Untamed Series, #1

by Madeline Dyer

  Something flies toward me. White and gold. I try to move, but Corin’s in the way. The white and gold thing hits me. Corin’s not there. I’m falling. Something hard presses against my back.

  Then the world goes dark, and all I can hear is screaming.

  The spirit stares at me. I can’t look away. It’s the most hideous thing I’ve ever seen. Its body is skeletal, but instead of being solid, it’s wispy and floats above me. Long tendrils connect its horrible frame to my own body.

  I’m lying down, pressed into the grass.

  It’s getting lighter all around me. Although I can’t move my head, out of the corner of my eye, I see another body. Someone else is lying near me. A spirit feeds from them too. I strain my eyes trying to see. Trying to work out who it is, but I can’t see much. I think I can see pale skin, dark hair. But that’s it. Just a blur of an image. Corin? Esther?

  The spirit feeds from me.

  My father warned me this would happen if we were outside during the Turning. The spirits are angry. Have we angered them? It turns its head toward me. Gaunt eye sockets stare down at me, and its mouth—if that’s what it is—curls at the edges.

  Sleep, says a voice. It’s a luring voice, a voice that wants to be listened to…a voice that wants to be obeyed. Close your eyes… Sleep, Seventh One, sleep…. We’ll help you….once we’re strong enough… Sleep for now, my lovely Seventh One….

  You’re special, you’re the seventh child of the light—so easily identifiable to us, but also to them. Be careful, Seventh One, for we’ll help you. But others will want you. Others will destroy you. For there is no mistaking that you are the one. Your parents knew…they made it easy…easy for us to know…easy for others to know… Be careful, Seventh One. Stay Untamed, and be careful.

  Now, sleep, Seventh One, sleep….

  So I do. I close my eyes. I don’t want to stare at the spirit any longer. I smile. And I sleep.

  The bison gallops across the sky. I am running. Running after it. The bison, I can’t look away. It’s so beautiful, and I, the Seventh One, know why it’s there; it makes sense.

  When I was little, my father told me stories of bison and buffalo.

  A bison represents stability and strength, consistency and gratitude, prosperity and provision, blessing and abundance.

  I can still remember his voice as he looked out toward the setting sun and the streaks of the world’s colors across the sky. We were sitting by Isra’s Rock, near Nbutai. He’d been telling me what the bison stood for—because he must have known I would be a Seer, the Seventh One. All the things the bison stands for—stability and strength, consistency and gratitude, prosperity and provision, blessing and abundance—are what Seers need, what we are, and what we can give.

  I’m a Seer.

  I clap a hand to my mouth, almost in disbelief. My father knew. He said he didn’t, but it can’t be a coincidence. My mother, she must have told him. She must have known, because she left her pendant with Esther for me. And I am a Seer.

  I need to be strong. I need to be grateful for my life, for the opportunity. I need to be prosperous, I need to help others, provide a safe world for them. I’ve been blessed with this gift, and only when it’s used correctly, as it was meant to be, will the Untamed life be abundant once more.

  East, we’re going east. The tor is ahead. The oddly shaped tor. They’re behind us. Deafening footsteps.

  The spirits are still with us, but I can’t tell whose side they’re on. They’re just running with us. Flying at us. Screaming before we do.

  “Sev!” Corin shouts. He throws his Glock at me, and, somehow, I catch it.

  I skid, my feet hitting mud, and I slide forward as I turn. I pull the trigger on the nearest Enhanced. He falls immediately.

  My lungs burn as I run. Three’s up ahead. More Enhanced are on him. I hear gunshots far too close. And then I’m falling.

  A hand seizes me—Corin’s. He pulls me to my feet, wiping at the bloody side of his face.

  “They’re everywhere,” he pants. “We can’t do this. We can’t outrun them. They’re made for running.”

  They’re made for running.

  I jerk awake, no longer in the Dream Land. The spirit has stopped feeding from me, just hovers in my peripheral vision. For a few seconds, I don’t do anything. Just listen to the pounding of the land. Footsteps. Hundreds, maybe thousands. They’re not walking. They’re sprinting.

  I jump up and nearly run into a lingering spirit. This one’s golden, and it recoils from me. The sky’s still purple, but it’s softer.

  “Three, Corin!” I yell, and I’m running toward the nearest body.

  It’s Esther. She opens her eyes.

  “Get up! The Enhanced are coming!”

  I don’t need to look out toward the horizon, and the approaching army, to know who they are.

  Esther stares at me for a few moments, then stands. She’s crying, her arms and legs trembling. She looks like a scared little girl caught up in events that are way too grown up and powerful for her.

  “Seven?”

  I see Three getting to his feet.

  “Are you still okay, still Untamed?”

  “Yes.” My heart races. I am, aren’t I?

  Be careful, Seventh One. Stay Untamed, and be careful.

  “Just give us a warning if you’re going to go all Enhanced on us.”

  “Corin! Marouska!” I can see them. “Get up!”

  The pounding of feet gets nearer. I turn, can’t see the dog.

  “We need to run now! They’re closing in on us!”

  Oh Gods. These Enhanced can run fast.

  “Which way?” Esther asks. The five of us are on our feet now. Just behind Esther, I can see what I think is Rahn’s body.

  I turn and look around the horizon. I freeze. My blood boils. They’re coming for us. The Enhanced are here; the majority of them are behind us. An army marching in when the spirits were feeding from us.

  I check my belt for weapons, but there’s nothing there now. I curse, then check the others: they’ve still got their guns.

  “That way.” I point toward the oddly shaped tor. “And don’t stop, don’t slow down. Get your weapons out now and shoot them. Go!”

  For a second, a part of me is surprised that I’m commanding them—and that I’m commanding them to shoot the Enhanced. To hurt them.

  You were going to join them. You still might.

  No.

  Then we’re running. Three pulls Esther ahead of Corin and me, and Marouska is at the back with her strange gun. Corin grabs my hand, and I turn as we run, looking at him. Our eyes meet for a second. We keep running.

  The first gunshots go off.

  Corin twists around and fires at an Enhanced man.

  My lungs are going to burst. Not enough oxygen. Can’t think.

  Breathe. In. Out. In. Out.

  They’re too close. I can’t move properly. I’m losing speed. How can they run so fast?

  I look ahead. The desolate horizon is moving, jolting up and down with every step. The land is desert again now; I can’t remember when we left the trees behind.

  I wrench my head around, checking for Marouska. She’s still right behind us. For her size, she can run fast. Very fast.

  “Sev!” Corin yanks me to the left, pulling me out of the pathway of a bullet.

  I scream. His grip on my hand tightens. I surge forward with new speed. My hand flails at my waist, automatically going for my Luger. But it’s still not there—where the hell have my weapons gone?

  East, we’re going east. The tor is ahead. The oddly shaped tor. They’re behind us. Deafening footsteps.

  The spirits are still with us, but I can’t tell whose side they’re on. They’re just running with us. Flying at us. Screaming before we do.

  “Sev!” Corin shouts. He throws his Glock at me, and, somehow, I catch it.

  I skid, my feet hitting mud, and slide forward as I turn. I pull the trigger on the nearest Enhanced. He falls.
And I get the strangest sense of déjà vu.

  “Eriksen!”

  I look up to see Corin swerve.

  There are too many. Everywhere, all around us. Hundreds of them. Thousands, I don’t know. All I know is that we’re outnumbered. Way outnumbered. Oh Gods. How can we—?

  It would be easier if you joined them.

  No.

  Pain sears through me. My mother’s words blur through my head. What have you done? Seven, my child, look at what you’ve done! After everything I told you! Do my words mean nothing?

  I can’t join them again. We can’t. We mustn’t.

  But there are too many here. We can’t win. We can’t. It’s impossible. We’re going to die.

  My mouth dries. We all have guns. It could be over in seconds. All of us. We’d be safe then. In a twisted, ironic, sick sense of the word. And the Enhanced wouldn’t get me, so they wouldn’t get all the Untamed. Yet.

  I stare at my gun. The light glints off it. We could do it. All of us.

  It would be the easy way out.

  My lungs burn as I run. Three’s ahead. More of the Enhanced are on him. I hear gunshots far too close. And then I’m falling.

  A hand seizes me—Corin’s. He pulls me to my feet, wiping at the bloody side of his face.

  “They’re everywhere,” he pants. “We can’t do this! We can’t outrun them! They’re made for running.”

  They’re made for running.

  My head pounds. This happened before. I know it did. That…that was a Seeing dream. I freeze, and then I’m moving again. Corin’s right. They are made for running. These people are designed to run.

  Lesson one: You can never outrun the Enhanced. They are better, faster, and stronger than you.

  We’re not going to be able to get away. They’re made for running. To them, nothing else matters. Running is their goal; running is all they need to do. Running is what they do.

  “Sev?” Corin yells as a spirit whizzes past his ear. “We can’t outrun them!”

  I look at him as best as I can as we sprint, then I’m slowing down.

  “Stop running. That’ll confuse them,” I shout. It’s a long shot, I’m aware of that. In fact, it’s ridiculous. But we’re going to die anyway. And we may as well die when we’re not sweating and out of breath. “And then we shoot them.”

  “They’ll kill us immediately!” Corin shouts back, his voice buckling under the wind.

  He’s getting farther and farther ahead now. Part of me knows I should be keeping up with him, not letting the Enhanced catch up with me. Sure, these perfect beings look like they’re made for running, but they have weapons, they’ll be the Supreme Enhanced—surely they won’t have maxed out on speed augmenters, to the extent that they can’t do anything else until they wear off? But right now, the running is controlling them. And that’s what I’m hoping for.

  “What the hell are you doing? We can’t give in!”

  “I—” A spirit rushes against me, and I look ahead… The spirits…they fed from us… We’ll help you…once we’re strong enough…and I get it. I realize why the spirits are here, why another Turning came around so soon. This is their land too.

  “Stop!” I shout. “Three! Esther! Marouska! Stop running!” I shout even louder, hoping I’m right. Because if I’m not, I’ve just assigned us all to our deaths.

  They stop running. The five of us group together, back to back, so we’ve got eyes on all directions. Our guns are ready.

  The nearest Enhanced Ones run straight past us.

  They’re skidding, but they can’t stop quickly enough. Arms flail about, legs are kicking, but they can’t stop quickly. A strangled laugh escapes my lips. They’ve got too much speed that needs using up.

  “What the hell are we doing?” Three hisses. “They’re going to kill us!”

  “These Enhanced are made for running,” I say. It’s almost funny. “Not fighting.”

  “We can’t win like this,” Three says.

  The Enhanced are still running past us, but more are coming. We’re right in the center of their group. They’re confused.

  “We need to run! Not fight them ourselves!”

  “We’re not the ones who’ll be fighting them,” I say. I pause and look up at the sky. “Spirits!”

  A chivra flies past me. It’s a mass of red and black smoke. I can’t focus on it properly.

  For several seconds, I can’t believe that this is real life. After everything I did, everything that I’d planned, the spirits are obeying me.

  “Sev!” Corin grabs me and pulls me toward, him. His hand in mine is warm, and reassuring. I lean into him, inhaling his warm, smoky scent.

  More spirits are moving. Hardly able to stand up, we cower against each other. The wind picks up again. My hair whips forward, out of the band.

  “What are they doing?” Esther cries.

  I look toward the spirits in front of me, then to the left; we’re in the middle of the growing circle of spirits. They’re blocking the Enhanced Ones from us.

  My ears fill with screams. The sky’s painted red. I look up, and—

  “Get down!” I yell, twisting around and pushing Marouska and Three out of the way of a flying uprooted tree.

  Esther screams as a bloody limb hits her.

  It’s getting colder. The wind’s so icy we’re all shivering.

  “They’re trying to freeze them to death,” Corin says.

  I turn to look at him, and tiny ice crystals grace his stubble. He smiles at me; his hand in mine is still warm and reassuring.

  Then a chivra flies toward us. Red. Black. Mist. It doesn’t stop.

  Marouska screams, and the four of us push her out the way of its path. I hear something tear, and a sharp sound, but can’t place it.

  “What the hell is it doing?” Three pants. “They’re after us too!” He raises his gun, and I see him take aim, but he doesn’t fire.

  “No! Must be a mistake!” I whirl around; my elbow hits Esther, and she whimpers. But I can’t see the chivra anymore.

  “Marouska, are you okay?” Corin’s voice is hoarse. He’s still squeezing my hand.

  Marouska mumbles an affirmative reply. I turn back to the spirits. It’s cold.

  Corin’s grip on my hand tightens. “They’re getting through,” he says, his voice small. “Some of the Enhanced are getting through the spirits.”

  He’s right. Hazy figures. The Enhanced, walking through the spirits. Mist flies, turning into shards of glass that cut the Enhanced…but they’re still coming.

  “We need to run,” Three says.

  “Sev?” Corin asks. His eyes are wide.

  I watch the Enhanced Ones break through the spirit wall. “I—I, uh—”

  I can’t talk. The words just fall away.

  He is coming for me.

  I take a step backward, crashing into Three and Esther.

  “Are we supposed to be running?”

  “Why aren’t they fighting back?”

  I can’t answer their questions. I can’t think clearly enough to form a reasonably articulate reply. I can’t do anything.

  Corin pulls me closer to him, then pushes me behind him. I hear him swear, and I know he’s seen Raleigh too.

  I look down. Alarm springs through me. “Where’s the dog?”

  I frown. I can’t remember when I last saw him. My mind’s fuzzy. Was he with us when Rahn was—

  Esther screams. In a second, I’m facing her.

  Enhanced Ones surround her. They all scream at her, red-faced.

  One steps forward, and Marouska fires at her with her special gun, and the woman falls. She shoots at another—a tattooed man—but there are more. They’re coming for us from two sides. In a second, my gun’s in my hands. I take aim.

  “Run!” Corin yells. He wrenches me along with him. I stumble, trip, and he yanks me up.

  “What’s happening?” Esther screams. “Cori—” Her scream’s cut short.

  I whirl around. So does Corin.
But I can’t see her. The spirits are still fighting. But something’s not right. The Enhanced, they’re closing in. Raleigh is in the lead. I see him, and his teeth sparkle.

  I freeze.

  “We need to keep going.”

  I hear Marouska shouting, but I can’t make sense of it. Something wet splatters over my shoulder, blood.

  A spirit’s body explodes overhead. For a second, we’re all plunged into darkness. I can’t feel Corin’s hand in mine. It’s not there. He’s not there.

  I turn, and the darkness lifts, and—

  An unfamiliar Enhanced man stands in front of me. The smell of strong alcohol, with a faintly minty tang, washes over me—mixed with danger and pain. He’s taller than should be possible—must be an augmenter’s work—so tall that I only come up to his elbow.

  “Shania.” His teeth are pure white, perfect. Predatory. His hands take hold of me by the waist, pulling me forward. “Come on.”

  I scream, trying to turn away. “Corin! Three! Esther!”

  The Enhanced man laughs, and I can’t take another breath. But I remember the Glock in my hand. Before I have a chance to think, I fire it at him. He crumbles forward, clutching his leg. I see the agony on his face, in the way it contorts, and all I can smell is blood. It’s everywhere. I’m drenched in it.

  I run from his body as fast as I can.

  Spirits still fly around. One rushes at me. I duck and scream.

  Something hits me in the side, and I’m so winded I can’t move. But I have to. I force myself to run. I have to get away. I have to find the others, if they’re still—

  I snap my head back the other way; the pain jolting through my neck distracts me nicely from the end of that last thought.

  I hear barking. Loud barking. Canine barking.

  “Dog!” I yell, trying to see through the thick white mist and masses of spirits that swirl around. “Dog!”

  He barks again. There’s a flash of brown in the distance, and I run as fast as I can, pain jolting through me with every step.

  “Shania.”

  I scream and duck as a hand appears out of nowhere, reaching for me. My feet hit a lone limb on the ground. I skid, stumble.