by D. S. Murphy
“It’s too small for the slagpaw, and the elite won’t find it. They rarely come to the cities. And if a human got in, they’d probably starve before they found their way through.”
She stepped quickly over the rubble towards the end of the alley. I glanced back, and she was right, even from a few meters away it was hard to see the opening if I wasn’t looking for it.
She waved for me to follow. At the end of the alley we had to cut across a wide open space that used to be a large road, then weave through the remains of several buildings. We passed through the center of one, with marble floors, the ceiling caved in and fake plastic plants in tall vases.
Wide canvases were painted with vibrant splashes of blue and gold. Half the space was barred with metal slats and glass.
“A jail?” I guessed.
“It used to be a bank,” Amber said. “People would store money here, then come and take it out when they needed it.”
“They had too much money to carry?” I asked. My mother – the woman who raised me – kept ours in a sock in her closet.
“Here,” she said, heading through missing back wall and across the next street towards another building. It was massive from the outside, larger than anything I’d seen outside the citadel. Tall pillars and large, carved statues decorated the stone facade, and something was chiseled into the rock in a language I didn’t recognize. Latin maybe.
The door was broken and burnt, with chunks of wood scattered down the large stone steps and the other panel barely clinging to its hinges. Inside were high ceilings were rows and rows of bookshelves. Long tables with green lamps, mostly just piles of shattered glass now, filled a spacious hall. Campfires had been lit in the center and it looked like people had been camping out. I pulled the charred spine of a book out of the fire pit and read the label. Nothing I recognized.
“This is where you grew up?” I asked. “All alone?”
“For a few years anyway,” April said. “There were other humans, they came and went. Nobody found my private stash though.”
I followed her behind a wooden counter, and she pointed out a small slat in the wall.
“See, they’d return the books here; and they’d go into an underground room. That’s how I knew there must be something down there. It took me weeks to find it.” She reached underneath the desk and groped around, then smiled. I heard a ripping sound, then the jangle of keys as she retrieved her hand.
“Still here,” she said. I followed her as she walked down the steps, through two more rooms. I paused briefly, listening, as I thought I heard something moving above us.
“Do you hear that?” I asked.
“It’s just the wind,” she answered. “The floors creak sometimes. Check this out.”
She gripped the edges of a small shelf that was built into the far wall, and wiggled it until she could pull out the whole section of the panel, revealing a dark space behind.
“It must have gotten covered up in reconstructions,” she said, stooping into the space. Behind it, completely sealed off, was a small door, which she unlocked with the key and pushed open.
I took a breath and stepped inside. It was narrow, about the size of my bedroom in Algrave, without a window, and built like a silo with a high ceiling. I glanced up and saw the thin line of the book deposit up above.
In the room was a miniature study desk, a mattress, piles of books against the wall, a flashlight and a stash of batteries. A pink stuffed elephant was tucked into the blankets, half hidden under the pillow. One corner was filled up with tins, cans and plastic wrapped food.
The wall was covered with posters, charts and drawings, and illustrations that looked like they’d been torn out of children’s books, with dragons and castles. My eyes immediately went to the large map on the wall, covered with blue circles and red X’s.
“It was useful,” she shrugged. “Like a treasure map. All these little towns, hidden in the forests. Most of them had at least a pharmacy and a grocery store, and if those were looted, some of the houses had cellars or garages with food and supplies. What did you say the town was called again?” she asked.
“Fanno Creek,” I said. She pulled the map off the wall and set it on the floor, then switched on a flashlight hanging from a string and held it still until it stopped wobbling. The map was dense, and crowded, with thousands of names. It was nothing like the one Penelope had drawn.
I was starting to give up hope when April’s finger shot out and jabbed at a spot on the map. In tiny print, so faded I could barely make it out...
Fanno Creek.
“It’s real,” I breathed.
“You doubted?”
“I was trusting Penelope, what she told me right before she attacked me.” Was it really where Damien grew up? If so, there could be a lab there, where his father had created the elixir… and maybe an antidote.
I pulled April into a hug, wiping a tear out of my eyes. I didn’t realize I’d been putting so much hope into this. But it was our only option. It might be wild and irrational, but the choice was outright violence, and I knew how that would end: the elite would crush the rebellion, they’d murder all the humans, they’d destroy any compounds that stood up to them... and then they’d just start over, and rewrite history, again. We had to break the cycle.
“Where are we now?” I asked. April pointed at a spot on the other side of the map. A large black circle marked the city. April had scribbled in a red star for the citadel of lights. I pulled out Penelope’s map and turned it until the hard line of the sea lined up on the left.
There were nine compounds, connected by lines, like some kind of constellation. A few were familiar, the others tasted strange in my mouth as I tried to pronounce them. One by one, we marked their approximate locations on April’s map.
Algrave, Denvato, Iklebot, Gostras, Skormead, Tagald, Crollust, Sezomp. The last one was Quandom. I crossed it off with a big X.
“Penelope is from Crollust,” I said. “Near the coast. And she said Fanno Creek was near Sezomp.”
“We should go there first,” April said. “The traders will know the area better. They might be able to tell us something.” I nodded, frowning. My finger traced the line drawn around Algrave, which was so close to the citadel.
“When I was growing up, the citadel of lights was on the horizon. It was the farthest place away I’d ever known. But all this,” I swept my hand over the map. “There’s so much of it. It’s so far.”
Even the city we were in was just a smaller town, from the looks of it, practically in the middle of nowhere. A few days from the citadel. There were bigger cities out there. Bigger than I could imagine.
“Let’s head back,” April said, folding up the map. “We can figure it out later. Now we have this, right? We can leave whenever we’re ready.”
“Wait,” I said, “what do you mean we?”
She rolled her eyes.
“Even if you found the lab, you couldn’t know what was useful or what wasn’t. You wouldn’t be able to read the research. I have to go with you.”
I wanted to protest, but she wasn’t wrong.
“It’s too dangerous,” I said. “Have you ever even left the city?”
“No,” she said. “But I think it’s about time I broaden my horizons. You can’t learn everything from a book.”
I squeezed her hand in the dark room, then we retraced our steps upstairs and through the main hall. We were nearing the entrance when I heard a rumble behind me. I spun, pulling out my knife in time to see a large shadow rising out of the shadows between the bookshelves. I thought it was a man at first, but it was too large, nearly all black. Some kind of bear, but clearly a mutid. Half of its face had melted like wax, exposing polished skull, and large spokes of its spine poked through festering wounds on its back. Raised on its hind legs, it was nearly twelve feet tall.
“Run!” I shouted. We sprinted out the front door and down the front steps as the bear charged, knocki
ng over shelves of books that crashed behind us. Soon my lungs were burning, and I could hear the heavy grunts of the creature behind us, closing in. Then I felt a blow from behind that sent me sprawling, and pain radiated through my back. I skidded to a stop against the curb as the beast stalked toward me, licking its lips. I reached for my waist, trying to find the gun, but it was missing. I saw it a dozen paces away, the cold steel glinting against the gray ash and concrete.
Why was it after me? I knew mutids ate flesh but... it was after the elixir. It could smell it. It pawed at my pocket, shredding my pants with its claws and cutting into my thigh. I slashed out with the knife, and the bear growled at me, shattering the silence. It swiped its paw, sending the blade out of my hand, clattering against the stones. Then it bared its teeth and roared, opening its rotten mouth like it was going to suck my face off, and sending a blast of foul air that shriveled my lungs.
I flinched when I heard the first shot. The bear whirled around as the bullet tore into its flank. April fired two more rounds before the bear charged her. I dove for my knife and threw it almost as soon as I rolled to my feet again. The monster howled in fury as the blade sank into its shoulder. It wouldn’t cause much damage, but it was enough of a distraction for April to duck into a small doorway, mostly collapsed and too small for the creature to follow. I pulled the elixir out of my pocket. I hated to use it now, before we’d even started the real mission, and for just a brute animal, but I didn’t have any choice.
I tipped it into my mouth, feeling the elixir pump its way into my heart, and then the rush as it ignited through my blood stream, filling me with energy like my blood was on fire. The bear and I charged each other at the same time. I ducked under its first swipe – the razor sharp claws missing me by inches – then grabbed a handful of matted fur and used my momentum to launch myself up onto its back. With my other hand, I retrieved my knife out of its shoulder and jabbed it through the side of its head, twisting the handle until I felt the skull crack and the knife penetrate its brain. It screamed in pain, spinning and bucking to throw me off, but finally sank into the concrete and after a final tremor, lay still. I closed my eyes, laying on top of the warm body, listening to the creature’s heart until it stopped beating.
“That was amazing,” April said. “I’ve never seen anyone move like that. How much elixir did you have?”
“I don’t know. Three or four drops? It’s hard to tell without my device,” I shook my wrist.
“You really are different,” she said.
“Only with elixir,” I said. “Otherwise, I’m just like everyone else. Quickly, we’ve got to go. Something else could have heard the gunshots. We don’t have much time.”
We hurried through the street. I was still buzzing from adrenaline and elixir, which made me paranoid. We should have been quieter. We were reckless. This was a mistake. It was getting dark by the time we found the alley that led into Havoc. I took a deep breath of relief when we found the secret entrance undisturbed.
I boosted April so she could climb up into the hole, then she reached down and helped pull me up to the ledge. I was almost inside, when I felt something grab my ankle and drag me back outside.
13
I hit the ground hard, knocking the air from my lungs. Someone ripped away my mask and I choked on a bitter flake of hot ash as it scorched the back of my throat.
“Emily Sharrow,” a familiar voice whispered in my ear, making me shudder. For a moment, I was right back in the clearing outside Algrave, fighting for my life. Nigel had even brought the same henchman.
The three elite filled the narrow alley, their dark, casually expensive suits and flawless skin stood out in stark contrast with the rubble and twisted metal scraps behind them. I kicked and screamed as Thomas and Bryce held my wrists, pinning me to the ground.
“You’re becoming quite the nuisance,” Nigel continued, unbuttoning his cuff slowly and rolling up his sleeve. “Got everyone talking. After that stunt you pulled in the capital, the king was positively livid. I haven’t seen him that angry in decades.”
“That wasn’t me,” I snarled.
‘Whatever you say,” he smiled. “Though you’ve already been charged guilty. That means, I’m allowed to punish you. And nobody will intervene this time.”
“Bite me,” I spat.
“Oh I will,” Nigel leered. “I told you the prince would get bored with you. I’m finally going to take what’s mine, what’s owed to me.”
“I was never yours,” I panted, as Nigel squeezed my neck with one hand. Then his hand drifted lower, his nails scraping against my skin and slicing through the top button of my shirt. My chest heaved as I struggled to force him off of me.
“You would have been,” he glowered. “I chose you. I would have tasted every inch of you, every drop, if not for some stupid royal loophole. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”
He licked his lips and my blood ran cold. My heart was beating, too fast, too strong, but I didn’t feel afraid. I wasn’t the same helpless girl I’d been when he met me. And I was angry. For putting myself at risk. At the poisonous sky that forced the rebels to hide underground. But mostly at entitled assholes who thought they deserved to decide my future for me.
“Nobody is going to own me, ever again.”
I still had the knife I’d used on the bear and elixir was coursing through my system. I kicked Bryce away and lashed out quickly. Nigel dodged, but not before I’d torn a hole in his fine jacket. I followed up with three more strikes, grazing the side of his neck before he slapped me so hard my head spun and I saw stars.
“That’s twice you’ve drawn blood,” he said, dabbing at his neck with a handkerchief. “And worse, you’ve ruined a perfectly good suit. Not bad, for a human. I’m glad Master Svboda’s lessons weren’t completely wasted.”
I adjusted my stance, wiping blood from my nose with the back of my hand.
“Of course, we don’t die so easily. Unfortunately, you’re not fast or strong enough to actually kill an elite, and you never will be. I think it’s about time you learned your place. The king will reward me handsomely when I return with your head on a stake. I wonder if I should skewer your skull through the mouth or the windpipe. It’s all about presentation really. I can’t wait to see the look on Damien’s face when I show up with a sharrow-kebab.”
The others chuckled at his wit, but turned serious when his smile fell and his eyes filled with hate.
“Hold her down,” he said coldly. They moved faster than I could see them, twisting my arms behind me and forcing me to my knees. I strained against them, my muscles burning. But even with elixir, I couldn’t fight off two elites.
I screamed, but I knew nobody was going to help me this time. I hoped April had the sense to get away at least. Maybe she and Trevor could hunt down the cure someday.
They shoved me roughly to the ground, forcing my face into the concrete, then flipped me over until rocks pushed painfully into my back. I heard the snap of leather as Nigel removed his belt. He was taking his time, drawing out my punishment. I recoiled in horror as he leaned close to me and sniffed my hair.
My throat was raw from screaming. I choked back a sob, feeling a tear drip down my cheek as the ash fell silently in the quiet streets around us. I heard the ominous croak of a raven nearby. Another answered from elsewhere in the city. The sound echoed through the empty, decrepit buildings. It was like some kind of absurd demonstration of human futility, a theater of the obscene, with a curtain of burning embers and zero spectators.
I reached out with my influence, feeling their feathered forms. I couldn’t move my arms, but that didn’t mean I was helpless. I poured my rage, my anger, my helplessness into the ash-filled sky, until it swelled into a rush of black wings and shrill cries. I felt the grip on my wrists loosen as one of the elite lifted a hand to swipe at the dark shape flapping around his head.
Nigel’s expression soured, and he looked up just in time to see a cro
w drive its sharp beak straight into his eye, and shred his cheek with sharp talons. He cried out and staggered backwards, but three more crows joined the fray, circling around his head like a tight black crown of claws and beaks. He dropped to his knees, covering his bloody face with his arms.
I punched Thomas in the throat and tore out of his grasp, rolling away and popping to my feet in a dead sprint. I dove head first into the open tunnel and slid forward to the first turn without looking back.
“This way,” April yelled. I could hear her voice through the labyrinthine airducts, leading me forward. One of the elite had followed me, I could hear him scrambling just behind me in the metal chute, but he was having trouble squeezing his bulk through the narrow vents.
I dropped into the warehouse, climbing quickly down the wobbly shelves. April was waiting by the entrance, waving at me frantically. As soon as I hit the ground, she flicked on a display of standing UV lights, then pulled down a thick metal security screen and locked it with a padlock.
We held our breath, listening to the metal creak as the elite crawled closer. A dark shape dropped down into the room and was halfway to us before his skin started to smoke and burn. He shrieked, hiding his face behind his sleeve, then disappeared into the dark hole in the ceiling, kicking over the shelf with a heavy crash.
I sunk back against the wall, choking down a sob and gasping for air.
April reached out her hand and I grabbed it, even though my heart was still pounding and I was short of breath. We raced back to the common area to warn the others. Heads turned as we passed the farm, the marketplace, pushing through the crowds. All these people were in danger.
A hand grabbed my arm and I flailed, shoving the figure away before I realized it was Trevor. His eyes narrowed as he took in my appearance.
“Where have you been?” he asked. “I’ve been looking everywhere. And what happened, is that blood?” He reached for my face and I jerked back. I could already feel purple bruises forming under one eye and a swollen lip where Nigel had struck me.