by Lucy Rains
CHAPTER 12
Woods surround me.
Pressure building thick in my veins. My skin throbs.
I don’t understand.
I’m panting. Running isn’t burning off the feeling. I’m leaning over to catch my breath, tears drip from my eyes. I rest my back on a tree. My head is pounding. Has been pounding for days. Weeks.
I don’t understand.
The pressure runs through my hands, pulsing in my arms. Up my shoulders. Into my chest. My chest aches from it. Bile rises in my throat from the pain. It burns.
A twig snaps. And another. A man is coming. Tall. Bald. Smiling at me. Fear fills my lungs. He’s saying something. I can’t hear him. I try to scream.
My headache makes me slow. I turn around to run but he grabs my wrist. Pushes me to the ground. Sticks scratch my cheek.
When he turns me towards him, my palms come up, and something inside me explodes.
I sit up with a gasp, my eyes wide. Hair stuck to my sweating forehead. Fear from the memory courses through my veins and into my chest. My breath comes in and out quickly, sharply. I pull the blankets off of me and kick them away.
I rub my face, pinch my eyes closed. The empty eyes, the crooked teeth, the strong hands. The monster. I grip my hair and shake my head as if to rid my mind of the images.
Footsteps sound in the hall and I know I can’t pull myself together to appear normal for whoever is coming, but I try anyways.
There’s a knock on my bedroom door and then it opens without waiting for me to say anything.
“Jade?” Alex’s voice is tight.
I drop my hands and try to smile through my harsh breathing, trying to appear calm. “I”m fine,” I assure him.
“Liar,” Alex walks in and Pierce follows.
I close my eyes again and roll my head. My bed shifts when someone sits down on it. “It’s just a bad dream.”
A pause. I open my eyes and see Alex sitting at the very end of my bed. “Lie again,” he whispers.
I’m surprised when Gavin walks in and stands with his arms crossed. “Your ‘bad dreams’ cause enough emotion in you to make us all drop what we are doing because we can’t bloody concentrate.”
I attempt a glare but it’s weak. “Sorry to inconvenience you.”
My head drops again and I let out a big sigh, trying to help ease the rest of the tension from my body. I was stiff, my muscles tight. I looked down to see Kyson’s grey shirt still on me.
“What is it really?” Pierce asks, “A memory?”
I nodded and pick at the bottom hem of the shirt, noticing blood spots still splattered on the back of my hand. I needed a shower.
“Will you tell us?” he asked.
I swallowed back the terror that rose up with the idea and shook my head quickly. Knowing they would throw me out of the house if they knew my secrets.
I softened my gaze as I looked at Pierce, trying to help him understand that he asked too much of me in that moment.
“We should go swimming,” Alex said, snapping his fingers at the idea.
I looked at him, wondering if I heard him right. “Swimming?”
Hoping Pierce or Gavin would share my same incredulous expression, but instead they nodded slowly, as if what Alex was suggested made perfect sense.
“Is the old man in town?” Gavin asked.
Alex shrugged. “I’ll send a text. Likely, he’s not back from Spain.”
“Whoa, hold on.” I held up my hands, palms facing them. “Just wait a second. I don’t swim.”
Everyone froze. I think Alex sucked in a soft gasp. Everyone seemed to have stopped breathing and were looking at me as if I had said I was an alien from another planet.
“What?” Gavin hissed.
“How can that be?” Pierce asked.
“You gotta be shi-”
“Why not?!” Pierce demanded.
I didn’t understand their reactions and I tucked my legs back under the bed comforter as if it would protect me. My eyes darted to their faces.
“My mother said I was allergic.”
“To water?!” Gavin spat.
I shook my head, “No, to chlorine. She said it gave me hives once when I was little, and put a rash all over my body.”
“But what about natural water?” Alex asked. “Lakes? Ocean?”
Before I could answer Kyson walked up to the doorway. He still wore only his white tank top, though he had put on a black athletic vest on top of it. “What’s going on?”
“Jade’s never been swimming before.” Alex answered.
His smile dropped and his eyes widened. “What the hell?”
Gavin continued, “Her mother claimed allergy.”
My head tilted, claimed?
Pierce turned back to me, “Why not other places that don’t have chlorine?”
The three men standing all had their arms crossed now. Alex still sat on my bed.
I scooted back against the headboard. I shrugged and looked down again, “I just didn’t. She never took me. It’s not like we vacationed or anything.” I ran a hand through my hair and looked outside. The sun was setting and the first few stars were making an appearance. “No camping by lakes, no trips to the beach. It was just,” I paused, “life.”
Kyson ran a thumb over his bottom lip, Gavin let out a huff and looked at the ceiling.
“So.” Alex looked up to Pierce, “Swimming?”
Pierce glanced to him and then back to me. He gave one short nod. “Dinner. Then we go.”
Everyone immediately started moving to clear out of the room and I shot up on my bed, “Wait! No! I don’t, I can’t…”
Gavin and Alex had already left but Kyson and Pierce turned back to look at me. Their heights almost matching up, their bodies so similar in build. Kyson with deep chocolate colored hair and Pierce with lighter, dirty blonde.Their eye color was identical in the hard blue tones that stared back at me.
“I can’t swim!” I reminded them while shaking my head, “I am not up for doing this right now.”
Kyson smiled and continued his way out of the room. My mouth dropped open, was this a joke to all of them? Did my protests mean nothing?
Pierce took a step closer to me, closing the distance between us where I kneeled on the bed. I was tempted to shrink back, to lower down, but I resisted.
“This will be good for you. You’ll see.”
I scowled, “Until I drown!”
“You think we would allow such a thing?”
“But,” I grasped for an excuse, “The chlorine? I-”
“It’s a salt water pool. No chlorine in the water. Although I doubt you’re allergic to chlorine. None of us have an allergy to anything. Likely it's your mother keeping you away from discovering more about yourself.” He jerked his head towards the door. “Get dressed and then come eat. There’s food in the kitchen.”
Pierce didn’t wait around to hear me try to talk him out of this idea. He turned and left me kneeling on my bed. Flustered and all kinds of anxious.
I jumped into the shower first and quickly shaved all necessary areas. Someone had made sure I had pink razors with shaving cream under my bathroom sink. The dried blood took a bit of scrubbing to remove and my skin was red from the harsh treatment.
Putting on the stupid swim suit was an ordeal all on its own. It was a simple black two-piece with a racerback bra top and boyshort bottom. Black spandex clung to my curve-less body and I scowled at my reflection. I looked like a 12 year old boy. I looked like I wanted to run and hide. I looked ridiculous.
I pulled on grey cotton sleep shorts over my swim bottoms and a baggy sweatshirt to cover my top. I felt much better. For the moment.
I allowed myself to admit the deep truth behind my anxiety. That I felt self conscious around the guys because they were all beautiful, with bodies that would make any female human stare, young or old. I was plain and not pleasing to the eye. That was when the questions came to my mind of girlfriends.
Girlfriends.
>
Did they have girlfriends? Had they once had girlfriends? Kissed a girl? Slept with a girl?
My chest contorted in sudden pain at the thought and I had to brace myself on the bathroom counter. I gasped at the feeling, completely caught off guard. I shook my head, clearing my mind as quick as I could. I had to keep control of my emotions or someone would come running. Deep breaths in, I stretched my arms up and closed my eyes. Control, I chastised myself.
By the time I made it downstairs everyone donned various colors of swim trunks with athletic shirts, and flip flops on their feet. Pierce had his hair pulled back in a low ponytail. Alex was laughing at something Gavin didn’t approve of judging from his frown. Instead of sitting at the table, the guys were gathered in the kitchen, holding paper plates half full of food. Kyson and Pierce smiled in amusement. They were comfortable and at ease, even Gavin.
I found the food, pulled pork and pasta salad, and quickly dished up my own plate. I was glad to see that the kitchen still remained clean from my earlier chore.
“Jade, what do you want to drink?” Pierce asked.
“Water,” I answered. “Always water.” I turned to look at the rest of them. “Are you guys the same way? Constantly thirsty?”
Kyson nodded, “Yes. We drink a lot too.”
“Do you know why?” I shoved food into my mouth, while he answered my question.
“In all honesty, no.” My shoulders dropped in disappointment. These guys didn’t seem to have any answers to the things that made us so different from other people.
“But my best medical guess would be that our bodies, muscles, blood flow, heart, everything operates at a stronger, faster speed than a normal human’s.”
“Like why we heal so quickly?”
Pierce nodded and jumped in. “Our bodies crave hydration to help it operate at its higher level.”
“Does that mean we age faster than a regular person?” I asked, before taking a drink of the water Kyson had set next to me. I scooted away from the food while Alex helped himself to seconds.
“We don’t know,” Kyson answered. “We are the oldest of our kind, that we know of.”
“So how old are you?” I glanced around at all of them, making my question apply to everyone.
“How old do you think we are?” Alex challenged, taking a monstrous bite of his sandwich.
I rolled my eyes, “Well you act 13, but I’m guessing you’re older.” I paused, looking to Pierce. “I think Pierce is the oldest.”
He nodded, “I’m 25. Kyson is 23.”
My eyes went to Gavin, he studied me, waiting for my guess. “Gavin is 22? 23?”
Alex spoke for him, “He’s 23. I’m 21. That makes you the baby of the group.”
I ignored him. “How long have you been living on your own?”
Pierce stepped to the corner of the kitchen and threw away his paper plate. “About 3 years ago the government stepped in and bartered for our release.”
“Bartered?” I asked, unable to hide my disgust. What are these guys, livestock?
“Somehow the information about us had been leaked to a government agency. We wanted out, PPQ knew it.” Pierce explained. “Anyway, the government promised to turn a blind eye to what PPQ was doing, and in return we were released. The government wanted to use our skills to their benefit. Because we never turned into the mindless soldiers they wanted, and they had collected enough DNA samples from us to attempt a recreation, PPQ let us go without too much of a fight. So, now we are in debt to the government for our lives we have now, and we are required to do their bidding.”
Alex held up quote fingers with both hands, “Doing our ‘duty to the country’ they call it.”
I digested the information for a moment, coming up with more questions. “But, how old were you when you were taken into the lab? Do you remember your life before?”
Gavin shook his head, and spoke for the first time. “No, we don’t remember anything.” His eyes were dark as always, and his expression still sullen. Something I was becoming use to.
There was a sudden clap next to me and I jumped. Alex began grabbing everyone’s empty plates and throwing them away. “Alright, enough chit chat! Stop stalling, and let's go. Gavin, go grab towels. Pierce, get your keys.”
I was forced to hurry in finishing my food, and quickly shoved the rest of my sandwich in my mouth.
Alex came and grabbed my empty plate. “That’s disgusting. You’re lucky you’re cute.” He then grabbed my hand and led me towards the front door. I managed a muffled protest with my mouth full of food. His hand around mine was unnerving, and I tried freeing it. My efforts were in vain against his grasp. He held on tight, not letting me pull it out.
“I know, I know,” he said, dragging me down the porch and into the dark night. “But seriously, you’ll thank me when we’re done.”
I finally swallowed and was able to speak. “I haven’t agreed to anything.”
“Just trust us and go with the flow, Jade,” Kyson said as he climbed up to the front seat of Pierce’s truck.
Alex shoved me up into the middle seat in the back and I frowned as Gavin opened the door to climb in next to me.
“Only dead fish go with the flow,” I grumbled. I leaned back into my seat and crossed my arms, displeased at my situation. A truck full of males. Nowhere to escape. Being forced to do something I had never done, and was sure I would fail miserably. This was not where I imagined myself for the evening.
As we pulled out of the driveway I looked around the yard, noticing there were no signs of the days earlier confrontation.
“Everything got cleaned up?” My question more of an observation.
“Took a few hours, but yeah.” Alex answered.
“Did you guys, ya know, kill all of them?” I asked.
“No,” Gavin answered. “A few took off during the shooting.”
My eyes widened in fear, “But-”
Gavin sighed and cut me off, knowing what I was going to ask before the words were out of my mouth. “Don’t worry princess, they already caught them and they’re in custody.”
I sat back, thinking about the earlier confrontation and the pain that I had experienced along with it. I shuddered at the memory and my jaw clenched. Not wanting to relive the whole experience I tried focusing on my physical environment.
The drive to our destination took almost 30 minutes. I was wedged between Gavin and Alex and there was no escaping the elbow rubs and shoulder bumps. Alex played on his phone for most of the ride and Gavin stared out the window. I closed my eyes as my chest hummed at a staggering intensity. It was the closest proximity I had been to all four of them since they had taken me. I let the feeling wash over me as the vibrations spread throughout my body.
I was hyper aware of all physical contact on both sides of me. Alex was oblivious with his knee softly knocking into mine and his elbow connecting with my elbow while he held his phone up. As much as I wanted to avoid the touching, there was nowhere I could move away to and punching him wouldn’t help anything. So, I tolerated it.
Gavin looked out the window but either didn’t seem to notice or didn’t care that his shoulder rested against mine. I let my nose move closer to him for a fraction of an inch as I inhaled his masculine scent of cinnamon and mint, remembering the smell from the hospital.
I dared to open up my 6th sense to the males around me. It was a heavy mixture of pleasure and contentment. The thought came to me then that perhaps their chests hummed as pleasantly as my own.
Sitting still for that long was becoming a problem the longer we drove. My inner peace only lasted for so long. Against my will, flashbacks of black faces, sounds of bullets, and remembering the feel of my blood running down my body began entering my mind. My heart started to speed up and my limbs tensed.
Gavin turned towards me, his mouth pinched in a frown. “What is it?”
Talking about the shooting was about as enticing as reliving it. “Nothing. I’m fine.” I said too quickly, shaki
ng my head. I didn’t want to dwell on the unpleasant experience of the morning while I was trying to mentally prep for taking on swimming for the first time.
Pierce’s eyes watched me in the rearview mirror and I could feel the mood in the truck spike with anxiety.
“We’re almost there,” Kyson reported.
The swimming pool we were using apparently was at a residential home in the suburbs of D.C. The guys explained that the owner of the rather large and ornate home, was an elderly bachelor and trusted friend. Someone they had bailed out of a nasty situation a year ago that they refused to give me details about.
We pulled up onto the cobblestone driveway and the guys quickly exited the truck. I, on the other hand, sat very still.
Alex sighed dramatically, “Jade, seriously. This will help.”
I clasped my hands in front of me and my right leg bounced. My head was held high, my face looking at the front of the empty truck. I did not want to do this. I could already see myself drowning like bag of bricks.
Gavin and Kyson disappeared into what looked like a pool house. The glass windows were tinted dark, and gave a mirrored effect for privacy.
I heard footsteps and turned my head just slightly to see Pierce approach me. His hand snaked into the backseat and undid my seat belt.
His voice was low when he spoke. “I’m giving you the choice right now. You can walk, or I can carry you.”
I raised an eyebrow, “You call that a choice?”
“How about this, if you try it and hate it, we will never make you do it again.”
This promise helped some. I could try it just once. And they promised not to let me die. With a heavy sigh I relented. “Fine.”
Once inside the pool house all the guys quickly shed their shirts and kicked off their sandals. The pool was a wide rectangle, with 3 distinct lanes for swimming. The air was thick with humidity and my skin became balmy within seconds. Any sounds we made within the pool house echoed off the walls and came right back to us.
Someone flipped a switch and the large room brightened. I instantly preferred the dark when I realized I was going to have to shed my hoodie.