Chapter 35
You failed me
They don’t drag me for long. I think they’re afraid I’ll get o dangerously injured and might actually expire before the allotted time. Instead, I’m yanked off the street, handed to a silent and giant baron who sneers at me. He carries me easily, as if I weigh nothing.
I don’t struggle. I’m not sure I can. Between my injuries and the memory loop I’m stuck in, my body isn’t reacting.
I blink hard when something hits my chest, startled. The heat grows, burrowing into me, morphing from uncomfortable to agony in seconds. It feels like white fire, like something inside me is breaking.
I scream and arch my back, clawing at my chest. Birds explode into the night, but the Fang roars his rage, an accompaniment to my shrieks.
“What did you do?” he bellows.
I’m dropped to the ground where I writhe, struggling and pulling at my naked chest. I curl into a ball, sobbing as it starts to ease.
The Beta’s Fang slaps him hard, then lands several more vicious blows on him. He steps back, smoothing back his hair like he’s trying to calm down. I squint at them, trying to keep out of their way. I’m covered in sweat, but even from here, I can see the gold knife he holds out.
“Eat it.”
The baron’s eyes widen behind the mask. The words seem to echo around us. I hold still, hoping he forgets about me while he’s using that tone of voice.
“But, my Lord Fang, I—”
“Open your mouth and swallow this knife!” he roars.
In morbid horror, I watch the baron stumble forward; his whole body shakes. He looks up at his superior and then opens his mouth. It’s tentative, terrified. His mouth stretches open as he inches forward until he’s swallowed a third of the blade.
“You’re taking too long,” the Beta’s Fang snarls. He grabs the beta’s hair with his free hand and yanks him down on the blade.
Blood, thick, dark, and red, pours out of the beta’s mouth. He cries out, convulsing, and then falls to the ground right beside me. I stare at the pool of blood as his heels drum on the ground.
The Beta’s Fang just sighs with happiness and, before I can think, reaches out, grabs my hair, and pulls me to my feet. I moan but grit my teeth on the sound.
“You! Carry her, and if anything happens to her, you’ll be eating my blade next.”
I’m picked up and held securely but with more caution. A part of me stirs with pity for the fallen beta. He didn’t do anything.
I don’t know what happened to me, but I do know it wasn’t his fault.
I wonder how many of my people he killed, and I squash that tiny part of humanity and hope it dies. I have no sympathy for the Beta’s Path.
They carry me swiftly through to a part of the city with one-story buildings, lots of open space, and huge intersections of multi-lane roads. The place they bring us to is a series of massive factories with huge fenced areas around it. Very much like the citadel, I think in unhappy realisation.
A part of me was hoping I’d be rescued. But it would be impossible here. Hard to get into and even harder to escape from, especially considering that all around the outside are tents with drums of fire. I wonder if anyone has escaped them.
Do I want to?
Yes, I know Jarek is gone, but I want to die on my terms in a place of my choosing. Not like this, not surrounded by them.
Betas in black robes gather as we walk in. Drawn by my white hair and the realisation that Kaida Keres has finally been caught again. They call out, swearing and laughing, but I block it all out.
Two massive sliding doors peel open, revealing a dark pit of shadow and blood in front of me. I can’t see anything, but I can hear what sounds like hundreds of people crying, screaming, shouting.
I look up, blinking as we walk into the darkness, and then I hear the sliding of metal. When I glance back, the doors are slammed shut. It takes long moments for my eyesight to adjust, and I wish, I wish to all the gods there ever were that they didn’t.
The screams and cries of the people in here didn’t even come close to what I’d imagined.
There’s an omega tied to a stake in a pit that is clearly meant for fire. The blackened area is thick with soot and char. She’s got broken legs, and I can see the glistening white of her femur pointing towards the sky. She’s given up, but I think I would have too.
I whip my head around and find three more alphas on their knees. As I watch, a beta brings a cleaver down and lops off one of his fingers.
Behind them is a pile of bodies, though I see one handless alpha struggling to dig out from under the others.
I’m breathing fast, struggling to stay in one piece and keep my mind from shattering into a million little pieces. I’m thrown to the ground, and when I look up, I see cages of omegas and alphas. They surge towards me, gripping the bars.
“It’s her.”
“Kaida Keres.”
“The only one who escaped.”
I can’t look at them. How do I tell them their hope is misplaced? I can’t save them anymore than I can save myself.
I’m spun around and shoved onto my back on a table. I fight, but three pledges grab my hands and feet, yanking them out and locking me in shackles.
“You failed me.”
The voice is cold and harsh, and I’ve heard it from a dozen people or more over the years. I turn and see the Beta’s Voice as she stares down at a kneeling Warden. He doesn’t lift his head or look at her, just stares straight ahead at a spot past me.
“Teach him a lesson.”
He’s dragged over and tied up beside me, but he’s on his knees, arms stretched out at his side, facing me. His expression never changes; the blank stare is a perfect mask.
I watch him, refusing to look away, but my mind is racing.
They bring out the bull whip that has pieces of metal woven into it and give it to a pledge.
“Teach the Warden his lesson.”
The pledge swallows hard but gleefully like the thought of causing someone so much pain is such a turn-on he can’t contain himself. Will this little bastard get hard over it? Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen it.
He brings the whip down on the Warden’s naked back and, for the first time, he blinks, and our gazes collide.
My breath hitches, but I don’t look away.
He’s evil; he has done so much evil in this world. I will hate him forever.
But a part of me will love him, too.
I can’t just see the killer when I look at him, I see the boy who was my best friend, who sat at our table and cleaned my wounds.
The friend who taught me how to read, write, fight, and dance.
I was never in love with him, and he was never in love with me.
But he was…my brother essentially in all but blood. He was family.
Until the day he wasn’t.
How could he do it?
I still don’t understand, all these years later.
The whip is handed to another pledge. Walker’s unable to hold his body up; he’s sweating and weak; his red, red blood is falling steadily in thick, wet drops to the dirty concrete below him.
The Beta’s Voice walks between us and grips his chin, yanking his head up. “Will you make that mistake again?”
“No.”
“When I tell you to kill someone, you will do it.”
“Yes, Goddess.”
“I knew you would be weak, so I had the arrows dipped in poison. So your attempt to save her failed.”
Walker, no, Warden, doesn’t make a sound, but I know him well enough to see the twitch of his cheek and know he’s not happy.
“It won’t happen again,” he says softly.
“Make sure it doesn’t, Warden, or I’m going to send a hunting party for all the people I missed.”
With that, she lets him go and turns to me. “Kaida Keres, it’s such a pleasure to have you here with us. I have been assured that Daryl,” she puts an arm out to the Beta’s Fang, “will take the absolute best care of you and make sure your stay is a long and satisfying one, for us, that is.”
The High King appears, sweeping his long black robe out, his golden mask shining with their firelight. He walks into the center of the space in front of me.
“The Beta Goddess is always watching!” he booms. “She knows your hearts; she wants to see you succeed. Her plan to rid the world of the corrupt alphas and omegas is in its final phase! We are winning!”
A cheer explodes from the betas around us, rising in volume until they are chanting ‘Beta’.
“We are in the Culling Grounds!” the High King screams. “We are here doing our Goddess’s work.
Driving them out of their holes, killing them to make the world better!
The Ravage Virus will never exist in the world again!
The Ravage Wolf that the Goddess harnessed will die!
We will live in an era of prosperity and peace.
Safe from the heinous infiltration of omega and alpha corruption!
” He raises his hands, and they all scream.
I notice female betas in black robes. There aren’t many; most of them attend the goddess or do the cooking. They are quieter, but their eyes gleam.
I wonder if any of them wanted this life.
“Prepare yourselves because tomorrow we hunt!” he roars.
They roar back at him, screaming and cheering, desperate to spill our blood. The Beta’s Voice stands to the side, smiling at the crowd. The skin on her cheek suddenly splits open, and blood pours down the side of her face.
“Make me proud!” she says.
Three words, and the whole damn cult erupts.
She looks back at us, me or the Warden, I’m not sure, and smirks.
With that, she walks away, swishing her hips and humming happily.
Her arm jerks out and back again. Her body shivers in erratic and creepy movements, but she doesn’t notice.
I glare at her back, furious. The Beta Goddess is the most evil creature that ever lived.
A moment later, the goddess leaves the body, and she drops to the ground looking visibly drained and sick.
She’s picked up by a massive black-robed beta, and her head is twisted.
She’s thrown on the dead body pile, discarded so easily.
I look away, swallowing hard. The High King tosses back his head, laughing as he walks away.
What did I just witness? Disposable bodies? I had no idea. A cage of quiet girls standing with dulled eyes suddenly makes so much sense. One of the girls runs into the cage and knocks herself out.
“Snow, you aren’t paying any attention to me. I’m hurt.”
I flinch, my eyes darting back and finding him standing beside me, blocking my view of Walker.
“There you are. I was wondering if there was someone here who had a claim to your attention.”
He leans over me, dragging a finger down the side of my face, then my throat before he drags it down and circles my nipple. I wait for the pain, but it doesn’t come.
“I’ll see you soon, my omega.”
He walks away, and I turn my head, meeting Walker’s stare again. There is so much between us now, hate, betrayal, a thousand questions, and still, I hate seeing him in so much pain.
“You should have run,” he says in a harsh whisper.
“You should have kept going,” I whisper back.
It’s all we say.
The night continues, and people die. I stare at the rusted ceiling and listen to the pleas.
“Keres, help us.”
“You escaped, you can do it again.”
“Take me with you.”
“I have children.”
They talk to me on and on, begging me for a miracle that I don’t have.
I turn my head and find Walker staring at me. His lips twist, bringing back memories and, sure enough, his mouth starts the silent countdown I have seen a hundred times.
Three.
Two.
One.
I tense, waiting, and then something truly unexpected happens.
The alphas and omegas kneel, all that can.
The ones who are standing bow their heads or close their eyes.
Their mouths move, whispering. No, praying.
I don’t close my eyes, and I don’t pray.
I’m not sure who I would pray to, but I watch the unity, the organised hope.
They can’t do anything else here but pray and die.
So, they do.