Chapter 6 Emery #2
Kate assesses my face, then chuckles again. She covers her mouth as she says, “You guys go do something else, we’ll be fine here without you.”
Gage and Thomas look excited to get out of here. Kayden pouts but his stomach grumbles.
“Go get lunch, I’m fine. I don’t need to be babysat,” I grumble. It’s already past 2:00 p.m. now, I forgot how long tattoos can take. Larger ones like half sleeves can even take up to a full working day.
Thomas waves dismissively as he walks toward the cafeteria.
“Don’t wander around. Come straight to us when you’re done, got it?
” He taps the back of his neck to remind me that I have a tracker that can kill me if I try to run away.
That’s one of the first things they made sure I knew.
Although, I have no idea where they think I could possibly run off to.
I don’t even remember my own parents, let alone where I once lived.
I nod. “Yeah, yeah. I know.”
Thomas tells her to charge the bill to Lieutenant Erik, and she hums her acknowledgment. The three of them leave, but Mori remains with his arms firmly crossed.
Oh great.
“You too.” I approach him and attempt to push him out. He’s like a brick wall and doesn’t budge a muscle. The effort steals a small gasp from me. My eyes flick up to his. They’re steely and unconvinced.
“I’m perfectly fine staying right here.” His voice is cold and strict.
Kate glowers at him. “She doesn’t want you to see her body, dimwit. Get the fuck out!” she shouts and tosses one of her notebooks at him.
That gets him moving. He catches her art journal and glances down at me, a flash of annoyance drifting over his eyes.
Did he want to see me? My core warms and I quickly look away so he won’t see the blush forming over my cheeks.
“Fine. Don’t wander around up here, though. Got it?” He waits for me to nod before he reluctantly leaves.
I let out a long breath of relief and shrug out of my hoodie. I lie down flat on the chair, the leather is chilled, making goosebumps form across my arms. I wait for the needle to pierce my skin. She rubs cold wipes down my spine, alcohol I assume by the scent.
“So what’s with the line down your spine? It’s different than what I usually get for a request.” Her voice is warm and so are her hands as she preps my skin.
“I keep seeing this image in my head of cutting someone down their nape all the way to their tailbone and peeling back the skin until their vertebrae is exposed. It’s almost like I’ve seen it a hundred times.
The rawness of their bones.” I pause and so do her hands as she steadies the needle on my spine.
“That’s why. I just sort of like the idea that we aren’t only what is apparent on the outside.
Beneath, we are more, waiting to grow maybe. ”
She shudders. “That’s awfully chilling, my dear.”
I chuckle. She’s obviously not aware of what the Dark Forces are or how wicked the people who make up the squads can be, so I don’t expect her to understand. But whatever this vision is, I’m certain it’s a part of my past. A dark longing to see beneath the facades of others.
“Metaphorically of course,” I add so she doesn’t get too concerned about my mental state.
Kate grunts. “You and Mori are definitely the dark, depraved poets of the group, aren’t you?” That only makes me wonder what awful things in his head he’s shared with her.
The buzz of the needle starts and she moves along my spine. It almost tickles. With the pain taken away, it feels like someone is drawing on you with a ballpoint pen.
“Are you close with your squad? They seem to care about your well-being, especially Mori.” Her voice has a tone that suggests he and I have a romantic relationship.
“Not really. I’ve only known them for a month.” I’ve only known anyone for a month.
She hums in thought before commenting, “Even Mori? I’ve never seen him watch anyone as closely as he does you. He even seemed a little different today.”
Does she know them well? I wonder if Gage has spilled the secret of the Dark Forces to her. For her sake, I hope not. I don’t know what happens to people who get the classified information, and I’m not interested in finding out.
“Different how?” I press, hoping she’ll indulge me.
She giggles with amusement. “He’s never bothered to look up from those books he always brings with him.
Even when his old squad mates would speak to him, they rarely got more than a grumble for an answer.
He didn’t bring his book in today, which is a first, and the way he looked and spoke to you was…
let’s go with curious.” I can hear the smile in her tone.
I take a deep breath and try not to let her words get to my head. Maybe he doesn’t hate me as much as I thought he did.
Kate finishes in less than thirty minutes. She presses the SecondSkin bandage over the strip of ink and shoos me away just as her next soldier is peeking their head in for the next appointment.
“Thanks, Kate,” I say over my shoulder, dipping past the soldier.
“See you later, tell the guys that they better take care of you!” she says louder than I’d like.
I nod and hurry out. The base is busy today. Men and women in all uniforms are walking with purpose, needing to be somewhere and trying to get there as quickly as they can.
My eyes flick to the opposite end of the room. A sign above wide-set doors reads: Cafeteria. There’s no trouble in exploring a little bit up here. The session was shorter than I anticipated, and they’ll think I still have another thirty minutes to an hour in the chair.
I walk toward the base doors leading outside and watch as the afternoon drills and obstacle trainings are underway. This fort has wide access to the beachfront, and it’s easy to see all the coast guard and SEAL teams swimming against currents and going through what looks like “Hell Week.”
A bench under a large oak tree oversees the beach below.
I make my way over and plop down on it. It’s strange to watch the world go on when you don’t exist in it.
I’m growing tired of waiting for Mori to open up to me more.
There must be files on who we are and what we’ve done, right?
How could there not be? There must be one for me, detailing my past and things that happened in the Under Trials.
Likely, they’d be in Lieutenant Erik’s office or maybe Nolan’s.
The thought of intruding in their spaces for information is crazy. I resign the idea before even trying, they’d kill me by morning. But if they all know who I am…why keep it a secret from me? My stomach twists with discomfort and something wet trickles on the back of my hand.
I glance down and see a drop of blood.
Another bloody nose. I quickly swipe beneath my nose with my sleeve as a few soldiers approach me.
The blood drains from my face as I recognize them as the men from a few days ago who had an issue with my pink hair.
I’m standing before I fully process that they’re targeting me again.
“Look who it is, guys. She doesn’t have her guard dogs around this time,” the tall one whose name patch across his chest reads “Rogers” says wickedly.
His short friend, Ollie according to his patch, laughs. “Pink, anything you can do besides look pretty?” They stare at me like I’m worthless. A distinct eagerness to cause me grief flickers across their eyes.
I decide to bite back my anger and not engage with them. It’s not worth what Erik would do if he found out I picked a fight with two upstairs soldiers.
“Nope, I guess not,” I mumble as I shoulder past them, heading toward the doors to get back inside.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Ollie snaps at me. He grips one of my braids and yanks my head back. A strange sensation blooms over my scalp and the force he used to pull me back sends my body to the ground.
My palms feel warm and wet against the gravel.
The lack of pain is a godsend because I can’t tell where I’m bleeding.
Nothing essential is broken because I can still stand.
I shove myself back up to my feet and see the disappointment in their eyes that I’m not crying. Were they really expecting me to?
“Fuck you.” I spit at them. Rogers’s cheeks get so red I think he’s going to implode.
“You fucking bitch.” He swings at me. I jerk back in time and run toward a gap between the buildings.
They chase after me, shouting curses and threats. This part of the base is fairly empty at this time of day I’m guessing because the only people around are down at the beach training. Not that I’d expect any of them to actually help me, though.
I take the corner sharply and swallow hard when I see that the buildings connect in the center with a brick wall. There are no windows or doors.
It’s a dead end.