Bound to Ashes (The Altered Sequence Book 1) (9 page)

“We need a concrete plan,” he tells Alessandra. Every word that comes out of his mouth sounds like a threat by the way he holds that rifle. He sounds notably more tense around her, too.

Alessandra grins and says, “Just trust me.”

Well, she
does
have a death wish, that’s good to know. Cain looks as close as he’s ever looked to bludgeoning someone to death.

She catches on pretty quick and clears her throat. “Fine,” she says quickly. “Plan. The plan is we walk in and gather supplies and leave as soon as we can.
That’s
the plan.”

She’s getting way too confident. I don’t think she realizes how dangerous her position is. I put a hand on Cain’s shoulder and gently move him aside. I think he’s too shocked to do anything.

“Look,” I tell her. “Maybe us going in there isn’t a great idea.”

“No, I think it’s a great idea. You’re going to have to meet everyone eventually anyway. Especially James and Peregrine. And Dev, you’ve already met Vinder. Just, you know, be nice.”

Did she
really
just say that to me? Be nice? If anyone needs to be nice, or at least reach an acceptable level of not-wanting-to-kill-everyone, it’s Cain. I fold my hand over my eyes and rub the bridge of my nose. I want to tell her, ‘If anyone gets killed, it’s not my fault.’ But... it definitely
would
be my fault. My friends aren’t the ones who decided to follow this crazy human’s plans. They trust me, Alessandra trusts me, so if anything happens, it’s
all
because
of me.

The facility is visible in the distance, grey and dark in contrast to the hot yellow dirt. My heart is beating out of control and I can’t stop thinking about the Revolt. Anything surrounded by chain link fence and barbed wire brings it back. All those voices and bodies packed together, being pressed so hard your feet are lifted off the ground. Pressed so hard your ears are ringing and you can just barely hear the gunshots from the roof and sentry towers and the twanging of the falling chain link fences. You’ve got blood on you from the boy next to you. He’s only a kid like you and his blood’s all over, on your skin, in your mouth. Metal clinking of fences, gunshots from the tower, could hit you at any time, can’t get out in time—

“Dev?”

I look up and everyone’s ahead of me, warily watching me.

Dammit. “Sorry.” I rejoin them and make sure to avoid eye contact. I won’t be able to stomach their looks.

Alessandra opens her mouth to say, “Are you al—”

“Fine.”

No one has the guts to say something to placate her like, ‘Oh, this happens all the time. Just to Dev, though. It’s something wrong with his brain. He’s sensitive.’ Whatever.

The base isn’t marbled by mirages anymore. It’s a little too real. Fences cast checkerboard shadows on the ground and humans clutching rifles like lifelines watch us from the other side. The front gate is guarded by two tall towers, concrete and open-faced at the top, and there’s a guard in each. They crane their bodies over the railing to get a look at us.

There are times when I wish I could be invisible. Being shot at by a hidden sniper a couple times? Yeah, being invisible would have been great. But I take back all those other times. I need it now. Every move I make is under scrutiny.

Alessandra walks slowly in front of us and smiles as she nods at the guards. One guard waves, the other nods curtly and keeps her eyes on us. Alessandra walks up to the gate, pulls a laminated card out of her pocket, taps it on a plastic reader, and the gates creak open. I glimpse the photo ID, but it’s not her. It’s some grey haired older man with round glasses. That image sends chills up my spine, but I’m probably just on pins and needles from everything else.

I’m not sure what I expected the base to look like, but a collection of anonymous buildings wasn’t quite it. They could be factories, or warehouses, or anything. Not even a sign out front tells me what they are. Nothing here but anonymous buildings and faces.

I glance up at Ashton. He takes short and measured steps so I can barely hear his feet hit the ground. Cain’s white-knuckled grip on the rifle tightens. Jules seems more relaxed but there’s a tightness in her smirk that tells me she’s faking it.

There might be about fifteen humans scattered randomly around the dusty yard between the two buildings. Generally younger people, but a few have hair peppered with silver. All of them are skinny. But they’re all staring, that’s the same all across the board. A few of them are talking softly to each other.

“If this goes sour,” Jules says, a little too loudly, “I blame Dev.”

“Thanks.” My voice sounds choked.

Cain shushes us, but it comes out more like a stifled hiss.

Alessandra just smiles at us and says, “Hold on, just for a second.” She turns around without missing a beat and pulls someone aside from the crowd. She gestures to the other end of the compound and says, “Go find James for me, please.” The person nods and runs off.

So are we just waiting? Here? Even if I knew what to say, my voice sticks in my throat.

Logically, we don’t have anything to fear. These people aren’t soldiers, or fighters, they’re stricken with the same desperation we are. But logic never stills my racing mind. People emerge from the smaller building, mostly kids and weathered-looking ones. The small smattering of humans in the yard is turning into a crowd.

I catch snippets of whispers from them. They’re far off, not too close, and all facing each other, but their eyes are on us.

“What are they?

“...killed....”

“...they survived this long?”

Their muttering makes my chest feel tight and I clench my fists. Cain is a statue, except for his eyes, darting from person to person. Even Ashton is still. He told me once it’s actually kind of difficult to stand perfectly still, with the way his legs are. Something about balance; he compared it to a bicycle. Good balance while moving, not while standing still. But he’s not moving now. Not even his tail.

Jules rolls her shoulders and takes a casual, experimental step forward. No, Jules, now is not the time to test boundaries... She strides forward and looks at the crowd as if evaluating them. Their faces reflect a shocked fear and she feeds off it. “Nice to meet you,” she shouts at them.

Alessandra grins and moves to stand next to Jules. Even though Jules inches away from her, she says to the crowd, “Guys, these are the ones I told you about before.” She lets the words sink in and smirks. She glances back at us. Those tricky mismatched eyes.... “Give them some space.”

Two or three humans step forward carefully. Their hands loosen on their assortment of guns. Mostly standard hunting rifles, but there are a couple military-issues among them. Jules flashes us a smile and walks straight up to the crowd, which shrinks back a hair. She sticks out her hand to the biggest, most well-armed human: a giant, dark-skinned bear of a man. He doesn’t move for a second, then slowly grabs her hand and pumps it up and down. His baritone voice replies, “Hello.” He raises his eyebrows at their handshake. When he gets his hand back, he shakes it a little and looks Jules up and down.

The crowd’s reaction is immediate. They jostle eagerly and move slightly closer. The three of us, the ones with sense left in our heads, stay where we are. Jules is moving along the front lines, shaking hands and grinning. I notice most of the humans glancing warily at her ears. I never noticed before, but our ears are slightly longer and pointed than theirs. I’m probably a spectacle to them, if they’re staring at Jules. She could almost pass as a human.

The crowd assimilates Alessandra into the mass of people. She disappears.

Some of them ask questions.

“Who are you?”

“Friends of Alessandra?”

“Where’d you come from?”

Somehow the crowd is closer. The huge man in front stares at us, coiled like a trap to be sprung if we decide to try anything.

A sharp gasp from the crowd and a ripple in the front— a tiny human child stumbles out of the crowd and runs forward. Someone screams a name but it doesn’t slow him down. He’s headed right for us. Past the crowd’s thrum of voices, I hear Alessandra shout, “What’s going on?” But she’s too far back to do anything.

During one of our training lectures, they said the Northern Alliance’s army would steal children and strap bomb jackets to them. The most effective undercover operative.

I jump back, so do Ashton and Cain, who almost lifts his rifle at the child but thankfully reconsiders. But the kid’s after Ashton. It has a big head of curly dark hair, not entirely unlike Ashton’s, and its little arms stretch out all the way in front. Its puffy face is split with a toothless smile.

Ashton has no trouble jumping back to avoid the child, but he stumbles. Have I ever seen Ashton stumble before? He stammers an uneasy sound and sticks out his foot to keep the child away, so fast I didn’t even see it move. It catches the child on the chest just barely, it bounces off harmlessly, then grabs onto Ashton’s long foot with both arms, giggling.

A while ago, some sort of corrosive chemical spilled over Ashton’s left foot while we were cutting through a warehouse. Seared most of his bare skin, scarred for months. He looks more horrified
now
than he did then.

No one in the crowd moves or even breathes. Like they’re terrified of getting in the middle of it, like it’s a dogfight. They just stare in horror. The child is running his little hands up and down Ashton’s foot, grabbing and pinching and absolutely dazzled by it. Ashton sucks in a fast breath and yanks his foot back, at the same time stepping away from the child. He holds out an open palm and says breathlessly, “You... stay away from me.” He’s sweating.

The child grins and runs forward again. I’ve seen Ashton jump on top of small buildings with no running start, but this little thing stops him up. It latches its arms around his leg and buries its face.

Ashton shakes like a leaf, but we might be the only ones to see it. He looks up and his eyes dart among the silent crowd.

“Tall,” the child squeals.

Ashton looks at me, pleading, and says, “
Get it off
.”

What am I supposed to do?!

A young woman in a dirty white shirt pushes past the crowd and practically sprints up to us and wrestles the child free. She takes a second to glance up at us, terrified, and backs up quickly, the writhing child in her grip.

Ashton backs up. He picks up the foot the child attached to and flexes his toes a little, putting weight on it and shaking it out. He huffs out a breath and looks back and forth quickly.

Jules is laughing. “Cute kid!”

“Ex
cuse
me,” Alessandra says, grunting as she squeezes between two people. She straightens her jacket collar and rolls her shoulder with a grunt. “Sorry, guys, we’re almost ready.”

“Ashton was babysitting,” Jules says, snickering, walking over to join us. Ashton snaps his arm out and smacks her on the shoulder but it just makes her laugh harder.

Someone steps away from the crowd. He stands next to Alessandra—an angular-featured man with glowering eyes. Must be James. He’s older than she is and has a head of short-cropped hair. He’s got his thumbs in his jean pockets and has an apathetic vibe that puts Cain’s to shame.

Alessandra waves it off and says, “Let’s maybe... get some air.”

You’re
the one who left us here.

Most of the people have turned to each other and formed smaller groups, talking in hushed voices, glancing our way occasionally. I can breathe, finally. Any more time spent around the gawking crowd would have sent Ashton sprinting for the gate. I’m proud of him for sticking through it, though.

We follow Alessandra to an area tucked behind a giant storage container, the kind on trains. She smiles and says, “So did you guys make some friends?”

If she had said that when she was the only human around for miles, she wouldn’t be, because Cain would have put a bullet in her head. I can feel his anger radiate just standing next to him.

James steps closer to her and says, “Peregrine and Vinder are almost done gathering the stuff. And Aless?”

She looks at him with stern eyes. “Yes?”

“You’re sure about this.” His voice is heavy. I get the feeling he’s referring to multiple things at once.

“Absolutely,” Alessandra says, shrugging it off, as if he’s being unreasonable. James exhales sharply and tugs at his sleeves.

“Hey! Dev!”

An icy shiver runs down my spine. Vinder is running towards us, or running as well as he can with armfuls of bags. He tosses them down and pants eagerly, “Good to see you again.”

I cringe. How does he know my name? My friends look at me like I’m insane and I want to shrink away into nothing.

He’s followed by another human (they just
keep coming
), a tall, lean woman with a head of black hair like lots of tiny ropes. She smiles at us and doesn’t say anything, just kind of inspects us, like, ‘So these are the freaks everyone is talking about.’

“Okay. Vin?” Alessandra says.

“Sir?” Vinder says, grinning stupidly.