Uprising (32 page)

about her or talk about her I could put off having her long enough for me to be ready.

“I’m sorry, baby girl,” I said softly. “I never thought I’d be a mom.” My throat burned. “I don’t know how. I don’t know what to do.”

I pulled my shirt down, the fabric tight around my slightly rounded stomach. At least I wasn’t alone.

“We’ll get out of here,” I told her. “I promise.”

I never saw who swapped out my waste bucket and brought me food. Whoever it was never entered through the door. He was a ghost. My whole life I’d taken everyday things for granted, things like toilets and light, even comfort. Each night it got harder, until I felt like I might go crazy.

“Let me out of here!” I screamed after what seemed like the thousandth day of eating alone in the dark. I threw my fists against the locked door until they were sore and swollen. It was a last resort. I had given up after waiting in vain for the next vision, my answer, my way out. It never came.

I slid with my back to the wall and cried into my knees. Why had I been so naïve? I would never get out of here.

Then, as though my silence was the key, a sliver of light stretched across the floor.

“What did you expect?” Christoph said from the doorway.

I stood when I caught sight of him, my eyes squinting away from the brightness. My heart knocked against my ribs. I couldn’t speak. In my mind, I was strong. I would find a way to get information from him. But my gut didn’t agree. It clenched in the pit of my stomach.

“I hardly think these conditions are worthy of such a fit, but I suppose you could use a shower.” His eyes were oddly gentle. It had to be a trick. He gestured for me to step through the open door.

I watched him with suspicion, thinking he might reach out and grab me as I stepped cautiously into the hallway. I waited for the trap, but there was nothing. “If you try and escape, I
will
kill William and your friends.”

My eyes shifted, and I glared at him but said nothing.

“The washroom is down the hall to your left.”

The walls were lined with maple wood panels. Artwork decorated the space in what seemed to be someone’s vacation home. A cabin. There was a window at the end of the hall, but it was pitch black outside, no lights, nothing. As I moved toward it I fought the urge to press my face to the glass. Could I break it? Christoph lifted his eyebrows at me, as if wanting me to test him.

I glanced back at the window, but turned into the bathroom as expected, locking myself inside. My shoulders slumped, and I leaned against the door once I was alone. I didn’t see any options with Christoph watching so closely.

I saw myself in the mirror for the first time in months. I was a mess. Ratty hair, dirt-stained clothes and face, like a homeless child. My muscles were weak from inactivity, but my eyes were determined. I hardly recognized my face. The girl who stared back looked strong and unbreakable despite her frailty. Inside I was lost. I lifted my shirt to expose my belly. It was much bigger than I’d imagined now that I could see it in the light. I was grateful she was in there, protected and safe. No one could get to her.

I showered until the hot water was gone, trying to wash away the guilt and hurt, but all of it was stuck inside. It couldn’t be rinsed away.

I thought of the window, of getting us out like I promised. I needed to keep that promise.

On the counter there was a new set of clothes. They weren’t there before, and I cringed at the thought of someone being in here with me naked and vulnerable. Was I always being watched?

The sound of raised voices and bickering made me turn my head. I stopped moving and got quiet so I could hear them. The words were mumbled, but there was a woman. I pulled the jeans on quickly and whipped the black t-shirt over my head. I needed to know who the woman was.

The voices stopped when I opened the door, but as I reached the end of the hall, I saw Adrianna standing next to him. Her face was tight with anger, and she wouldn’t look at me.

“You know, I really want to hate you,” Christoph said. He was sitting at a table in the middle of the kitchen. The windows were black behind him.

“Go ahead,” I said, crossing my arms in defiance. “I hate
you
.” My words were strong, masking the fear he instilled in me.

He looked away with indifference. “You’ve put quite a damper on my plans.”

“Good,” I sneered. Although, I didn’t know what he meant. I’d failed. I hadn’t saved any of the humans.

“I’ve worked for years on that formula,” he continued, “and the only thing I needed was the mind-wiper. It’s the human memories that are the weakness. If I was working with a blank slate, I’d have complete control. They wouldn’t know any better. The memories influence their decisions. They feel guilt, and they sabotage the missions.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“You know where she is, don’t you?”

Adrianna was watching me, and I tried to hide the wave of relief I felt. He hadn’t found our camp. Anna, Chloe, and the others were safe.

“Even if I did, why would I tell you?”

“See,” he said, “how can I hate someone who doesn’t know any better? You may think you know our world, that you are fighting for a moral cause, but you’re naïve. You haven’t been around as long as I have. You don’t know what humans are capable of.”

“I know what
you’re
capable of. Just because you’ve had bad experiences with humans doesn’t mean they are all that way.”

His eyes opened wider. “And just because your best friend is human doesn’t mean the collective masses won’t try and destroy you.”

“You don’t know that’s how it will go.”

“That’s how it has
always
gone.”

“I know more than you think. I know why you are the way you are, about your mother and father, about Nettie.”

The name threw him off, and I could tell he wasn’t expecting me to know that.

He tapped his fingers on the table. “Kara.” His lips tried to form a smile.

“It doesn’t justify your actions,” I said, making my point.

“I disagree.”

“Of course you do. Because I’m not the one blinded, you are. You’re blinded by hate. It doesn’t have to be like this.”

“And what do you suggest? That we bow down, let them slaughter us willingly? That our race become test subjects, experiments for them to exploit?”

“That’s what you’re doing. You’re no better.”

He pulled a chair out from the table and pushed it in front of him. “Please sit.” He gestured. I stepped forward, sensing him opening up. Maybe I could get to him, convince him he was wrong.

“Sometimes you have to make hard choices,” he said once I’d taken the seat. “If it’s us or them, would you rather it be them? Would you have them kill us all? Because I assure you, they will try.”

“Not if we present ourselves as equals instead of gods.” He shook his head. “They’ll never be our equals. You’ll learn that soon.”

I felt someone behind me before I saw the change in Christoph’s face. Something was holding me, and I couldn’t turn around to see who it was. “Thank you, Philip,” he said, before his gaze shifted back to me, cold and distant. “Sometimes certain things are necessary. To get the upper hand.”

I breathed in sharply as my body stiffened in a way that filled me with terror, in a way I never imagined I’d feel again. Though I was frozen still, my body trembled from the inside. My heart kicked at my chest like it was trying to bring me back to life. Everything in me feared what was coming. When Ryder’s son stepped into my line of sight, I seized up.

“Nice to see you, Stephan,” Christoph greeted him before continuing. “You see,” he said to me. “I’m not so naïve to think I’ll be able to stop a prophecy. I know what’s coming. You’ve made sure of that, but humans cannot win. Mark my words, there will be war between the races.” He shrugged, a smug smile stretching across his face. “A war I never wanted.”

He did want it. I could see the lie in his eyes. Suddenly it was all clear to me. It was
exactly
what he wanted. It was the perfect excuse to retaliate against humans, a real reason to kill them. It was his final solution, war, and I had handed it to him on a silver platter.

I thought back to the last world war I had been around for. I’d only been in my twenties. The memories were vague, but I remembered the aftermath. When news of the Holocaust had sunk in, when anti-Japanese sentiment still hung in the air. He hated humans that way. He wanted them eliminated.

“Your people have already started coming out into the open, Elyse. They weren’t sure what to do without you. Tragic.”

Another man stepped in front of me. I recognized him somehow, his dark gray hair and light skin. His eyes were wide and intense. They were trying to tell me something, but I didn’t know what. We held each other’s gaze for a moment, and I knew what was coming would be bad. I just didn’t know how bad.

“It really is fortunate that you’re here,” Christoph continued. “The oracle isn’t of any use to me dead.” Breath caught in my throat, the only part of me that could physically react.
The oracle . . . dead
. He spoke of it so casually I felt sick. A new sense of dread opened up in me like a black hole, stealing any shred of hope left. “Her blood really wasn’t working anyway.” His right cheek wrinkled as he smiled. “Then it occurred to me, I might have something far better to work with.”

The gray haired man lowered to his knees, his eyes never leaving mine. He lifted up my shirt just enough to expose my stomach. My chest hurt, as his gentle fingers rolled up the fabric.
Please, no
, I pleaded from within my head. His eyes fell to the floor before he stood.

“This is a bad idea, Christoph,” Adrianna said from behind him. She was tense. So was I, trapped in my body, unable to run, scream, or fight. The air was thin, ready to shatter.

Christoph didn’t look back at her. He only shook his head, before pulling out the needle. “It must be done.”

It was too big and too long to be meant for me. They wanted something from her, from my baby girl. My body thrashed inside
. I won’t let you touch her!
Every muscle in me was desperately trying to move. I went crazy within, flailing, screaming, panic-stricken mad as Christoph walked toward me.

Stephan’s evil grin fueled my rage. As Christoph placed a hand on my belly, I cried out inside my head, piercing and desperate. Tears blurred my vision, and my heart felt ready to burst. I willed my muscles to work, pulling strength from places I didn’t know existed. I had to break free.

Then, somehow my knee swung forward, overcoming Stephan’s hold and smacking Christoph in the face. He yelled with frustration and stared at me with wild eyes as his nose began to bleed.

“Hold her,” he growled. Stephan’s strong hands gripped my legs, pinning my still immovable body to the chair.

Quiet moans slipped past my teeth. Even Stephan couldn’t hold them back. I breathed like I was on fire. As the needle penetrated my skin, I didn’t feel the pain. I didn’t watch what was happening. I told her she’d be fine.
It’s okay, baby girl. It’s okay.

Stephan had no hold on her. She flipped and turned. My heart burned like someone had mashed it into bits with a hot poker.
Tell me what to do, baby girl. Help me.

The needle was all the way in, and I was powerless. My mind went numb. My body gave up.

“All right,” Christoph said with a chipper tone to his voice. “Not so bad.” He looked at the syringe with satisfaction. I wanted to kill him. “You can take her back now, Philip.”

My muscles stayed locked in place as Philip slid his arms under my body and carried me into my prison. The moment I was free from Stephan’s hold I collapsed in agony on the basement floor. I clutched my belly in my arms, letting all of my angry cries spill out of me. I was sick with hate. I wanted him dead.

I felt a hand on my back, and I batted it away with force. “Get away from me,” I wailed, the garbled words lost to hysterics. I breathed in gulps of air as I cried and buried my face into the musty mattress.

That night, darkness was my friend. It helped me hide from myself, from everything. I never wanted to come out.

After that, I felt grateful for the days spent in the lonely silence of the basement. I got used to the quiet, the solitude. It comforted me.

On the days they came for more, those were the times I broke into pieces.

28.

I’D RIPPED NINETEEN tiny holes into the mattress when the basement door opened again, one for every day since the needles had started. Or at least what I was guessing were days. I knew what they wanted. The aching tightened in my throat, and angry tears welled up in my eyes when Stephan stepped down the stairs. Not again.

“Get away from me,” I said through clenched teeth, clinging to the darkest places of the room. The shadows only hid me for so long. Fighting back wasn’t an option. Not with Stephan locking up my bones and muscles until I was no more than a statue, trapped inside myself.

In the kitchen I was forced to relive my worst nightmare. The same people, the same chair, the same needle. I closed my eyes, my only defense, the only part of me that could move.
It’s okay, baby girl
, I repeated over and over, like the words would brace me for what was to come.

“I don’t suppose you’ve heard,” Christoph said as he knelt down in front of me with the syringe. “It’s getting quite chaotic out there in the real world.” My frantic eyes opened and watched as he lifted my shirt exposing my pregnant stomach. My chest heaved in and out with anxiety I couldn’t control. “If our people don’t start behaving themselves, the humans are going to retaliate, and what a pity that would be. Don’t you agree? No doubt we’d have to eradicate that kind of an enemy.” He pressed the needle in slowly, and I winced though my body remained still. I watched my stomach move as she twisted inside me. “And what better way to fight an enemy than with their own kind? My mutated human army against the human race. It’s brilliant, really. All we’ll have to do is sit back and watch as they destroy themselves. They won’t even know the difference. They’ll be like clones fighting in our place.”