Judgement 8 (Subject Alpha #1) (12 page)

MY THROAT FELT LIKE I’d swallowed a thousand knives and my lips were blistered and sore as I tried to lick them. My head throbbed and every single part of my body hurt.

“Reid?”

I opened my eyes, blinking at the harsh light when Jonah said my name.

“Fuck.” He blew out a breath. “We thought you were gone.”

“Where are we?” I pushed myself into a sitting position and Jonah and Heather watched me warily from the corner of the room. They remained quiet as I took in the clinical white room, the mass of wires and beeps telling me exactly where we were. “Shit! What the hell were you thinking?” I tore at the tube feeding my body with saline, not bothering to wait for the blood to pour down my arm, there wouldn’t be any.

“You were a mess, Reid,” Heather said. “You needed your lungs clearing, as well as oxygen.”

“We could have done that. We don’t use hospitals, you know that! They’ll track us here. The last thing we need is . . .”

I froze when my mind replayed something in my head.

“Breathe!” She grunted as she pulled me over to the window. “Breathe, damn it!”

I snapped my eyes to Jonah, not daring to breathe. “How did she get me out?” His eyes dropped to the floor and Heather shifted uncomfortably. “How? HOW?”

“She surged her chip,” Jonah whispered.

“No.” I struggled to breathe, my entire body over-stimulated and weak, the effect making my organs react crazily. “No, she . . . No. NO!”

“She deserves to die for what she did, Reid!” Heather rushed over to me when I fell back on the bed.

“For what she did? She got Jonah out of the house. You can’t blame her for Ruben’s sick desire to follow orders!”

“What?” She shook her head, staring at me in confusion. “For setting fire to the safe house. For nearly killing us!”

The room was spinning, my heart tearing apart inside me. “Elina didn’t start the fire. I did!”

Heather’s mouth fell open and Jonah’s head snapped my way. “What?”

Gritting my teeth I turned away, unable to look at them. “I . . . I lost control.”

“You never lose control!” Heather said, her suspicious eyes narrowing

“Well, last night I did!”

It hit me and I drew my knees up, my fingers pulling at my hair. Fuck! I was losing control again, my heart racing as my blood started to tingle. I’d lost control and killed her. She’d saved me. She’d killed herself to save me.

My wet eyes found Jonah. “She’s gone. I killed her.”

He stalked the room, his huge body planting on the bed beside me. “She’s not dead,” he whispered. “Well, not yet.”

My wide eyes flashed to his, my mouth drying further. “What? She terminated . . . I saw her . . . her body was . . .”

He shrugged. “Don’t ask me, I have no idea. Heather and I dragged her off the porch roof and she was . . . she was . . . fuck! She was still breathing, Reid!”

“I don’t understand. She terminated. She should be dead. No one can withstand that amount of energy.”

He shrugged again. “I don’t know.” He licked his lips when I let out a relieved sigh and fell back against the headboard. “Reid.” Jonah’s eyes were dull when they lifted back to my face. “She’s . . . she’s not good. She’s in a coma.”

My head fell back and I laughed, loudly and hysterically, my heart surging with excitement. Jonah and Heather stared at me as if I was crazy. Fuck, maybe I was.

Snatching my clothes from the chair beside me, I slipped out of the gown someone had placed over me and changed quickly. I didn’t care that Heather was in the room, but fuck her, at least she got a glimpse of what she’d been after for so long.

“Reid, what are you doing?” Jonah barked.

“I’m going to get Elina.”

His whole face locked in shock, his skin blanching as he shook his head. “You can’t, she needs the medical . . .”

“She’s not in a coma, Jo.” I grinned at him when he continued to frown at me. “She’s shut down, gone into sleep mode. She just needs rebooting.”

“Are you fucking crazy?” Heather asked.

“Probably.” I chuckled. “Definitely. Come on, we need to go get her.”

“Reid! You can’t just walk into her room and unplug her then carry her out of a fucking hospital in broad daylight!” Jonah said.

“That, my friend, is exactly what I’m going to do. It’s too quiet at night. Every fucker and their grandma would notice you carrying a woman through the dark corridors. Day time it’s heaving out there. Lots of people come in carrying people who are hurt. We’re just carrying one out.”

They both stood completely still, their eyes wide. I sighed. I didn’t have time for their shit. “Are you gonna help or not?”

Heather stepped forward, her face full of anguish. “Look, Reid, we both know she’s not my favourite person but I’m not saying this out of malice. We have no idea what we’re doing. This has never happened before. How the hell do we
reboot
her?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “We don’t. But we both know someone who can.”

“No!” Heather stepped back, her hand in front of her as her eyes widened in horror. “No, Reid. I am not going back there.”

“You don’t have to, either of you. But Elina deserves to live, and there’s only one person who can give her that.”

“You’re crazy,” she whispered, her head shaking with sadness as she stood in front of the doorway. “Reid, please.”

“This is my choice, Heather. You either accept it or get the hell out of my way.”

She closed her eyes, a tear tumbling from the corner, but she stepped aside.

“You’ll die in there,” she whispered as I stepped through the door into the corridor.

“I know,” I whispered back without turning to see the devastation on her face. “But Elina is the only hope we have of putting an end to Judgment. You need her. She’s your future, Heather.”

“Reid!” Jonah shouted. I turned back to see the utter heartache of my best friend. His face screwed up tight but he nodded. “I’ll find her, Reid. I promise. I’ll take care of her.”

He saw the gratitude on my face. He blurred through my vision. “Thank you. Tell her . . . tell her I will always love her.”

He smiled at me, the white of his teeth almost glaring with the huge grin. “She knows. She’s always known.” He gave me a simple firm nod.

Glancing one last time at them, I nodded in return then turned and left.

5 Months earlier

“DON’T CRY, LETTIE.” HER sobs broke my heart. Her little body jerked every few seconds, her skin hot to touch and her hair crispy under my attempt to soothe her.

“I’m sorry,” she said with a hiccup.

“Hey, don’t be sorry. It’s just the salt in your tears will make your skin sore. Your pores are sensitive until the current calms down.”

I wanted to kill Janice for this. What the fuck was she doing? I accepted my childhood, had come to terms with all the torture she put me through a long time ago, but Lettie didn’t deserve this.

An idea popped into my head and I shot up, scooping her tiny body into my arms as carefully as possible.

“Where are we going?” she asked as I stealthily worked my way down the dark corridor.

“I want to show you something, but we have to be quiet.”

She smiled at me through her tears, making my chest swell.

Slowing down when I came to the hallway that led past Janice’s personal quarters, I lifted onto my tiptoes and crept along slowly. As we passed her suite, the main door was ajar, loud voices coming from behind it.

“Jesus, Janice!” Ruben hissed. “You need to listen to me. They’re getting worse.”

“They’re doing their job, Ruben. Like you should be! Just because you climb into my bed at night does not give you the option of light duties!”

“Light duties?” He snorted. “Fuck! There’s nothing light about this job!”

“If you have a problem with this job then maybe you should apply for something less demanding, a janitor maybe. The way you’re behaving lately, maybe we should make you into a counsellor for the subjects, let them unload all their little problems to you!”

Ruben scoffed, the door opening more. “You really are a cold bitch!”

I raced around the corner, leaning against the wall as I tried to process what I’d just heard.

“I need to be cold!” she shouted after him before her door slammed shut.

Lettie whimpered when Ruben’s shadow drew along the floor, alerting us to his approach. I pressed my hand over Lettie’s mouth when she gasped, shaking my head sternly at her as her huge wet eyes fixed on me in panic.

Ruben’s silhouette paused, his long shadow reaching past us farther up the corridor. He was right around the corner. My heart beat fiercely and I’m sure he could hear it. If he’d been one of the eight we would be dead now. Suddenly it shrank back as he turned and walked the other way.

“Holy—shit!” Lettie puffed out when I moved my hand.

My mouth dropped and I glared at her. “Where did you learn that?”

She shrugged. “I dunno, around.”

“You never let me hear that from you again. You’re only six, there’ll be plenty of time for you to use that language when you’re older.”

She sighed and looked up at me, “I’m not six anymore, El. My mind and emotions are in adulthood now. It’s only my body that’s six.”

“You’re wrong,” I whispered as I swiped my thumb over a fresh tear falling down her cheek. “Whether your mind and your heart are older, you will one day enjoy childhood again. I promise.”

She gave me a ‘whatever you say’ look and nodded. “Of course I will.”

“Come on, grumpy knickers.”

She giggled as I ran down to the end of the corridor. “Where did you learn that?” She gasped when I punched in a code and a door swung open.

“A little bird told me,” I whispered as I carried us both up the metal stairway and through another door at the top.

“Holy—shit!” she repeated as her mouth popped open. Her eyes were so wide I could see the reflection of the stars in her pure grey orbs.

She stared upwards when I lowered her to her feet. She was mesmerised, her eyes taking it all in, her head turning left and right as her hair blew in the breeze. “It’s so beautiful.”

I nodded, turning my face to look up at the night sky. “How long since you’ve seen the stars, Lettie?”

She turned to me, her brow creased as huge fresh drops squeezed from her eyes. “I’ve never seen the sky, day or night.”

My heart plummeted through my stomach and I stumbled when my knees gave way. “What?”

She looked upwards again, the moon reflecting off her pale skin. “I was born in Judgement, El. This is my home.”