I try not to breathe.
His body is hard and feels like stone around me. Strong and cold. Like a cage. I can feel every movement he makes, the shudders of his chest, the tightening of his muscles. His breath is hot on the back of my neck, but not in the unpleasant way that Raleigh’s was. No, this is different. This is exhilarating. Scary. This is Corin: the man who hates me.
The car lurches to the right. My head snaps to the side, smashing into the door. I cry out, clasp at the side of my head. Corin pulls me away from the window, and I hear shouting. Then we’re turning sharply again. The dog howls.
“There’s nowhere to go!” Esther cries.
“I said drive through them!” Rahn winds the window down, ready to shoot.
“I can’t!”
Corin turns away, his arm moving from me, and he fires another grenade.
It explodes near us; blood and limbs fly through the air.
The car speeds up. Corin’s arm snaps back around me, crushes me to him, then Kayden screams in agony. I cower against Corin. The seat belt is a rope around my neck.
There’s blood. The blood covers us. Too much blood.
“Keep going!”
The impact of the first wall of Enhanced is enough to slam my heart into my ribs—and send the car off at an angle. For a second, I think we’re going to overturn. We don’t. Esther screams as she drives toward the next wall of figures.
I try to turn, so I can’t see their expressions, but the belt and Corin won’t let me. His arm is bloody around me, and something hits my shoulder. I yank my head around. Three lowers his window, shooting through it in an instant.
Sharp pains fall down my arm.
Blood pools on the floor of the vehicle. Something bloody jumps in my face. I cry out, but it’s the dog. Someone screams—Rahn or Kayden? I can’t tell.
“Keep your foot down!”
“I am!”
Glass smashes behind me, tiny fragments dive into the back of my neck. Rahn curses. More gunshots. But they’re not our shots; the Enhanced Ones have weapons. Again. They’re cheating.
“There’s too many of them.”
Something jabs me in the leg. One of Kayden’s bows.
“They’re everywhere… I can’t get through them.”
“Keep firing.”
“Keep goin’.”
Another explosion to my right. I shriek. The air’s groggy and red.
“Get down!” Rahn fights against his seat belt as he lunges forward and pushes Three’s head down. A bullet whizzes over my brother’s head at an angle and hits the windshield. Glass explodes.
“Hold on!”
I scream against Corin as we hit more Enhanced. The impact jolts through me, winding me.
“Left!” Out of half-closed eyes, I see Three lunge for the steering wheel.
Corin’s grip on my torso borders on painful, and my head feels funny. We’re getting faster and faster, faster and faster. So fast until I’m sure we can’t go any faster.
The car hits something. I jolt to the left. I smack my head against Kayden’s, but he flops forward. He’s not moving. His body’s like a flimsy doll. I can’t see his face, just his long red hair hanging everywhere. But I can see his skin. It’s gray—too gray, how can it be that gray so quickly?
I scream, “Kay—”
A bullet slices into my right shoulder. The world explodes with pain.
I’ve never been shot before, and the pain is far worse, far more unimaginable than I’d thought possible. My shoulder’s on fire, burning savagely. Darkness dances in front of me. I feel sick and light-headed. For minutes, all I can do is collapse into Corin’s lap, screaming and screaming as I clutch my shoulder. Everywhere is dyed red.
Corin’s arms are around me, holding me as the car lurches at crazy angles. I scream as his hand brushes my shoulder, and my teeth draw blood from my bottom lip.
“That way!” Rahn shouts, but I can’t see where he’s pointing. I can hardly see anything. Just the redness and pain.
Corin’s arms tighten around me again as we turn sharply.
Then we’re driving in a straight line. I can hardly breathe as the pain in my shoulder really sets in. There’s too much pain. Too much stuff pouring out my shoulder. Blood. Tissue. Muscle. I try to sit up straighter, but either my own body won’t allow me to move, or Corin’s cage-like grip is stopping me. I can’t tell what’s him and what’s me.
Then I see Three’s dark face peering through the blurriness at me. Something near him shatters, but he’s still looking at me. No, not at me. At Kayden.
I turn and try to see Kayden. But Rahn’s shaking and shaking him, and I can only hear a faint gurgle from Kayden’s throat.
“Keep driving, fast,” Corin says to Esther. He moves me slightly, and I lean my head against the window.
Esther’s slowing down—I can feel the drag of the engine—and I see her glancing at Kayden in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes bulge and her lips pale.
“Put your foot down! Got to get as far away as possible,” Rahn says. His voice is strange, like he can’t breathe. “Go west.”
The terrier whimpers, moves, and presses himself against my legs. I look down at him: blood-drenched fur.
Corin’s grip on me tightens. Rahn retches.
“Is Kayden alive?” Three’s voice is quiet.
No one says anything.
I close my eyes, trying to concentrate on the pain in my shoulder. If I concentrate on that, then nothing else can exist. Nothing else will exist. It will just be me and my pain. Me and my shattered shoulder. The blood’s still pouring down my arm. I can feel it.
The car swerves sharply, and my body jolts to the right. My head slams back into the window. I wince, somehow managing to keep my eyes shut. The panel of glass against the back of my head is smooth and cold. I think it’s the last panel that’s intact. I think—
“Seven?”
It’s Three’s voice, but I can’t look at him. My eyelids are too heavy. And I don’t want to see Kayden’s body. Why would I want to see that? No, it’s nicer here: with my eyes shut, there isn’t as much pain. Everything’s slipping away. It’s nice, yes. I try to reach for it—for anything—but everything, which I really don’t know what it is, what anything is, dances before me, teasing me.
“Eriksen, wake her up! She could have a concussion!”
I frown. Doesn’t he understand that sleeping is better than being awake? I don’t want to see anything.
“Get the medical kit! Rahn! We need—”
“There ain’t any.”
“What?”
Corin shakes me. “Sev, for the Gods’ sake, open your eyes.” His voice is low, and his breath rubs against my face in an irritating way.
His grip on me tightens, and my shoulder’s telling me I should still be screaming, but I’m not. Why would I want to scream? Everything here is calm. It’s like I’m Enhanced. I can’t feel anything. Beautiful. Everything’s under control. Everything is fine. Just the darkness and me and them.
“She’s been shot too!” Three’s voice bangs through my skull. Why can’t he just shut the hell up?
I feel Esther slam on the brakes. My body jerks forward, Corin’s arms still around me. The seat belt grabs us, and—
I shriek as pain sinks its teeth into my right shoulder again.
“Keep drivin’!”
The engine roars.
My eyes jolt open. Light intrudes. I blink. Feel sick. Going to be sick. Oh Gods.
“Corin, put pressure on her shoulder,” Three says.
Blearily, I watch as my brother passes something toward us, and Corin reaches for it, holding me back with one hand. I moan.
Corin places a cloth over my shoulder. He presses his palm to it. I shriek. I’m going to faint.
“You’ve got to stop the bleeding…” At last, Three’s words are slipping away. “See if you can tie the….”
Corin tries. He starts to lift my arm. I let out an ear-piercing shriek.
&
nbsp; He drops my arm immediately. More pain.
“You have to do it.” Three’s face looms closer, like the ghoul in a nightmare. “She could die from blood loss otherwise.” He’s stretching toward us, trying to reach me. Then he’s climbing into the back, his knee jabbing at Rahn who makes a hissing sound at him.
There’s barely room for four people in the back, let alone five. Even if one of them is dead. Someone grunts. I hear the sharp intake of breath.
“Sev, look out the window!” Corin points across me suddenly.
I turn, trying to see, and—
I shriek as Corin and Three tie the cloth tightly around my shoulder.
Then I throw up all over their feet.
One of them swears under his breath. My eyes are closing. All I know is pain and death.
And pain and death feel nice. Good. I’m safe. Corin’s arms are around me. My brother’s here. Esther’s driving; she won’t do anything silly, not like Rahn. They’ll look after me. And the dog too.
Bright colors… Light music… The soft smell of mangoes washes over me. I just want to sleep. Need to sleep….
Someone shakes me. Hard fingers on my back. I cry out, “No!” But I can’t hear my voice.
“Seven?”
My eyes flick open. Three’s face looms over me, and then he makes a thank you sign toward the roof of the car.
We’re still driving fast.
“We need… Do the unexpected,” I mumble as the world spins around me. My voice is weak and cracks in the middle.
Mangoes are flying. Everywhere.
Corin and Rahn exchange a look.
“She’s delirious?”
“Where’s the medical box?” Three turns around fast, grabbing at the headrest of the passenger seat as the car turns. “Rahn, medical supplies!”
There’s a pause, pain flares up in my shoulder. I whimper. Corin holds me tighter.
“I said we ain’t got any!”
“What?” Corin sounds like he’s choking. His lips are by my ear. “You always get them. Always. Every raid, you get medicine. Antiseptics, pain relief, tablets—” He’s trying to turn around, and my head slams into his. Darkness and white spots flash in front of me.
“Haven’t got any—”
“What the hell have you been getting at the pharmacies?”
Everyone’s shouting. My head’s going to explode.
I stare ahead, determined not to see Kayden’s body. Why is it still here? Don’t they know we need to send his body off quickly to make sure his spirit gets to the New World without trouble? The longer we wait, the more likely it is that the evil spirits will follow our car. I shudder. The movement hurts my shoulder. I lean back against Corin—ignoring how tense he is—letting the darkness overwhelm me until everything I know is gone.
“I’m pretty certain we’ve lost them now,” Esther says. A good three hours have passed, and we haven’t seen any more Enhanced Ones since.
Rahn nods. “Okay.” He leans forward, and I think he’s squinting underneath his dark glasses. “There should be a small river over yonder,” he says. I see him glance over at Kayden’s body, and I know what he is thinking.
The terrain is a lot greener where we are now, and it smells fresher, like we’re close to a jungle. I look out the window. Corin and I are no longer strapped together by the seat belt, and he’s sitting next to the dead man’s body. Outside, there are lots of low-creeping plants and even a few trees—naturally placed albizias this time.
Esther continues driving, gulping back tears. Soon enough, we reach the side of a river. We get out. I’m wobbly, and my shoulder hurts even more with the movement of walking. Three puts his arm around me. We watch as Corin and Rahn lift Kayden’s body out of the car.
I try not to look, but it’s impossible not to. As Corin and Rahn carry him, I see the bullet that killed him, embedded in the side of his neck. A bloody dark mass of white and red and pink tissues, and darker purple streaky things, and almost-black lumps.
I have to look away.
Esther, Three, and I follow Corin and Rahn to the side of the river. The rushing water looks heavenly. Light. Refreshing. Full of hope.
I can’t feel my arm at all now. I’m glad.
We watch as the two men take Kayden’s shoes off, and then Corin goes back to the car. He returns with one of Kayden’s bows and a length of rope.
Rahn ties the bow to the body, and then Corin wades into the shallow part of the river, dragging Kayden’s body with him.
Esther’s moans fill my ears. I’m not crying. I’m just…there.
Rahn says the Spirit Releasing Words. After a few moments, Corin lets go of the dead man’s hands. The river sweeps Kayden’s body away as we watch.
I look around. Five of us are left, whittled down by death. By the Enhanced. I feel sick, and suddenly my hand finds the small bottle of Calmness in my shorts. It’s still there. I’d forgotten about it, but I can feel it’s intact. How didn’t Corin realize it was there? I was sitting on his lap.
I swallow hard, don’t know where to look.
“Come on,” Rahn says to Corin, offering him his hand.
Corin takes his uncle’s hand and climbs out of the river. He then walks off toward the car, presumably to change his shorts.
Rahn looks across at Three and Esther. “Take Seven upstream, and clean her wound.”
Three pauses for a moment, opening his mouth slowly, stretching his lips. “Do we take the bullet out?” he asks.
Rahn nods. I feel my body get heavier, and my breathing already sounds shallower.
“Use Duct Tape as a bandage,” Rahn says, throwing a roll at Three. “It’ll stick better. I think there’s some brandy left somewhere. Use it as an antiseptic.”
“Come on,” Esther says, lightly touching my arm. I flinch, but don’t resist as she and Three lead me upstream.
I know it’s going to hurt. Badly.
Over the next two weeks or so, my arm becomes a real pain. Three says the bullet didn’t do any real damage, skimmed the important stuff, and that it’s only torn tissue and muscle that needs to repair. Still, every time I move the slightest part of my body, pain shoots through me, wrapping me in its little sticky arms.
The pain keeps me awake several nights running, and, multiple times, I contemplate taking some of the Calmness—not that I’d be able to open it easily, given one of my arms barely works. But every time I think of getting the augmenter out of my pocket, I see my father and sister. I see the looks of betrayal in their eyes. It makes me feel sick. It makes me think I deserved to get shot, that I deserve this pain, because I stole an augmenter, and I’m still hiding it. Maybe Kayden’s death is my fault too.
Even after a month, my shoulder is still bad. Just using my fingers on my right hand sends spasms of pain up into my shoulder. I spend most of the time in the car, doing as little physical work as possible. The worst days are when everyone else goes out on raids, leaving me here with the terrier, waiting, wondering, imagining… I grimace. A few times, the anxiety has nearly driven me to take the Calmness. But Rahn and Three and Corin and Esther always come back in time, and I don’t need the augmenter. I know I should get rid of it, but I can’t help thinking there will be a time when I will need it. A time when they don’t come back….
My shoulder is getting better. Slowly. And I have still got the use of it, even if it doesn’t work entirely properly at the moment. At least I still have my arm. At least I still have my life.
Everywhere I look, I expect to see Kayden. Even after a month.
It’s dark, and we’re in the car, supposedly sleeping. Rahn thought it would be safer to sleep here. He’s in the driver’s seat, snoring lightly. Corin’s also in the front. Moonlight silhouettes his profile, and his posture is too tense for him to be sleeping.
To my right, Esther snuggles closer into Three’s side, and he moves his arm around her, still deep in sleep himself. I look at them both. They look relaxed, almost happy—as if they’re not in the mid
dle of nowhere, being hunted down.
I feel groggy, like I’m asleep myself, but I know I’m not. I readjust my position slightly, and it’s enough to send a new bolt of pain through my arm—and remind me of the small vial. It’s still in my pocket. The same pocket. Still there, undetected. I struggle to swallow, struggle to breathe. They could’ve found it—any of them could have found it—when I was hurt.
Oh Gods. I have to get rid of it. I know I do. The Enhanced murdered Kayden. I can’t take an augmenter, not when it’s part of their lifestyle. And yet….
“Sev,” Corin whispers, but doesn’t move.
My body jerks.
“Yeah?” My whisper isn’t quite as soft as his, more raw and raspy.
Next to me, Esther stirs slightly. My heart races.
“Get out of the car. Quietly.”
For a second, I don’t move. A small lump materializes in my throat. Oh Gods. My legs shake.
Corin’s already opened his door, quietly. I open mine, wincing as it squeaks. But Esther doesn’t stir again, and Three’s out of it. Rahn’s still snoring. I shut my door quietly. Corin is already at my side.
He nods at me. Under the night sky, his eyes look darker, and he stares at me in a thoughtful, brooding way. Then his gaze gets darker, and my heart lurches. The augmenter. Suddenly it’s all I can feel, against my leg at the bottom of the pocket. But he can’t know about it. I’ve been careful. Very careful.
“Your shoulder,” Corin says.
He looks at me expectantly, so I raise that arm slightly, despite the persistent aching.
“No one’s checked the wound recently,” he says.
I exhale loudly, my stomach feeling all jittery. He doesn’t know about the Calmness after all.
“It needs to be checked regularly. No one has done it today.”
His observation makes me feel nervous, not because he must have been watching me to know it, but that he’d think of it, and he must have been thinking of it a lot to bring it up. I look up at his face, and I blink. In his eyes, it can’t be concern, can it?
Untamed Series, #1 Page 15