Read What Following Brings Online
Authors: S. E. Campbell
What Following Brings (10 page)
****
The next day, Eden
sat on the floor again
when the door opened. She
gazed
up, expecting to see Sergeant Dale, but instead Yuri darkened the threshold of the
room
.
She gave a frightened sigh
, praying to God
that
Sergeant Dale didn
'
t choose this time to come inside.
Yuri followed her nervous glance and frowned.
“
I want you to explain what happened to you in the
examination
room up there. I can
'
t get you out
of my mind. How did you know about
Dawn
?
Nobody
knows about
Dawn
.
”
Her back went rigid
and she stood up
. She understood why Yuri was here. She
gazed
into his bright eyes and took a step back, against the wall. If she explained to Yuri what she was supposed to do, he would never follow her. At least, she didn
'
t think he would. She wasn
'
t about to risk the chance
, though,
that
he
'
d stab himself with a sword and make himself reincarnate for the sake of the Demons.
“
Yuri,
”
she said,
“
I can
'
t.
”
With his eyes narrowing, he strode toward her, grabbed her by her forearms, and pressed her against the wall. Yuri was so close
had he leaned forward,
their faces would have been touching. He continued to hold her against the wall, and fear filled her
. I wonder if I was wrong. Would
Yuri hurt
me
? She had never seen so much anger burning in somebody
'
s eyes before, even her dad
'
s. She bit her bottom lip.
“
Tell me what
'
s going on,
”
Yuri said, continuing to press her against the wall.
“
What do you know?
”
Eden didn
'
t say anything. She couldn
'
t. There was no point lying, either. She had always been horrible at it.
“
Tell me,
”
Yuri said, shaking her so her teeth clacked together.
“
You wouldn
'
t,
”
Eden said.
“
You put on a tough face, but you
'
ve never
hit anyone
in your whole life. I bet that
'
s why Donovan put you in charge of me. They probably needed someone who wouldn
'
t make the mistake of going too far.
”
Hissing, Yuri released her and stepped back, wide-eyed. Eden wrapped her arms around her chest,
frowning. As she gazed at his face,
she knew her
words were either right or, at least, he thought they were.
“
You
'
re smart, I
'
ll give you that,
”
Yuri said.
“
But you appear to have forgotten something.
”
“
What
'
s that?
”
Eden asked
, biting her lip in confusion
.
“
So am I.
”
Eden froze as she watched his eyes glow. It was the glow of somebody who had monstrous ideas, and she didn
'
t like it.
“
I can have your friend sent away,
”
Yuri said.
“
Adanna, is it? The reports say you were a calm, easy to manage prisoner until we took her away from you.
Right
now she
'
s just downstairs.
”
“
What are you suggesting?
”
Eden asked.
Stepping forward again, Yuri cupped her cheek and made her stare him straight in the eye. She realized he was trying to intimidate her. He was succeeding.
“
I can have her moved from here, Eden,
”
Yuri said, not blinking.
“
I can have her sent away to a completely different base. So far away you may never find her again.
How would you feel then?
”
“
No,
”
Eden said.
“
Do not mess with me,
”
Yuri said.
“
I didn
'
t get to be a general by being a
layabout
or a fool. When there is something I want to know, people tell me. And you will.
”
Will
he do
it? In his memories, he had never been this bad. This angry.
As she
gazed
into his face, she felt as though she was disappearing. She didn
'
t understand what w
as happening in his mind or how he had gotten to be like this, but she knew she pitied him and feared him.
“
Yuri, Iâ
”
There was a bang on the door behind them
.
Yuri whipped around and snarled.
“
Sir, we need you out here,
”
a male said.
“
Jared, I told you I was busy,
”
Yuri said.
“
But it
'
s urgent, sir,
”
said Jared.
“
We
'
ve lost a prisoner.
Adanna Meyers, number thirteen.
We can
'
t find her anywhere.
”
With a snarl, Yuri whipped around and grabbed her shoulders again. Eden had to fight down a grin as she thought,
They did it. They got Adanna out of here.
As she
gazed
into Yuri
'
s eyes, though, she began to wonder whether they would make it in time to get
her
out of here.
“
What did you do?
”
Yuri asked.
“
Me?
”
Eden asked.
“
I was in here the whole time. I didn
'
t do it. Maybe you need to count prisoners again, Yuri.
”
“
Youâ
”
Yuri pointed his finger at Eden and his eyes shot daggers.
“
You infuriate me. I
'
ll get to the bottom of this. I swear it.
”
Turning
, Yuri stormed to the door, opened it, and shut it
behind him
. As she settled back down to wait, she could hear Yuri yelling for a long time afterward.
Several hours later, Eden heard the sound of her door jiggling again. She stood up for what felt like the thousandth time that day and
gazed
at the door expectantly. Sergeant Dale came inside,
looked
over his shoulder, and then shut the door behind him.
“
You okay?
”
Sergeant Dale asked.
“
I heard General Yuri came out of here riled up.
”
“
He didn
'
t like that Adanna had gone missing,
”
Eden said.
“
Thought maybe it had something to do with me.
”
“
Why on earth would he think
it had something to do with you
?
”
Sergeant Dale asked sarcastically.
“
Poor General. After you disappear, this is going to be the makings of a bad day for him.
”
“
Mmm,
”
Eden said, and she couldn
'
t help but feel bad for him
.
But she knew she wouldn
'
t go far
from him
. She wasn
'
t sure how, but once she was free of this prison, she was going to get Yuri to come with her back to Horace, the Angel continent. As for the other two souls, she wasn
'
t even sure
whe
re
to begin looking for them.
But I
'
m more than halfway now,
she reminded herself, frowning.
“
Change into these,
”
Sergeant Dale said, tossing her black pieces of clothes
which
smacked her straight in her face
and knocked her from her thoughts
.
She
gaze
d
down and saw the Demon outfit
:
a
pair of black pants
, a button up black shirt with golden buttons with an insignia of two swords crossed over open flames on the breast, and a black hat with a large visor.
The better to hide my eyes,
she realized. She kne
w her different colored
eyes
and her long, golden hair would be a big giveaway. She didn
'
t exactly look like the average Mary.
“
Do souls change the normal way?
”
she asked.
“
I find it hard to imagine a soul can
switch clothes
.
”
“
It
'
s a matter of perspective,
”
Sergeant Dale said.
“
You believe you can change, so you can. I
'
ve seen people alter their entire soul
'
s appearance easily because they got rid of the belief they couldn
'
t.
”
“
Really?
”
Eden said, running her hand
through
a strand of her golden hair. She loved her hair, but if it increased her chances of getting caughtâ¦
“
Yes,
”
Sergeant Dale said.
“
Now hurry up. I
'
m getting nervous. I doubt General Yuri is going to stay away from you for long.
”
“
Turn around,
”
Eden said. Dead or not, she still didn
'
t want Sergeant Dale looking at her naked.
Nodding, Sergeant Dale
whirled
around and faced the door. Eden seized her
T
-shirt, pulled it over her head, and then tossed it to the floor. Surprisingly, it didn
'
t sit on the floor like a normal shirt would have. It disintegrated as if it had never been there. Eden, gasping, tugged on
the
black shirt and buttoned up the golden buttons. She then pulled off her tight denim pants and pulled on the black ones. They bagged around her. She pulled the hat over her head and moved the visor so it dropped low over her eyes.
I look like
a unisex
American gangster.
Eden
gazed
down at herself, frowning. Did the other soldiers look
as silly as
she did?
Not that she had seen
. Maybe, instead of
blending in
, she stood out more.
“
You can turn around now,
”
Eden said.
Sergeant Dale
whipped
around and eyeballed her, scowling.
“
Did you eat when you were alive?
Those clothes were
the smallest size we have
and
they
still
bag
around you
.
”