by Addison West
“That is sweet James.” I brushed him off. I was not about to start a mutiny against Colt because of what had happened.
“I mean, if it meant I had a chance with you, I would break my arranged marriage agreement.” He said and I frowned at him.
“You said that would be an act of war.” I shook my head. “I can’t have that on my head.”
“It wouldn’t be on your head, it would be on mine.” He stated.
“I would still feel guilty.”
“Aurora, I am not going back there. Ever. I want to stay here with you. At least for now. I have no place there. At least here I know who I am.”
“That is a lot to take in.” I sighed.
“Please give us a chance.” He begged and I was silent for a moment. I was really torn over what to do. My head was still reeling from Cameron’s loss and from Colt. My true self being awakened had not helped matters either and now I had to worry about so much more than a light hearted crush and just trying to survive the Inperium long enough to escape. I had a purpose for being there.
Suddenly his lips were on mine. It felt good. His lips were soft yet strong.
As I pulled away and opened my eyes I saw something from the corner of my eye.
Standing in the doorway Colt looked at the two of us. His face blank. I knew he was upset. My eyes caught his and he turned away and walked back into the cottage.
41
Aurora
1am 13th September 2020
I waited.
Night had fallen hours before, but I wanted to make sure the entire team was asleep before I did what I had planned. After lying on the hard floor awake for hours, I was ready. I had replayed the kiss with James in my head a thousand times. Thought about Colt and the hurt look he had. Tristan catching me using my abilities kept creeping up on me and playing with my anxiety. I knew what I had to do.
I left the cottage cautiously and set out to avenge Cameron’s needless death. I had begun to plan my attack ever since I had finally calmed down enough to think straight. Before we even had the memorial where I had vowed it.
I had calculated, based on the direction that Lance’s team ran after the ambush, that their base was in the west. I was determined to find it and make them pay for what they had done to us and to Cameron. I marched off through the forest. I did not have to walk as far as I thought. I was thinking about all the things I was going to do and say. Suddenly I stopped dead. Stood in front of me was Lance. He was clearly watching us from not too far away. He had seen the memorial and still stayed there, not an ounce of guilt. It made me feel sick. He had not seen me, luckily, as his back was turned away from me, pacing around. I charged forward, shoulder first. Connecting with his body hard and knocking him to the ground. He shouted in surprise as his face hit the dirt floor.
“What the hell did you do?” I spat at him. Turning him over to look at his unremorseful face.
“Nothing the little piggy did not have coming to him.” He laughed heartlessly and I saw red.
“You killed someone today and you think they deserved that?” I snapped at him. Holding him down.
“All of you mutts deserve to die.” He replied, trying to struggle free.
“Do you really believe that?” I sat on top of him to stop him moving.
“I like it when a girl is on top.” He laughed at me and I could not even think straight. I had enough of his sexist comments and his vile behaviour. His attitude towards us was disgusting and most importantly he had killed a friend. Cameron had more compassion and love in his little finger than Lance had in his entire being.
My fists went into overdrive and I began punching his face and head over and over again. He shouted and winced, but nothing could stop me. He began to swear and scream as I just went mad. Hitting his at hard as I could. Smashing his head against the hard floor. I was determined to kill him with my own two hands. My hands stung from beating him but still I continued, and they felt wet from his blood.
I kept going. Punch after punch. Lance stopped trying to fight back. He stopped wincing and shouting. I stopped. Standing up and pulling away from him. Looking at his disfigured bloody face. It was barely recognisable.
I looked down at my hands. They were covered in abrasions and Lance’s blood.
I was in shock.
The limp corpse that lay on the ground in front of me did not even look like a person anymore. Guilt washed over me, and I had to remind myself that he earned it. He killed someone. I questioned myself. Was an eye for an eye justice to me now?
“What the hell did you do?” Colt was behind me and I turned scared. What had I done?
42
Colt
2am 13th September 2020
“I pushed the emergency alarm, someone will come and fetch him.” I said pulling her up from the tree she leaned against, she was in a trance. Shock had truly set in. I was angry with her. “You were never here.” She was staring blankly, and I slapped her face gently, to bring her to. She looked at me. “Listen to me, Aurora.” My fingers dug into her arms as I held her close to my face. “You were never here, you did not do this. Okay?” She nodded. Pulling away from me to vomit on the floor whilst leaning against a tree. I stroked her back until she stood back up again. “We have to go, and we need to clean you up!” I said taking her hand and pulling her down towards the stream at the valley of the hill near to the cottage. The anger I had for her from earlier when she had kissed James was temporarily gone. We half jogged to get there. I pulled me down beside me and gently washed her hands and Lance’s blood from her face. I smirked at her and she frowned. “My god, you are a bad ass though.” I spoke quietly, revelling in just how strong she had been in fighting a tyrant we should have brought down a long time ago.
“Did I…I…kill him?” She asked shakily.
“No, he is still breathing.” I shook my head. “This time tomorrow he will be fully patched up.” Something rustled in the trees behind us. I expected it to be Lance’s team or even Inperium soldiers coming to arrest us for what had been done to Lance.
A figure stepped into the dim light. Its head cocked at an awkward angle. Sharp teeth glinting in the moon light. Colt tried to push Rory behind me. Trying to protect her. She was having none of it. I noticed that there was a lot more than one of the creatures all around us. I pulled a branch from the closest tree, revealing a sharp end. I darted forward and stabbed the first creature in the chest, it disappeared. Faded away. Aurora followed my actions and grabbed her own weapon. We stood back to back. Touching. As the creatures descended on us. The simulations were evaporating all around us. One charged at me as I fought another one. Rory spotted it, she kicked off the ground hard, rolling over my back and into the air. Landing as she stabbed the advancing creature, she fell to one knee steadying herself. She was suddenly a very impressive warrior and I knew she had not told me the truth.
The last of the vampires ran away, back to their nest. I only hoped that they were not fetching back up. We collapsed on the floor exhausted.
“You are good at this Aurora.” I said breathless. My arm was beneath her head. “Too good.” I looked at her. “Suddenly, too good.”
“I’m not sure that is a good thing.” She ignored my comment.
“I’m glad you are here. You shake this place up. I like it.” I tried a different tactic to get her to open up. Our faces were incredibly close again. I wanted to lean forward and kiss her, just to see what her lips felt like again. She saw me looking at her face, studying it. She broke the tension.
“Thanks, I’m glad you are here too… muscles.” She smiled and I laughed at my new nickname flexing my biceps at her.
“Well then, little lady.” I jested and she shot me a pretend dirty look and we both just laughed.
“What is going to happen now?” She broke the fun. The temporary escape was over.
“I’m not even sure.” I sighed. She leant back into me and put her lips to mine. Plunging into a deep and needing kiss. I held the back of he
r head. Feeling her warmth next to me. My hand massaged the back of her neck and she let out a slight moan.
“I have to tell you something.” She confessed looking at me breaking the kiss.
“What?” I said, she looked worried, tucking her hair behind her ear.
“I know who I am.”
“Okay?” I was puzzled.
“As in I remember everything. I remember who I am.” She said and realisation crept over me.
“Your true identity was hidden from you when we found you, wasn’t it?” I asked.
“Yes, they blocked my real memories.”
“The night we found you, it wasn’t an accident or some program that Mike had come up with was it?”
“No, we planned the whole thing.” She answered.
“The nightclub?”
“all a setup.”
“Your friend that you were upset about?” I pressed further.
“She doesn’t exist.” She shook her head.
“When did you know?” I asked.
“It all came back to me when Lance attacked me.”
“You’ve known for that long?” I was getting mad. “How could you not have told me?”
“I didn’t know I could trust you.” She answered.
“But you trust me enough to kiss me.” I snapped.
“That is different.” She replied.
“You lied to me?” I was angry.
“I had to protect you.”
“No, you had to protect yourself.”
“I’m sorry.”
“But you aren’t, are you?”
She thought for a moment and could not even look at me.
“No.” She said solemnly
“I can’t believe you. I trusted you.”
“I’m still me.”
“No, you aren’t.” I stood up. “You nearly killed someone tonight. The Aurora Hart I met a few days ago would never have done that. You are Resistance scum.”
“Resistance scum?” She questioned.
“Yeah, your lot are the reason the Immortuus gate got opened.” I snapped. “My family died because of your friends.”
“That wasn’t us.”
“Sure, it wasn’t.” I mumbled.
“Don’t pretend like you don’t have a secret Colt. As soon as I woke up as my real self, I knew what you were.” She added. She knew my secret, I thought. That was dangerous. I wondered what else she knew and if she knew did the other hybrids also know.
I stormed off, angry that she could lie to me for so long and worried about how much everyone knew.
43
Aurora
7am 13th September 2020
I managed to make it back to the cottage before anybody woke up or noticed. Colt was already lying down pretending to be asleep when I sneaked back in. I lay down near to James and tried to sleep. Dawn seemed like it came immediately as I closed my eyes and Tristan shook me awake. He frowned as he saw my tiredness and I explained it away by saying I had a rough night of sleep. He seemed to except it. He led me to the front of the cottage. We could hear shouts and screams in the distance, it was blood curdling to say the least.
“It has been going on for the last hour or so.” He explained. “It is the other team. The Immortuuis sound like they are destroying them.” He continued. I knew what he was really wanting to do was to ask if we should go and help them.
“It could be another ambush.” I answered his unspoken question.
“I don’t think it is.” Tristan said concerned. He seemed to be confused as to what to do.
“You should wake Colt up.” I said and went to walk away.
“I needed an excuse to speak to you.” He said quietly.
“I know who you are too.” I whispered. “Well not exactly everything but I have worked out who you work for.”
“I thought you might have.” He frowned. “They honestly thought the mental block would have lasted longer.”
“It was the attack. My body woke me up to survive.” I answered.
“That makes sense.” He said. “I’m guessing you know Colt’s secret by now too?” I raised an eyebrow, it suddenly did not seem like such a secret.
“I do. He knows about me too.” I was quiet.
“I was hoping he didn’t. He doesn’t know who I work for.”
“That is a good thing. He wouldn’t trust you if he did.” I said solemnly. We looked around to check no one was listening to us. “We should talk about this later.” I whispered and he nodded. “Let’s go wake the team up.” I decided. “We are not going to be making any decisions until they have weighed in on the situation.” Tristan nodded and went inside to wake the others.
✽✽✽
Everyone stood around a little bit bleary eyed. Colt looked more tired than most as I explained what we could hear down the hill.
“I think we should wait.” Colt said first. “We don’t know what is happening down there and I certainly don’t want to end up in the middle of it.”
“That’s fair.” I replied and others seemed to agree.
“Shouldn’t we help them?” Tristan asked and nobody responded.
“I have an idea.” James chimed up and I was ready to listen to him. We all turned to him. “If the immortuui’s are busy with the other team. Who is guarding the amulet?”
“You mean use them as bait?” I could see that Colt did not like the idea.
“Well they deserve it!” Sam spoke and Mike nodded in agreement. “They would do it to us.”
“That is a good point.” I said. Looking around. Tristan shook his head.
“It would end this whole thing.” James suggested and I realised he might be right. I wanted to be out of the simulation. Too much had happened and without provisions the team was a ticking time bomb. I looked to Colt as we all did. He looked torn.
“I don’t know if I can.” He said.
“Well we either go and help them or go and get the artefact, sitting here on our asses is pointless.” I said getting mad at he indecision.
“Are you challenging me?” I hissed at me.
“No, I’m pointing out our situation.” I snapped back.
“Good, because mongrels don’t have the authority here.” He retorted.
“Don’t they?” I replied and he knew exactly what I meant. Tristan gave me a warning look.
“I don’t like it, but I don’t want to help them either.” Colt finally caved. “I say we go and get the amulet.” He added and everyone nodded in agreement. Tristan shrugged at me. I think he was a little disappointed in my words. I refused to even lock eyes with Colt as I knew he would make me feel guilty for saying what I had said. We all prepared ourselves to leave the cottage as soon as possible.
At this point with no provisions we had nothing to lose, I justified the plan in my head. The other team had volunteered themselves as bait and distraction. They deserved what was happening to them, I thought. Especially after what they had done to us and let Lance do to Cameron.
I had a moment where I questioned my mindset. The old Aurora would never have even considered offering up the other team as bait and would have 100 percent behind going and helping them. Even with their track record of being bullies and attackers. This place is changing me, I thought. Then again maybe I was the old Aurora, maybe the person I had been when I arrived at the Inperium was completely fake. I told myself I needed to do whatever I had to. It was the only way to survive.
44
Aurora
8am 13th September 2020
We had stealthily headed down the hill and towards the nest in a different direction to the screams that we could hear. I was ready to fight. We had all picked up some wooden stakes along the journey just in case we had to fight. Something was stirring inside of me. I was becoming a warrior I had always been again. The strength felt good. As we grew closer to the noise we advanced carefully. Making sure that we were not caught by the vampires or the other team. I knew it was not an ambush as we could see them fighting the vam
pires through the trees.
A rumble echoed through the trees and all around us. A strange breeze drifted through. I prepared myself for the worst.
Lights flooded in from every direction. Making us stop in our tracks and wince at the light. I squinted my eyes to try and see.
Voices shouting.
“Get down!”
“On your knees or we shoot!”
“Hands where we can see them!”
“Drop your weapons!”
I could see the glint of metal and small red dots appeared on all of our bodies. We had no choice but surrender. I dropped the weapons I was holding and fell to my knees, everyone dropped one by one, Colt being the last to give up. The fighting behind us had ceased and silence now echoed through the trees eerily between us and the other team. The simulations must have been turned off. I could see someone running through the trees. Crack. A bullet smacked him in the back, making him buckle. Soldiers marched forwards, kicking our weapons away, they tied our hands behind our backs with cable ties. Dragging us to our feet and placing us in a line. This is the end, I told myself. I repeated it in my head over and over like it was my new mantra. The other team were dragged through the trees and added to our line. The red dots and guns were still firmly on us all. We were all forced to our knees again.
Director Dubois stepped forward and walked along the line. A pistol in his hand.
“Someone here is a brazen killer.” He shouted. He held the gun to Buggy’s head. I was horrified. He was suddenly turning on us. “Would anybody like to tell me who among you is a murderer?” No one answered. Most people looked away. “No one?” William continued pressing us for an answer. I noticed him squeezing the trigger of the pistol. Bang. The shot echoed through the trees. Buggy’s limp body fell to the ground. Caitlyn screamed. She was next to him and was thoroughly coated in his blood. He had just killed a human with no remorse so I knew that he would feel even less killing a hybrid. William moved down the line. “You turned into a pack of wild animals.” William scolded. “Hunting each other down.” His voice was venomous. He still threatened us with the gun. “Do you really think any of you deserve to be here, deserve to live after this?” He stopped and cocked the gun to Mike’s head. “I’ll ask again, which one of you is a murderer? The Inperium does not hire those who murder each other!” I could not let him shoot anyone else.