Creators (18 page)

“I’ve seen those before. Back at Templeton,” I said.

“Not like this you haven’t. Go on, take a closer look.”

Maybe it was my imagination, but the lights above our heads flickered. I took a hesitant step toward the incubation stations. As I crept closer to the sleeping chosen ones, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

Lying in front of me were the monsters of the woods, replicas of the deformed chosen ones that hunted us down while traveling to the community. All of the creatures had misshapen skulls covered in unnatural ridges and bumps. Their eyes were sunken in, and in most cases, one was larger than the other. Scars cut across their faces where science had failed. They were taller than I had ever seen any natural man.

They were monsters.

“They have sped up the creation process,” George said. “The East has been doing this forever. Creating a masterpiece takes time. These things don’t even have fully functioning brains.”

“You’re talking about your own people,” I reminded him.

“They’re nothing like me, and I advise you never to say anything of that nature again,” he warned.

“Why are you showing me these?”

“There’s a control panel behind that door there,” he said, pointing across the room. “The code is 45981. Enter it and you’re in. Then you can dismantle all of the cords. Just like your friend Henry did. Where is my favorite natural? Not hurt, I hope.”

“You want me to kill them?” I asked, shocked. I ignored his jab at Henry. There would be time to fight for his memory later. Besides, nothing George said was untrue. Even his death couldn’t erase that. Now, George was asking me to become a murderer as well.

“I’m giving you the option. I’m giving you the information. You must do with it what you will.” He shrugged.

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You gave me a code. It’s the least I could do. These days you’ll find I’m all about a good partnership. You help me and I help you,” he purred.

The code. When he had helped me out of the closet, grabbing for my hand, he must have read the code. I suppressed the urge to reach for the map hidden in my pocket. If he got it, he would have everything he needed to enact the fail-safe. And until I knew what that meant, I couldn’t let it happen. I hadn’t had enough time to truly study the map, which meant if he touched me, he wouldn’t know where it was because I didn’t know. He would just know that I had the map. I had to get away from him as quickly as possible and hide it. If only Stephanie had still been around, then I could have given it to her to hide, and then its location would be free from my mind as well.

“Come along, your boys should be heading back now. Don’t want to deprive them of your services,” George said, turning and walking toward the exit.

I looked back at the row of deformed soldiers and then turned to George. I had no idea what his plan was or why it involved me, but one question forced itself to the front of my mind: Was George my father’s man on the inside? They seemed to be after the same thing. And he had been present at my bidding.

“George? Are you telling me this because you want to stop the end of days?”

George paused and slowly turned around to face me. “No, Tessie. I’m telling you because I want you to help me speed it along.”

Terrance was waiting for me outside of his family’s living quarters when I returned from my adventure with George. Slumped against a wall, he held his hand gingerly to his face. I couldn’t miss the swollen lump that was growing at an alarming rate underneath his eye. Upon seeing me, he drew a flask from his pocket and brought it to his mouth.

I fought back a sigh. The last thing I wanted to do was deal with a drunk. I had to find a way to keep the map from George and figure out what was going on with James.

James. My heart skipped a beat just thinking about him. The way he looked at me—that couldn’t have been an act. I remembered the words in his letters. Had he truly forgotten me? Could I entirely blame him if banishing me from his memory was the only way he could survive?

“Wipe that look off your face,” Terrance sneered.

I bit the inside of my cheek and looked down. I was growing tired of his antics, but George had been right—I had a part to play. I kept my head down as I moved past him, but I didn’t get very far. “I didn’t excuse you,” he snapped.

“Is there anything you need from me, sir?” I mumbled. I had tasted freedom in the woods while living with the Isolationists, and even knowing my father was on his way to take me from this place, playing the part of enslaved servant was near impossible. I would never accept that life again.

“Is there anything you need from me, sir?” Terrance mocked. He shoved his face into mine. “What did you do with it?” he growled.

I swallowed. “With what? The map I found? I gave it to your father’s chosen one.”

“What did you do with the second one?” he asked darkly. “I know you have it.”

I shook my head, keeping my eyes on the floor. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, sir. I found the map accidentally. There was a loose floorboard. I nearly tripped on it fetching your brother.”

Terrance’s hand jutted forward and clutched me by the front of my blouse. I could smell the alcohol wafting from his breath. “I know you have it, and I want it back!”

“Is there a problem here?”

I managed to turn my head to find James staring at us from down the hall. Terrance grimaced at the sight of him, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he had been responsible for the black eye. “Don’t you say a word,” Terrance whispered to me.

“I asked if there was a problem,” James repeated, walking toward us. Terrance trembled next to me, and I couldn’t blame him. James had always been someone bred to enforce the will of others, but the power that oozed from his voice was overwhelming in its magnitude. He had power of his own.

“No problem, James. This wench here is late with my supper. She is constantly forgetting her place,” Terrance said, shoving me hard against the wall. I nearly fell from the force of it. My head smarted and ached. I reached a hand up to the back of my skull, and when I pulled it away, I found blood. I wanted to claw the bastard’s face off. “I’m not going to repeat myself,” Terrance spat, pulling back his hand. Before he could smack me, James grabbed onto his wrist.

“I think she got the point,” he said.

James had stopped Terrance from striking me. Despite the pain that radiated inside my head, a warmth spread through me. “Your father suggests you go back to looking. I’ll make sure the girl fetches your supper.” Terrance narrowed his eyes and looked from me to James. “I wasn’t making a request,” he warned.

Terrance, too afraid of James, didn’t dare say anything or even look at me as he stalked back inside his living quarters. Apparently, his father knew he had stolen the blueprints of the headquarters, and he would do just about anything to get them back. The map wouldn’t be safe in there, and I was wondering if I could ever be safe with Terrance. Things were moving too quickly. Everybody seemed to be in motion except for me. I needed to figure out my next step.

Lost in my thoughts, I hadn’t noticed that James had been staring at me. I tried to stop the blush from creeping up my neck to my cheeks, but I couldn’t help it. I had never been able to control my body when it came to James; it had always wanted him desperately. James cleared his throat and my legs nearly gave out from under me. I knew what it meant when he did that.

It meant that I was making an impression.

James turned on his heel and began moving down the hall. I sat frozen in place. I had been dismissed without a word. Whatever I thought had happened between us as he stared down at me had only been my imagination. An emptiness had threatened to consume me each time James had left my life, but somehow, this was worse. He was so close, and he didn’t know I existed.

And then he stopped and I couldn’t breathe. Without turning back to look at me, he reached a hand in the air and impatiently beckoned me to follow after him.

I couldn’t have stayed in that spot if I wanted to. I would have followed James anywhere. No matter what version of the man I loved walked before me, he was still the man I loved.

I nearly had to run to keep up with him. When he finally stopped, he opened the door and pointed inside the room. He didn’t look at me once. Not even when I moved past him, our bodies nearly touching. Every hair on my arm stood up with anticipation. So close. I had been so close.

James cleared his throat again.

He had led me to a small medical station. “Sit down,” he said, his back still turned on me as he began to rifle through cabinets. His voice was empty, devoid of any emotion. No concern. No anger. I knew what it was to be the person who felt nothing, but to see James become this was the saddest thing I could imagine. I managed to plop myself up on the medical table that stood in the center of the room. Sure that James couldn’t see me, I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths.

He had warned me that he was forgetting me. That he needed to forget me. This man before me wasn’t my James, and I had to watch myself.

James turned to face me holding a bottle of alcohol and gauze in his hand. He had brought me here to help me. To clean my wound. There was a part of my James still in there, after all. Tears pooled in my eyes and my lip trembled.

“Bow your head and I’ll…” His voice trailed off, seeing my expression.

I sniffled and did what I was told. An eternity spread out before us. He neither spoke nor moved. With my head bent down, I wondered if James had fled.

“This is going to hurt,” he finally said softly. I nodded, too afraid that if I opened my mouth I would betray myself. I would tell him everything. What he meant to me. What I meant to him. And while I knew there was a part of the man I loved still inside, I wasn’t entirely sure how much of him was still that boy.

James gently pressed an alcohol-soaked cloth against my head. I hissed at the pain. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

“It’s all right,” I whispered.

“I don’t think he did any real damage. If you start to feel nauseous, you must let someone know. But I don’t think you have a concussion.”

“Thank you,” I managed despite the dryness of my throat. I wanted to reach out for him so badly. He was right there. We were alone. We were together.

“Just doing my job,” he replied.

“Taking care of natural girls who other men hit is your job?” I asked, my voice all breath and want.

James cleared his throat. His hand slowly moved from my wound, but he didn’t pull it entirely away. I was afraid to breathe, to move at all, afraid that I would shatter whatever moment was happening between us. The tips of his fingers slowly moved through my hair. My eyes fluttered and it took everything in me not to sigh. His thumb grazed my cheek, and I couldn’t help but lean into his hand.

“I’m sorry for the way Terrance treated you tonight. You didn’t deserve that. He is angry at his father. A weak boy who is upset because he doesn’t get enough attention, but what he fails to see is that Harper has a lot on his shoulders. He spends all his time searching for something very important to the council, a creator he desperately needs,” James explained.

My eyes popped open. Searching for a creator. They were still looking for Abrams.

“So, Terrance does foolish things to try and get his attention. It’s all very…human,” James went on.

Human.

The way he said it: disgusted. Something wasn’t right.

“Tell me, girl. You look after him. Have you stumbled across anything else the boy may have taken from his father’s room? A second map, perhaps?” he asked, his thumb continuing to graze my cheek.

Something inside of me twisted and broke. I slapped James’s hand away from my face. “What are you doing?” I demanded.

James stepped away from me, his hands held up in surrender. “The touching? I can tell you like it.” He motioned to my reddened cheeks. “I can do it some more. I just need you to help me a little.”

I wanted to throw up. James had been playing me. Trying to gain my trust so he could use me to discover the location of the second map. Little did he know, it was sitting in my pocket.

I hopped off the medical table, trying to ignore the wave of dizziness that overtook me. “Looks like you liked it yourself,” I challenged. His face was flushed.

“I…I was just…” he mumbled, backing away from me.

He
had
liked it. Some part of him remembered what it was like to touch me. I stood as straight as I could. I didn’t care that he was a chosen one. I didn’t care that he couldn’t remember our time together. I walked right up to him. “What part of it did you like? The way it felt to touch me? Or the fact that you were doing something they told you was so wrong? Or was it both?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

James’s face paled as he gulped. I reached a hand toward him, stopping just short of placing it against his chest. “I can do it some more. I just need you to help me a little,” I whispered.

“Get away from me,” he said.

“What is this map you’re looking for? Why is it so important? If you tell me, I’ll let you do it again,” I promised, placing my hand against his chest. His heart pounded beneath my palm. I could feel my own heart beating to keep pace with his. “I can tell you want me to,” I whispered.

James wrapped a hand around my wrist but he didn’t pull me away from his chest. “I…I need you to stop doing that.”

I licked my lips. Abrams had been right. Women had all sorts of power. “Is that really what you want me to do? Come on…just a few answers, and we could have so much fun.”

In a quick succession of movements, James yanked on my wrist and twisted me around. He pushed my head painfully against the counter while holding my arm against my back. “You will never speak of this again to anyone. Not a word.”

Before I could open my mouth to reply, James was gone.