An Enhanced man looms up in front of me, a knife in his hand. I freeze, my eyes lingering on his face. That tattoo, I saw it only moments ago, out of the corner of my eye… Marouska shot him. He was dead.
But he’s here.
I dive to the side, just as his knife comes down. I twist around, spraining my wrist as I fire at him. His screams deafen me as he dies for the second time…or maybe a lot of them have that tattoo. What am I even thinking? Of course it had to be a different man. Unless he was super-Enhanced.
“Dog! Where are you?”
I keep running, but I’m limping now.
Everywhere I look, I see blood, detached limbs, bodies, spirits flying about. Enhanced figures are coming toward me, through the hazy mist, and I turn sharply, run the opposite way. A chivra and another spirit—a black one—skids past me. Icy crystals graze my skin, and I scream as something else hits me.
I twist around, trying to go to my left, and duck under a flying bullet. I turn and see Three running toward me. His arm is bloody, and he’s screaming at someone behind him. I raise my gun, trying to train it on the Enhanced, but I’m shaking too much, and there’s too much movement.
The dog bounds into view. Gun barrels flash.
“No!” I lunge forward. Dust kicks up in my face. I slam into a figure, see mirror eyes, and yelp.
Fingers grab at me. I squeeze the trigger. Someone shrieks. Blood. I turn, the dog’s running away.
“Go!” I yell. “Go!”
And—and it happens.
The Enhanced man grins as my brother’s body drops to the ground. He reminds me of Finn, the way he falls. Not graceful. Three’s head rolls to the side, his eyes facing away from me. A line of blood forms across his forehead. His lips quiver as he drags oxygen into his lungs.
“No…no… Three!” I’m running. My feet crush the ground. “Three!”
His head turns toward me. His left cheek is gone. It’s just a mess of blood and muscle and tissue and teeth.
I’m going to hurl. I turn, lights blinding me. An Enhanced woman roars past me. She’s got a gun. Her gun is aimed at my brother’s limp form.
I raise my own, pull the trigger. My bullet gets the woman after hers plunges into my brother’s abdomen.
Dust and blood and mud cling to my face. I can taste it everywhere.
Then Marouska’s in front of me. Her eyes are wild, and her skin is a funny color. She grabs me by the shoulder with surprising strength and throws me a few feet to my right.
“That way, Seven!” she shouts, and she’s turning to me, pointing behind me. She lunges forward, retrieving a fallen knife. “He’s waiting for you up there.”
All I can hear is solid firing as a band of Enhanced descend on us. Marouska prods me, telling me to go. She’s pointing. Shouting at me. The Enhanced get closer. The gaps between them are disappearing.
“Give me your gun!” Marouska yells, and I do.
She turns and shoots at the Enhanced with the strange AK47 look-alike. Mine’s in her right hand, by her side. She’s not using it.
“Run, Seven! You’re a powerful Seer, you have to survive this with the right people!” she screams, her eyes flitting from side to side. “Go, he’s waiting!”
So, I do. I run. I don’t want to leave Three, but I run. My lungs scream, and I don’t know how I manage to take each breath. My fingers are sore, and blood drips down my arm, and the throbbing in my shoulder…have I been hit? Three was hit…my brother’s—
I can’t think the word.
I look ahead. The air is thick and coarse; shards of broken spirits are falling around me. Bright lights everywhere. Oh Gods. Where I am going? To Corin. Yes. That’s what Marouska said.
I peer ahead, squinting. But I can’t see far. I could be about to walk off a cliff. But Marouska told me to go this way.
Focus, Seven, keep going. Corin’s waiting for you.
I’m running fast, arms and legs pumping. I clamp my good hand over my bad shoulder. It comes away sticky and wet. Red. Oh Gods. I need to stop, but I can’t….
I see him. He rises out of the ground like a ghost.
I stop as fast as I can. Mud sprays up over me. My legs aren’t quick enough. I can’t stop in time.
Raleigh lunges forward, grabbing me by the wrist as I try to change direction. I see the flash of a gun as he holds it near my head.
“So glad you could make it, Shania. It would’ve been a shame if one of my men had hurt you before our meeting. I trust you got the message okay?”
He’s waiting for you up there.
Marouska? No. I feel sick, it can’t be. But she took my gun from me. She left me unarmed. Sent me up here, unarmed.
Marouska? Oh Gods. The Enhanced must have forced her to do it. Marouska sent me to Raleigh.
He smiles. “Yes, my friend delivered the message then. Good.”
Friend?
“Clever, wasn’t it? Getting my good friend to pose as that batty old woman and rescue you.”
What? I twist my head, stare at him.
“I mean, I could’ve just kept you back at New Repliza, when my men caught you. But that wouldn’t have been any fun at all. And I would’ve just got two of you. You and that boyfriend of yours.” He smiles softly. “But I wanted you to choose us. Bev—or Marouska as you know her—that’s where she came in. Feeding you small amounts of augmenters, hiding your eye-mirrors so even you didn’t know, you just felt the need to be with us. You feel the right thing.”
My stomach hardens. Marouska wasn’t Marouska? My eyes widen. No… How didn’t we… We all said it! How different Marouska was when she joined back up with us. Yet none of us thought….
“And you’ve come to me voluntarily, and my men will be getting your brother, your boyfriend, and that woman too. Perfect. We’ll have four of the most powerful, disciplined Untamed creatures. I’d say it was definitely worth the wait, wouldn’t you?”
I don’t speak. Just his words, your brother, rip through me. Three’s dead. Raleigh doesn’t know.
Raleigh laughs. “I won’t let you get away again. You’re too powerful, too recognizable to others.” It’s the same words he said when he first met me. “This time, you’re ours… Look, Shania, there’s a gun inches from your neck.” He sounds suddenly annoyed. “I suggest you stop struggling.”
“I’d rather be dead.” I twist around, trying to get a grip on him. But I can’t. He’s too quick. He anticipates my every move. And his pistol flashes.
His laugh is so deep it might be seductive on another man. “I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he whispers, his lips by my ear. “I know what you are, how valuable you are. I know, Shania. It’s frightening, isn’t it? Being valuable with the possibility of falling into the wrong hands. Well, I’m rescuing you now.” His hand on my waist squeezes. “I’m just like you. We need to be on the same side. We’ll be unstoppable together.”
“Kill me now,” I tell him. “Do it. Do it now.” Somehow, I manage to keep my words steady and powerful, full of authority.
I feel the cold metal of the gun press against my hot skin.
“Oh, I’ve got a much better alternative to just killing you. That would be boring. And such a waste, when I could have you.”
His lips press against my neck. I shudder.
“And I won’t let you fly away from me again. I’ll keep you by my side. My butterfly in her cage. We’ll be together forever, just you and me. We’ll win the war easily. Think about it, it’ll be quicker, less lives lost.”
For a second, I don’t say anything. Then I step forward and turn to face him as much as he’ll allow me to. I see every pore in his dark skin. I see the way his mirrors draw a sort of unity between the whiteness of his perfect teeth and his eyes…the doors to his heavily guarded soul.
Coldness rolls through my body. I need to stay calm, but being calm in this situation? Gods, help me! I don’t have a gun. I don’t have anything. I don’t even have my knife.
“We’ll be unstoppable t
ogether, Shania. I’ll protect you—you know I will. We’ll be the most powerful couple ever. We’ll win. Two of the greatest, most powerful Seers together. We can end this war right now, save thousands of lives. We’ll save everyone together. You just have to trust me, Shania. Let me convert you right here, right now.”
My heart pounds in a dangerous, frightening way. If the Enhanced have me, they’ll have all the Untamed. I thought I wanted to be an Enhanced One before, but Corin’s right. Their way of life is pathetic. Joining the murderers out of fear is wrong. I’d rather be able to feel every raw, harsh emotion and have complete control than be a cold automaton, devoid of humanity.
I am Untamed. I am not going down easily. I will fight for us. I will. I have to.
“No.” My voice is the firmest I think it’s ever been. I glare at Raleigh.
For a few seconds, all I can hear is the battle going on around us. I know it’ll be a miracle if Corin and Esther are still alive.
“Well then,” Raleigh says. “It’s you against me. The strong against the strongest. But Seer strength’s only part of it. Physical strength… Well, we don’t even need to contest that, do we? I’m male, and I’m a Chosen One. You’re female, and you’re a poor, little, weak Untamed creature. No more elaboration’s needed here, is it? I’m going to enjoy this.”
He shoves me, and I lose my balance. My bad shoulder hits the ground first, and I shriek. His weight hits me seconds later. I twist away from under him, screaming for help. Pain rips through my injured shoulder. For several seconds, I can’t see a thing. But I know no one’s coming—
Then the pain in my head, it’s—oh Gods. I can’t do anything…can’t…help…ice, everywhere. Bullets. Sharpness…in my head, my body, my soul… Tiny shards of deadly ice drive into my brain, tearing up my body, cutting through my flesh….
Something’s coming. Something bigger than Raleigh. I can’t breathe. It’s not just him. The color’s fading. I don’t understand.
“You’re making this too easy, Shania,” Raleigh laughs. “Maybe I was wrong… Maybe you’re not as powerful a Seer as I thought you were… Definitely…you’re making this too easy… It’s not even scratching the surface of my powers, but this, this is brilliant. You can’t do a thing, can you? Utterly helpless. My helpless little butterfly.”
I can’t move at all. Can’t do a thing. Too much pain. Too much darkness.
“My beautiful little butterfly.”
I can’t do anything.
“My precious, beautiful little—”
“Get off her.”
Darkness descends as the voice shouts again, and I turn, try to get up—try to reach him—but everything’s gone. Gone. I gasp, can’t understand. But Raleigh’s gone. Everything’s gone. I’m gone. And the world is…the world is gone.
I’m here. Yet I’m not.
Your mother’s gone.
The voice is in my head, but it’s not. It’s everywhere. I scream, and I’m standing in the darkness. The lifeless darkness. I’m standing with him. The figure, but I don’t know who he is. A dark cloak, thin, bony arms that stick out, and elbows that glow. I can’t see his face—something tells me I mustn’t see his face.
I don’t know what to do. Too much darkness. I can’t see anything. Yet I can see him.
Something smells wrong. Too—
Listen.
I listen.
There are voices around me. Now I know they’re there, I hear them, louder. But they’re not right. The wrong language. I can’t understand them. Yet I know what they are. Little whisperings of truth, of memory, of….
This can’t be real. This has to be a dream, a nightmare. There’s no bison. No one to help me. Just the hooded man. And darkness.
I’m dead. This is what death is. This is the New World.
That familiar voice—the last thing I heard—he didn’t save me. He went. Walked away. Left me. And now I’m dead.
Dead.
Something cold slaps across my face—bony fingers.
I scream, look for Raleigh. But the hooded man jumps toward me again. I smell something on him, something dark…the worst thing ever… My insides heave, and my eyes burn as I stare up at him. Can’t breathe, can’t speak, can only listen to the words—his words—as they wrap around me, strangling me over and over again with new slaps.
“Death knows all. Death sees all, and Death is drawn to you. The stench of a traitor—new or old—clings to your skeleton, with little shards of glass that will never let go, scratching and digging deeper. You are marked for what you are. The mask of betrayal hangs over your aura, like gold cobwebs, rusting. Your body will rot under Death’s command, long before your soul is allowed an escape from the decaying flesh of your ribs.”
He pauses for a moment, then the air’s cold. I still don’t know where I am. Not on the hill, not near the battlefield. There’s no one else here, and I don’t understand. I look up at the sky. Still darkness. No bison there to guide me.
The hooded man’s robes billow out. I think he’s smiling, though I can’t see his face. Something tugs within me, something that says I should know who this man is—that everyone should know….
“Death knows who you are, Seven Sarr. Death will be watching you. Soon, I promise, soon it will be your time. The day of your death is marked to end the suffering, but it is not today. A traitor’s soul is never free. A traitor’s soul is Death’s soul. Remember that. Death will collect what belongs to Death. Death will not forget.”
My spine clicks. My arms and legs jerk out as I fall, as the darkness wraps round me, like an old, rugged blanket.
I’m still falling, falling…and…and I smell things: blood, smoke, fear. I see things; the sky, the man with the—
“You’re making this too easy, Shania,” Raleigh laughs. My breath catches in my throat. He—no. This—what? I don’t understand. He already said that. “Maybe I was wrong… Maybe you’re not as powerful a Seer as I thought you were… Definitely…you’re making this too easy… It’s not even scratching the surface of my powers, but this, this is brilliant. You can’t do a thing, can you? Utterly helpless. My helpless little butterfly.”
I can’t move at all. Can’t do a thing. Too much pain. And I look up, ready for the heavy darkness again, expecting it. But the lingering darkness lifts.
I don’t understand. This already happened. Raleigh said those words. Those same words. But the darkness fell, after them, claiming me. And now?
The day of your death is marked to end the suffering, but it is not today. A traitor’s soul is never free. A traitor’s soul is Death’s soul. Remember that. And Death will collect what belongs to Death. Death will not forget.
“My beautiful little butterfly.”
I can’t do anything.
But it is not today. I will not die today.
“My precious, beautiful little—”
“Get off her.”
“Get off her. I will not ask you again.”
Oh Gods. This is real, this time? I’m not sure. Can’t be sure of anything. I can still see Death’s hooded figure every time I blink.
A traitor’s soul is Death’s soul.
My body feels too heavy. My head pounds, but Corin is here. He’s really here. He pulls Raleigh off me. Corin’s got a knife, and he—
I look away, but I hear it all. I hear the sound of the knife as it plunges into Raleigh’s chest. It makes a squelching noise like feet stuck in mud. I hear Raleigh’s sharp intake of breath, the choking sounds he makes, and the thud as his body falls. The gasp of his last breath seems to echo.
“Sev?” Corin’s frantic by my side, trying to pull me up. I let him, leaning heavily on him. I can hardly move, hardly… My head…so painful…full of Death… I see the flash of Raleigh’s pistol, now in Corin’s hand. “What’s he done? Seven?”
I clutch at my head, my breath coming in rapid, short bursts. “I don’t know,” I say in a small voice that doesn’t sound anything like my own. But I don’t know who I’m talking
about anymore. Raleigh…or Death?
That’s when it hits me. I saw Death. Actually saw him. He spoke to me. But no one sees Death… no one even talks about Death…and I saw him.
Corin’s arms are around me, holding me against him. There’s no space between us. He looks down at me, his eyes so alive that I tremble.
I am a traitor.
Death knows I’m a traitor. I don’t know what to do, who I am, who I should be. No, of course I know. I am Untamed. That is me. That is who I am.
I want to tell Corin everything I saw. But no one talks about Death because no one sees Death—no one’s supposed to. I don’t know what it would do. Telling Corin. He might not believe me.
Death knows who you are, Seven Sarr. And Death will be watching you.
Or what if Death takes Corin away because I’ve told him? Oh Gods. What if none of that was real? All in my head? No one talks about Death…because he doesn’t exist?
I take a deep breath that shakes my body. I look up at Corin, at those eyes. I have to save him. I can’t tell him. I can’t tell him, in case it was real, in case Death is watching, and in case Death doesn’t want Corin to know.
Corin draws me closer still. I try to forget.
“I love you,” he says, as though it is the simplest thing in the world. The way he says it fills my chest with warmth, makes my head spin, my arms shake. Everything else is gone. Just like that.
I can’t breathe. All I can do is stare up into those eyes. Those warm chocolate brown eyes. His body is a cage around mine, and I’ve never felt so safe. Then his lips brush mine, tenderly, as though he’s scared that I might break. I can’t move. I freeze.
He pulls away, but his arms are still around me.
“Come on,” he says, steering me forward.
Somehow, I manage to walk, although his arm around me feels like it’s a lifeline—without it I’ll crumple into the nothingness that had me before. The darkness.
“Who else is…?” I trial off, my voice cracking again.
Corin steadies the gun in his hand. He hasn’t got his knife now—it must still be in Raleigh’s chest.
Untamed Series, #1 Page 28