Sinners 01 - Branded (8 page)

“Are you all right?” Cole leans over me, his face coming into focus.

All of a sudden, memories circle in my brain, and the picture of Sarge’s body lying
next to Zeus pops in front of my eyes.

The running and the chase. The blast… the flames.

“Was I the target?” My entire body hurts.

“I don’t know, but our timing couldn’t have been worse.” He looks down at the ground
between his legs. My hands shake as the adrenaline wears off. Ironically, it’s not
the blood that bothers me the most. It’s the violence, or at least my inability to
protect myself, that bothers me.

Zeus licks my face and I’m not sure which is worse—dog slobber or blood.

“Dude, cut it out!” I wipe my face with my shirt. Cole reaches over and pushes Zeus’s
head away, but Zeus refuses to budge.

“Zeus. That’s enough.”

“Was that normal? What just happened? Is that normal?” I ask.

“Well, not exactly. Fighting between citizens is normal, but lately there’s been more
fighting with the guards,” he says, brushing off his pants. “But you. Well, you’re
the prettiest girl they’ve ever seen, so instantly, you’re their greatest reward.
I bet there’s countless bets going on that involve you… You’re the talk of the Hole…
And they all want you to themselves. Some just want to kill you because that’s their
passion. Others want to—”

“I get the point,” I cut him off before he talks about the color that’s branded on
my neck. “Let’s get out of here.”

We jog to our quarters. My clothes are spattered with blood, dirt’s plastered in every
crevice of my body, and my head thunders. My heart hammers against my chest. My ankle
throbs and Zeus keeps running into me. The damn dog doesn’t watch where he’s going
half the time. He grins at me with his huge tongue hanging to the side of his mouth.
I can’t complain about him too much, though, since he saved my life once already.

He might be the most compassionate one here.

Everything looks abandoned. I glance warily around me while we run. The faint echo
of a skirmish occurring in the background terrorizes me, and I don’t want to get caught
in a situation like that again. As we turn into the courtyard of our building, a voice
pierces the darkness.

“Skank. Skank! SKANK!” The voice yells louder each time. Cole grabs my arm roughly
and speaks directly in my ear.

“It’s just Bill. He’s mentally disturbed but harmless. He screams something about
your brand the very first time he meets you. It won’t happen again, at least not from
him.”

I’m branded for life.
I’ll always have lust tattooed on my neck in blue… It will happen again.
I self-consciously pull some strands of my hair over my brand as we pass him. He sits
on the cement pavement outside the entrance, inhaling a cigarette. His appearance
is barbarous with wild, unkempt hair and missing teeth. His cackle disturbs me as
I follow Cole into the building.

“Don’t take it personally,” Cole says.

“Sure.”

At what point do they believe what’s been branded on their skin instead of just knowing
who they are inside?

My eyes focus on him ahead of me, his muscles flexed as he opens the door. Moonlight
slips across my cell, and breathing finally becomes easier. Collapsing on my mat,
I squint when Cole flicks on the light. I roll over, too tired to talk and too traumatized
to eat. There’s no way out of this place now. I’m going to live the rest of my life
in this hell.

I toss and turn on my mat and can’t stop the flood of memories from burning me up
inside. I promised myself I’d never go through the pain of telling my story again.
Nothing hurts more than the disbelief of people who are supposedly your friends.

“You’re a liar just looking for attention. How could you say such things?” they said
to me.

Only heartless people don’t believe a child. A part of me died when my father passed
away. A slow withering took place in our family, and my mother deteriorated into a
shell of her former self. No protection existed for me. I prayed every night that
my brother would return and take me away. He never came
.

I was full of life, happy, confident. My father loved me. He gave us protection and
peace. I didn’t know anything about the outside world except what they taught in school.
How that’s changed since he passed. Everything changed.

My family would’ve been forced to live on the streets if I hadn’t obeyed the rules.
My stepfather bought my silence with the threat of consequences. He promised retaliation
and he followed through.

All these thoughts swirl through my head as I lie down, pretending to sleep. I jogged
the whole way back without consciously knowing it. I braved a gunfight and witnessed
the murder of a man in the street. I succumbed to the screaming of an insane person
outside my own building, and still I’m alive.

Giving up on sleep, I walk to the bathroom and turn on the shower. Cole left his door
open and I see Cole, who looks deep in thought. Zeus stands on his hind legs and drinks
from the kitchen faucet in Cole’s room.
Please don’t tell me he turned that on himself.
He drinks so fast he starts to hack.
Must’ve gone down the wrong tube.
Cole doesn’t even look when he does it, so I assume this is normal.

“Care if I shower?” I ask.

“Yeah, no problem. I’m gonna update the chalkboard. It only takes me a few seconds,
so I’ll be back before you finish.”

I step backward, excitement blossoming on my face. “Chalk?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Any way you could bring me some?”

“I guess so, why?” He scrunches his face, scrutinizing me like I’m insane.

“To decorate my cell. It’s starting to get to me.”

“What do you mean decorate? How on earth can you decorate a—never mind. I don’t care,”
he says with his hand on the door.

I fold my arms across my chest. “Do they ever come by and check the rooms?”

“No, there’s no reason to. We follow orders or people die. Pretty straightforward,
don’t you think?” He walks to his room as his laugh fades.

“Hey,” I say. He sits on his bed and looks up. His facial expression softens and tired
lines appear below his eyes. “I never got the chance to thank you.”

“For what?” He pulls his shirt over his head and tosses it on the floor, distracting
me with his broad chest. I stutter while staring.

Crap!

“Uh… for saving my life,” I say while crossing my fingers and trying to stay focused
on his face. “I know I don’t show it, but I’m grateful… that I have you.” I know—the
words shock me as I say them.

“Um, yeah.” His cheeks turn a shade of pale pink. “White or colored?” he asks while
searching through his piles of laundry for a new shirt. His back stretches taut, his
muscles hardening while sifting around and coming up with a black T-shirt. He quickly
puts it on, and I exhale, his shirtless image uncomfortably burned in my memory.

“Both would be great, if that’s possible,” I say. Frustration mixed with some other
emotion crosses his face, but I can’t place my finger on it.

I run back to the shower before he changes his mind and before I gawk any longer.
I close the curtain, take off my bloodstained clothes, and scrub them with my hands
under the icy water. The thin material tears under the strain.

Dang it. Now what?

Unsure of what to do, I call for Cole. I turn off the freezing water and stand shivering
behind the curtain.

“Now what do you want?” he asks from the other side.

“Do you have a towel or another pair of scrubs by chance?”

“You’re in luck. I just got another pair.” His hand reaches past the curtain and holds
out a folded pair of blue scrubs. I take them and put them on. The fabric sticks to
my wet skin, but I know it could be worse.

“Thanks,” I say, but he’s already left the room.

I push the curtain aside and am surprised to see two containers of chalk sitting against
the wall. One is colored and the other is white.
Sweet!
I open the colored container and grab the purple. Turning it over in my palm, I marvel
at the small things that bring me so much joy.

A noise that sounds like a foghorn bellows from Cole’s room. I almost drop the small
piece of chalk. At the same time, Zeus storms into the hallway, looking over his shoulder.
Cole’s in his shower, singing some weird song I’ve never heard before.

“What was that?” I ask Zeus. It happens again but louder this time. Zeus runs into
my room as a foul odor drifts by. “Was that a fart?” I laugh. “Oh my word, I can’t
believe you’re afraid of your own fart.” I’m laughing so hard I snort. It’s a small
reprieve from the violence and stress. I’m on the floor, doubled over, when Cole walks
in with a towel wrapped around his hips. Everything else is bare, steaming flesh.
And I pry my eyes away.

“What’s so funny?” he asks.

Oh my God, does he have to keep doing that?

Everything within me wants to stare so I tuck my face in my shirt.

“Zeus farted and he came running in here with his tail between his legs… It scared
the crap out of him.” I continue to laugh in hysterics. Cole laughs with me. “Is that
why you chose him? Because he scares people with his ungodly odor?” I wipe the tears
that are streaming from my eyes and gasp for breath.

I keep my head down and try not to ogle him. It’s hard, really freaking hard. He has
the most defined chest, arms, and abdomen I’ve ever seen. Until this moment, I thought
of him only as my guard, but seeing him standing there half-naked makes me extremely
uncomfortable. I stop laughing and squirm under the weight of his eyes.

“I’m going to change and get some sleep,” he says.

“Yeah, me too,” I say, eager to get out from under his stare.

“I’ll see you first thing,” he says as he walks into his room.

“See ya.” Confusion takes over. At first, he seemed stoic and cold. But now, he seems…
human. Guards aren’t supposed to be human. They’re supposed to suck the life out of
sinners and enforce the laws of the commander. And yet he already saved my life twice.
Even if it’s his job, it seems hardly worth the trouble. I shake the thoughts from
my head.

I just can’t win. For one, I can never be alone. But the second reason, the one I
don’t want to admit, begins to torture me more…

Sleep eludes me. I need a release, so I pick up another piece of chalk.

The screaming sound of the alarm wakes me.
How long have I been asleep?
The light filters through the window and I rub my eyes as they struggle to adjust.
An instant burn shoots through my shoulders as I prop myself to a sitting position.
I should’ve known I’d feel like this.

Two knocks bring me to my feet.

“Are you decent?” Cole peeks around the door.

“I guess so,” I say while throwing my hair into a messy ponytail.

Good thing because he certainly didn’t give me any time to get dressed.

I’m shoving my shirt into my pants when he struts in, staring at me. He gives me a
sly smile that melts into complete shock when he focuses on the walls of my room.

“What the hell is that?” He points at my wall.

“What?” I play ignorant.

“You know exactly what.”

“Oh, that. I could’ve sworn I told you I wanted to decorate.”

“I didn’t think you’d actually draw on your freaking walls,” he says.

“Do you have a better idea?” His face remains hard. “Don’t worry. It washes right
off.”

Please don’t make me.

He pauses, tracing the wall with his fingertips. “So you like the forest and the beach?”

“Not just any forest or beach. That’s the forest I grew up in before moving to High
Society, and that’s the beach I was named after—Lexington Bay.” I avoid eye contact
and point to the beach. “But this one’s definitely my favorite. The turquoise water
is crystal clear with bright, beautiful fish and soft, powder-white sand that goes
on for miles. It’s breathtaking, don’t you think?” I ask, getting lost in my memories.

Cole stares with his mouth slightly parted and his top lip curls up slightly at the
corner. He probably thinks I’m a lunatic.

“You’re telling me a place like that really exists?” He cocks his head and puts his
hands on his hips. “Where I come from, we have mountains stretching for miles, but
never have I seen a beach like this.”

I smile. “It’s farther south somewhere. My parents went there for their honeymoon
and it’s all they talked about for years. So you can imagine why I have such a detailed
picture tattooed in my head. My father said when I was born he looked into my eyes
and was lost in Lexington Bay.”

“Leave it… for now. Who taught you how to draw?”

“Myself.”

“Huh?”

“You asked me how I learned to draw—I taught myself.”

“Oh, right. Really? Damn, that’s pretty impressive. You’ve got talent.”

“No. Not really. Just a good memory, that’s all.” I don’t take compliments well. I
never have and especially not from a guard.

“We have to leave in about ten minutes. Think you can be ready by then?”

I spin around. “I am ready.”

He rubs the back of his neck. “No. Mentally ready.”

“That’s impossible. Death waits for me everywhere I go. The only reason I’m still
alive—if that’s what I am—is because of you.”

Looking a little uncomfortable, he clears his throat, quickly diverting my attention
to the bag in his hand. “I brought bagels.”

This time we eat facing each other, but there’s little conversation, which is fine.
I find myself enjoying the quiet yet still appreciative of the company—weird, I know.
The tendons in his jaw flex as he chews, and I watch a glob of butter land on his
chin. I’m hoping Zeus will come and lick it off because I’m definitely not pointing
it out. The last thing I want to do is embarrass him—if he even gets embarrassed.
Whenever he glances up, I lower my eyes. Sometimes I think he’s staring at me. Then
I hear a sigh, and he continues eating.