The Forbidden Trilogy (69 page)

Luke offered her a small bunch of blood-red berries.
"They're delicious."

Lucy shook her head. "I know. All the fruit has been
exceptionally yummy. Whatever experiment created this place, it's pretty much
paradise. But I need meat—thick, juicy, hot, protein-packed meat. I can't live
on berries and plants. I'm not a rabbit!" She turned to Hunter, and her
stomach flip-flopped—and not from the hunger. "Hey Hunter, want to
hunt?"

"Haha. Yeah, I've never heard that one before. But, to
answer your not even remotely witty question—yes, I'd love to."

She pointed to his stack of wood. "That for
hunting?"

He shrugged. "Hunting. Weapons. Whatever we need."

"Cool. I'll stick to my knife and gun this time, but
good to have a backup. My bullets won't last forever."

Luke stood and wrapped the berries in a leaf. "I'm game
to go too."

"Sorry, Bro, you need to rest and let that foot
heal."

"I'm fine. I swear."

Hunter slapped him on the back. "Next time, once you're
healed. We've got it covered today."

Lucy and Hunter headed into the forest, leaving Luke
standing there like a rejected puppy. Lucy felt bad, but he'd never be able to
keep up, let alone hunt prey, and they couldn't afford for him to further
injure himself. He'd need to be fully recovered for the mission, once they
figured out a way to escape.

They pushed through brush, dodging vines and hanging
branches.

Hunter made a sound that reminded Lucy of a cat hiss and
flicked a leaf away from his face. "Green, green and more green. I'm sick
of it. I hate the color green."

"If it weren't for the vampire bugs bent on sucking me
dry, I'd love it. It's pretty. Besides, your eyes are green."

"Yeah, so? Doesn't mean I have to like the color."

His eyes were the most beautiful shade of green she'd ever
seen—like priceless emeralds—but she held her tongue. No sense in looking even
more like a love-sick teenager. "So what's your favorite color?"

He whacked at another branch. "Black."

"Black's not a color."

"Fine, Miss Picky. Brown."

"Seriously? Nobody likes brown."
Talk about the
most boring color ever.

"Brown is a great color. The earth is brown. Chocolate
is brown. Aren't girls supposed to love chocolate? Besides, your eyes are
brown, and they're pretty gorgeous."

Well, that was sweet... and kind of gag-inducing.
The
conversation started to sound like a scene in a romance novel with sparkly
vampires, and a horrible thought hit her. What if he was the kind of guy who
read sappy romances and used those lines to hit on girls? The idea was so
preposterous she laughed out loud.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing. Just wondering how you became such a ladies'
man."

"That's easy. I was born this way. It's all natural,
baby."

Yeah, right.
"What's your favorite food?"

"Pizza, the meat lover's kind. What, are we playing
twenty questions here?"

Another mosquito—fortunately not giant-sized like some of
the other bugs in the valley—landed on her arm and prepared for a meal. She
squashed it and wiped away the splattered blood.
Wonder whose blood that
belonged to?
"No. I'm just trying to learn more about you. You don't
talk about yourself or your past much."

"You'd like me to, wouldn't you?"

"Well, yeah."

Hunter stopped, and Lucy bumped into him. He caught her
around the waist, but then pulled back to look at her. "Let me ask you a
question. Do you like talking about your past?"

Lucy considered. She'd never had to talk about her past
before, to anyone. "Actually, no, I don't."

Hunter's pupils dilated and his green eyes looked even
brighter. "We're not our past, Lucy. It influences us, sure, but even then
we choose how it shapes us. One guy can grow up with alcoholic parents and
become one himself, while another guy raised in the same family dynamic becomes
a therapist who helps hundreds conquer their addictions. The past is just a
collection of shady memories strung together by emotion. Nothing more. The choices
of the moment make us who we are, not what happened to us as children. We are
the values we choose to live by in the present. The past isn't important beyond
the lessons we learn from it."

He locked eyes with her, as if trying to tell her something very
important with just a look. "You won't learn anything real about me by
exploring my past. You'll get to know me better by observing the kind of man I
am now."

She wondered if he had secrets he was ashamed of, but then
decided it didn't matter. His words made sense. She couldn't be judged by the
life she'd lived at Rent-A-Kid. That life didn't define her, or speak to all of
who she was on the inside. At least, she hoped it didn't. But her choices, they
did speak to her character. What would her recent choices say about her?

They broke through the thick foliage and neared a cliff that
reached high into the sky. Lucy craned her neck and looked up. "Maybe we
could climb out?"

She didn't have to see the look on Hunter's face to know
that climbing was preposterous. Even if they'd been skilled mountaineers, they
would have found it impossible.

Hunter grabbed her hand and led her to the left, walking
along the cliff face. "Maybe we'll find a way out of the valley if we
follow this far enough."

She squeezed his hand. "Maybe, but doubtful. The answer
is likely more complex, otherwise why wouldn't Mr. K just tell us?"

"Not sure. Maybe he's just messing with us because he's
lonely and doesn't want us to leave. Can you imagine what it must be like for
him here?"

To her horror, Lucy realized that she hadn't given much
thought to what Mr. K's day-to-day life was like, with no one to talk to, no
way to leave. "I don't think he'd deliberately keep us here. He's not like
that."

Hunter responded sadly, "You don't know what people can
become if put in the right—or wrong—circumstances. Desperation is a powerful
incentive."

She
did
know what people could become, having
experienced some pretty scary shit, but she refused to believe that of Mr. K.
She focused instead on following the cliff as it curved ahead of them. It
didn't lead to an exit of any kind, but it did put them on the edge of a small
lake fed by a waterfall. Lucy had an overwhelming urge to jump in and get
clean. Her body odor and greasy hair made her want to crawl out of her own
skin, especially with Hunter so close.

"Check it out. Nature's shower. I need to get clean,
will you stand watch?"

He waggled his eyebrow in excitement. "I'd love to
stand and watch! Better yet, I could use a shower myself."

She swatted him in the chest. "You're not watching or
joining. Now turn around and look elsewhere."

"You can't boss me around. You're not my boss. You're
not even an agent."

"Maybe not, but I'm a lady. And thou shalt not gaze
upon me. Also, I can kick your ass—and don't think I won't if I catch you
peeking."

Hunter's snicker followed her as she made her way to the
water. She reached to pull off her shirt, but turned first and waved her arm.
"Shoo. Go occupy yourself some other way. Keep an eye out for killer ants
or something."

"Fine."

He mumbled something about "women" and
"tease" and "torture,"' but Lucy chose to ignore him as she
undressed and slipped into the cool water. All of her muscles relaxed as she
let herself float and soak. Her body drifted toward the waterfall, and she
found a place to stand under the pouring water that washed the filth from her
body.

But the water cleansed more than her body. Her mind latched
onto the conversation she'd just had with Hunter, and she thought about her
past choices and experiences: Sam impregnated and taken to the clinic while
Lucy stood by, helpless to do anything; her mother, Ana, dying at the hands of
Dr. Pana while Lucy once again did nothing; the force-fed drugs at Rent-A-Kid
that kept her complacent and numb.

Adam escaping from his prison only to die moments later. The
Seeker attacking Mary's mind during the first failed escape attempt at
Rent-A-Kid.

Mr. Black beating Lucy so badly she nearly died.

Lucy shooting Robert, killing him.

All of her sins, her fears, her helplessness... the water
pulled it from her like a baptism. Each new moment meant she could take a new
path, a new way to live. She couldn't change what had happened, but she could
decide how it shaped her present and future.

She ran her hands through her hair and over her body,
cleaning herself as best she could and enjoying the lightness she felt with the
release of so much guilt and fear. She didn't know if she could sustain this
internal freedom, but she would try.

When her fingers began to prune, she realized Hunter might
get worried. She could have scaled the rocks back to shore, but without shoes
on, she chose to enjoy the swim instead. For the first time in a long time, she
felt happy, but still very hungry.

Once her foot found the bottom, she yelled, "No peeking,"
and climbed out to retrieve her clothing. One sniff, and she wished she could
wear anything else. Putting on dirty clothes seemed to defeat the purpose of a
bath. Still, she couldn't walk around naked, so she pulled her shirt and pants
over her damp body.

Something moved on the rock next to her—a lizard about the
size of her arm, if she included its tail.

The creature looked at her, then scurried over the rocks and
behind the waterfall, where it sat, scales shimmering like hidden jewels. She
guessed that lizard, if cooked long enough, would probably just taste like
chewy chicken.

With a salivating mouth, she zipped and buttoned up, then
laced-up her shoes, grabbed her gun and knife, and stalked off after what could
be dinner.
No point calling Hunter. The lizard would be gone by then. This
should just take a sec.

Water splashed off the rocks, spraying her with droplets and
making footing slippery, but she continued until she stood behind the
waterfall. A giant cavern loomed before her, carved into the sharp black rock
of the cliff. The walls glinted, smooth and dangerous, like obsidian. The
lizard slithered over part of a rock that jutted from the wall, then stopped
and stared at her.

Adrenaline raced through Lucy as she pulled her knife out
and eyed the reptile. From the corner of her eye, she spotted another lizard
about the same size scurrying into a dark corner. Two would be good, especially
with three of them to feed, but she focused on the one in front of her first.
She could go after the other one later.

A deep breath, and she pounced. The lizard darted away, but
she grabbed its tail.
Yes! Oh crap.
The tail hung from her hand, still
wiggling despite having detached from the rest of the reptile.

"Ew!" She tossed it aside and watched it slither.
Tailless, the lizard scurried deeper into the cave, as did the other one that
had been waiting in the shadow. Another section to the cavern must open out
back there.

She followed them into the dark, when a roar erupted from
the blackness.

A pair of yellow eyes ringed in red came into view. Big
eyes. A huge lizard emerged, bigger even than the beetles, its head and body
filling the cavern. It reared back, exposing a pulsing red chest. Lucy could
almost feel the beat of its heart beneath the skin. Hard green scales covered
the rest of the reptile, making it look impenetrable.

The beast fell onto its stomach and hissed, looking pissed.
Lucy suddenly realized why. The little ones—if they could be called little—must
have been its babies. And when momma ain't happy, ain't no one happy. Least of
all Lucy.

She jammed her knife into its sheath, pulled out her gun and
aimed at the thing's chest, though she didn't have the same line of fire as a
moment ago. The lizard's large eyes drew hers into a trance she couldn't break
free of.

Just pull the trigger, Lucy. You can do this. Come on.
Just shoot. This isn't Robert. It's not the alligator. It's not your brother.
It's something that wants to kill you. Just shoot it, damn it!

The gun wavered in her hand, her trigger finger tightening
and releasing as if uncertain of which command to obey.

In that hesitation, the lizard charged at her through the
cavern. Lucy fired—her finger taking over on instinct—over and over.

It pulled back onto its hind legs and moaned, the sound
echoing from the walls. Lucy didn't stop firing until her gun ran out of
bullets.

The lizard dropped its head and stilled.

Lucy sighed in relief and swiped at a tear running down her
cheek. She'd done what she had to do to survive.

A twitch caught her eye. Lizard tails could twitch after
they'd been severed, but did whole dead lizards also twitch?

Maybe or maybe not, but she was pretty sure they didn't get
up and pounce!

Lucy shrieked and jumped out of the way just as the very not
dead lizard leaped at her. With a pounding heart, she sprinted over the rocks
and through the waterfall.

Hunter stood on the shore, looking for her. "Lucy,
what's wrong? What's that sound?"

"Hunter, no. Run!" She stumbled over rocks.
"Run, now!"

He didn't move. "What? What are we—"

The lizard burst through the waterfall, spraying them both
with droplets.

"Oh, crap." Hunter grabbed Lucy's hand to help her
over a rock, and they both took off at full speed.

They'd almost reached the forest when the lizard jumped over
their heads and landed in front of them. They stopped. Lucy's heart pounded in
her chest, and fear surged through her. The lizard whipped its tail at them.

Hunter pulled at Lucy and screamed, "Roll."

She somersaulted under the tail, and Hunter did the same.