Naomi Grim: Complete Novel (Parts 1-4) (The Silver Scythe Chronicles) (7 page)

The
next morning, I woke up early to take a walk. The place was flooded with new
faces, all the prisoners and Mill workers who had survived the riots. I heard
around seventy of them had been killed the night before. It occurred to me that
the Outskirts or Litropolis had been their home to begin with. I imagined that
many teary-eyed reunions had taken place that morning.

     I
saw two men pulling a cart full of guns and other weapons."Where did those
come from?" I asked Nigel, who stood on the road with me.
  
I liked Nigel,
and I was glad he had escaped from Gattica. He didn't belong there.

     "The
prison and Nowhere's weapon collection," he answered.

     "Wow."

     "We
also got some lifestones, but not very many. They had the Mill pretty heavily
guarded."

     I
would imagine so. It was the most important place in Nowhere. Lifestones—I
could sure use a few of those. I'd never known that feeling before—the need to
have the lifestones so I could live, yet it was how the Foragers felt all the
time. I made a promise to myself that I would stop using the term Forager.

     "If
they try to come over that wall, we'll be ready," Nigel said.

     I'd
come to the conclusion that I wouldn't be going over the wall anymore either.

     "So,
we're just going to wait and see what happens?" I asked.

     Nigel
nodded. "Dunningham needs to negotiate. We haven't given him a list of
demands. We only want one thing, to be assigned deaths so we can collect
lifestones, too. It's our right. All we want is what we should have in the
first place." Nigel patted me on the back. "So, this is home for you
now. It's not so bad. You might even meet yourself a nice fellow."

     I
laughed even though that was the last thing I was thinking about.

     "Naomi,
walk with me," Dunstan said from behind us. I hadn't even noticed him
approach. I said good-bye to Nigel and followed Dunstan.

     "Where
are we going?"

     "I
have something I want to show you."

     As
we passed, everyone stopped and respectfully acknowledged Dunstan. It was
nothing compared to the way the Grims of Nowhere acted around Dunningham, but I
could tell the people revered him. It occurred to me that this was the first
time I'd seen Dunstan leave his cottage since I had been in the Outskirts.

     Dunstan
brought me to the same building Colden had brought me to the other day—the one
with the dying hybrids. I had no desire to be in that place again, but I
figured Dunstan might tell me more about this experiment he needed me for.

     The
stench of rot hit me as soon as we stepped inside. We walked quickly past the
cots filled with the dying. A man in a white coat who was walking around
checking for pulses greeted Dunstan and nodded at me. Dunstan returned the
hello.

     We
walked into a part of the building I never knew existed, filled with all sorts
of monitors and screens. Glass cabinets were stacked with medicine and medical
supplies. It looked like the hospitals I'd seen in the human world. I had been
to plenty of those.

     Dunstan
took some kind of card from his pocket and slid it through s metal object with
a slit. The door slid open revealing a white, cold, and sterile room. Two beds
with white sheets stood in the middle and several metal stands with bags
hanging from them. It looked like a quarantine room.

     "What's
this for?" I asked.

     "It's
for you," Dunstan said, "the experiment."

     Nausea
twisted my stomach.

     "See,
you have the perfect blood. No one else here does. Half Grim and half human,
not just a small percentage."

     "So?"

     "We're
going to be recruiting other Grims to live here, starting with the Grims in
Litropolis. In order for them to be able to stay here permanently, they're
going to need some of your blood."

     I
didn't understand. How were they going to get my blood? Before I could ask,
Dunstan put his hand on the small of my back and pushed me inside. Pain shot
through my knees as I landed on the hard tile. I turned to look at him just as
the metal door slid shut, sealing me inside.

     I
stood immediately, despite the pain, pounding my fists against the cold doors.
I screamed for Dunstan or anyone who might save me. I didn't stop until my
hands were sore and my throat was raw. Giving up, I lay across the bed, looking
around the room for a way out. The room was sealed with no possibility for
escape.

* * *

     For
the longest time I lay on the bed thinking about random things. It was Keira's
birthday. Her seventeenth. With all that was going on in Nowhere, I was
positive her birthday would suck. I didn't realize I had fallen asleep until I
woke up to someone's cold hands on my ankles. Through the eyelashes of my
half-closed eyes, I saw someone in a white lab coat strapping my feet to the
bed. I had flashbacks from the subtraction chamber. I struggled to move, but
couldn't. My arms were already strapped down.

     "Let
me out of here!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, but the man ignored
me. He walked away and returned seconds later. He felt the inside of my elbow
with his index and middle fingers.

     "What
are you doing?" I demanded, but the man disappeared again without giving
me an answer.

     Dunstan
appeared next to my bed. "We tried to get you to eat, but you wouldn't.
This would be much easier if you had eaten."

     When
did they try to get me to eat? I vaguely remembered someone shaking me and
pushing a bowl of soup in my face, but I thought I'd been dreaming.

     I
looked up at him, trying to appear as pitiful as possible. "'Please let me
go."

     "I
will when we're done."

     I
looked past him. Someone laid on the other bed. Doyle. "What is he doing
in here?"

     Dunstan
put his hand on my forehead, brushing my hair back. I wanted to push his hand
away, but I couldn’t move. "You and Doyle are part of this experiment.
He'll get your blood, and we'll see if that will enable him to stay in the
Outskirts longer."

     Doyle
had a coughing fit. He had already been in the Outskirts too long.

     The
man in the lab coat came back. He wrapped a strip of rubber tightly around my
arm, just above my elbow.  It squeezed my arm. I looked at the area. I could
see my green veins clearly. He wiped the area with a cotton ball and some kind
of liquid.

     Someone
else rolled in a table filled with all sorts of different tubes. The man in the
lab coat opened a package and removed a tube with a needle on the end.

     "Mr.
Dunstan, please. I've already been through so much," I pleaded weakly.

     "I
know, but this won't take long. We'll only take a pint at a time," Dunstan
answered.

     While
I was focused on Dunstan, the man stuck me with the needle. I howled. I hadn't
been expecting such a tiny needle to hurt so much. It was nothing compared to
my branding and the year-subtraction chair, but it was still painful.

     I
watched my blood, crimson and thick, run into the tubes. A pint couldn't be
that much, right? The man in the lab coat switched one filled tube for another
until they were all filled. It felt like they had taken more than a pint.

      "Her
brother," Doyle said. "He's a troublemaker, but he has a lot of
influence with the boys there."

"Good.
That's what we need," Dunstan replied.

Bram?
Why were they talking about him? They needed him for what? I wished Bram were
there so he could help me, but I knew somehow I would have to save myself.

     I
closed my eyes as the man removed the rubber strap. Relieved, I looked down at
my arm, which was bruising quickly.

     "See
that wasn't so bad," Dunstan said.

     The
man in the lab coat turned to Doyle. "Are you ready?"

     Doyle
looked afraid but he nodded and the two of them left the room.

     I
looked up at Dunstan. "Can you unstrap me now?"

     "Not
yet. We'll bring you something to eat in a few hours."

     "A
few hours?" There was no way I could stay in that room a minute longer. I
felt like I was in prison again.

     "Yes.
It's imperative that we keep up your strength so we can collect your
blood."

     Reality
hit me. This wasn't a one-time thing. Dunstan was using me for a blood bank. He
had no intentions of letting me go.

     "Please.
You can let me go. I swear I won't go anywhere."

     He
stepped out of my sight. I heard the door slide open. "See, that's the
problem with you, Naomi. You don't really follow the rules and do what you're
supposed to, so I can't risk that."

     "Please,
no!" My voice echoed off the sterile walls. "Please, don't leave me
here like this. I'll go crazy!"

     But
my plea fell on deaf ears. The lights went off and the door slid shut, sealing
me inside. I was left alone with the darkness.