Chapter 2 #3
“My services in exchange for my life.” The girl who had never felt guilty about a single trespass she had committed in her life looked at her old friend with uncustomary regret. “I was the one who recovered the access codes to the Judicial Sector and the Citadel.”
Brows drawn tight, Claire hissed, “How could you?”
“I didn’t know their plans for Thólos. I swear.”
Claire didn’t want to hear it. “What did you think he would do once freed?”
“He was already free…” Maryanne whispered. “How do you think I got out?”
Claire’s brows shot up. “What?”
Maryanne snorted at the small woman’s naiveté. “Sorry, bitch, but we’ve been screwed for a long time.”
“Do you know where he keeps the virus?”
Smirking, Maryanne shared a hard truth. “If I did, do you really think I’d be here, stockpiling and preparing for the end of the world?
Listen to me, Claire, they don’t know about this place.
I wiped it from the records almost a decade before I was tossed downstairs.
I have enough food, enough air scrubbers to get through almost a year.
You don’t need to follow through with your crap plan.
You can stay here with me. Should the worst happen, all we’d have to do is wait until the virus did its work. ”
Claire shook her head. “The Dome is cracked, Maryanne. You’d freeze to death as the ecosystem fails. It’s like he planned for people like you. We’re all going to die. We’re all going to die if nothing is done.”
They were both anxious, tired… just like everyone else in Thólos.
There was no point in further argument. Instead both Claire and Maryanne fell into hurried preparations.
Things needed to be built for Claire’s scheme, and technology learned.
Maryanne’s explanations, the way she could make something dangerous from nothing, reminded Claire just how out of her element she was.
Rudimentary bombs, how to override basic access panels—Maryanne was teaching her instead of just making them herself, wordlessly reminding Claire that their association would soon end and that the fumbling Omega would be on her own.
When all the tools were ready, Claire showered, scrubbing off any lingering trace of Corday’s scent.
Maryanne was in that bathroom applying lipstick as if they were planning an outing, not an attack against the tyrants holding the city.
Blinking at the mirror, Maryanne froze, jaw agape at the sight of the Omega’s naked body.
The Alpha touched without asking. “What is all of this?”
Claire didn’t need to look down to know what Maryanne found so disturbing. “The price of my freedom.”
Careful fingers traced the yellowing handprint over Claire’s throat. “And your neck?”
An incoherent noise, a mockery of speech got stuck in Claire’s mouth. “It’s nothing.”
Maryanne took her chin and turned Claire’s face to meet her own big brown eyes. She smiled, teasing. “Your feet are disgusting. You’re bleeding all over my floor.”
And the pain was a blessing, the perfect distraction. “Shepherd didn’t allow me access to shoes. I had to run in the streets barefoot.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Yes. But it doesn’t bother me and it won’t slow me down.”
Maryanne crouched to see why fresh blood was running down her old friend’s shin. “Your knee needs stitches.”
“Nothing I can do about that right now.”
“Sit down, I’ll do it.”
It was so backwards to have Maryanne Cauley be the one to tend to her; as kids it was always the other way around.
Watching the fully grown woman pull a needle and some metallic thread through her skin, feeling the pinch and burn, the world seemed so very strange.
“Whatever happened to your mom?” Claire asked.
“Who fucking knows,” Maryanne muttered as she made another tight stitch. “Probably OD’d years ago.”
Claire just hummed, distracted. “My dad died four years back. Roadway accident.”
“Your pop was always pretty cool.”
Claire had to agree. “Yeah… I’m glad he’s not here to see this.”
Maryanne rubbed her lips together as if she wanted to say something but thought better of it. Instead, she stood and gathered clothing appropriate for the mission and shoved the horrid black garb of Shepherd’s Followers towards Claire.
The Omega didn’t balk, just dressed silently while Maryanne squeezed her limber body into a matching uniform.
“You know, Claire,” Maryanne was dead serious, knotting her hair to tuck under a cap. “Underground there’s a whole ‘nother world. Those who follow Shepherd are beyond dangerous.”
“Whatever they are doesn’t matter.”
Maryanne’s voice fell flat. “What I am trying to tell you is, pair-bond or no, they have an agenda. Shepherd might just kill you.”
Claire had no illusions on that score. “I’m counting on it.”
“I could save us all this trouble and kill you right now,” the Alpha offered.
“That’s awfully sweet of you,” Claire teased, standing on tiptoe to press a peck to her friend’s ruby lips. “But I will already be dead to you after tonight. Give me what I need and you have my word.”
Maryanne tucked a loaded gun into Claire’s pocket. “Promises, promises…”
“And, Maryanne,” Claire added, forcing a playful smile. “You look like a slut in that outfit.”