Resist (The Harvest Saga Book 2) (13 page)

“Thanks.”

I stood awkwardly. “You mean your best friend doesn’t get a hug?”

I smiled and hugged him and then pulled away. Gray’s eyes were fixated on us. Kyan offered Gray his hand. “Take care of her, man.”

“I will.”

Kyan’s expression was hard, contradicting his words. “See you soon, Abby Blue.”

Tears blurred my vision. When the train passed us with a whoosh of air that sent my hair afloat, and then rapidly began to slow down, I hugged both Kyan and my mother again quickly. Ky slid the large metal door open for us and we slipped into the car, heading back to the place from which we’d only so recently escaped.

Within ten minutes, Kyan had loaded several crates of materials onto the train car and exchanged the necessary communications with its engineer. We were ready to leave. We could hear Kyan’s muffled voice comm the engineer. All was loaded. Cleared for Olympus.

The train whistle blew loudly announcing our departure. The wheels began to propel us forward and I listened as they grated and groaned.

Gray and I sat together in the frigid, metal train car that smelled of age and rust, our backs against the worn, grating steel. He was quiet. He was angry and it emanated from his person like smoke from fire. “Gray?”

“What?” he snapped.

“Never mind.”

Calmer, he said, “Just say it.”

“Do you think we’ll find the girls?”

He sighed. “Yes. They’re probably still where we left them in the Lesser section.”

I nodded. I hoped he was right. I wanted to see Laney, to bring her out of that hellish place.

“Tell me about you.”

He cocked his head back. “About me?”

“Yeah. What are your parents like? Do you have brothers and sisters? How did you become a guard? What’s your favorite food? Favorite color?”

He finally put his arm around my shoulders as the car gently rocked to and fro. “My parents were pretty old when I was conceived. I left them in Everest when I left to become a guard in Olympus. I had applied for guardship in Everest, but the need was greater in Olympus and I was stationed there. Guards can be moved around as needed by the cities. I have no brothers and sisters. My favorite food is anything you fix and my favorite color used to be green.”

I bent my head. “Used to be? What is it now?”

“Blue. Blue like the color of a clear afternoon sky. Blue like your eyes.”

I looked up at him. He wasn’t joking. Glancing down at his full lips, he began to smirk. “Not gonna kiss you.”

I guffawed. “I didn’t ask you to kiss me.”

“You were thinking about it.”

“You read minds? Any other super powers I should know about?”

He brushed his lips beside my ear. “I’m talented in many ways, Abs.”

Squirming, I broke loose of the spell he’d cast on me. “I’ll have to take your word for it.”

Laughing, Gray said, “For now.”

“You sure are confident.”

He shrugged. “You’ll see.”

I rolled my eyes and he started laughing again. Smacking him in the chest, I snuggled into his warm arms and let the train lull me back to sleep. If it weren’t for the tiny life inside me, I wouldn’t have been able to settle down, but early pregnancy does make one sleepy. Very sleepy.

Someone was chasing me down the streets of Olympus. I tried to run faster, duck behind something. There’s nothing to hide me. Two guards pop out from an alleyway in front of me. Their guns pointed aimed directly at my heart. The tiny red dots from their rifles hover and dance just above it. I grind to a stop, almost falling to the concrete below. A hand clenches my shoulder. I turn to look. It’s King Harrison Cole. An evil sneer is stretched over his face. “Did you think you could come back, sneak into the city and that I wouldn’t know it. You’re being tracked, Abigail.”

“Where are the others? Where’s Crew?”

He laughs maniacally. “I couldn’t leave any liabilities. No witnesses, no crime, right?”

“You killed your own son?”

He laughed. “I didn’t kill anyone, Abigail. Crew sealed his own fate when he chose you over his obligation to his city. No son of mine will be with a LESSER!” he shouted, spittle spattering the skin of my face.

“
You
are the Lesser. You’re pathetic. Evil. You’re going to rot in hell for the things you’ve done.”

“There’s no one powerful enough to hold me accountable. No one left.” He chuckled. “Take her away.”

The guards approached quickly and seized my arms. I screamed but no sound came from my mouth. Cole just stood there laughing, waggling his fingers, mocking me.

“In what reality could a Lesser have beaten a Greater, Abigail? Certainly not this one. You’re in my world. I own you.”

I woke up frantically clawing at Gray like a frightened kitten. “Shh. I’ve got you. You’re okay.” He searched me for answers that I was afraid to even speak.

“Oh, God! The tracking device! Olympus will know I’m here.”

He looked at me questioningly, his brow furrowed. “The Vesuvians deactivated it. Didn’t your mother mention that?”

“No. She didn’t. Maybe she did. I can’t remember.” I clutched my chest.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“About my mom?”

He shrugged. “We can. I was talking about the nightmare though.”

I shook my head. I didn’t want to think about how dangerous this was.

“We’re slowing down.”

I remembered the enormous city gate, how we’d passed through it and how it had slammed shut behind us, effectively trapping us in the city. You know how you get bad feelings about people or situation. Yeah, that. I had a very bad feeling about this.

The train slowed more and Gray helped me stand up. My legs were weak and tingly. I wanted to freak out, wanted to scream that they were going to be waiting for us at the train station. Would they be? I didn’t know. I wouldn’t put it past Cole at this point.

Slower still. Gray grabbed my hand and laced his fingers through mine.

“Please, Abs. Don’t do what I think you’re gonna try to do. We just need to get the girls and get out.”

“This is about more than just those girls. We need to get all the Lessers out.”

“Where will they go?”

“Doesn’t matter. They just need to get out of the city wall. I have a feeling that Olympus is about to fall. I don’t think Vesuvius is concerned with the well-being of anyone within these walls, except for those girls. Do you know why?”

He squeezed my hands. “They need them.”

“Exactly. They want control. This is so messed up.”

“I know. But I’m here. I’m with you. No matter what, I’m with you, Abs. Don’t you dare run from me. I know you’re going to try to go after
him
, too.”

I nodded. I would try to get Crew out of the city. He didn’t deserve to die, either.

“We’ve traded one tyrant for another.”

“Tyranny loves company.”

I snorted. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Your mom seems nice though.”

I looked up at him. “She’s doing their bidding. She has to be nice. Lulu always said you could catch more flies with honey.”

“Lulu was wise.”

“Yep.” I grinned and nudged him with my elbow. “Like someone else I know.”

The train’s wheels screeched to a stop. Dawn was just breaking. We could see it through the rusted holes in the train car. Gray looked through the holes as the world passed by more and more slowly. “Seems clear, but we need to move. It’s almost daylight.”

We both moved to the door, crouched down at the ready. He slid open the train car’s door as quietly as was possible. The squeaky protests of the metal grinding upon metal made my heart slam against my chest. They were going to catch us. We were inside the belly of the beast.

Gray carefully looked outside both ways. “There’s a building not too far. We need to make a break for it.”

I nodded.

“I’ll jump down and lift you out of the car.”

“Okay.”

Gray nimbly jumped from the car, landing easily on his feet. What was he, part feline? I’d seen cats jump from high up in trees and land the exact same way. I sat down, my legs dangling from the car. He reached up and grabbed my waist and moved me forward. I grabbed his shoulders. He slid me all the way down his body slowly and I almost forgot I was in danger. It literally took my breath away. He was all hard, tense muscle and smelled like spices.

His eyes dilated for a moment and his mouth moved toward mine. I eased forward, wanting so badly to feel him. “We’ve got to go,” he whispered, breaking the spell.

You have got to be kidding me.
I straightened my shoulders and ticked my head toward the building. He grabbed my hand and we ran across the short distance together. We’d made it. Now, just to get the others, find Crew and warn the Lesser population.

I knew where I was
the moment I woke up and I knew exactly who had placed me there. I was in the prison beneath the amphitheater. My father had me thrown in here. He was probably getting ready to behead me. He must have found out about my dealings with the resistance. I wondered if Marian was safe. I had not heard her voice among the others imprisoned in the cells on either side of me, but it was a long row and they were all stuffed full of people.

The only person I recognized was one I wanted to avoid. I knew he and his father had been arrested and brought to Olympus, but I thought my father would have released them into the Lesser section. Instead, he had imprisoned them. A few cells across from me and to the right was none other than Zander Preston. He rested his forearms on the cell’s cross bars lazily, looking blankly out as if there was nothing there at all. I was just glad to have avoided him thus far.

The only thing I wanted to do was to beat him to a pulp. Memories of Abby being beaten flew through my mind. He had held the rope. He had caused her pain. I was glad my father had not released him. I wanted him to suffer. He deserved worse than a spot in the prison cells.

An old man with bushy white eyebrows, wrinkled sun-scarred skin, and a solitary tooth looked me up and down and laughed. “You Greaters think you’re so much better than every other human being out there. Look at you now. You’re locked up with us, Prince.” His voice dripped with sarcasm and disdain.

He was a Lesser. His eyes were the same color he was born with. The other occupants of my cell looked between the pair of us nervously. They obviously sided with him, as they should.

A small shaft of sunlight filtered in through the tiny window, our only link with the outside world for now. Occasionally, guards would shove molded loaves of bread and jugs of water into the hole. The stench of urine and feces emanated from the corner we were forced to utilize. This was hell on Earth. I was certain of it.

I was wearing a path
into the boards in the depot and annoying Julia at the same time. Win. She wasn’t so bad. Actually, she’d been really sweet. I looked at her. She was analyzing reports of Orchard’s needs and placing orders for the next supply train. Her brows almost touched when she concentrated and she stuck her tongue out a little, unconsciously. I laughed to myself and kept scanning over the comm’s that had come in last night.

Two Vesuvian guard’s sauntered in. “Julia. How are things going?” the jerk who spoke looked over at me and smirked. He continued, “Too bad you are stuck in here with the Lesser.”

“It is not as if they are contagious,” she giggled and winked at me.

“How do you know they are not? Something caused the deaths in the other cities.”

I snorted.
Right. It was us. We should have thought of that years ago and gotten rid of all of them.

The guard who had been talking stepped over toward me. His hair was long and almost black, his skin darkened from the hot southern sun. With a wide nose and broad shoulders that he was trying to make broader, he challenged me. “Something funny about that, Lesser?”

“Just that you think we had anything to do with it.”

He lifted his arm and shoved me hard into the wall behind me. “Stop!” Julia yelled, running over to step between the two of us. “Stop it, Emory. You need to leave.”

She pointed to the door. “You’re asking
us
to leave? Unbelievable.”

“He has work to do. Now, go!”

Emory glared at me. With teeth clenched, he said, “Fine. Come on. We are out of here.”

The door slammed behind him.

I looked at Julia. “You shouldn’t have stepped in front of me.”

“He is a guard. He could have killed you and no one would have questioned or cared why, Kyan.”

Now, my pride was hurt. “You think we don’t know how to fight? I’ve worked my ass off in these fields every day of my life. I was born to work hard and fight harder. Don’t think for one second that I wouldn’t have wiped the floor with that bastard because I would have.” I was steaming. Julia nodded slightly and didn’t say a word.

I softened my voice. “Probably would have been hanged for it, but I would have.”

“I am sorry. I was not thinking. I did not mean to offend you in any way, Kyan.”

I pressed my lips together. “It’s okay.”

“Thank you for your forgiveness.” She offered me her hand. I had shaken it once before, but this time when our hands touched, it was different. She felt it, too because she looked up at me, her eyes widening.

“You are so warm.” She looked at me like she was in awe.

I laughed. “Yeah, I guess.”

We stared at each other for another moment before she cleared her throat and pulled her hand away. “We should finish our tasks.”

“Yeah. We should.”

Gray and I quickly made
our way deep into the Lesser portion of Olympus, winding through the makeshift huts and shanties. Remnants of a recent snow still clung to the edges of the narrow, muddy streets. It was busy, with people walking in every direction. Some made their way to the factories, others back home from them. We finally made it to the tiny home I’d stayed in before we made our way home. The others weren’t here when we left, but with help, we would find them.

Izabel, the woman who had loaned me her dress, poked her head out of the door before we even had a chance to knock. She snarled her nose up at us until she realized who we were. Relief washed over her face. “Abby? Gray? Come in! Hurry.”

She held the door open and we stepped inside. My eyes had to adjust to the darkness. But, on the couch sat none other than Laney. “Laney?!”

“Abby? Oh, my God!” She stood up and almost tackled me, but Gray held me up. Both of us burst into tears. “I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again,” she sobbed.

“I know.” I just held her tight and cried with her.

Gray cleared his throat. “Do you all know where the others are?”

Izabel spoke up first. “Yeah. They’re all close by.”

“Good,” Gray said, “We need to get them and you out of here.”

“How?” asked Laney. Her golden ringlets had been cut boy short, but it didn’t diminish her beauty at all. It added to it if anything.

I sniffed and tried to calm myself before answering her. “A train. It won’t leave for three more hours. We have to be on it.”

“What’s going on? Why the urgency now?” she asked.

I looked at her. She was smart, no longer the naive girl I’d loved from the village. She’d been changed. We all had.

“Vesuvius is coming.”

“Vesuvius?” Laney blew out a breath.

I nodded. “They sent us to get you out, but we need to get all of the Lessers out, get them to safety. But if they all go for the train, someone’s going to notice.”

Izabel spoke up. “The tunnels.”

“Tunnels?” Gray asked.

“We’ve made a way out of the city. There’s an extensive maze of tunnels beneath us. We can get them out that way.”

I promised to catch her up on all that had happened recently, but we had to move. She and Izabel went to round up the other girls. They would slowly make their way toward the trains and try to sneak aboard. Then, Izabel promised to help us spread the word to all the Lessers. I hoped they would find safety and freedom through the network of tunnels.

We were walking toward a house that Izabel said housed three of the girls from the Lesser villages, when Gray pulled me to the side of the rickety shanty and crouched down. “Guards. I know them.”

I tried to still my breathing, but was worried they’d hear my heart slamming in my chest. Four guards passed by, clad in black with assault rifles slung across their shoulders. They laughed with each other as they patrolled the area. When they were completely out of sight, Gray pulled me up. “That was close,” he said, and then blew out a tense breath.

“How well did you know them?”

“They would have recognized me. No question about it.”

“How are we going to do this, Gray? How can we get everyone out? Why don’t we tell the Lessers now?”

He looked around, his eyes and body on alert. “If they find out there’s a train, it’ll be mobbed. People always take the easiest path. We need to get the girls and get out, then spread the word for them to go through the tunnels.”

He was right. We would all be caught. But a sinking feeling in my stomach kept bothering me. Getting everyone to the train was going to be hard enough and there were eighteen other girls.

Gray took my hand. “Let’s weave through the homes. We need to stay off the roads and out of plain sight. It’s safer that way.”

“Okay.”

He nodded once, grabbed my hand and together, we took off behind the house. The squalor the Lessers in Olympus lived in was horrific. Their houses were built of plywood, pieces of metal, plastic tubes, anything that they could find. Most looked as if they would fall over if a stiff wind blew their way. It was sad. But more than anything, it angered me. These people were good enough to work for the Greaters, but not good enough to receive the basics that they required; shelter, food, and clothing.

Trenches that reeked of human waste ran along either side of what they called streets. They were muddy pathways, well-trodden by those traveling to and from work in the factories. We weaved between clothing that had been hung on a line to dry. The garments looked as though they were basically frozen, stiffly swinging in the light winter wind.