Darkness Falls (22 page)

“Aiden.” I give him a soft shake. “Can you hear me? Are you awake?”

His eyelids flutter open, honey eyes glossed with pain, lips dry and cracked, voice nothing but air.

“Why aren’t you healing?” I ask. “Your leg—it’s still bleeding.”

His eyes roll shut and he wraps his arms around him. “Because I’m human,” he mutters.

“Everyone’s human.” I trace my fingers along the rim of his wound. “And we’re supposed to heal on our own.”

“Not always.” He lets out a sigh. “The only reason I ever did before was because of The Colony … they pump us up with a bunch of this medicine crap that accelerates the healing process.”

“I don’t remember this,” I tell him, brushing back his hair from his forehead. His skin’s beading with sweat and I wonder if the pain is making him delusional.

“It was done daily,” he answers, squirming and wincing. “At least to anyone who was a Bellator.”

My daily injection. “I thought that was only done to me—and that I’d die without it.”

“You might have,” he murmurs. “If you’d gotten hurt bad enough.” Then he stills, soft breathing as his heart fails.

I think about my shots. Every day Monarch would give them to me, saying it was saving my life. Which it was, I guess, but then why did he stop? Why did he skip the shot right before The Gathering?

I glance down at my arm, blood pumping strong, skin free of cuts even after the horrific fall. Medicine remains in the bloodstream for a certain amount of time, but is my blood still concentrated enough to save Aiden? Probably not, but I have to try.

I adjust my weight, carefully sliding Aiden’s head off my lap and onto the ground. He winces from the firmness but doesn’t’ wake. I wipe my hands on my torn jeans and start up the rock, my body waking up the higher I climb.

When I reach the top, I grab my jacket and backpack and quickly put them on. Then I scrabble back down to Aiden. He doesn’t stir when I kneel beside his head, but his heart still thrums, so I have some time. Removing a syringe from the bag and crossing my fingers that this will work, I bite the lid of the needle off and stab it into my forearm. Once it’s full of my blood, I pull out the needle and watch as my skin stitches itself up. This boosts my hopes that it’ll work. I move the knife to Aiden’s leg and inject it right above his wound. Then I wait for my blood to pump through his blood, hoping it works, but not expecting—I never expect anything. Slowly, but surely, the bloody hole on his leg starts to shrink as the skin cells and muscles rebuild and reconnect. Once the skin has sewn back together, the rhythm of his heart becomes sturdier—stronger. His eyes open and I know that he’s going to be all right.

I breathe relief, relaxing back and letting him sit up.

He stares through the slash in his jeans, at his skin, where the wound has healed, but the stain of blood still remains. “What’d you do to me?” He says it like he’s angry and I don’t understand.

“My blood was still carrying the healing medicine, so I injected some of it into you,” I explain. “But why do you sound upset.”

He shakes his head and touches the tip of his finger to the bottom of his eye, running it down his cheek.

“Where’d it go?” I ask, noticing the white line’s missing—his freedom.

He doesn’t answer, getting to his feet and stretching out his legs and arms. “We should get going. If we hurry, we may still be able to reach the outskirts of the city before nightfall.” And without saying anything else, he starts down the rock.

It’s not that far of a fall, so I opt to jump and wait for him at the bottom. Then we set across the desert, the soft breeze blowing around as neither one of us utters a word. I don’t mind the silence, but the fear lashing off of him eats away at me. He’s afraid of turning into me. I don’t understand.

“Are you mad at me?” I ask. “For saving you?”

He gives me a confounding look. “Why would I be mad at you for saving me?”

 “I don’t know,” I say. “That’s why I’m asking you.”

He sighs, kicking at the rocks. “You’re misinterpreting my fear, Juniper. I’m not afraid of turning out like you. I’m afraid of turning back into one of them.”

“One of who?”

“A Bellator” he says. “It took forever for all that medicine to clear out of my system, so I could be free and human again.”

“I’m human,” I say. When he doesn’t say anything, I continue, “I’m human, just as much as you are.” I pause. “You should have told me about the healing thing before. Why didn’t you?”

“For the same reason you don’t share everything with me,” he challenges. “Tell me Kayla, what did you see in the memories—what had you so afraid?”

I blink the red away. “Nothing I want to talk about.”

“Why?’ He asks a simple question and yet I can’t answer. “Because you’re afraid of it.”

“No, because I just can’t.” The truth is, I’m not really sure what’s stopping me: my initial reaction to lie and keep things to myself or that the fact that what I saw
does
scare me.

He scratches at his eye, where the white line used to be.

“What was it?” I reach out, letting my fingers brush his cheek.

His heart rushes with my touch. “It’s what happens when you’re not doped up on medicine … and it’s also called as a scar. It’s what’s left over when a deep injury has to heal on its own. And I liked it there. It reminded me of how fake my life used to be, when I was controlled by the Highers. And how I never want to go back to that again.”

I tug my hand away and fold my arms, shivering at the reminder of what Dominic thought I was. And what if it turns out that I am—the thing that he and I hate the most?

Then what?

When the twisted metal buildings of the city finally peak over the horizon, I feel a small weight lifted from my shoulders. Judging from the distance, we should be able to make it there before darkness completely sets in. The smoke rises, twisting up to the sky and polluting the air with ash and debris.

“Should we run the rest of the way?” Aiden asks.

I eye his leg, jeans torn, but the skin as smooth as porcelain. “Do you think you can?”

“I’m fine,” he assures, tightening the straps of his bag. “Your blood healed me. I’m good.”

So we run, racing through the sage and cacti, the city getting closer. I keep my pace sluggish, so he doesn’t have to fight to keep up with me, but a part of me wants to take off, run away from everything, if only for a moment.

“Don’t hold back on my account.” He winks at me and then speeds up, pulling ahead.

I smile and let go, feeling weightless as I leave him in a trail of dust, boots hammering, breath free. But then I hear something that sends me to a crashing stop.

“What’s the matter?” Aiden says as he collides into me.

I brace us from falling and I put a finger to my lips, shushing him. My eyes scan the rocks, which we left a ways back, but other than that there’s no place to hide.

“I thought I heard—”

Thump, thump. Thump, thump.

“Someone’s here,” I whisper, edging my knife out of my pocket as I circle around. Aiden follows my lead, taking out his knife out too. We glance at the hills, the rocks, the brush, the sky. But the thumping stops just as quick as it began. I turn to Aiden. “It’s gone.”

“What is?” He lifts an eyebrow inquisitively. “The heart beat?”

My lips do a double-take. “You heard it too?”

“No…” he says, his voice deciding. “But you’ve told me about it.”

“No I haven’t. I’ve never told anyone about it.”

“You’ve told one person,” he says, pointing at his chest. “You just can’t remember.”

I put my knife away, beginning to question why I can’t remember a single thing about him. It’s not like my memories are completely gone, so why is he missing from all of them.

“Well, whatever it was—heartbeat or not—it’s gone.” I start walking, but keep my ears on alert. “Do you think it could be Dominic?”

He shrugs, distracted. “Maybe, I don’t know, though. Most, including Dominic won’t go near the city.”

“Because of the vampires? Or because it’s so close to The Colony?”

“Both.”

He remains distracted for the rest of the walk, eyebrows constantly furrowed, as if something perplexes him deeply. The only thing I can tap into is he’s afraid I might die, that’s it, the same fear over and over again.

Behind us, the land is relatively exposed, giving a clear view that no one seems to follow us. When we reach the city border, the dangers of what could be following us is mild. With many places to hide and The Colony resting below it all, the city is a dangerous place.

“Please tell me you have an idea of where Xander is,” I say.

He shakes his head, eyes locked on the wreckage road in front of us. “But I told you I’m an excellent tracker.”

“Okay, excellent tracker,” I eyeball the many differently shaped buildings, “Where do we start?”

His eyes skim the lines of the buildings, the curves of the streets, and he points to our left. “This way.”

Stepping foot onto the city grounds feels like I’m stepping onto Higher grounds. Being a Bellator, I know how things work. If I had been out on a raid, and stumbled across two humans, I know the rule would be to bring them in. I’m not sure if I would have, being a rule questioner and all, but I know other Bellators might have. I think if it came down to it, and we ended up crossing paths with them, I could probably get away. But Aiden, I’m not so sure.

Fires crackle from the barrels, pouring out smoke and ash into the streets and sky. The air is deadly silent, but it will all change once night arrives.

“How can he just live out here?” I whisper. “All by himself. And without anyone knowing?”

 “Because he hides,” he says simply. “Just like we all do.”

Asphalt crumbles under my boots. “I wonder how it all came to be.  You know, how everyone ended up down there and the vamps out here? I mean, I know it was a virus, but why didn’t we try to fight or stop it.”

“You want to know my theory?” He asks, squeezing between two cars.

I maneuver between the cars, spotting a shiny ornament hanging from the mirror of the inside. It sparkles, even without light, and I’m mesmerized.

“I think everyone ended up in The Colony because people were afraid,” he continues, not noticing I’ve stopped. “I think it all terrified them so bad that they were willing to turn over their freedom just to live.”

I snatch the shining object from the mirror and catch up with him. “Yeah, but if the Highers were part of the virus, then how did they end up with control over The Colony.”

Aiden stares at the shiny thing in my hand. “What is that?”

“I don’t know,” I say, holding it up, watching it spin and sparkle. “But it’s so shiny and … not dark.” Our eyes move to the sky, dark with smoke and ash. “I wonder if it’s what the sun looked like,” I mumble.

I go to put the sparkly necklace back and catch sight of a pile of bones on the seat—human bones.

“I hate seeing that.” I set the necklace down on top of them.

“I think I would have rather died then been infected.” Aiden stares over my shoulders at the bones.

“Me too.”