Chapter Thirty-Nine
Sherese
I stare at the screens in front of me and wonder for the thousandth time if Hunter was able to get the healer to safety. “Sherese.”
Ajax’s voice pulls me from my thoughts. “Let’s go.
” I avoid sighing or showing my annoyance on my face.
Rizo may have bought my innocent act, but Ajax certainly didn’t.
He’s been breathing down my neck every moment of every day since Hunter got the healer out.
I’m pretty sure he’s decided grunt work is the way to beat me down and get me to tell the truth.
Every day when I finish staring at the screens for hours, he leads me to do some obscene job somewhere in the facility.
Yesterday, it was cleaning out all the blood transportation bags.
The day before that, it was mopping every single floor in this building.
Before that, it was helping to replace several security cameras outside.
I’m just dying to see what today’s job is.
We walk past the room that houses the blood packs, and I look away.
I've only been allowed one blood pack a day. I’m not sure who’s giving the orders—if it’s Rizo or Ajax, but they’re keeping me on a tight leash.
Honestly, I'm not surprised in the least. I knew this would happen. Even if Rizo seems to “sort of” believe me, I knew there would be consequences for helping Hunter and the healer get out. But I can’t find it in myself to regret it.
The only thing I regret is that Hunter isn’t here anymore; he at least made this awful place more endurable.
I can’t believe how much I miss the wolf that drives me crazy; it shocks me, actually.
I wonder if I’ll ever see him again, get to see that annoyed light in his eyes when Ava and I push his buttons.
“Are you even listening to me?”
Ajax’s short tone draws my attention, and I realize he was saying something that I totally missed. “What?”
He scowls at me, but I don’t let it bother me.
He hates me, always has. “Linens.” I finally realize we’re standing in the large laundry room.
I eye the huge industrial-sized rolling laundry carts full of bed linens and towels.
“All these need to be washed and folded.” He disappears without a word, and I don’t bother to watch him go.
I know we have people that do this, or humans, I guess I should say, but apparently today is my day.
I’ve never really paid attention to the humans that have come and gone over the years.
At first, it was too painful a reminder of all I’d lost, and then it became too hard because I knew the fate that awaited them.
Eyeing the overflowing cart, I resist the urge to sigh and get to work.
It’s going to take me until late into the night to get all this done.
I put the first few loads into the washing machines.
I mentally thank Ava for teaching me how to do laundry.
I never learned when I was growing up, and I certainly hadn’t learned here in the facility as Rizo’s prized treasure.
I finally crash in bed a little after two.
I’m back to living in the apartment Hunter and I shared for a little bit.
I subconsciously sniff his side of the bed when I get in, but it’s been too long.
Seven days? Eight? Longer? I wasn’t sure anymore; the days all bled together in a mix of hopeless existence.
When I was living with Hunter, he drove me crazy.
And yet, I find myself missing arguing and fighting with him.
Maybe it was just that I was lonely for anyone, but it seemed like more.
I squeeze my eyes shut. Thinking that way is dangerous.
Hunter is out of my life now; the sooner I get that through my head, the better.
The next morning, I woke to somebody pounding on my door.
I groan and drag myself out of bed. I wish I had my phone, but I never got it back after they took Hunter’s and mine away.
And I have a feeling I won’t be getting one for a long, long time.
I throw on my clothes, knowing it’s Ajax at the door.
It's the same thing every day. He keeps me out late working and gets me up at the crack of dawn the next morning.
I throw open the door, not even bothering to hide my scowl.
“Good morning. Sleep well?” I would love to wipe the smirk off his face. One day.
When we walk past the blood room, I start to step inside, but he stops me. “Not now.”
“Why not?” I ask, irritated. First thing in the morning is the only time I get blood; I’m not about to skip it when it’s all I get.
“No blood until further notice.”
I laugh. I don’t mean to; it just sort of slips out. “Right.”
“Not sure what you think is so funny.”
“You are; this whole thing is. You're already cutting my blood supply. What are you going to do next? Make me go without?”
“That’s exactly it.” His eyes are cold, and I shiver at the hate there.
“You can’t be serious.”
“I am.”
“Rizo wants to do some...testing. So, you’re not getting blood for a while.”
“That’s dangerous.” I needed blood, so I didn’t lose my mind and do something that I couldn’t come back from, like go after one of the humans we kept employed here.
“You’ll be fine.”
His lack of care made me want to lash out at him, but I know it won't do any good. “You’re in here today. Hope you’re ready for the show.”
I don’t even want to know what the show is. Ajax is cruel, and whatever he’s alluding to can’t be good. The double doors open for him, and we walk inside. This area is abuzz with activity today, and I wonder what’s happening. “Ready to see what your assignment is today?”
Not really.
He doesn’t wait for a response from me. “Forty-nine.”
“Is that supposed to mean something?” I ask.
“Not yet, but it will.” He leads me over to one of the glass enclosures, and my eyes light on the forty-nine on the door.
A bad feeling starts in the pit of my stomach.
Ajax stops at the door. “Forty-nine is your responsibility today. If he hurts someone, that’s on you.
Kills someone? Also, on you. Maims someone—”
“Let me guess,” I interrupt. “It’s on me.”
“You’re so brilliant,” he says with sarcasm.
“Isn’t he just going to stay in that...state?”
He smiles coldly. “Not today. We’re running tests.”
I watch him stride away. I already know this is going to be a disaster.
I cautiously open the door to number forty-nine's room and breathe a sigh of relief when I see he’s still in that resting state.
I allow myself to actually take in the details of this guy.
He’s younger than I thought, and I hate that.
I may be looking at this guy, but I’m seeing Brandon, Ava’s brother, in my mind.
He'd been taken in by the vampires and turned into one of these killing machines. Her brother was human, though, and the only successful human turn I knew of. I hated that the vampires were doing this. They were unstoppable. I knew because I’d seen what they could do as I sat in the screen monitoring room. And now, I was stuck watching one.
My breath catches in my lungs when the guy’s eyes open suddenly.
Red eyes fix on me, and I can literally feel his anger.
I don’t know what makes them so angry and aggressive.
Maybe it’s the injustice of it all; I can understand that.
He suddenly jerks upright, and I take a step back.
“Easy,” I say in a low voice. Suddenly, he’s coming after me.
I manage to get out of the door ahead of him.
I’m not sure how good an idea it is because now, he’s out in the open.
I turn back. He’s standing still, his head cocked in a very fear-inducing way.
“Easy,” I try again. “I’m not going to hurt you; we’re just doing some tests.
” From the way he doesn’t react, I wonder if he can even hear me.
Suddenly, before I can react, he charges me, picks me up, and throws me across the room.
I fly into one of the glass enclosures, shattering the glass on one side.
I land inside the glass enclosure and cough and try to catch my breath as I brush the glass off.
I hear yelling and am back on my feet and out the door.
I notice on my way out that this room still has a body in the bed.
When I make it out of the enclosure, I look for the guy who threw me.
I grit my teeth and run across the room when I see he has two humans backed up against the wall.
I don’t know what he plans on doing to them, but I don’t intend to stick around and find out.
“Hey, Big Guy!” I shout as I run towards him.
“This way!” He turns away from the humans to face me.
“That’s good.” Knowing Ajax’s somewhere nearby, I shout, “What is he supposed to be doing?”
“Exactly what he’s doing,” Ajax calls back.
The guy picks up a cart with cleaning supplies and throws it across the room, sending pieces flying everywhere. I try to stay near him but not close enough to end up dying. When he enters the room of another guy just like him, Ajax yells at me. “Get him out of there.”
“Would it hurt you to say please?” I mutter under my breath.
I approach the guy carefully. “Come on out. You don’t want to be in here.
” He doesn’t respond, and I try again more forcefully.
“Come on out; you can’t be in here.” He turns suddenly, and I suck in a breath because his eyes aren’t red.
They flicker to maybe a brown for just a moment before they flicker back.
When they’re red, he stares down at me in rage.
He tries to hit me, and I duck out of his way.
But he turns back to the bed, and I don’t move any closer.
I watch him, wondering. “Do you know this guy?” I ask quietly.
I look down at the guy in the bed and then look back at the guy who threatened me with bodily harm and suck in a breath.
They have to be related somehow. Brothers, cousins, something.
For just a moment, I see beneath the surface of the dangerous super soldier and remember that he didn’t ask for any of this.
He's just as much a victim as any of us who have been taken by the vampires. I forget myself for a moment. “I can help you, maybe. Can you understand what I’m saying?” He turns towards me, and I don’t move away from him when those red eyes flicker to brown for a moment.
“Maybe we can help each other. I want out of here, too. And—”
Suddenly, his eyes change abruptly to red.
He moves too fast to track, picks me up, and throws me bodily out of the room.
I groan and stare up at the ceiling, but I don’t get a chance to recover because he’s on top of me a moment later.
I barely get my head out of the way before a giant hand smashes down right where I just was.
“A little help here?” I call out to Ajax.
There’s no response. I roll out from under him and jump to my feet.
But he’s on his feet a moment later as well.
I wonder at what my chances of outrunning him are.