Chapter 23
The Beginning of the End
Griffin
Over Five Years Ago – Violencia
“Are you sure we can trust her?” Oleks spoke from behind Griffin.
They stood in the woods on the edge of a Facility. The Facility Anadil, Harold, and Sharon all resided. Anadil had reached out to Griffin earlier. Told him it was time, that she needed his help.
He hadn’t wanted to come here, but he was curious, he knew she had something planned.
Something big.
“No,” Griffin admitted. “But this feels important. The other men are posted up around too.”
“You don’t even know what she’s up to,” Oleks argued, leaning against a tree, his leg kicking back against it.
Griffin recognized the move. Oleks was weak, but he was trying to mask it. “You overdid it again, you need to take a break. I’m going to investigate what’s going on. Stay here and keep watch, I will call you if I need back up.”
Except Griffin didn’t have any plans to call Oleks. The man needed to rest, to allow his body to recover.
He stepped forward, offering Oleks a shoulder squeeze and examining his body for noticeable injuries.
He worried about him. Oleks had quickly become his closest ally, his best friend, his most trusted confidant.
His family. “There’s a truck on the other side, take it if you need to get out of here.
I have a feeling…I…” How exactly could he say that Anadil scared the fucking shit out of him?
Even though she was also someone who might just be able to propel Violencia forward.
Too intelligent. Too broken. Too angry.
Griffin spun away, keeping his head down as he hurried toward the Facility’s secret entrance that would lead him inside its walls.
Walking brusquely, he passed several other members of the Factions as he continued his trek through the walls, the tattoo on him was enough to buy his passage, but many of the inhabitants would recognize him too.
While he hadn’t shown his face at the Facility too often he had gone to many of the Faction meetings. Listened to their plights.
He made it to the same room as before and found Anadil in it. She was staring down at the desk again, another paper in her hand.
She didn’t look up when Griffin approached, simply setting the paper down.
“Today is the day.” Her eyes flashed upwards, blank and empty.
Voids. Soulless.
The sight caused Griffin to step back, terror and anxiety piercing him. “What are your plans?”
Anadil’s lips quirked as she pulled something from her back pocket and threw it at Griffin.
A mask.
“Put it on. The pregnant woman will need to be rescued soon. Wait here until it’s time. But I suggest not dallying too long.”
Anadil didn’t pause for a response, storming from the room.
Griffin thought to follow her, but his attention zeroed in on the desk instead. On the paper.
To the bird sketched on the front.
Pulled by some invisible force, he walked to it, his hand grabbing the sheet and flipping it over.
Our daughter’s name will be Sparrow.
That was the only line there, the handwriting barely legible. He wasn’t sure what kept the piece of paper in his hand, what drew him to it, but now his mind begged him to read the rest, and he restrained himself.
A mother.
Even here they were beginning to become more and more scarce. Violencia hadn’t noticed yet, but the men from his countries had. They kept eyes on the pregnant, typically funneling them to unspeakable places. Or simply taking them as their own to use and attempt to make their own procreations with.
The device in his pocket buzzed, causing Griffin to startle. He withdrew it, and his heart chilled as it came to life. As it lit up and a video was forced onto it. As he watched the scene play out.
Anadil was on a stage.
“As many of you know”—Anadil’s voice echoed through the speaker of the device in his hand—this Facility is a cesspool of evil. We are stripped of our identities. Beaten as children, raped as teenagers, and forced into slavery as adults. We have existed like this for too long.”
There were booms of applause that came through the device as Griffin’s heart beat into his throat.
What is this?
“We have come here today, together, to show the country that they are not alone. That they can join us. That we will stop at nothing to overthrow this tyranny.” Anadil yanked a hooded person from behind, pulling them into full view of the camera and pushed them forward until her foot was placed on their back.
Griffin winced as the hooded person was lifted up by the back of their shirt and Anadil ripped off the hood.
To reveal a woman who could be her twin.
Anadil had said this was her sister’s hideout. That the woman who needed saving looked like her.
The woman who was pregnant.
With a daughter named Sparrow.
The woman’s wide blue eyes were glassy, heartbreaking. There was a certain amount of confusion and pain that sent jabs of discomfort deep into Griffin’s being.
He didn’t want to watch this.
“Shocked to see my dear sister up here? You may think her an innocent in this, but she’s not. She is compliant. She has accepted the hostilities of this Government, of the actions of the Facility, and has done nothing to change their ways.”
Griffin clicked off the screen, but it wouldn’t silence the video. He listened to it play as he called Oleks.
“Listen to her heartbeat,” Anadil stated, and a distinct Thump Thump pounded through the speakers.
“Boss?” Oleks’s voice was foggy, distant, it was clear the video playing in the background had been forced there, that it was messing with their devices.
“Save the girl on the video! Tell the others! We must protect her at all costs!” He was sprinting out of the room now, back through the walls towards the exit. He recognized where Anadil was. It was just outside the back of the Facility. He resolved to make it there too, just in case.
“Boss? What do you—” The call disconnected, the screen flashing back to the video in Griffin’s hands.
“Kill them,” echoed out of the device, but he didn’t look down. He was moving as quickly as he could, sprinting through the now empty walls.
“I want this to be a reminder that there are no innocents when it comes to tyranny. Bystanders are just as guilty as the transgressors. Even the cherished are not safe!” came through the speaker.
This time Griffin had to look down, he was at the outside door, his hand on it, but he came to a complete stop, staring in confusion.
This message is directed at the Sacred Trinity.
Griffin did not immediately see the knife, but then it glinted on the screen.
What is she doing?
Anadil leaned forward, whispering into the woman’s ear as she plunged the knife into her stomach, deep and then twisted.
A moment later, the Thump Thump of her heart no longer filled the space.
What the fuck is going on?
But Griffin didn’t have time to process it before a bomb propelled him outwards and through the partially opened door.
The Cherished woman’s face flashed through his mind as the world exploded.
Griffin blinked blearily, his head pounded and his body ached. He couldn’t move, his blood pounded loudly in his ears. Screaming, shouting, hysterical sobbing faded in and out.
“There you are.” Anadil tsked as she came into view. She leaned down, lifting the door off of him, but didn’t help otherwise. “Did you relay the message to your men? Will she be kept safe?”
“Yes,” Griffin croaked, smoke choking him. “What have you done?!"
His vision cycled and swirled.
“Anadil?!” The voice was familiar but distant. It came from further away, from outside the facility.
“Fuck. Stay there Griffin, you cannot let him see you here. Do not speak.” The heavy weight of the door was placed on him again, but he didn’t struggle even as she covered his head and partially blocked his blurry vision.
Anadil turned, her heels just above Griffin as he attempted to understand anything that was happening.
“Sweetheart, I missed you. I thought you were going to ask for help. I didn’t think you were going to blow everything up.
” The voice approached, and it clicked to Griffin exactly who this was.
“And then you didn’t even get it right. She is a Sacred Cherished.
That was the only way the Sacred Trinity would act.
Now we’ll have to move on with the other plan. ”
Griffin didn’t look up. Didn’t attempt to confirm what he knew. He understood why he needed to remain still.
Is this how that woman felt when Anadil stabbed her? When her own sister betrayed her? Are we two kindred souls, our strings being plucked and pulled by other forces?
“Drago! I told you, I had it handled. The Creators were inside, they are dead now. Harold and Sharon will take their place as you requested. This will work better, I promise.” Anadil moved away, her feet crunching on the ground as she did so. “My sister is still alive, just as we discussed.”
Griffin focused on the sound, on her voice. The screams faded into the background, the sobbing, the crying.
“And Griffin?”
“Your brother will rescue Raven, she will come into the game when the time is right and there will be no link to tie you to it.” Anadil’s voice pitched. “We need to leave soon, we cannot be found here. I imagine there are still survivors.”
Raven.
The name circulated.
Her sister’s name is Raven.
A chord struck deep within his heart, ringing with the name. Each note swelling louder, cascading like a symphony he couldn’t escape.
“Sweetheart, you will make the perfect queen, but for now, you must remain with Harold and Sharon. Keep an eye on them. There’s much more to come if we have any hope of rescuing Violencia.
I will return when I can.” There was the unmistakable smack of lips before Griffin heard his brother’s heavier steps retreat further and further away.