring…this nice red color on the extinguisher?” I nervously say.
“What? Let’s go. I’m taking you back to your father.” He attempts to grab my arm.
I yank the extinguisher from the wall and he is puzzled. I step toward him and he smiles.
“What are you going to do with that?” I lift it into the air and he watches it with a confident smirk. As he is watching the extinguisher I draw my foot back and swing it toward the Mr. Grant’s cannolis. Immediately he bends to clutch them. I guess as a man squeezes it relieves the pain. He lets out a loud yelp as he goes down. I take the extinguisher and slams it over his head repeatedly until he is unconscious. I make sure that he is still alive by checking his pulse. It is weak. I grab his badge and hurry over to the restricted door. I swipe and a green light blares above the door. I turn the knob and quickly shove it open. There is a long hallway that look as if it leads to a cluster of hospital rooms. I shut the door behind me and hurry down the long narrow hall. The lights are extra bright throughout the building and I’m beginning to think that it’s intentional. I come to a room and there is a beeping sound luring me closer. I peek into the room and I spot a woman with tubes stuffed into various parts of her body. I see a pump that is forcing something in and out of her body. I step inside and there is a chart tucked into the cart beside her bed. I open it and start to read. She is 47 and is an Amaranth. She was turned when she was 16 by her husband. He was killed by a doctor here at the facility by accident.
She is in a state of constant sedation. Her eyes hasn’t opened in about five years. My eyes tear. I can’t believe that my father is responsible for such horrible acts against living beings. I place her chart back onto the cart and take one more look at her. I hurry down the hall. I see more Amaranthines in a state of coma. My heart bleeds for these people and although I know that it could save lives I don’t think that they deserve to be experimented on. I come to a room that has very little machines. I see the man that my dad ordered to sedate Keyan. He is attaching Keyan to the same machines that the others are attached to. Keyan in unconscious and helpless and it’s all of my fault. I never should have convinced him to come out of hiding. Now he may be a guinea pig for the remainder of his life. I creep into the room, careful not to alert Dr. Frankenstein. I swipe a scalpel from the table, which he probably used to slice at my love’s arm. I see containers of blood that they have stolen from him. I take a step and the doc hears me. He turns around and spots me.
“What are you doing in here McKenna? This is a restricted area.”
I’m stunned. “How do you know my name?”
“I treated you as a child. You were a little ill for a minute from the rejection of the gene that was passed by your father. I treated you with Amaranth blood and you were fine from that day forward.”
“You people are disgusting. You should be ashamed of what you are doing to these innocent people.”
“They can help us live longer. And by you finding Keyan McGrath, we can do so much more. I have a mate coming in for him tonight. This is the biggest discovery since our faction was created.” He says completely excited.
“Are you going to force him to have sex with her?” I ask. My hand is quivering from the thought of him being connected with someone else.
“No.” I sigh. “She will do everything. She is on our payroll. She lures male Amaranths to us so that we don’t run out of test subjects.” I’m horrified. “She is used to it. He will like it even though he can’t participate.” He giggles. I cover my mouth and step away.
“Where is your father? Did he bring you into this area?”
“Yes. I…” I don’t even feel the need to lie. I take the scalpel that I’m hiding behind my back and slice into his back. He reaches for something to grab onto as he goes down. In a fit of rage I jab him in the neck to keep him from getting up.
I start to cry again. I just killed a man. I snatch the single tube from his arm that I assume is pumping the medication, to keep him out of it, into his system. I pull at his arms for him to sit up. He is as heavy as a dead person.
“Keyan, wake up.” I slap his cheek. “Keyan, please?” I wrap one arm around my neck and try to drag him out of the bed. When he does not budge, I decide to roll the whole bed out of the room. I know that soon they will notice that I’m missing and come looking for me. Especially when they find Mr. Grant and Dr. Death himself.
I wheel the bed down the hall and around a steep corner. This place never ends, it is huge. I finally come to another elevator. I don’t know where it leads but I’m desperate. I fumble to get Grant’s key card and I swipe it. The doors open and I step inside. The doors close and I push the highest floor possible. I don’t know how far down we are but I’m sure that the higher I go, the closer I’ll get to civilization. The floors light up one by one. The elevator stops on the 14th floor. The doors swing ope
n and I push the bed off. I stop when I look around and notice that I’m inside of someone’s penthouse apartment. I slide the bed over to the side of the entrance and start to explore. My heart thumps against my chest as I walk toward the finely decorated apartment. I’m careful not to make too much noise. I pull out the blood stained scalpel and peek around each corner. I make my way to the bedroom and I see instructions on the outside of the door. It is cleaning instructions. They explain how to clean the bedding after mating is complete. I’m appalled once more by the callousness of this entire group of mad scientists. During my search I also find out that test subjects fly through here like a drive thru. There is a way to cut off entry and exits. There is also a separate elevator that leads back to the warehouse. There is a master code that must be punched in. I go back where Keyan is and mimic the punch code that my dad keyed in. I concentrate on the numbers in my head. I try 32153. It blinks red. I stomp my foot and think. I key in 33215 and a list if instructions pop up on the high-tech screen. There is an action to lock the penthouse down from this particular elevator. I select it and sigh in relief.
I hear the elevator power down and Keyan is safe for a little while. I go and search for something that I can eat and come up empty handed. There is no food stored in the entire apartment. The thought of this place is so offensive. They bring Amaranthines up here to mate them. My father is the devil himself.
I shake my head as I walk around once more. There is one window in the entire place. I peek out of it then sit down onto a pure white sofa and close my eyes.
“McKenna? McKenna, are you alright?” I toss and turn at the sound of the soulful voice that brings me back from my nightmares.
“Keyan? Hi. I had a terrible dream. I dreamed that my father killed you.” I hug him tightly, yanking him on top of me. I hold him so close. I never want to let go.
“What happened?” I start to explain everything that I witnessed. He is just as flustered as I am about the whole thing. “What are we going to do know?”
“Well I have the code that my dad keyed in when we got here. So I can control the elevators with it. I was waiting for you to wake so that we could escape.”
“I’m awake. We need to get out of here right now. The thought of them forcing me to mate is driving me insane. I wouldn’t be able to handle it.” I pull his face close and plant the wettest and most sensual kiss I can produce. He leans in and returns my affection. We kiss and become engulfed in it. Keyan tears himself away and snatches me up from the couch. We hurry toward the elevator that leads to the warehouse. I punch the code in to power the elevators up again, the doors open. We hurry inside and I smash the button that takes us to ground floor.
“What are we going to do once we get down to the warehouse?”
“Run like hell.”
Wide eyed I look on as the elevator descends. When the doors open there is a beautiful woman standing there waiting. Her hair is very bright and her eyes are very gray. She looks a little scary but still very beautiful.
“Hello? I didn’t expect to see anyone coming from this elevator.”
“Hi. I’m McKenna Duvall.”
“Dr. Duvall’s daughter.” Doctor? I shake my head.
“Yes.” She looks to Keyan and smiles.
“You are one of us. What is your name?”
“His name isn’t important. You are Amaranth.”
“Yes. I’m here to mate with the aboriginal Keyan McGrath.”
“Really? I mean what do you get out of doing this for my father?”
“Excuse me?” she is puzzled by my question.
“Never mind I need to go.”
“Why were you in the mating suite? I am the only woman that sleeps there.”
“Goodbye whoever you are. You deserve the things that my dad does to you.”
“My name is Amari darling and I will be the mother of an aboriginal soon. Our children will be superior to the Amaranthines that troll the earth. They will not be so easily disposed of like the others. I will be one as well.”
“Fool.” I spit before Keyan grabs my hand. We run as fast as we can out of the warehouse. “I wanted to hit her so bad. How dare she think that she could just sleep with you all Willy Nilly.”
“I know. I could feel your rage as it was building.” He smiles but continues to drag me along. As soon as we clear the warehouse we run as fast as we can.
Chapter 20
We race down the back roads and up toward the city. The moon is bright enough to see the tip of the trees. The sounds deep in the night frightens me. If we can just make it back to town I will feel better. I mow over different scenarios inside of my brain. We have to leave Myrtle Beach. We have to leave my friends, my family and my home. Although one of the things I listed is actually still mine. My friends hate me, my parents want to experiment, potentially killing the man that I love and my home is not my own. My forehead begins to crinkle as my mind spins out of control.
“Calm down McKenna. You’re going to cause a brain hemorrhage for the both of us.” Keyan states as he marches forward into the night. I sigh and attempt to control my frenzy of thoughts. Ever since the day that we were intimate, breaths away from totally giving in to our passion, we have been inseparable. Our hearts practically beat as one. We can’t feel every feeling but we are more connected now. I dream in small fragments envying the life that he has lived before me. I’ve seen the beautiful Cortina and she was absolutely gorgeous. I felt the love that he felt for her and vice versa. She adored him. The smile that plagued her lovely face when he entered a room could only be described as unconditional love. She couldn’t wait to be his bride. I would hate her but she’s dead and that’s just not nice.
“Where are we going? We don’t have our cars nor money. I don’t even have my parent’s jewels.” He says as he slows down and turns to me. He walks really fast and he doesn’t get tired. I’m completely exhausted. I wish I was Amaranth now so that I could keep up with him. If Raven were to find us now, I would only slow him down.
“I’m thinking.” I say as he turns and continue walking up the road. “I’m sure they are out searching for us by now.”
“I know that they are. That’s why we need to get off of this road and find some way to get out of town.” He grabs my hand and pulls me close.
As we walk I see a semi approaching. I step into the road and begin to wave relentlessly. The high beams blind me as I jump up and down waving my hands about. I hear the screech of the brakes as the driver pumps them. I hurry over back to Keyan’s side. The truck comes to rest right in front of us. The window rolls down and a man with a baseball caps sticks his arm out, then his head. He smiles and tips his hat.
“What are you youngen doing way out here?”
“Hello sir. Our car broke down after we were visiting my dad’s warehouse. We’re trying to get back into town. Can you help us please?” he looks me over then Keyan. He spots a bandage on his hand.
“Are you alright there son?” he nods toward his wound.”
“I’m fine.”
“Okay come on.” He waves. “I’ll drop you guys as close as I can. Hop on in.” he waves his hand and we hurry around to the passenger side door. Keyan sits in the middle keeping me close to the door. We ride silently as the driver turns up the radio. Keyan grabs my hand and holds it tight. I look out of the window and wonder where we will go once we get close to town. Suddenly Rhoda crosses my mind. She is the only one that I can think of that isn’t out to hurt us. I make the decision to gamble on her.
“Can you get us as close to Hull drive as possible?”
“Sure honey that’s actually close to the truck stop. I have to fill up anyway.” I take a deep breath and pray that Rhoda isn’t part of The Order.
The truck driver pulls onto Volkes drive and parks at the corner of Hull. We thank him before we hop out. I look at my watch and it reads 2:18am. We walk toward the house. Secretly I’m hoping that Rhoda’s husband doesn’t shoot us for intruding. I tip toe up the stairs and
we step onto the porch. I tap and then ring the doorbell. I wait for a moment and before I can tap again I spot someone peeking out of the window. I wave and little Deana waves back. She smiles and runs away screaming my name.
“Mommy, mommy! It’s Kenna, its Kenna!” I look to Keyan and pray that Rhoda is in the dark about the Amaranthines. She fumbles with the door and I hear the lock click. She opens the door and her eyes are wide.
“What on earth are you doing out here at this hour McKenna? Get in here.” She snatches my arm and yanks me inside. She waves for Keyan to follow. She searches the street with her eyes as she shuts the door behind us. I turn to face her as she locks the door and offers a confused look. She lifts her arms and folds them. Her eyes shifts between the two of us.
“It is such a long story Rhoda. I really need your help.”
“With what McKenna? Where are your parents?”
“There at the warehouse. But you can’t tell them that I’m here.”
“Why? You’re scaring me honey.”
“Look Rhoda. My dad is involved in something terrible. If they find us they will hurt Keyan. Please trust me.”
“No. Mr. Duvall wouldn’t hurt a fly. Let me talk to him.”
“No! Rhoda please. If someone finds us they will kill Keyan. No one can know that we are here.” I plead.
“What is going on? You have to tell me something.” She reaffirms her locked arms and glances at Keyan. He looks at me. I sway back and forth afraid to expose him to anyone else.
“Trust me please. My dad is not who he says that he is. I just found out some terrible things about my family. Things that could get you killed Rhoda. Just know that you have to pretend that you haven’t lay eyes on us since you left the house. Don’t ask me to explain anymore. Please?” her eyes widen as the fear of my truth sets in.
“Well why did you come here? Why would you put my family in danger?”
“No one knows that we are here. I was very careful I promise. You have been there for me since we arrived and I love you for that. And I will leave. But we are in danger and I need money to run.”
The Solitarian: Part 1 of The Amaranth Series Page 11