Darkness Fades

I glance at Maci, her eyes are still closed and she keeps moaning in her sleep.

“We should get going,” I say as Nichelle picks up her pack.

“I agree, the sooner we get there, the quicker Maci will get the help that she needs,” she says as she crawls out of the hole with her fingers hitched through her pack.

I place my hands underneath Maci’s body and pick her up in my arms. Her eyes don’t open and another moan escapes from her lips as I carry her out of the cave and into the light.

“How’s she doing?” Nichelle asks as she places a light kiss on Maci’s cheek. “She feels kind of warm. Are you sure she didn’t get bitten?”

“I’m sure,” I answer as Greyson and Aiden walk out behind us. Greyson stretches his arms above his head and yawns. Aiden has his hood over his head and his hands tucked up into his sleeves, watching me like a hawk for some reason. “I checked her over and there are only the cuts and a broken arm.”

For some reason it looks like she doesn’t believe me, however she still leads the way downhill and back to the main trail we were on the night before while the rest of us follow her. We hike down the curvy path for an hour or two until I finally see the small area that looks like a town off in the distance hidden in desert hills. There are buildings as well as paths, and I can see people moving around the border of it. I think, up until now, I wasn’t one hundred percent convinced it really exists. Yet there it is; all green in the center of a lot of brown sand and below the hazy sky, although it does seem less hazy.

As we get nearer, I notice that there are a few bits and pieces of green popping up through the ground. I find it fascinating. I haven’t seen any signs of life for a long time. At least I can’t remember seeing any, but there it is, right in front of me, so different from the town my colony is hidden underneath.

Aiden watches me while I trek up the trail with my eyes fixed on the scenery. “You know you could let me carry her for a while.” He nods his head at Maci in my arms. “I won’t bite her or anything.”

“I know you wouldn’t bite her,” I tell him, “She’s not heavy. Besides, she saved me once and I promised myself I’d do everything I could to protect her.”

His eyes soften from below his hood. “You really care for her, don’t you?”

“If caring means that I feel responsible, then yeah, I do.” I jump over a rock in the path, landing on top and then leaping down while continuing to be careful not to drop Maci.

Aiden catches up with me, flying above for a few seconds as he jumps to the ground. He lands in the dirt effortlessly then glances over at Greyson and Nichelle just in front of us. In a lowered voice, he says, “So have you mentioned what happened last night to them?” He nods his head towards Greyson and Nichelle.

“You mean how the vampires were afraid of you?” I keep my eyes on the ground as the trail rises to a slope that ascends over a hill while bending my knees and keeping my balance.

“Yeah… I’m not sure I want to tell anyone until we can figure out why or if Monarch made me this way,” he whispers, seeming uneasy.

“Don’t worry, I haven’t told them anything, but I’m pretty sure Monarch made you this way. It had to be him.”

“What makes you so sure? They may have just left because they fear you, like they usually do.”

I hesitate for a moment, deciding whether I want to share my memory with him, and finally decide that he needs to know what Monarch told me about him. “Because of a memory I had about Monarch. I remember him telling me that you were the only other one like me, except—you were broken.”

“Broken?” As his voice rises, Nichelle and Greyson glance back at us. He smiles at them as they look away puzzled then he leans in and lowers his voice. “What do you mean, broken?”

“He never told me how you were broken or why,” I answer, working to keep my steps light at I walk around a few small rocks in the way. “He just said that you were.”

“Well, that’s great,” he mutters. “I’m broken, but you don’t know how.”

“Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have told you.”

“Yeah, maybe… or maybe not… I don’t know.”

“You don’t know what?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know anything anymore. Everything’s changed—I’ve changed. And it makes figuring out what I want hard.”

I’m not sure what to say, so I turn my head and look ahead, focusing on getting to the colony. Suddenly, though, I realize that Greyson and Nichelle have stopped and I just about walk into the back of them.

I look up, ready to ask what’s wrong, but then I see Nichelle’s apologetic face. Something’s wrong, but before I can set Maci down and get my knife, a net is thrown over the top of Aiden and I. Seconds later, a needle is jabbed into the side of my neck. I let out a gasp as my arms go limp, my body falling, falling, falling. Everything begins to blur and the last thing I see are a set of pale eyes peering down at me.

A Higher.

Chapter 11

My eyes are heavy and I struggle to open them. It feels like I’m moving, although I can’t remember why. Then it all starts to come back to me in bits and pieces until suddenly I remember that I was betrayed.

I jerk my eyes open, panicking as I realize I’m lying on a cot in a room surrounded by brick walls. I slowly lift up my arms, wanting to move, but they feel like lead.

I glance around. There are no windows anywhere; only a large, metal door on the wall farthest from me and a pile of bricks in the corner, the ceiling is leaking something grimy.

Aching from head to toe, I sit up and stumble out of the cot then walk over to the door and try to pry it open.

Locked, of course.

Dammit. What is going on?

I’m pretty sure that I saw a Higher before I was sedated. But why? I know Nichelle wasn’t lying to me earlier when she told me her story about why I needed to come with her. So why do they have me locked up and where are the others being kept?

Pacing back and forth, I feel the tension inside me begin to coil, knowing I need to get out of this. I glance over at the door and center all of my strength on it, backing up and then running forward, ramming my body into it as hard as I can. Pain shoots throughout my body and the door doesn’t budge. The only visible damage is a small dent from where my shoulder connected with it.

I rub my shoulder and let out a frustrated sigh, smashing my fist into the brick wall over and over again until bits and pieces crumble. Then I stomp back over to the cot and flop onto it. Folding my arms across my chest as I silently wait to see what will come next because it feels like everything is out of my hands now. I’m supposed to save the world, yet I can’t even control what’s going on around me.