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“I like facts,” Jorik said, not taking the bait of Rix’s teasing. “I like knowing about the past, and the path that lead us to this shit-show of a world we’re in now. It can help you predict how things will go in the future. Everything in life is cyclical. You just have to figure out when the circle is going to start again.” He got an almost whimsical look about him. “I also love the smell of books. Not gonna lie.”
Rix snorted. “I can tell you right now what lead to the plague of all plagues that nearly wiped out our entire species. Greed. Duh. There, I just saved you hours of reading.”
“Hardly,” Jorik said blandly. “But yes, is all does boil down to greed. But the ice caps melting, the ocean over-heating, the extreme weather conditions, the change of geographical topography … there’s so much more to it.” He glanced around for a moment. “If we dove off this boat right now with diving goggles on, you’d see the remnants of towering trees, woodlands and more. Everything that is underwater now,wasn’troughly two hundred years ago. These bluffs were way higher before, possibly even mountains. The fact that youdon’tfind that interesting is sad.” Despite the depressing topic, Jorik’s green eyes glittered with excitement as he spoke with confidence, relaying his findings to an obviously bored Rix and an overwhelmed me.
“New, less morose topic, please,” Rix said. “The entire world, and all the life forms on it are on the brink of mass extinction, we get it. Which is why we got our asses free and plan to live life to the fullest, until a meteor blows up the planet, or the aliens come to enslave us all.”
Jorik merely scoffed, then took another sip of water from the canteen. My eyes were glued to enormous bicep and the way the muscles just popped as he bent his arm.
Rix cleared his throat and I jumped where I sat, quickly averting my eyes to the deck of the boat. Thankfully, Rix didn’t chuckle, or draw any attention to my momentary catatonic state.
I’m sure it was just harmless fascination. I’d just never seen muscles that big before. Commander Moord had big arms, too, but they were twigs compared to Jorik’s.
The two of them were sitting on either side of the door, their backs against the wall, one leg bent, the other out straight. Dried blood still marred their arms, faces, and hands, and yet they both looked incredibly relaxed.
“Ask it, Wildcat,” Rix said with a yawn.
“Ask what?” I replied, startling and quickly moving my gaze away from his chest to the water on the port side.
“Whatever has you making that scrunched brow.” He sounded almost bored but not unkind.
Where to start?
I had so many questions.
Where had they been? What kind of missions had they been on? Where in the world had they traveled? Why hadn’t they ever tried to escape before? Where did they plan to go now that they were free?
I knew why they had to return after a mission; that threat was drilled into us on day one of training. At the start of every mission, a “kill switch” was temporarily placed at the top of our spines—or it would be if I’d been on a mission—and if we defected, the Commander would activate the switch. I’d heard of a few soldiers that had decided to give up their life on their own terms rather than go back to a life of servitude and senseless killing, but most returned, even if it was still against their will.
Thankfully, though, those switches were removed as a sign of “trust” when a soldier returned from a mission. So since none of us had been getting ready for a mission, it was safe to say that we didn’t have any kill switches at the top of our spines.
“I’ll start,” Jorik said, scratching his chest, not like he was itchy but just … looking for something to do with his hand. He settled his gaze on me. “What’s the plan here, Angel? Now that you’re free, where are you going? You’ve been raised in a cage, and not to insult youtoomuch, but I don’t know how many domesticated pets survive in the wild. You have to have had a plan.”
Unease shifted between him and Rix for a moment. Their gazes stayed on me, but the way they blinked and their postures straightened said they were gearing up for me to announce some kind of betrayal. That this was all a stunt and I was secretly Moord’s lapdog, ready to turn them in to the big bad Commander.
“I can’t say,” I said after several breaths. After all, these three were mercenaries. We all were, technically. Sent out on assassination missions, and I was pretty sure they’d been sent out to kill people who sure as heck didn’t deserve it.
“Ain’t got nothing to hide from us,” Rix said, relaxing again but only slightly. His brown eyes softened. “Your blood runs through our veins. We have the same skills you do, only ours are honed for the outside world. I can hear your heart beating like a hamster’s. Can smell your sweat.” His tongue slid across his bottom lip, and I was drawn to watch it, drawn to his mouth and the way his lips moved as he spoke. “What’s the plan?”
If Neffers was dead, I had no idea how to enact the next step of the plan. No way to meet up with those I was supposed to meet.
Maybe these three could help me?
Or maybe they’d put a stop to it. Maybe they were planted here by Moord—or Moord’s boss—to stop what Neffers was taking me to do?
I swallowed, still staring at Rix’s mouth.
“You don’t trust us,” Jorik said softly. It wasn’t a question.
“I don’t know you,” I replied plainly, though my pulse continued to race and sweat coated my palms.
The way their noses twitched said they smelled my fear, and I knew they could feel my heart rate.
Rix’s mouth arched into a lopsided smile. “If we wanted you dead, Haina, you’d be dead.”
“Unless I’m more useful alive … until I’m not.” I hugged my knees to my chest and held on to them. “This could all be one big … orchestrated plan to…”
Rix hitched a brow. “To what?”
