The Chosen Ones Page 3

They burned the bodies.

  To make sure there were no remains, no evidence, Kelly had explained. I said nothing as I watched the corpses fry; my throat hurt too much to speak. But even the overwhelming scent, so repulsive that I thought I might vomit, didn’t deter me from watching. Who would have thought something so beautiful could have smelled so badly?

  As ill as I felt, I stayed because I too wanted to make sure they were truly gone. I wanted them dead. Hated them with a burning passion that matched the heat of the flames before me. It was the only feeling that kept me in the here and now. Yet, seeing their perfect faces burn, the skin practically melting from their skulls, was something that would give me nightmares for years, if I lived that long, and I found I couldn’t look away from the grotesqueness of it all.

  “Well, we got to stay here for two months,” Kelly sighed. “Longer than most places.”

  She wasn’t watching the bodies burn; the common sight didn’t concern her in the least. Instead, her gaze was focused on the building in the background. The place where we’d been living only an hour earlier. Smoke trailed from the open windows in thick, black clouds, the scent heavy in the air. I realized how close we’d been to burning like the beautiful ones.

  Disconcerted, I tore my gaze from the smoke and refocused on the fire. But killing them made little difference. I still felt their presence, hidden within the shadows, waiting for me to sleep. They followed me like the scent of smoke clinging to my clothing. The weight of my sword nestled in the leather sheath Kelly had given me made me feel somewhat better, but not much. Somehow we had survived, but would we next time?

  I watched with a cold detachment as two of Will’s men tossed the body of yet another beautiful one into the flames. The fourth and last. Amazing how so few vampires could do so much damage.

  “Are you all right?” Kelly asked, resting a hand on my shoulder.

  Her touch startled me from my stupor, and made me uncomfortable. I stepped away, avoiding eye contact for fear she’d see the unease in my gaze and know that I hadn’t returned to normal after all.

  “Yes.” And I was well enough. At least I could move, I could speak, I might be able to eat without getting ill. I was certainly better than I’d been in the last two weeks. But I was still numb…so numb inside and out, deep within my bones. I didn’t think the feeling would ever truly go away. I was like early spring when the ground looked soft and thawed. Yet, if you tried to dig deep you’d find it hard and frozen.

  “It…seems sacrilegious in some way, killing something so beautiful.”

  “Sacrilegious?” Tony laughed, as he sidled up next to Kelly and threw his arm over her shoulders.

  Will merely studied me thoughtfully from the opposite side of the bonfire, his eyes unreadable. I admit a part of me wondered what he thought. Was he disappointed I hadn’t worked harder, or relieved that I’d finally broken out of my stupor? A log in the fire popped, sending a whirl of sparks into the air and pulling my attention from Will. Pretty, really. I watched until the sparks disappeared into the late afternoon sky. It had been days since I’d seen the clouds.

  “Don’t know what sacrilegious means,” Tony said. “But I say a dead beautiful one is a good beautiful one.”

  One of Will’s men nodded his head, agreeing.

  There was something about Tony I didn’t like. He nuzzled Kelly’s neck, his blue eyes hard, soulless, too much like the beautiful ones. But I couldn’t blame him, could I? After experiencing what I’d experienced, every day I felt as if I was growing colder. Maybe I didn’t care for Tony not because he reminded me of the beautiful ones, but because he reminded me of what I was becoming.

  “We should move out,” Will said.

  But before any of us could take a step, Kelly cried out. “You’re injured!”

  It wasn’t until she pushed away from Tony and grabbed my hand that I realized she was talking to me. She smelled like smoke from the burning skyscraper, but then we all did. And like her, dark smudges of soot marked my arms and probably my face as I’d brushed against burning rubble to free myself from the cement tomb. At least in the compound we’d bathed often. Here, there were no rules to abide by and I wondered if I’d ever feel clean again.

  “Not good,” she murmured, still focused on my wound.

  I’d forgotten about the injury I’d received when I’d killed the beautiful one. The red gash seemed so insignificant after all that had happened. In fact, the stinging pain where my own sword had sliced my palm had become a part of me, like the beating of my heart. “It’s fine.”

  I pulled away from her. Honestly, I liked the pain; it reminded me I was human, alive. That pain kept me grounded in the real world when I feared I could so easily slip away again.

  “No, it’s not fine.” She sighed, her concern touching and annoying. “Will?”

  He nodded toward a pile of rubble along the side of the road. “Come on.”

  A blush crept its way up my neck and into my cheeks. I wished she hadn’t said anything. It wasn’t as if I needed even more attention than I’d been getting the past two weeks. I’d taken up too much of their time already, I didn’t want to be a burden. Reluctantly, I followed him, weaving my way around the chunks of cement that had fallen from the tall skyscrapers surrounding us. Although the buildings were broken and destroyed, it still made me dizzy when I looked up at them. I focused on my feet instead, concentrating on my dusty boots.

  Will settled on a large boulder and pulled open his pack. “You should have told someone you were injured.”

  Flustered and embarrassed, I shrugged. “Does it matter?”

  “You know it does.” He wrapped his fingers around my wrist and pulled me close. His touch was warm and so human that it made me flinch. It was too much feeling at once, my mind and body couldn’t handle the sensation. “You might have lived in a compound but even you know it could become infected.”

  “And what? I’d die from infection instead of by the hands of the beautiful ones?” Even I was surprised by the sharp bitterness in my tone. How much I’d changed in the last two weeks. At least in that compound I’d still had hope.

  He glanced up at me through his lashes. “We do actually have lives here, you know. Something worth living for.”

  As if to mock my bitterness, a tiny white butterfly fluttered around my head, before catching the breeze and drifting away into the smoke. A brief moment of loveliness, perhaps something I’d imagined. I released a harsh laugh and glanced around the ruins. There was nothing left of this civilization but gray destruction. The butterfly, as tiny as it was, had a life. We didn’t.

  “Really? Constantly on the run, dying at a young age, no real home to speak of…yes, that’s quite the life.”

  I was angry, to say the least. But he didn’t look upset, mostly thoughtful as he tilted his head to the side.

  “Here, maybe.” He pulled out a metal container of some sort. “But there are others who have compounds further west. Compounds where they have lived for years in peace. Men and women as old as the servants at their castle.”

  Could it really be true? He spread some sort of ointment over my cut, the medicine sticky and sweet smelling. Although his touch stung, his fingers brushing over my palm sent an odd warmth through my body, a feeling I didn’t really understand. Maybe I wasn’t quite numb after all. “You know this for a fact?”

  He pulled out a roll of clean cloth. “I do.” Smiling, he began to wind the cloth around my palm. “So see, we can have a life out there. And these kids…that’s where they’ll eventually end up.”

  I glanced at the group of children who stood by, playing in the rubble. They were already over the attack. To them this was normal, nothing to dwell upon, nothing to cry over. They actually believed they were going west, and that they would grow up in a better place. Personally, I couldn’t imagine us making it another couple of days. I saw no hope within their round faces, only pain and death to come.

  “We need to move,” Wi
ll called out to the group, already dismissing me, assuming the role of leader once more. He stood, swiping his hands against his black trousers as if to rid himself of my touch. “Gather the supplies, whatever we can carry.”

  There were fifteen other chosen ones huddled around the flames, watching the beautiful ones burn. Fifteen, which meant if Jim had been right, quite a few had died in those halls. I glanced back at the huge building, smoke pouring from the open windows in thick black clouds that would surely draw attention. A fire the beautiful ones had started, thinking to smoke us out. Only a few beautiful ones, yet they had done so much damage. Still, there was a tiny kernel of hope. I looked at the fire. They might not be human, but they could be killed like one.

  “Let’s head out.” Will scooped up his bag and started down a road, disappearing between two large buildings.

  “Here.” Kelly handed me a pack. “Supplies, in case we’re separated. Extra clothes, few dried fruits, water.”

  I lifted the bag, testing the heaviness. The weight alone would do me in within an hour. Determined not to complain, I slid the straps over my shoulders, allowing the bag to rest against the sword at my back. They would not know how heavy the satchel felt, I was determined to make it on my own.

  “Thanks.” Without waiting for Kelly, I hurried toward Will. I’d thought after he’d praised my abilities during the attack inside that he respected me at least a little. But maybe not. For the most part he’d avoided eye contact, moving away whenever I tried to get close to him to ask questions. It was obvious he didn’t want to be around me, although why I wasn’t sure. My legs trembled from disuse but I wouldn’t relent, I would get my answers.

  “Will,” I called out as I followed him down the road. A few people looked back, curious. Will wasn’t one of them. He didn’t slow, didn’t even respond. I wondered briefly where the man was who had so gently carried me into that skyscraper two weeks ago. Apparently I’d worn out my welcome. Then again I didn’t blame him for being disgusted with me.

  The group ahead climbed over a pile of debris without pause, as if it was merely part of the natural landscape. I crawled up the broken cement like a toddler, unsteady and unsure of my footing. By the time my feet hit the ground, I was exhausted.

  “Linda.” He finally paused where the road ended in an embankment of debris and dirt, and I was able to catch up. “Take the younger ones and head south. We’ll lead the blood suckers west and meet at the river base in a few days.”

  The woman with the brown hair and quiet disposition nodded. I questioned Will’s decision, although I knew better than to speak my worries aloud. Was it really ideal separating the kids from adults?

  “You know what to do if anything happens.”

  She nodded again, quick to obey. I frowned, wondering what, exactly, they were supposed to do. A group of kids and one woman? The idea sounded about as good as sending them all into that windowless room in the skyscraper.

  “Sam, Jon,” she called out, clapping her hands to gather the young ones. They went grudgingly, sending wistful glances toward us. It was obvious they all thought Will was akin to the Gods I’d read about in my books. Everyone here placed him on a pedestal, which is why I didn’t dare question his decisions. Not when it was obvious they were reluctant to allow me to enter their fold.

  As Linda headed back through town, the five younger ones followed her like little chicks after a hen. I was glad to see she wouldn’t go alone, as two of Will’s men went with them. The youngest child was most likely six. So small, but not innocent. No, no one was innocent here. I watched them until they headed down an adjacent road, disappearing behind the ruins of another building that had once been a skyscraper. I did not wish them luck, for luck meant there was actually hope. Instead, I merely wondered if they would actually make it to the meeting point at all.

  “Jimmy,” Will said. “What are you still doing here?”

  “I won’t go with them, Will. I won’t,” Jimmy snapped, his grubby hands balling into fists. His face was covered in soot, his brown hair almost black. He needed a good meal and a good scrubbing. “I’m old enough now to stay with you.”

  They stared at each other in a silent battle of stubbornness. Forgetting my head and body aches for a brief moment, I felt the corners of my mouth quirk. Jim so reminded me of my brothers. But just as quickly as my amusement came, it faded. Who knew if my siblings even still lived? Every single person I had grown up with, every single person I called a friend, could be dead by now.

  “Fine,” Will said, raking his hands through his hair in a flustered movement. So, Will did have compassion after all. I hadn’t imagined it two weeks ago. “Stay. But you know the rules.”

  Jim nodded, glowing with a happiness I envied. How I wished something that simple could make me excited again. But I had a feeling I’d never know peace, let alone joy. How could any of them, knowing what they knew?

  Appeased, Jim fell into step with the ten of us who continued on, up the hill. I was at the back, panting in my haste to keep pace with the group, torn between scurrying after Will, and letting them go ahead just so I could rest for a few minutes.

  Not one person seemed worried about an attack. Did they know something I didn’t, or were they merely so used to the fighting that the fear didn’t bother them? Not so at ease, I studied our surroundings. Every little noise made me jump. The trees were slowly coming to life, leaves uncurling, the earth damp and musky with rain. A few tiny blue and white flowers dotted the landscape, flowers I’d never seen before. After years and years of wondering what was out there, I finally knew. But it wasn’t what I had expected. Yes, there was beauty here, but it was lost under the brutality of the blood drinkers. How ironic that I’d finally gotten what I wanted, and now wished for anything but this.

  We started up a hill, my calves knotting with exertion. I wasn’t sure how far we would travel, but I wouldn’t last long. I cursed myself for sitting for two weeks, cursed myself for allowing the beautiful ones to destroy my spirit. But I was determined. Taking in a deep breath, I surged forward, passing the others in my haste to get to Will.

  “How do you know the beautiful ones will follow us and not the children?” I asked, breathless as I reached his side.

  Will didn’t answer, Tony did. “Because we always take the worn paths, the obvious trails, drawing them away from the kids. And if there’s one thing we know, it’s that blood drinkers are lazy. They will go after the easiest prey.”

  Easiest prey? The words left me ill. I nodded my thanks. But I had more questions, and I didn’t want to have this discussion with Tony, who treated me like I was an idiot, and looked at me with about as much warmth as he looked at the beautiful ones. I didn’t want answers from him, or even Kelly. I wanted answers from the man who seemed to know the most, the one who was in charge. The very man who was so far ahead that within minutes he would be a mere pinpoint on the horizon.

  “Will, please,” I called out.

  Most of the group glanced at me in surprise. A heated flush of embarrassment rushed up my neck and into my cheeks as I wondered if I’d done something wrong by addressing him directly. What sort of leader was he? But I didn’t care what they thought, at least that’s what I told myself. And I wasn’t going to relent until I got answers. “Will?”

  He paused and glanced back. I didn’t miss the utter look of annoyance that flitted across his face. “What?”

  “Are we headed to the compound where I lived?”

  He frowned. “Why would we?”

  Confused, I looked for reassurance from Kelly, but she was already up the next hill. “I assumed we were headed to the compounds to help the others escape.”

  “Why would you assume that?”

  “Because…” But I couldn’t speak the words without offending him. Because I had assumed they were warriors, an army marching to war. Perhaps they weren’t going to war after all, but hiding from it.

  Will rubbed his hands over his face as if he
was exhausted with life in general, or maybe just me. “We can’t.”

  “But—”

  “We don’t have the time or resources, Jane. If we go in there without careful planning, then we all die.”

  “I understand, but…”

  He turned and started after the others in the group as if our conversation was over. Here, in these woods that seemed to stretch forever and ever, I’d never felt more alone in my life. Frustrated, I raced ahead, catching Will halfway up the hill. “So then we’ll be going there soon?”

  He didn’t respond.

  I panted, trying to keep pace. Even though my body screamed at me for rest, I wouldn’t pause until I had the truth. “I need answers, Will.”

  I didn’t miss the way Tony rolled his eyes. Everyone else looked just as annoyed when I kept interrupting their progress. Did they expect me to merely accept everything as it was? No questions? No worries?

  “You guys go ahead,” Will said. “Lead the way, Tony. We’ll take up the back.” The moment they were out of hearing, Will turned toward me. “What do you want to know?”

  One small victory. “First of all…what are they?”

  He sighed and glanced at the group who was disappearing through the trees. It was obvious he would rather be anywhere but standing there with me. “You read the book, Dracula. Although it’s not completely accurate, it gives you an idea.”

  “Yes,” I said, brushing aside his comment. “But why are they the way they are?”

  “We don’t really know, but we do know they’re born that way.” He reached up and scratched the scruff along his jaw. “Some think they are super human beings, I suppose. Some say they are fallen Gods. Fallen angels. Demons.”

  Half the stuff he mentioned I had never heard of and didn’t understand. Books. I needed more books. But I realized as I looked around me, that it would be impossible to carry much of anything when one was constantly on the run. Instead, I had to rely on Will and his knowledge.

  We started toward the trail, following the others. The city remains gave way to forests, with tangled vines and trees so tall they would have loomed over the buildings we’d left behind. “What else do you know?”

  He shifted the satchel he carried from his shoulder to his back, and all the while his gaze flickered around the woods, always on alert. I’d underestimated his indifference. It wasn’t that he didn’t care, it was merely that this life had become so natural that it was a part of him…like his hazel eyes. “They can eat other things, but they are sustained by blood.”

  “They eat blood?”

  “Those people at the compound are basically like chickens in a coop.” He lifted a branch for me. I ducked underneath, following the trail. I didn’t know how he knew the way. Everything looked the same. Tree after tree. “They pick people at the compound based on how ripe they are. Somehow they can smell the blood. Just like when you know if an apple is ripe or not.”

  An image of Thanatos’ nostrils flaring as his gaze rested on me flashed to mind. I hadn’t imagined that moment, as I’d thought. At the compound he had sensed I was ready, and they had chosen me. Chosen me to be their next meal. My head throbbed, beating in time to each step I took. We’d thought being picked was an honored position. How stupid we’d been. How clueless they still were.

  “When they come to the compound,” I whispered, pausing. “They’re there to pick the ripe ones?”

  He nodded, watching me closely, as if he expected me to go off the deep end once more. Although the horrors of that realization washed over me in a sickening wave of nausea, I had no plans to fall into the darkness again. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. There were things I had to do first.

  “But we’re only ripe after sixteen,” I added, trying to piece the clues together. No one had been chosen who was younger than sixteen. I’d noticed that years ago. We all had. Which meant my brothers would be safe for a couple more years. At least one good thing came from this. “So they don’t kill children then?”

  He looked away, but not before I noticed the sadness that flashed across his gaze. “They don’t typically feed off of children, but that doesn’t mean they won’t kill them. They consider us a nuisance, cockroaches to be smashed before we multiply.”

  My stomach clenched at the thought. “We are the enemy.”

  “I don’t think they consider us an enemy. They look at us more as animals, as…nothing.” We started up yet another hill. I tried to keep track of the conversation but my head throbbed, my body ached and my memories were a muddled mess. “When you reach their castle they drug you so you sleep through the night. That way you won’t hear the screams, you don’t see them feed.”

  “The food,” I said. Everything was falling together piece by horrifying piece. “My friend Sally ate the cake they had given us, but I didn’t. I was too nervous. It explains why she was sleeping so deeply when I heard the screams.”

  He nodded. “They feed about once a month, so we have that to be thankful for, at least. A few weeks in between to regroup, and plan.”

  The sudden rustling of leaves startled me so that I froze on the trail.

  “Just a squirrel,” Will said.

  Sure enough, the fluffy rodent bounded through the forest moments later, his bushy tail flickering. I swallowed over the lump of fear that clogged my throat. Just a squirrel. I had so much to learn. As the animal disappeared, I found myself focusing on the shadows. Who knew what was out there, watching, waiting. I pushed aside the thought. One worry at a time.

  We started down a hill, but I ended up slipping on the soft mud. Will was there…always there. His hand clamped around my upper arm, keeping me from falling to my face. But the moment we reached the trail below, he let go. Although I’d had little human contact the last couple weeks, I was relieved when he released me. It felt too confusing, too new and obtrusive. I crossed my arms over my chest, wondering if I’d ever want someone to touch me again.

  “They have guards posted around compounds and their city, protecting them from us.” He released a harsh laugh. I too found the idea ridiculous. What could we do, really? “But once in a while the younger ones have hunting parties. Some for fun, some to weed us out.”

  Weed us out, as if we were rats. “So they come to the compound once a month to gather food for their harvest.” We were food. As we kept chickens, they kept humans. The kindness they showed us was a mere façade. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to vomit, cry, or return to that city and kill the first beautiful one I came across.

  “They are stronger, faster, more beautiful than humans,” Will said. “And to them we are nothing more than cattle.”

  Numbly, I followed Will, my mind spinning. All of it, my entire life, suddenly made sense. Everything they did, everything I had questioned, fell into place. The reason why we were kept enclosed, the reason why we were taught only the basics of life. “They move people from compound to compound so the gene pool isn’t tainted, don’t they?”

  He seemed surprised by my comment, his gaze jumping to me.

  I shrugged, embarrassed. “They allow us to read books on farming and agriculture. I read a bit about genetics in one.”

  He nodded. “Yes, as far as we know.”

  For a long time we walked in silence, following the trail. Although the world around me was splendid and alive in a way I never could have even imagined, the beauty was lost. My thoughts were a jumble, tumbling around in my head so quickly, that I couldn’t seem to catch and make sense of them.

  “We have no choice but to protect ourselves,” he said, as if hoping I’d understand. “The ones you see down there are chosen ones who escaped, like you. We are all outsiders, merely trying to survive.”

  Not soldiers then. I studied the small group hiking in the valley below us, weaving around the trees with sure and steady steps. People who had saved me, fed me, protected me. Always moving, always hiding. What sort of life was this? A life of struggle, of fear. No hope. No thoughts of a future. “What i
f I don’t want this life?”

  He released a harsh laugh. “You have no choice. In this world it’s kill or be eaten.”

  I paused on the hill, watching the others, and he paused beside me. His attention burned, and I wondered what he was thinking. I didn’t have to wonder for long. Disconcerted, I swiped the sweat from my temples and glanced at him. “Just say whatever it is you so badly want to say.”

  “Fine.” He shifted, crossing his arms over his chest, the dark gray shirt he wore stretching over his broad shoulders. “You need to decide now, Jane. I won’t let you hold us back. You’ll either fight with us, or you’ll be on your own. What’s your choice?”

  So, it was survive or die. What a choice. I took in a deep breath and looked around me. A few bluebirds flittered from the branches above. This war between us and the beautiful ones would rage for who knew how long, but the world would still go on as it was. The trees would still grow. Birds would still fly. Flowers would still bloom. But we…we had to fight to live.

  I took in a deep breath and faced Will. “They have murdered my friends, my family. They will murder more if we don’t stop them.”

  He watched me warily. “What are you saying?”

  “I want you to teach me everything you know, Will. Teach me how to kill the beautiful ones.”