Untamed Series, #1

by Madeline Dyer

  I bite my bottom lip, thinking of my mother. I wonder which augmenters she’s taken. She was always calm; she won’t need Calmness. Maybe she’ll have gone for one that improved her wisdom. Or beauty? No. My mother’s not vain. Not like Five is—was. I gulp.

  My mother…is she with Raleigh? Are the two of them together? Now? My skin crawls. I wonder if he’s told her I was in his compound, near Nbutai. I wonder if he’s told her about the waterboarding. I can imagine him telling people, laughing as he does. His lips would twitch.

  Would my mother join in with his laughter? She wouldn’t, no. But no one’s the same after being Enhanced.

  “They tortured you, didn’t they?”

  I jump, startled by Corin. He’s sitting next to me, only a few feet away. I hadn’t even noticed he’d returned from the car. Kayden’s here too, on his other side, smoking one of Corin’s cigarettes.

  “Sev? They did, didn’t they? Back at the compound.” Corin pauses, and I keep staring at the fire. My hands feel like ice. “I can see that they did. You’re different to how you used to be.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.” My voice is small.

  Corin nods. “I was just saying that I realized, that was all. It must have been horrible.”

  Horrible enough that you still want to be like them.

  I stiffen.

  “Was it physical? Was it that bloke? What’s he called? Raleigh?”

  “At least you’re alive. Faya isn’t. My daughter isn’t.” Kayden stands suddenly. His eyes narrow, and his face flushes. I know he’s thinking of the fire that killed his wife and child seven years ago. “Tortured or not, you’re alive.”

  Darkness descends over us all like a foggy mist.

  “I’m sorry,” Kayden says a few minutes later. He stares at the fire, his eyes taking on a vacant look. “I shouldn’t have said that. It’s not your fault.”

  I nod. The wind’s picking up now, sharp nails drive into my skin. I blink back stinging tears. I should’ve put on another jacket or—

  I freeze.

  Behind the fire, behind the flames. A shape. A head. Marred, by the wind. A figure. Tall, broad, strong, dark. Eyes that—

  “What’s wrong?” Corin’s voice is sharp.

  I start to point ahead, at the figure, but it’s gone.

  “Nothing.”

  I swallow hard. There’s nothing out there. Just the Enhanced, somewhere, plotting to find me. And I know they will find me; I can feel it in the way my blood pumps around my body, like I’m a magnetic pole and the Enhanced are the iron filings. I know they’re coming.

  It won’t be long until they find me—or I find them.

  The moment I close my eyes, I see my father. He’s standing in the same white land that I’m in. My heart jumps. He looks the same as he always has—tall, strong, and protective, not a hair grayer than before. He’s facing me, but I know he can’t see me. He’s standing tall, with his feet shoulder-width apart, his arms by his sides.

  I’ve walked closer to him before I even realize I’m moving.

  The deep furrowed lines in his brow are there. But his expression is peaceful. His skin is as dark and as rich as mine, but on him, it seems to have a celestial quality. He is glowing.

  As I stare into my father’s dark, unseeing eyes, he blinks. I jump.

  “Dad?” I reach out to touch his arm, and I’m engulfed by his smell: the familiar combination of sweat, sand, and campfire smoke.

  But he doesn’t acknowledge me. He doesn’t move. His eyes are empty, glassy.

  “Dad!” I throw myself at him, and I’m crying. Emotion and feeling and guilt rip through me.

  But still, he doesn’t do anything. He stays still, like a statue, his body not even moving as I throw my whole weight against him. He’s a solid pillar.

  “Dad! It’s me, Seven. It’s me!” I fall back away from him, hitting the hard floor.

  Like someone has pressed a switch, the whiteness around us disappears. There’s a clap of what I can only describe as thunder all around me, echoing, and I stumble backward. Darkness falls with me, trying to suffocate me, and I scream, reaching out for him. Light flashes, and my father moves. His eyes stare at me, seeing me for the first time, in that blink of light; his mouth turns down at the corners, and his stare burns. I whimper.

  Darkness again, but my father takes a step closer. “You are no daughter of mine.” His powerful voice echoes in the empty space around me. “No child of mine turns their back on the Untamed.”

  My body stiffens. My veins burn. “I—I didn’t—I’m sorry.”

  Something cracks behind him. I see a white fogginess with a dark shape. Arms, legs, long limbs. A new figure. A female figure. Tall, willowy: Five.

  “You betrayed us, Seven.”

  “I’m sorry!” I choke as I try to swallow. Pain lashes across my throat.

  I try to get up, but can’t. I try to turn my head so I don’t have to see them, but my neck’s frozen. Icy needles drive into my skin. I can’t move an inch. All I can do is watch as Five and my father loom over me.

  “You left us, Seven.” Five twists her hands together, like she’s squeezing the water out of our clothes back at Nbutai. “You left us.”

  “You are no daughter of mine.”

  “You are no sister of mine.”

  “No child of mine leaves their family to die.”

  “And you’re nothing better than one of them now.”

  Their clammy fingers reach out, touch me, and I scream loudly. I scramble backward, but their fingers pull at my clothes as they grow bigger and bigger. I can’t see anything but them now. Just them.

  “Please! Please! Five, no!” I cower as she reaches for me.

  Her skeletal fingers rip my jacket; darkness bites my skin, burning me. I shriek, get to my feet, my skin on fire. My father stands in front of me; now, I’m eight years old. I’m just a child. And Five is looking down her nose at me. Her eyes are dark, unseeing but all-knowing.

  “You left us, Seven. You left us.”

  “You betrayed us, Seven.”

  “You still betray us all.”

  “You traitor.”

  “We were your family.”

  “Now you’re on your own.”

  “No one will ever trust you.”

  “You’ll be forever alone,” Five says. Her hair plaits itself into braids in seconds, and they fly at me like snakes that are forever elongating.

  My skin stings as each one hits me. Her braids trap me, trap me in my guilt, trap me in my past. I can’t get away. I open my mouth to drag air into my lungs, but it burns my throat. I can’t see a thing… No, I can see: I see Five and my father’s faces as they twist out of recognition. Their cheeks are sucked in, their glass eyes bulging out of their sockets. Veins and capillaries rise up, all over their skin, standing up, pulsing. I shriek.

  That’s what I did to them.

  It’s my fault.

  “Seven!”

  The world’s shaking around me. An earthquake? I don’t know. I’m falling. The floor’s gone. There’s just nothing…no, it’s wet. Water. I’m drenched. It’s pale blue, smells too nice. It’s in my eyes, my ears, my nose. It’s everywhere.

  Calmness. No. No. No.

  It slams against me.

  It crushes my body.

  My throat constricts. I taste bile. I turn, trying to pull away. More water hits me.

  Mumbled voices over me. A laugh?

  Too much of it. And I’m drinking it. I am. I can’t help it. I’m gulping it down in huge greedy gulps. But I can’t drink it quickly enough, and I’m choking. It’s over my head. I can’t breathe. Going to be sick. Can feel the bile rising already.

  “You traitor!”

  I scream, fighting against the liquid, trying to cry out to tell them how sorry I am, but more Calmness invades me.

  “You traitor!”

  But I can’t do a thing. I’m helpless. I can’t see. I can’t see anything but the blue of the Calmness. All I can
do is drink it. Drink it before I drown in it. I’m trying to, really trying. But I can’t swallow in time, choking…bile in my throat.

  “No Enhanced is a daughter of mine!”

  “You traitor! Death will get you.”

  Esther’s hands clasp me, holding me upright. For several seconds, I can’t do anything but swallow back tears. Exhaustion holds onto my body, like steel. Then I’m patting down my shorts. The tiny bottle of Calmness is still there, and I let out a huge sigh of relief—they don’t know about it. Then the sigh turns into a giggle. I feel funny, dizzy, but, still, I keep laughing. I only stop when I see the fear on Esther’s face.

  “What’s happening?” Her voice is softer than usual, and the blotchy moonlight emphasizes how pale she is. “Are they coming for us?”

  For several seconds, I can’t think what she means. Then I get it, I shake my head.

  “It wasn’t a Seeing dream.” My voice wobbles.

  Esther looks down at me, her brows raised. I don’t want to tell her the details. The small vial in my pocket feels like it’s burning.

  “Are you sure?”

  I nod. I am Untamed. My lips tremble. That dream, it doesn’t mean anything. Doesn’t change anything.

  She looks at me dubiously. I drop my gaze to the floor of the four-by-four. Heat rushes to my cheeks and my ears. I take several deep breaths. A sheen of sweat bathes my skin; it sticks to me like glue.

  “Well, get some sleep then,” she says. “I think we’re going to have a busy day tomorrow.”

  I nod, but I can’t get rid of the way my skin crawls with invisible beads of water.

  When someone says tomorrow’s going to busy, they’re usually right. The moment I wake, there are jobs that need doing.

  Esther and I go hunting with Kayden at first light, and we return with two desert rats and a young drill monkey.

  “That’ll hardly keep us goin’,” Rahn says. His dark glasses are somewhat crooked on his nose, but not enough that they don’t protect him. He hasn’t worn his wrap-around style ones for a while now—maybe they got left behind or lost somewhere. Or maybe he’s more relaxed about it, less worried about losing his sight. I don’t think the sun’s as strong here.

  “I don’t see why we even had to hunt.” Esther wipes sweat from her brow. “We got food yesterday.”

  Rahn looks at her like she’s stupid, raising one eyebrow, and leans his head toward her a little. “We’ve no idea how long we’ve got till the next opportunity to raid a town or city presents itself. I don’t want to be havin’ to drive back there. If we’re to survive, we’ve got to be able to be self-sufficient here.”

  Next, we collect wood to make bows and arrows and spears. There isn’t much ammunition left.

  There’s a surprising amount of wood lying in this part of the desert, considering there are no trees. But I appear to be the only one who finds this strange; after voicing these thoughts to Three, who stares at me like I said the most stupid thing in the world, I keep the musings to myself. But the terrier knows it’s strange, I am sure. He doesn’t pick any of the sticks up for us to throw. He knows.

  I glance around. But I don’t know what I’m expecting to see. Spirits? Could they have thrown the wood over the landscape, in a battle of frenzied otherness? Or could the spirits have destroyed the trees that these pieces of wood came from, leaving the haunting reminders behind?

  “How much more do we get?” Corin shouts back at Rahn, farther down the slope.

  Rahn makes a shrugging motion. “As much as possible.” He ties something together with a long piece of sinew.

  Behind him, is one of the little boxes he got from the pharmacy. The pharmacy that had all those beautiful—

  I try to blink that thought away, but I’m unsuccessful. The vial in my pocket starts to burn. I swallow hard and look around, shielding my eyes from the sun. No one is immediately near me. No one’s watching me.

  Throw the Calmness away now. No one is watching. Do it now. You’ll feel better when you do.

  My throat dries as I set the broken branches down on the ground. I finger the vial carefully, through my shorts.

  “Seven?”

  Three’s shout makes me jump. He stands farther down the slope now. It takes me a few moments to realize that he’s asking if I’m okay, asking why I’ve stopped. Everyone else is still busy collecting wood.

  I let the vial fall back to the bottom of my pocket. “I’m fine,” I shout back.

  It’s too risky to get rid of the augmenter here. I need to wait until I’m really on my own.

  I scoop up the wood again, doing my best to distract myself. We remain collecting and sorting wood until about midday. The dog lies down near me, his eyes flitting from one pile to the next as I sort the branches by their type.

  Another afara. Walnut. Leucaena. Albizia. Two more leucaenas. I throw the next branch behind me. Seize the next; it’s one I don’t recognize. I frown—my father taught me the names of all the different plants when I was younger. I stare at this one. The wood is a rich dark red color, with fine spikes at one end. I test it in my hands—quite bendy.

  I turn and look at the various piles around me. Five different woods, including this strange one. Five different lots of branches in the landscape, but there are no trees. I turn again, frowning. I shield my smarting eyes from the sun with my hand as I stare into the horizon. It is smooth. Everywhere is smooth. There are no tree stumps. Or roots. Or dried, old leaves rotting on the ground. But these branches, a lot of them are still green. Freshly cut. I look at the edge of one branch carefully. It’s not splintered, it’s been sawed.

  I swallow hard.

  The terrier jumps up and rushes against my legs. He howls.

  That’s when I see them. A strong sense of déjà vu hits me, as I see the little figures in the distance, heading toward us at great speed. I turn, look the other way. A strangled cry escapes my lips.

  “Rahn!”

  In an instant, I’m running. I still have a piece of wood—afara—in my hand, and I wave it at him frantically. At last he looks up. Corin and Kayden are with him, and all three turn toward me.

  “It’s a trap!” I wave the wood in my hand again. My arm aches. The dog overtakes me as I run. “The wood’s a trap!”

  Rahn, Corin, and Kayden’s heads snap up. By the way tension visibly moves through all of their bodies, and how Corin reaches for a gun, I know they’ve seen the Enhanced.

  “Load the guns!” Rahn shouts, but they’re already doing it. “Get to the car!”

  I haven’t got a gun—only the knife Three gave me—and I turn to find Esther and Three already sprinting toward the vehicle. The terrier races after them.

  The knife feels heavy in my hand, but not at all threatening. I drop the afara branch. Ahead, Kayden and Rahn are sprinting. Rahn limps as he clutches one of his boxes under his arm, and Kayden’s carrying several bows. I can’t see where Corin is. Fear clenches my throat.

  I hear the engine of our car and its tires squealing as Esther turns it sharply. I hadn’t noticed her get in. But I can see another figure in the front—Three?

  I look back around. The desert looks strange. Sort of shimmery and magical. Vast stretches of unmarked sand stretch out before me, right up to our enemies’ feet. The Enhanced—there are hundreds of them. A bitter taste comes to my mouth, like cigarette smoke twisted with feces and sweat.

  A loud crack hits the earth. I shriek, falling to the ground, hands over my head. I taste dust, something inside me trembles. I cough up phlegm as I jerk my eyes upward. The explosion’s not near me. It’s over there, the other side of the vehicle. I see Corin running—he’s the nearest of us to the explosion. I pick out the gun—no, the grenade launcher pistol—in his hand.

  Keep going!

  I scramble up, run toward the vehicle. Esther’s slowing down. Lactic acids burns my muscles. I can’t see the dog. Is he in the car? My breath’s in short and rapid bursts. It’s too hot. My back is sticky with sweat, and my hair kee
ps falling over my face, prickling the tender skin of my eye sockets, until I can’t see.

  Ahead, I see Rahn jump into the slowing car, and Corin climbs in. Then the car heads for me. But the Enhanced behind me are closer. They’re sprinting straight for me. I pause and stare at them. My chest tightens. These people aren’t people. They’re machines. No one can run that fast. Or that silently. It’s unnatural. Wrong. None of them are sweating, their arms and legs are moving in a mechanical motion. And they all look the same. An identical army.

  “Sev!”

  I hear Corin’s voice, and then the car squeals to a stop a few feet from me. Dust clouds over me. The door nearest me flies open, and Corin’s arms pull me in. I scrape my knee on the doorframe, crashing into his strong torso.

  The door slams shut, the engine roars.

  “There’s nowhere to go!” Esther cries.

  I climb up into a seated position, kneeing on Corin and Kayden in the process. The dog barks from the front of the car. Relief floods me.

  “What do I do?” Esther’s voice is strained. Her knuckles are white as she clutches the wheel. “Rahn?”

  Rahn doesn’t answer. He’s staring straight ahead, at the wall of Enhanced Ones coming straight for us. I squint, but can’t see if they’re armed.

  I turn, look left. Then right. We’re surrounded.

  “Drive through them!” Three shouts.

  “It’ll kill them!”

  “They deserve to die. Each and every one of them!” Rahn’s face is a ruddy red, and his hair is soaked with sweat.

  Esther turns the wheel sharply. I slide into Corin, my elbow jabs his chest. He grunts, pushes me away.

  But the circle of Enhanced around us gets tighter and tighter.

  “Do it,” Rahn barks. “Everyone, seat belts on.”

  Three straps himself in, and Esther somehow manages it while steering wildly. Kayden’s used the middle seat belt in the back, and Corin’s pulling at the last one. I turn, but, of course, the back of the car’s only intended for three people. Not four.

  The car slides to the left, and I reach for something to hold onto, but the driver’s seat doesn’t have a handle, and my hand just slides along it. Then an arm snaps around me, and Corin pulls me across his lap. He holds onto my body with one arm and straps the belt around both of us.