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I watched Ice for a few seconds longer. He’d carve the Leviathan into their forehead to make an example out of them. They should have thought twice about trespassing.
The Savages had claimed this place years ago. Once something became ours, we never gave it back.
With this dumb fuck handled, I turned to go deal with the girl.
CHAPTER FOUR
The sun fell from the sky in the blink of an eye, leaving behind a seemingly infinite darkness. There was no moon or stars to help guide the way, forcing me to rely on my basic senses.
I couldn’t hear anything but raindrops hitting the trees and earth. My hair was plastered to my head. The thick locks had become a mess I didn’t bother trying to detangle. I simply shoved them out of my face so I could at least pretend I knew where I was going.
The white gown I had on was ruined. It clung to my skin, doing nothing to ward off the chill needling my bones. As my feet squelched and slipped across muddied terrain, soggy soil was forced between my toes, coating them in thick, cold clumps.
Turning back wasn’t an option. All I could do was continue moving forward. That task alone was one of the hardest things I’d ever done. My body begged for rest, but my mind knew I couldn’t afford that. Even the growling of my stomach had ceased.
The upside of all this was that the storm would wash away my scent if the Cardinal brought out his hounds. I hadn’t seen or heard anyone pursuing me, but that didn’t mean anything.
There was no way A.R.C would simply let me go.
Sweeping aside a bushel of large leaves, I squeezed between them and a contorted tree trunk and emerged into a small clearing, spotting what looked like a road just a few feet away.
It was straight through a narrow passage. I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. Fortunately, the scenery remained unchanged. It may not have been wise to be out in the open, but being lost in the woods wasn’t much better.
I wrapped my arms around my middle and shuffled onward, leaving behind the semi shelter of trees and foliage. I would’ve kept going if I knew which way to go. I hadn’t thought too much about what would be lying beyond all of this. One thing was for sure, we’d been led to believe lies.
Rot. Decay. Barren wasteland.
That’s how the Badlands was described in my daily lessons. I didn’t remember it being that way before I was taken to A.R.C.
Now I could see with my own two eyes that the only truth to that was how empty it was. The road I was standing on seemed as if it stretched for endless miles in both directions, leading right into more darkness.
Since I had been with A.R.C for the past eight years, I couldn’t remember where I had lived before then or my exact surroundings, but there had to be more than this screaming silence.
Where’d all the other people live? Where had all those strangers come from before they stumbled upon the covenant?
A flash of lightening illuminated a fence that had once surrounded the overgrown field on the other side.
It was now barely standing. If I followed that, it might lead to some sort of civilization. Hopefully.
I crossed the asphalt and moved into the tall grass, deciding to go right. I walked for ten to fifteen minutes before another burst of light flashed overhead.
Through the rain, I could see the outline of two buildings up ahead, one larger than the other. As the light faded from the sky, the darkness threatened to swallow them up.
I broke into a slow jog, the jingle of a chain and slight weight on my wrist reminding me I was still wearing handcuffs. I slowed when I neared the end of a driveway, breathing in with my mouth and out through my nose to slow my pulse.
The asphalt ended at the turnoff point, becoming a mess of mud. Closer than I’d been before, I was able to see the buildings were nothing more than an older house and a barn.
There wasn’t any light coming from either. It could have been because whoever lived here had no electricity, but both abodes were skeletal and had telltale signs of abandonment.
I took a few steps towards them, grimacing as my feet were once again sucked down into cold, thick sludge. Continuing up the drive, I couldn’t believe that neither structure had succumbed to the beckoning lure of gravity.
The barn was missing a decent portion of its roof, and with every blow of wind its walls shuddered, making the depleted home my choice for the night.
There was something painted on the front door, a symbol of sorts. Since it didn’t look like it opened, I bypassed the porch altogether. I doubted I would find food or water here, but it was only a temporary shelter until morning.
I circled around, relieved to see there was another way in. Approaching the rear entrance, I hesitated a minute before trying to go inside. Something told me not to enter, a feeling in the pit of my gut. I shook it off and proceeded to open the door, gently.
The wood had become soft and hollow from neglect. I worried if I blasted right through the whole thing would break in two. As expected, the inside was the poorest excuse of a home I could imagine. I inhaled a heavy tincture of mildew and screwed up my nose.
