Evermarked, p.23
EverMarked, page 23
“Hiya there,” Kieran said cheerfully to the three men. “I’m looking for a Mr. Mason. Do you know where we could find him?”
The guard rested his hand on the hilt of his gun. “Not here. This is a secured area. I’m going to have to ask you to leave now.”
Kieran put his hands up. “Whoa, whoa, I’m just asking where he is. None of you have seen him? Tall guy. Curly red hair. Walks with a bit of a limp.” Kieran shrugged, and the two pilots looked helplessly to the guard.
“Not. Here,” the guard said, a bit firmer.
“Now,” Simon hissed to our right, and we didn’t waste any time watching the exchange continue. We silently snuck behind where Kieran was dramatically mimicking the supposed limp of Mr. Mason, moving himself closer to the crates so we were able to slip behind them completely unseen.
“No? Well, that’s too bad. I guess I’ll try Command. Maybe he’s in there,” Kieran finally conceded. “You fellas have a safe trip.” He nodded his head to the three men before he and Simon strolled away and back to their waiting shuttle.
We moved farther into the large shuttle until we found a small space between two crates. A canvas tarp draped over it, and we moved it to cover our feet from where we hid.
“That was weird,” one of the pilots said.
“Yeah,” the other responded. “Are we about ready to go?”
“Yup, ready. Let’s get this over with. I hate being near that place at night time,” the guard mumbled, and their footsteps passed right beside us before they continued to the front of the plane.
A few minutes later, the shuttle roared to life, and the weightless feeling of lifting off the ground sent butterflies to my stomach. We were off, and I sent up a silent prayer to the stars we weren’t heading to the Void, but the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach told me my prayers might not be answered.
Chapter 35
Sienna
Theo fell asleep again during the nearly fourteen-hour journey. I think I dozed off at some point, but I kept jolting awake. I couldn’t seem to stop picturing Theo being tortured, his body twisting and contorted with pain.
We traveled through a tunnel almost the entire way. It was pitch black, and I could hardly see my own hand in front of my face. I didn’t need to see anything to feel the deep cuts on Theo’s wrist. They were crusted in dried blood, and even as he slept, he winced when I touched them. I felt under his wrist and up his forearm where both were covered in savage burns. I could do nothing for him, nothing to stop the pain.
For now, I was glad his body was so exhausted he slept. It delayed the inevitable pain I knew he would feel once he woke.
By the time our shuttle exited the dark tunnel, the sun was high in the sky. My eyes stung as they adjusted to the brightness. Our shuttle moved across desert sand over a track I couldn’t see but could feel beneath us. Its magnetic pulse was a constant heartbeat all around us.
Across from where Theo and I sat were three guards. Their guns rested across their laps, and they watched us with scowls and disgust on their faces.
I stared out the window across from me. Surrounding us was crystal white sand and clear blue sky. I had never been here, but I had learned about this place. The Wastelands. Once off-limits due to nuclear chemicals believed to be present from a war so long ago we didn’t even learn much about it. I knew only of its effect on the war that shaped our new world, the war before the Peace-Making.
After a few more hours, the sand began to harden, and a cement path trailed beside a dense forest with trees so thick you could hardly see more than a few feet deep. The trees were bright green, like my eyes. The pine fresh smell hit us even inside the shuttle. The trees soon disappeared, and a large metal wall covered the forest from view, so high you couldn’t even see the treetops anymore. My heart sunk as I realized what wall this was.
We followed the wall as the sun was setting. I had to look away as the light danced off the metal and nearly blinded me before it disappeared to the west.
By the time the shuttle finally stopped, it was black outside again. The shuttle had stopped beside the metal wall, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The wall parted at the base, and a door revealed a large foyer and two people dressed in white coats.
“Up,” one of the guards ordered and grabbed me under my arm.
I shrugged him off with a scowl as I helped Theo to his feet; he was still groggy and sluggish, but he could walk on his own.
The guards led us to the two people in white coats. It was clear from the way they stood they were humans, not Carbons. At first glance, the lady who stood before us looked to be friendly. She smiled as we approached and gave a nod to the guards before they were dismissed back to their shuttle. They seemed more than relieved to get away from this place and nearly sprinted back to the shuttle, speeding off in the opposite direction.
“Sienna, Theo, it is great to finally meet you,” the lady said, motioning for us to follow her. “I have heard a lot about you two. I’m Dr. Merinda.”
“Funny, we’ve heard nothing of you. Or where we are,” I spat.
She chuckled. “All in due time, my dear.” She stopped before another door and pressed her hand against the small panel on the wall. It slid open.
It revealed a long, white hallway. Dr. Merinda’s high heels clicked down the empty space. The silence was unsettling, artificial almost. Like it had been manufactured somehow to hide any other noise from being heard.
The man in white trailed behind us with his hands in his pocket and a bored expression on his face.
We reached another door, and again Dr. Merinda opened it. Inside was what looked like a medical bay, beds and tray tables at each station. White curtains separated the beds for privacy, and tablets hung from each station. The distinct smell of bleach filling the sterile, white room.
“Dr. Allard will get you set up, and then we will show you to your rooms where food is waiting. I am sure you two must be starving.” As friendly and nice as Dr. Merinda wanted to appear, her smile didn’t quite meet her steel blue eyes. And her movements were almost robotic, practiced.
Trust no one. That was the warning Yarik gave me before she was killed.
With a little nod, Dr. Merinda left.
Dr. Allard did not disguise his feelings towards us. He didn’t hold the same friendly smile as his eyes assessed and studied both Theo and me. I had a feeling that his blatant disgust and hostile attitude were the only real things we’d see in this place.
He reached into a cabinet and pulled out two sets of white clothes, linen white pants and a white T-shirt.
“Shower and change.” He pointed to the back where two showers were separated by a thin curtain.
I took my time walking over, observing everything around me. The scalpel I would try to steal. The tablet I might be able to hack.
“If you’d really like that scalpel, go ahead and take it,” Dr. Allard said from behind me, and I whipped my head around to find a cold smirk on his face. “Where you’re going, that scalpel won’t do much good, anyway.”
I hid my shiver as I stepped into my shower stall and closed the curtain. I heard Theo beside me, struggling to remove his clothes, so I opened the curtain separating us and reached for his shirt. He hesitated before lifting his arms and letting me pull it up over his head. Vicious scars spread all along his chest from where the electricity burned through veins, boiled his blood, and left nasty scars across his beautiful body. I sucked in a breath, trailing my fingers along the lines before swallowing the bile rising in my throat. I unbuttoned his pants and removed his shoes and socks before leaving him in only his shorts to shower.
He gave me a weak smile as thanks.
I pulled the curtain between us back enough to cover both of us from view before I stripped out of my day-old clothes and ran the water as hot as I could handle.
Once we were cleaned, I quickly put on the clothes Dr. Allard had provided and helped Theo change into his new clothes as well. He watched me with soft eyes as I tied his shoes and trailed my hand along his arms when I pulled his shirt back over his head.
“Thank you,” he whispered and placed a kiss on my forehead.
I sighed before I heard the clearing of a throat and felt Dr. Allard watching us from the other side. With a grunt, I picked up our dirty clothes and stepped out of the showers.
Dr. Allard pointed to the garbage. “You won’t need those anymore.” He nodded to the filthy clothes. I hesitated for a moment before tossing them in.
“We’ll deal with you first,” he said to Theo and pointed to an empty bed. Then he glanced back at me as I stood nearby, watching to see what he’d do with Theo. “Sit and don’t touch anything,” he ordered.
I chose to sit at the end of Theo’s bed. Allard didn’t look too pleased about this, but he didn’t object.
He grabbed Theo’s wrist first, causing him to wince against the pain. Turning his arm over, Dr. Allard examined the burns running down his forearms. The burns flowed into his veins and had created ugly scars across his chest.
Allard tsked. “They’re always finding new ways to torture you people, aren’t they? Well, I’ll fix this up, for now, but I can’t promise it’ll do anything for the scars or the burning on the inside.” He turned to the tray beside him and took a small needle. He poked it into the crook of Theo’s elbow.
I flinched as it went in. A cloudy grey liquid was pushed through the needle and into Theo, who clenched his jaw against the pain at first, but soon the red skin of his forearms faded until it looked as though it were an old scar from years ago.
Next, Allard took a tube of white salve and placed it on both wrists that were no longer caked in dry blood, but still displayed deep wounds from the ropes slicing their way through. Those wounds, too, disappeared quickly, leaving a white lined scar around both wrists like two bracelets.
Allard stepped back and shrugged. “That’ll have to do.”
Theo said, “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, son.” Dr. Allard snorted. “How quickly you all forget that we’re a part of the ones who did this to you.”
His honesty both startled and grounded me. “Some may seem like your friends or like they have your best intentions at heart, but in the end, everyone is selfish and out for themselves,” Yarik had said. Even though Allard didn’t hide his intentions, he was revealing more than just his true nature as he spoke. I now knew they wanted to keep us alive, despite where we were and whatever they had planned: they needed us. Otherwise, why would they have fixed up Theo?
“Why are you helping us, then?” I asked.
“Because she ordered me to,” Allard said simply.
“Why are we here?” I demanded.
Dr. Allard turned a venomous gaze at me. He sneered. “Do you really think you deserve any answers from me? That you’re worth more than a second of my time? You’re nothing here, little girl. The sooner you two realize that, the better.” He turned his glare on Theo. “No one cares that you’re here. No one is going to give you more information than you deserve, because, frankly, we don’t care who or what you are. You’re a part of my job and that’s it.”
My jaw tightened, and Theo tensed at my side. He squeezed my hand, a warning to stop talking. Instead, I lunged forward. In a flash, I had a scalpel in my hand and brought it to Dr. Allard’s neck. He didn’t so much as flinch.
“Where is Victoria?” I demanded. My hand trembled, so I clenched the blade harder.
Dr. Allard’s brows rose. “Who?”
“Victoria. I assume this is where they brought her. She’s a Marked kid like us. Curly black hair, brown skin, and silver eyes.”
Dr. Allard tilted his head, and a cold smile spread across his lips. “The mute.”
“The what?” Theo asked.
“She didn’t say one word the entire time she was here.” Allard shrugged. “I rather liked her.”
“Where is she?” I repeated, pressing the blade close enough to his neck a small trickle of blood slipped down his throat.
“Same place everyone else is. Same place you’ll be going soon enough—the forest.”
I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
“No, you wouldn’t now, would you? You aren’t meant to understand. You’re just a tool in a game that started a long time ago.” Dr. Allard wrapped a hand around my wrist. His grip was bone crushing, and the scalpel fell from my hands, crashing to the ground. “I would suggest you keep your mouth shut from now on. I have little patience as it is.”
He tossed me back, and I fell into Theo, still stiff beside me. Reluctantly, I shut my mouth. I didn’t, however, remove the cold glare on my face. Dr. Allard didn’t seem to care either way.
Impatiently, he pulled another tray over to where I sat on Theo’s bed, a fresh scalpel waiting. Theo already looked better and sat up a bit taller.
“Arm,” Allard demanded, and I lifted my arm towards him with hesitation. He gripped my hand and turned it over. His gaze ran over the fourteen black strikes on my forearm. “Naughty girl,” he mused before taking the scalpel and making a slit at the base of my wrist.
I flinched, hissing through my teeth, as I tried to pull my arm away, but he held tight and didn’t let go. A drop of blood landed on my fresh white pants. Allard took a small, pill-sized object and placed it inside the incision. Then he took the same salve he had used on Theo’s wrists, and the wound warmed and began to heal itself. The pain subsided quickly.
“What is it?” I asked, looking down at the new scar on my wrist.
“Tracker,” Allard said as he moved back to Theo, checking that the original wound on his wrist was healed before making an incision in the same location as mine.
“Why would you need to track us?” I asked.
Dr. Allard glanced at me with annoyance but reluctantly he answered. “So we know when you don’t check in and when to get rid of your body after you die or fail.”
My eyes widened. “After we die?”
“Did I stutter?” Allard asked. He tilted his head to the side, watching my reaction with mild amusement.
I shook my head, catching Theo’s gaze, and he squeezed my hand again. “Can you at least tell us where Victoria is?”
Dr. Allard let out a long breath. He reached beyond me for a tablet by Theo’s bed. “If it will shut you up.” He typed in a word and turned the tablet to face me. On the screen was a large map. It looked like it spanned hundreds of miles. To the north was a tiny green dot blinking. “I doubt she’ll be there for much longer. The smart ones don’t stay in one place for too long.” He pulled the tablet away quickly and shoved me to my feet.
I had a hard time seeing straight. My lungs were raw and my entire body felt as if it would give out at any second. Vic was alive, but she was in the forest, the one surrounded by a metal wall. And those black things…they were there, too.
“Let’s go,” Dr. Allard ordered and walked towards the door, not waiting for us to follow as he opened it and strolled out into the hallway. Theo pressed a hand to my back when my legs wouldn’t move.
I had to take two steps to every one Dr. Allard took. I was glad to see Theo was able to walk on his own, though he still gripped onto my hand, but this time it wasn’t for support.
We turned down a hallway identical to every other one. White, bright, sterile. But this one was lined with doors all the way down.
Dr. Allard stopped at the third one and placed his hand on the panel on the wall. The door slid open. Inside were two small cots, enough room for one table between the two, and a large window looking out on a dense forest. I gasped at the sight. The enormous trees, the green foliage, and vibrant flowers. The moon peeked through the treetops and gave the forest an eerie glow. That’s where Vic was—alone—probably terrified. I have to find her.
“Food is in this compartment.” Allard pointed to a small shelf against the wall. “Enjoy the view.” Allard moved to walk away before he paused at the door and glanced back at Theo and me. A wicked smile spread across his face as he reached his hand over to close the door again. Just before it slammed shut, he said, “Welcome to the Void.”
Chapter 36
Jayla
The shuttle took nearly five hours to arrive, travelling fast through the air. My feet were asleep, and my legs ached from the cramped, crouched position we sat in the entire time. We didn’t dare move or try to find a more comfortable position.
Em, to my surprise, had managed to fall asleep and was resting her head on Caspian’s shoulder. He did his best not to move, and his eyes watched her with both caution and wonder at how she could sleep at a time like this.
It wasn’t until the shuttle began to slow down and we had that butterfly feeling of being dropped that she woke up. The shuttle landed with a jolt, and we all froze as the engines died down, and footsteps made their way towards us.
“Let’s make this quick. I hate this place,” the guard said as they slid past us. The shuttle door hissed open and a cool breeze swept in. The smell of pine and damp soil filled my lungs. We were near a forest.
Voices sounded beyond the open shuttle doors, and something loud and humming approached us. A loud bang before the yelled uproar of a guard.
“Be careful with that stuff, you idiot; don’t you know what’s inside? Do you want to blow us all to pieces?” he yelled.
“Sorry, sir.” A stammering voice sounded before I felt the crates behind us shift as one was lifted out.
Em peeked around the corner to where the men stood. She lifted her hand, indicating five men stood outside, all on the north side of the shuttle. She glanced towards the front of the shuttle and rested her fingers on her lips before she slowly crawled towards the front.
Cas and I followed. I chanced a glance out the back where a small mechanic shuttle hovered a short distance away, moving the crates with ease and piling them against the wall of a large building. An enormous metal wall filled the entirety of one side of the loading dock, and the open forest could be seen between the wall and the large building where the crates were being stacked.
