Chapter 3 The Last Omegas #2
“I’m looking for my family. There’s no one left for me to save,” I say and look down the street. I can hear the ringing of voices coming this way, smell the cigar smoke in the wind, coming for us. “Run. We’re out of time. Cover your scent and get out of Beta City before you’re all sent to Foreen.”
They all shudder, their eyes widening. The terror that one word invokes is something we’ve all grown up with, all understand.
Foreen is where the alphas and omegas are sent to die, but not just die…
they are sent to suffer, to bleed for their daring to be born and to quench the Beta Goddess’ need for blood.
The girl takes a step back, pauses, and looks up at me. “What’s your name? I would pray to the omega goddesses for you, you know, in case you need it.” Her expression is wistful, pained.
It’s not safe for us to gather together. Our own kind, separated by a history of bloodshed.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to lie, but I don’t think I’m going to live many more days, and I’ll need all the prayers I can get. I stand up and move into the light so they can see me clearly.
Their gasps tell me all I need to know. My name is still infamous; too many people know me. The world is no longer a place I can hide in.
“Kaida Keres, but everyone knows me as Keres.”
Her eyes widen. I’m the infamous omega who got away, the one the Path has been hunting for years. The omega that gives hope just with a whisper of my name. If Kaida Keres can escape…there’s a chance.
“Callie Myles.”
For one moment, we are caught smiling at each other, bound by our fates and the hatred and fear the world has for us.
We’ve committed no crimes, we’ve done no wrongs, yet still, we’ll be hunted until the day our lungs cease to rise.
It’s a bond between the few omegas left in this world, and there aren’t many of us left now.
We’re an endangered designation.
“Until the omegas bless us, and we meet again.” I hold up my hand and sweep it towards my chest, my index finger and thumb forming an O over the left side of my chest, and bow to the young omega.
She repeats the gestures, and with a whisper of her clothes, she’s gone, the young alphas with her.
I look back towards the light that is now flickering at the end of the street. I can’t let them go after her. She’s not yet ruined. There are no demons in her eyes. The thick warmth of my cowl hides me again, and I take off, running towards the light, hoping to intercept them.
I get to the road just as they do, but I’ve miscalculated again.
The horse rears up, huge and black and completely unexpected.
His eyes are like pits into a devilish nightmare I don’t want to descend into.
The horse is terrifying, but it’s the rider I fear.
He’s wearing an all-black jacket, with no sign of gold on him.
He never wears a mask, but he’s almost impossible to hide anyway with that white hair that so closely resembles mine.
The Warden.
My mind trembles as we stare at each other; the weight of seven hundred years of hatred has led us here. He is a product of their world, and I am a product of mine. We stand on opposite sides of the fence. Enemies forever.
For an eternity, we’re stuck, tethered together as the world slows and freezes around us.
Memories slam up into me, unwanted, unwelcome, and bitterly sharp, cutting me with a thousand bites.
Time speeds up, and I hear the scream of his horse, the scent of its body, and the dirt that has disturbed into the air.
I throw myself sideways, racing away.
Barely a second together, and it was enough. I fear him almost more than I fear anyone else because the Warden does not give up. Once he’s on a hunt, he can’t let it go.
I’ve heard rumours that he’s been hunting me for the better part of six months now. Which would explain why no exhaustion or tricks has been able to throw them off my scent. I can hear the thunderous drumming of those hooves behind me.
I dive through a window, ignoring the pain as my hand snags on something sharp. The scent of blood fills the air, and I rip a scrap of material off my long top, wrapping my hand. I don’t know if they can track blood, but I wouldn’t put it past them.
The buildings become my advantage, while the streets that are so familiar to him are his. After a while, it becomes evident that they are driving me back towards the center of the city, where that pus-filled citadel sits waiting to swallow me whole.
No matter how I try to break free, the net closes tighter and tighter. So, I do the only thing I can. I run, and I hope that there’s a chance. I just need one.
“Kaida!”
My name on his lips brings back memories, and I slam my hand across my mouth, refusing to answer him.
I shudder, hunching deeper in my cowl and dive into a filthy corner as he passes me by.
He never hides his hair, but I have hidden mine since I presented as an omega.
The snow-white locks that name him and him alone as the Warden is also mine.
And his infamy has bolstered mine. We’re as entwined as two people can get.
We’re not related, but I curse the gods for making us so similar. My hair brings fear and distrust among my own kind. Even as an outsider, I am reviled and feared because I might be like him. They think of me as a curse.
I tuck tighter and wait as the clomp of that giant war beast disappears.
Only then do I slip out, turning back the way I came and slipping over a tall fence before anyone can see me. I press against the fence, listening for sounds of my discovery.
Waiting.
When there’s no call or shout, I turn, ready to make my escape from this city.
The garden was hidden. I take a few faltering steps, looking around with my mouth agape.
“What is this?”
I reach out, running my hand over the slippery coolness of long leaves.
There are plants I’ve never seen before, and with each unconscious step in, I uncover more unimaginable sights.
I didn’t think the world had pretty places left.
Everything is death and misery, but this garden is something else.
It’s wild and lush, the leaves gleaming in the low light, appearing silver.
I can see dancing white flowers on a bed of the softest grass I’ve ever seen.
What is this place? Why is it hidden?
The scent of something wild rises from the very earth, as if it’s soaked into the ground. It’s disturbing and alluring. Something I recognise from wild dreams I’ve long since forgotten.
My mouth waters, and I edge deeper into the garden, where I find a massive rock punching up from the ground. At the top, I can see chains flowing over the edges. As I watch, they shift slightly.
Something’s up there.
I need to know what it is. It’s not a thought, it’s a compulsion. My heart’s beating too fast, my mouth is dry, and not even an army of the black-robed Path could stop me climbing this rock.
I put a hand on the stone, stare upwards, then with a push, I drag myself up.