31
Julia
The gunshot reverberates through the air behind me; it cracks off the tall pines like a whip. The sound is so much louder than I would have ever expected. My choice to run will haunt me for the rest of my life.
I’m on the ground before I know how I got there. Stones and twigs dig into my knees and palms. I inhale dust, fighting to keep from coughing.
“That’s far enough, Julia,” William says. He’s calm yet loud enough to be heard all around me. “I did warn you.”
I turn around slowly to see Lincoln on the ground. Dark liquid pools around his lifeless form.
Lincoln! God, no. Please no.
Tears sting my eyes. My fingers dig into the ground so hard the dirt jams under my nails. The metallic zing of blood fills my mouth from biting my lip. Anguish rips through me, breaking my heart. Nathaniel. What will he do when he finds out? Poor Lincoln. Poor Nathaniel … all because of me …
“The next bullet is for you. Please understand that this is not a game.” William makes his way to me easily. I didn’t get very far. All pretense is gone. Disgust curls his lip as he looks down on me.
He pulls me to my feet by my hair. “Get up.” His grip is bruising as he tugs me forward. He grunts a little from the action and I pray that Lincoln’s final blow caused William internal bleeding.
“It’s only a little way from here,” he says.
I always dreamed I’d be strong in a harrowing situation. I played out scenarios in my head a thousand times where I would do the right thing in the moment. But I’m not brave at all. I’m terrified. I’ve killed Lincoln. I didn’t think … I just … I’m so sorry. I’m so weak. I do as William says because I don’t know what else to do. I still want to find others like me. At this point, they may need help.
My body convulses with tremors as he roughly drags me into the old factory. We pass the room I went off in so many times toward an old cave entrance I never knew about. More signs warn about entering.
I think I might be in shock. I’m unable to focus on a single thought. My limbs have gone numb. I’m stumbling to keep up. Before too long we are deep in a cave.
“Where are we going?” I stumble as the trail narrows and descends steeply.
“Just a little further.”
We walk another few minutes. The air is damp and decayed as the walls come closer and closer. He has to tuck his head to walk. My powers aren’t working as well here. It’s like trying to lift something that’s been weighted down with wet sand. I can do it, but it’s taking more effort than it should.
Maybe it’s the shock wearing me out.
I’m relieved in a weird way when we reach a circular vault-like door. Maybe not everything he spews is a lie. It’s old steel, corroded from time. He gestures for me to open it, the gun still pointed at me. It takes leveraging my foot against the wall to pry it open. The squeak of the hinges echoes loudly. It won’t open any further, stuck only a few feet wide. He shoves me through and follows. The skin is tender at the base of my skull where the gun is pressed.
Inside an automatic light flicks to life, humming with old energy. I can’t make out how big the room is; my eyes don’t seem to be working as well in this low light, but based on how long shuffles take to echo back, it’s pretty cavernous. The cement walls and floor are dusty and the air smells of stagnation. The little hope I have crashes when it’s clear nobody has been working here for decades.
Have I really been so naively hopeful that I took his lies as truth? So desperate for any chance I wasn’t all alone in the world?
All hope drains out of me. I feel icy—more hopeless and alone than I have ever felt.
“There are no others.” I don’t know why I say it out loud. I just need to know. Put the final nail in the coffin.
“No, there are. Other freaks like you,” he says but he can’t hide the disgust in his voice.
So is that where he’s taking me? Are they down here? I imagine cages. Women like me being poked with sticks or shocked with electrodes.
“They just aren’t here.” Abruptly he points the gun at me.
I shove my back against the wall. The single light near us flickers in and out feebly, casting long shadows in flashes, like monsters in the night that pop up and melt away.
In one of the darker moments, I scuttle to the side.
“Don’t drag out the inevitable,” he says.
I’m out of the reach of the light. He squints to try to find me. I take another step but my foot hits a puddle and his head shoots in my direction. The gun is aimed at me now too. I track him in the dark, but it seems to drain me like never before.
