19. 19 – Aiden
19 – Aiden
“ Welcome to the caucus race .”
At the words that fill the space around us – at one word in particular - my body goes cold. My head snaps toward Kayden, but he’s staring straight ahead, not looking at me. “It’ll be fine. Focus.”
But his shoulders are tense, the thick bands of muscle lifted up in a way that only happens when my twin is lying through his teeth.
A fucking race.
Swallowing, I concentrate on Red’s words. The bitch is enjoying this. I can tell by the tone of her voice. Although… there’s something off there too, something I can’t put my finger on.
Her melodic, deceptively sweet tone has us all frozen in place. “Our investors wish to select their preferred candidate for Wonderland. The caucus race will separate the strong from the weak. Identify which candidates may be at an advantage in these games… and those who may be otherwise lacking in the qualities required to succeed.”
Bitch.
I bare my teeth as if she might see, as if she might even bother to notice. But Red hasn’t truly looked in my direction for a long time.
She found me interesting enough, once. Even more so, once she realized I had a twin she could hold over my head. A twin who would do whatever the hell she wanted, whatever twisted task she asked of him, as long as it kept me out of a place like this.
She had a lot of fun testing his limits, before she became bored.
And none of it fucking mattered in the end. Both of us are here anyway, living out our final hellish hours under her gaze, part of her sadistic little set-up when we always swore we’d get away.
We swore we’d be free of her.
We should have known better.
And now—
I stare down at Kayden’s leg, as if I might be able to see the scarred, twisted skin that remains there all these years later as Red continues with her fucked-up instructions.
“The rules of the caucus race are simple enough. You run . You run, until you’re told to stop. Should you stop without being told, a penalty will need to be paid.”
Murmurs from the end of our line. I crane my head, taking in the girl. She shakes her head, an irritated look on her face as she argues with Buck and he holds his hands up, taking a step back.
Then I wrench my head back to Kayden. “Just take it slow.”
A muscle tics in his jaw. He turns to me, finally, and there’s nothing but anger in his face. And none of it’s for me, even though it fucking should be. “I’ll be fine, Aid. But you don’t stop. Not for me. Not for anything.”
“Sure.” I slide my hands into the pockets of my black trousers, tilting back on my feet. My words would be almost mocking, if they weren’t so fucking desperate. “Whatever you say. I’ll run like the damn wind, straight past you. I’ll try not to slip in the blood from the fucking bullet they put in your back. Don’t be such a self-sacrificing asshole.”
“I swear to god—,”
I take a step closer. “ You stop, I stop. So don’t you fucking stop . You understand me?”
The mask he prefers to wear slips a little. “I need you to promise me you’ll keep running.”
My hand reaches up, grips his shoulder. I squeeze it tightly. “If I promise you that, you won’t make it out. This way, you’ll keep running, you stubborn bastard.”
He’ll keep running, pushing through the pain until the old injury in his knee takes him out. And there’s fuck all either of us can do about it.
We don’t bother with goodbyes. Kayden has no patience for them and I don’t have the words to voice them, to give voice to the emotion that grips my throat with icy claws as we take our positions back on those checkered black and white squares.
Don’t leave me.
I can’t do this without you.
It tangles up in my chest, tightening and squeezing as we wait.
“Slowly,” I force out. “We don’t know how long this will last.”
Kayden only gives me a long suffering, no shit look instead of responding. It’s a familiar one, and my chest spasms again.
Red’s voice rings out. “Participants may run in any direction. No participants are permitted to run together.”
Motherf—
A gunshot rings out, and we spring from our places. The nine of us scatter in every direction, and I force myself to loop in a slow, figure of eight motion across the dirt packed ground that lets me lap back to cross paths with Kayden. He doesn’t give any indication that he’s in pain as he jogs along, even though I know that any form of running with his knee hurts like fucking hell.
I keep that movement up, losing track of the minutes as we spread out across the clearing. I get too close to the branch of one of those weird fucking trees as I crane my head to look for him, and a leaf whips across my face with a surprising sting. Lifting my fingers, I pull them away and glance down at the scarlet smear on my fingers.
For fucks’ sake. Even the damn trees want to kill us.
I keep Kayden in my sights, my head twisting and turning to keep him in view as we duck and weave around each other. His teeth are clenched, beads of sweat lining his forehead, but he keeps going, keeps running.
I—
I collide with someone, throwing my hands out instinctively.
Shit.
It’s the damn girl.
I’m not looking where I’m going and she bounces off my chest, my hands hitting her shoulders, and I watch with horror as she hits the ground.
A shout comes from across the clearing. Someone bellows, the word full of terror. Terror that I recognise only too well, with the other half of my own soul trapped here with me.
“ Alyss !”
No, no —
But the sprawling movement turns into an almost shockingly graceful roll as she skids across the ground. The girl pulls herself up and back onto her feet without missing a beat, not stopping before she’s up again. Her eyes dart to mine as she runs past me, and I blow out a breath.
I loop around, turning back to Kayden.
My twin is starting to flag. His steps are a little heavier now, a little more weighted on the one side. And his face – it’s twisted, the pain he works hard at hiding on full fucking display for anyone to see. Additional entertainment for the fuckers watching us, waiting for him to go down.
They’ll be betting on it, on how long it takes.
I’ve seen the investors up close, been part of their company with a charming smile on my face as they pawed over me and stole wary glances at my brother when he was fighting at Red’s demand.
I have no doubt that one of them asked for us. Wanted to see us in here. Either me, or Kayden, no matter what excuses Red bothered to mutter about his anger issues.
Someone wanted to see us fall.
To see Kayden fall, and now it’s happening right in front of me, and I can’t do anything to stop it without getting us both killed.
He catches my eye, shakes his head.
Kayden slows.
“Don’t fucking stop!” I roar at him, uncaring of the audience. Faces turn in our direction as I change my path, cutting as close to him as I can without Red accusing us of running together.
“ Change direction .” The saccharine sweet words take a moment to register, to slam into my chest like a knife. “ Turn and run the opposite way . Family members are not permitted to be within ten feet of each other.”
My eyes lock with Kaydens. And there’s something there – something swimming in those eyes that have always been a mirror to my own.
Something that looks a little too much like a fucking goodbye.
I almost stumble as he turns his back on me. As he moves away, slower and slower - but away from me.
And I scream for him then. I scream for him in a way that I haven’t since I was a child. “ Kayden !”
And I don’t turn around.
I run straight for my brother.