Chapter 49
It's not over between us
I stare at the temple, feeling the destruction as if it’s a personal attack. It hadn’t just been an escape but a moment of history and safety for people for many years, and it’s just gone in an instant.
“We need to get out of here,” Mordecai whispers urgently.
He grabs my wrist and tugs me away, peeking out on the street before he drags me out across the road and into the buildings on the other side.
“From now on, we don’t use the roads, we travel through buildings as much as we can. We move fast, we don’t sleep,” Mordecai says firmly.
Mordecai is freaking me out.
“Stop,” Jarek commands.
“No.”
“Mordecai, stop. Explain,” Jarek says firmly, his eyes glittering.
“This is the first step towards hunting down the last of us. They will flush us out, one way or another. We need to get out of here. How did they know about the temple?” Mordecai murmurs in frustration.
“Where could we possibly go to escape?” I ask, voicing the question everyone is thinking.
He doesn’t answer, and I know it’s because he doesn’t know. None of us know. There was only one place.
“Maybe we could get down to the river from another building?” Jarek offers.
“It’s not worth the risk. They will fan out from the temple, knowing that somehow, in all of that, we managed to escape from that point.
The Path will bring in the sniffers and try to use those alphas to lure us out.
They will go from building to building. We are vastly outnumbered now, and all their focus is on us. ”
That twinge of guilt resurfaces. I have an urge to say I’m sorry, but I know it’s not my fault.
We run quietly, and as the day turns into night, it becomes clear that Mordecai’s predictions are accurate.
We stop, crouching beneath a window, listening as a troupe of betas in black robes run past. The constant pressure to keep running but also be so hyper-aware of movement is doing bad things to my head.
I’m seeing black-robed figures everywhere.
The drums started around midday and haven’t stopped.
I’ve got a headache, but I can’t tell if it’s from stress, the drums, or how exhausted I am.
Jarek stares up, peering through a dirty window before he crouches down again.
“There’s a door almost directly opposite us. If we can get into that building, we can get off this street.”
Jarek stands up and lightly leaps through the window, watching intently while Cadel jumps through. Mordecai helps me up and through, and then we’re all running again. My legs are on fire and feel wobbly.
We make it, but every time we cross these open areas, I’m holding my breath, hoping that we don’t get caught, and the distance feels like it’s stretching out forever.
Jarek drags me into the building and closes the door behind Mordecai. He leans his head against mine, panting heavily. I wrap my arms around his back and just hold him.
“If we get separated, where do we go?” I ask. “We should have a safe place.”
“The school?” Cadel offers. “It’s a very central position; we can go anywhere from there, and I don’t think they’d expect us to go back.”
“We should head there now,” Jarek murmurs. “Get our bearings, find some food.”
“I stashed food and water in the roof when everyone was sick,” I murmur and then let go of Jarek and stagger to the side and throw up.
Their heads snap towards me.
“Kaida?” Jarek reaches for me, but I hold a hand out.
“I’m good. Just tired.”
“You stashed food when we were all sick?” Mordecai asks.
I shrug as I spit and stand up. “It seemed like a smart idea at the time. And I thought I had more time before they showed up. I didn’t know.”
“You did nothing wrong,” Mordecai soothes. “Your instincts have been almost spot on, Kaida, you need to trust yourself.”
I bury my face in Jarek’s chest, trying not to think about what happened in that school and the fact that there will be so many people we know still lying there as corpses.
At least, I hope they are there. I’ve heard some revolting rumours about what the Path do with the bodies of their enemies.
It takes us the better part of the night, but we arrive to a silence that feels heavy but not threatening.
“I’ll be back,” I say and run before they can stop me. Cadel’s curse has me smiling. I get around the school and find the two bodies still impaled. They are little more than skeletons with shreds of material hanging from their frames.
I ignore them, going up the side of the building and slipping easily into the roof.
To my relief, I find all the food and water still right where I left it.
I check just in case, looking at the seals and looking for any marks in the dust around it.
The last thing I want is for us to drink tampered water.
Everything looks clear, so I grab a backpack, shoving bottles of water in and grabbing some of the canned and packaged food. It’s ancient, but it’s food.
I slither back along the roof and, this time, go to the door to our secret room and slip down the wall there. Cadel snatches me off the bricks and drags me inside, pressing a finger to his lips.
A deep growl rumbles outside, and whatever it is passes slowly, its paws making only the slightest whisper of sound as it passes.
I tense, waiting, but it travels on. A few minutes later, Jarek and Mordecai appear, slipping inside.
Cadel shoves the door closed and walks down the stairs and into the space that we once lived in.
It’s quiet, and the lack of people makes everything heavy. None of us are talking. I think we’re all aware that any wrong sound could rain trouble down upon us.
I sit back, my head throbbing with pain.
Cadel pulls me sideways, and I lie in his lap, watching them eat and drink.
Their movements are furtive and quiet, and I try to imagine what it would be like to shout or scream with laughter.
Call their names from far away. I’m sick of hiding; I’m sick of running.
I want this to be over.
One way or another, I’m sick of living like this. Will they hang our bodies from the wall when we’re dead?
I sit up suddenly.
“The wall.”
“What?”
“There’s a part of the wall that the Resistance were going to try to escape through because it’s the only part of the wall where it’s possible to climb it from the inside.” I pat my pockets until I find the papers and pull out the map.
Jarek exhales roughly. “Feels like a trap.”
“It’s undoubtedly a trap, but it’s worth it. It’s the only way.”
Cadel stares down at the bottle in his hand, running his thumb over the engraved name of some ancient person who is long gone.
“It’s our shot, our chance. I don’t want to burn here.”
I stare at Jarek.
He laughs. “I’m in. Anywhere you go, Kaida Keres, anywhere.”
I turn to Mordecai, my heart in my throat. I half expect him to tell me it’s a terrible idea.
“It’s a good idea,” he murmurs. “If we can get close enough without being seen, then if we are fast enough, we might be able to just fly up and disappear with few to no people noticing.”
I’m excited, energized. The idea of getting out of this city sets my blood racing, tingling.
“We’ll look at it tomorrow,” Jarek says, taking the map and folding it back up.
I go to protest, but they look so exhausted that I can’t. I want to laugh and cry and make noise, but instead, I lay back down as my alpha’s fingers brush through my hair.
“In the morning, we’ll go,” Cadel says quietly.
I stare at the wall. It’s not going to work. I lick my lips and resist the urge to scream in pure frustration.
They’ve cleared the buildings and put up obstacles around it, including what looks like barbed wire fences.
“How do we get to it?” I say and count the Beta’s Path disciples wandering back and forth. “A hundred disciples, the High King, the Beta’s Claw and Fang, and if they are all here, the Warden will be around somewhere, too.”
Mordecai lets out a frustrated growl. “We can’t get through them,” he snaps, and his fingers clench the wall we’re hiding behind, making it crumble.
Cadel leans into my hair and inhales deeply. “Stay here. I need to find something.”
“What?” I half stand up, but he’s gone before I can grab him.
Jarek grabs me and drags me back down.
“The path to the left looks the most precarious; it’s steeper and looks unstable, so when we go up, we go up on the right side.”
I don’t like the tone of his voice.
“You don’t think we’re all going to make it, do you?”
He shakes his head. “I’m just planning for any outcome.”
“That’s not an outcome!” I snap at him. “It’s not an option. We all live. We all need to live.”
He grips my cheeks and holds my face still. “I’m going to try so hard to remain among the living for you, Kaida. I promise you I will do my absolute best to survive.”
“You better,” I growl.
He kisses me hard before pulling back, looking wild and more panicked than I’ve ever seen him.
“Maybe we can wait?”
“No, it’s going to have to be now; they are only going to intensify their defenses and refine the trap.”
Jarek sits there quietly, his hand on my back. I turn to say something to him, but he’s got such an expression of intense sadness that it steals my thoughts and everything but this bubble of grief that isn’t mine.
“You are beautiful,” he whispers and wraps his arms around me, hugging me tight.
“We’re going to be okay,” I say firmly. “We’re all going to make it.”
“Of course, we are.”
A howl rips through the world, calling to me, to us. I jerk hard, slamming my hand to my chest where it feels like something is moving inside me. The longer the song continues, the more aggressively it moves.
It’s stretching, pushing.
Wolf. The freaking wolf is back.
YES!
I embrace whatever is inside me, letting it flow out of me. It hurts, but only for a second, and then I’m twisting, landing on all fours.
I let out a low, menacing growl, hearing the sound of our alpha running towards us and something else behind him.
I explode out, snapping my teeth at the Ravage Wolf that is on the Anarchy Wolf’s heels.
He jumps sideways and slams into a building.
I change direction, racing to catch up with the black wolf that keeps saving me.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see the other two alphas just behind me. I chase the dark wolf who has haunted me, his fur flying, his scent leaving a trail that I would follow through the stars themselves.
He leaps over the barbed wire. I have one second to gather my strength. “The wire can be cleared,” my wolf side says. I crouch and push up, leaping high. I land heavily on the other side, but I’m already looking at the next obstacle when Mordecai and Jarek land beside me.
Cadel lets out a deep howl, which I echo.
“KILL THEM!” a woman shrieks and jerks in an unnatural way as she hurries towards us. The Beta Goddess has chosen a new puppet.
I put on more speed and jump another roll of barbed wire. The Beta’s Path rush us in their black robes, but in their eyes, I see terror. Now, they are the ones afraid. We’re wolves. They can’t stop us.
Cadel reaches the wall and leaps, his powerful claws digging in and dragging him up.
I hit the wall and follow, using my front claws to pull and my back legs to push me up.
It’s so steep and slippery, but I force myself to cling to the metal, not daring to lose concentration for even a moment.
Up and up we go, I follow the alpha. My alpha as he leads us to freedom.
He reaches the top and lets out a defiant howl. It’s deep and full of rage and madness. Arrows hit the wall but harmlessly fall off.
I climb to the top, standing poised, looking over my shoulder at the city that is already burning.
I snort and then spot something out of the corner of my eye. The metal looks strange, as if there’s a hole underneath. I walk carefully over to it and grab it with my teeth, pulling and worrying. I set my teeth around the pole and dig my back feet in, bracing myself, and then I yank and pull.
I struggle, fighting with it.
And suddenly, the wall moves, shuddering. I turn and leap away, flying down the wall to freedom as it collapses like a metal tsunami behind me.
The sound is so loud that it drowns out all other sounds, but when I look back, the wall is just a crumbled mass of metal, but it’s not a barrier anymore.
The Beta’s Voice screams her rage. The dark and menacing shape of the Ravage Wolf climbs up onto the remains of the wall and stares at us.
It’s not over between us.
But I turn and run, following my alphas. I’ve escaped the Beta’s Path three times now. I can’t help but wonder how much longer my luck will hold.