Darling Diana (Blackstem Universe #1)
Chapter 1
DIANA
My nipples are going to cut through my shirt at this rate.
Is it too much to ask to live on a beach? To be where the snow would never have the audacity to fall?
The bitter air continues to chill me from the inside out.
It’s not even winter yet! Just the usual cold, late fall, and my body is terrible at warming up.
Probably the suppressants messing with my hormones, honestly.
And I mean, it’s not like I hate the winter.
Sure, the snow can be pretty, and I love a good fire, but these days of brutal cold for no reason? Just drab, dark bark and gray skies?
Completely pointless.
Except for tea. I do love a cup of warm tea in this weather. Coffee is even better if we’re lucky.
Wispy puffs of air sit between me and a body that’s spiked from the asshole through the mouth, picked clean by carrions, the cooler weather preserving it like a stick of jerky left outside.
‘Learn the rules fast, or be left as roadkill.’
That’s painted on a sign above the body.
I wonder if this person liked coffee before they died. Did they deserve what happened to them? Were they a random corpse someone used to make a point?
God, I’m not ready to deal with the people who spiked Jerky Man. No, I’d much rather return to my perfect little bubble, where I’m of use for my knowledge as a nurse.
“We’re really just walking into New Bunker?
” I ask, staring at the hand-painted sign gently swaying on an old, splintered electrical pole.
I re-shoulder my canvas satchel, the tips of my fingers cold, feeling so out of place being on a reconnaissance mission.
We’re nurses, for shit’s sake. Healers. We mend people, not kill them.
“That’s what they usually do,” Selene mutters, scratching her nose before rubbing the tip like something bothers it, leaving the skin a little more pink than before. “I mean, to get more than the normal rations. We gotta go in ourselves.”
I throw out a hand—the one that’s still on the strap of my bag—splaying my fingers out like I’m trying to flag down the sanity within her.
“People die all the time in there, Selene. They’ll know we aren’t like them, even if we’re dressed like it.
I can just ration my pills if I need to.
I mean, look at this person! Or what’s left of him.
This is insane.” My shoulders rise as my body shivers. “And it’s so freaking cold.”
I take in her bundled outfit; tattered, dirty. Her jacket is more worn than mine, stained with grease we got from the kitchens. We’ve tussled our hair and smeared dirt on our faces, our nails lined with the same grit, our gloves missing a few fingers that we cut off.
Selene tilts her head in my direction, her brown hair pulled back as much as possible in a pitiful excuse for a ponytail, hiding it underneath that knitted wool hat she loves.
“It’ll be alright, Diana. You’re always cold.
And as long as we don’t talk to anyone, who is really going to know?
People who live here don’t give a shit about each other.
They’re either surviving or don’t trust anyone.
So it’s not like they’ll want to talk to us.
” With a sigh, she gives the same shake I did, as if to admit I’m at least right about the weather.
“It’s for more than you, too. It’s for Maggie, the other omegas, and the other omegas who stay with us longer than they’re ‘supposed’ to.
” She looks at the dead man spiked in front of us.
“Whatever he did is probably a lot worse than anything we’ve done. People are counting on us.”
She left out the part where we literally drew straws with the others, and when I drew the smallest one, Selene immediately offered to go with me.
If she gets hurt in there, it’s basically my fault.
I swat at the air as if to break up those words so no one can hear what she just said, then stick my hand inside my coat and under my armpit to warm it up.
“Selene! Anyone could be listening! It’s already bad enough I’m in this mess, but I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you when you’re just trying to help me. ”
She looks around, ever cocky. “Hey, if any rust lickers are out here, show yourselves now!”
My mind immediately goes to the knife at my hip underneath this shirt. “Oh, don’t do that! I’m not the fighting type.”
I swear that woman is made of nothing but adrenaline.
“Girl, you’re stressing too much. I got your back here, alright?
” She places a hand on my shoulder. “The trains always get slow during the winter, and it’s right around the corner.
You like fighting for the little guy, even if you say you’re not a fighter, so I’m reminding you for those who will show up frozen on our doorstep.
Also, with that asshole Dogma watching us like a hawk at the Enclave, we all need to be ready to spread out fast and get the hell out of there.
That includes getting these tiny little pills.
” She sighs like she’s getting tired of giving a speech.
“What I’m trying to say is, we have no choice. ”
“I–” I glance back at the frozen, decomposing body, the one the wind blows around but doesn’t budge.
I’m still disturbed by Dogma’s appearance, who’s one of Judge’s enforcers.
Dominion isn’t officially at our refurbished hospital doorstep, but they’re already surveying us.
Sniffing us out like hounds sent to gather intel before the armada arrives.
Which is probably because the first frost happened a week ago, and once winter kicks in, the roads are terribly unreliable.
I sigh. “I mean, you’re not wrong. Alright, fine.
I’m just being a chicken shit, I guess.”
Selene grins. “That’s my girl. Once we get them, we can talk about our dream of maybe getting out of here,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows. “But we need those suppressants to make it on the other side.”
Everyone’s got to have dreams. The ones that sound attainable, until you’re reminded of the actual cost. Well, we’re about to see if we have to pay more than we’re expecting to or not.
Selene struts forward, passing underneath the sign.
There’s a fresh-looking lightbulb in the lantern; just another indicator we’re close to civilization.
One of the largest impacts with the bloom wiping out a significant portion of the population simply came down to logistics.
Acquiring materials, fueling the plants that break down and mold said materials, and then delivering them was hit the hardest. Who in the hell is showing up to work when their entire family has died?
Without maintenance, everything turned south. Technology went offline without power.
It’s clear that humans miss their creature comforts, though, because it’s only been about eighty years and we’ve already reclaimed quite a lot. There are even ships that help with international exchanges, although that’s still quite a rarity.
New Bunker is becoming one of the many examples that humans will find a way.
When it’s clear Selene isn’t turning around, the covered head of hers gets smaller in my view, and I rush forward to minimize the distance between us.
This is what we get. The foothills of Northern Appalachia are recovering more and more of the world we lost, and now we’re being scouted out like we’re worth something.
Dominion will want to officially incorporate the Enclave, I’m sure of it.
Demand we owe them for being in their territory.
Hell, maybe even for just existing near their turf.
Dogma’s presence tells us it’s only a matter of time.
And now we’re forced to find extra supplies of suppressants because omegas have been on the run. We never turn one away if they come to us.
Some even become nurses like me.
Territories are everything in this world. I bet Dominion will offer to aid us through the winter, forcing our hand into owing them. How could we deny it when it means keeping people alive?
That’s how they’ll take over the Enclave, even if we’re supposed to be a neutral territory.
It’s how biker gangs operate. Like the men who rode horses in the Wild West, these assholes ride on two wheels.
During these cold months, they use refurbished vehicles that are painted and redesigned to fit their wild, brutal aesthetic.
And they’re rumored to be sniffing out New Bunker, too…
If there’s one thing Dominion loves more than expanding their territory, it’s unmated omegas like myself. Like we’re a fucking currency for them.
Which means if they catch me, my ass will be cooked.