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My heart stings and I rub the thin skin over it as I kneel at the edge of the river — well, thewater, as pitiful as it is. My space blanket’s under me, stopping the mud from seeping through the knees of my pants, but not the cold as I try my best to rinse the nasty dead rabbit stench out my clothes. It’s slow going in the shallow, muddy pool.
I was able to trade some dried rabbit for a hunk of soap before I left Trash City early that morning. The vendor took pity on me. Well, his wife did. She took one whiff of me and tossed a scrap of soap my way. I only offered her the dried rabbit Merlin let me keep and that her husband had not so politely declined afterward. Even as small a chunk as it is, it’s a gift. I haven’t had access to soap in a long time. Much longer than six weeks…
A twig snaps in the forest behind me and I freeze, fully prepared to abandon everything in my possession and run…but it’s nothing. There’s nothing there. Nothing…but Fear. I release the frozen air in my lungs and go back to scrubbing and, as I do, I remind myself what Merlin told me. The Alphas battling yesterday had moved further west — those that survived, anyway, and it didn’t look like many had according to her. Even for a Beta, she seemed way too excited by that fact.
I didn’t ask follow ups. I just formed a plan to head south to the Way Station. An informal Beta trading post just north of the Mirage City ports, it’s my best shot at stocking up on supplies. I plan to hunt as many animals as I can on my way down, press more oil, gather more herbs, berries — whatever the frick I need to in order to be able to barter. I need hardware — tools, better knives, another fire starter.But Iwantbread.Fuck,I want bread.No. Bread’s a luxury I can’t afford.
After I stock up on stuff I actually need, I’ll come up with a new plan. Maybe, I’ll go east and try to make it past the trolls over Paradise River, around Dark City to the plains. Even though they still call it Paradise Hole and say it’s just as dangerous and inhospitable as this swampy forest or the marshlands furth south or the brutal ice world north of Glass City, at least it’ll be warm. Dry and warm. I’m sick of the wet and the cold.
A shiver racks my body at the thought and I glance up, my shoulders slumping against the barely there breeze. I look up, past the spindly black trees reaching endlessly for a forgotten sun. Their branches are all gnarled, like the fingers of the dead clawing out of their graves. If you manage to survive the climb past them, you can reach dry land up the mountain, but only the desperate or idiots are that brave.
Alpha gangs live up there, those who reject city life or were exiled and formed dangerous marauding communities of their own. Passing around the base of Gang Mountain is dangerous enough. The only thing more dangerous would have been heading for the Ganjor mountains up north with the lack of supplies I have, or east directly into Dark City. I hear the young Berserker there is dying for an Omega. Any Omega’ll do. Just one that will cement his power after he killed the last Berserker of Dark City and took over rule.
It won’t be me, though.
As clean as they’ll ever be, I get up and hang yesterday’s clothes on a few low branches above the small fire crackling in my metal fire pit. I drag my muddy space blanket over to it too, sit down and hold my feet up towards the flames.
Worry has me gnawing on my lower lip. My rabbit-skin shoes aren’t holding up in the damp soil and they’ll hold up even worse in the marshes, the closer I get to Paradise River. I glance up Gang Mountain at the sound of a faraway scream carried on the wind…or maybe it was just the wind. I shiver. Yeah. Just the wind. I return my focus to my shoes but as I tip my chin down, a flash of light pulls my attention to the dark forest to my left. I twist my upper body to look and meet the enormous eyes of a beast.
I sit and watch it in stunned disbelief. Time passes. Enough time that my heart starts to thump like boots on a gangplank, slow…but heavy. Inevitably doomed. I don’t look away from its eyes and it doesn’t look away from me as it just sits there, watching. A goddamn beast.
No, a goddamn Berserker.
The creature is massive, larger than a rhino, nearing the size of an elephant. He’s got huge back legs and even more massive front legs with weighted fists the size of my backpack — when it’s full, which it hasn’t been for a while — dripping off of the ends of each. He’s got claws. I can’t see them now, buried as they are in the mud on the other side of the piddly little river, but I know they’re there.
His head is the size of a big ugly boulder and his eyes are each the size of my fists. Small compared to the rest of him, I can still see those eyes in the dark by their gleam. Their shiny centers are surrounded by liquid gold that shimmers in the firelight. He has a flat snout and beneath it, his enormous mouth hangs open. Silver venom drips from all of his knife-like teeth.
I take him in, all of him, as I sit there and wonder how in the universe he found me. I was told the Alphas had dispersed. Nobody mentioned any Berserkers. Why would they have? Berserkers are lords who sit high and mighty in their glass castles. They send other Alphas to do their dirty work. I know I would if I had that option. I’dnevercome into Paradise Hole. Not for anything. No matter how valuable and I’m nothing valuable except for a symbol of status he can show off at parties. I don’t have an ounce of magic in me.
My gaze darts away from him quickly, just long enough to be able to make sure he’s alone. He is. I don’t let that rattle me. The fact that he must have killed all the other Alphas who’d come hunting for me means nothing. Yeah…nothing at all.
I grab the edge of my bag and the Berserker, from so far away, flares his nostrils. I jump, but don’t let that deter me. Instead, I focus on my waterproof bag. I pull it onto my lap and reach into it blindly, knowing exactly where everything is without sight.
I locate the handle of my knife and grab onto it. I’m going to have to be fast because yes, Merlin was right — Iamgoing to die soon — but it’s not going to be in some Alpha City dungeon or chained to a Berserker’s bed. I promised myself a long time ago, I’d never let it get that far.
I take in a deep breath and the Berserker beast shifts. His eyes flare, the gold darkening to deep brown or black. That darkness bleeds across the gold like ink swirling through water. And then he shakes his massive head. A low growl tumbles out of his throat and his Mohawk’s brown and blonde fur ripples. I get the sense he’s condemning me already, but it doesn’t matter. As of now, I don’t have to obey.But if he bites me, all that changes…
“An Omega is nothing but a toy.”That’s what November said to me right after she threw me out of the compound.
“I won’t be.”
“You won’t have a choice. It’s biology. Once the first Alpha scents you, he’ll bite you, bond you, and you’ll be done. You won’t be you. You’ll be his.”
“Then I’ll die.”
“Yes. You will either way.”
My body is pulsing in a way it only has once before, right when my Omega instinct first flared. Then, it was hot and bright and painful enough to pull me out of sleep and off of my bed, but it only lasted a few minutes. Just long enough for me to know it was there. But now it lingers underneath my skin, making it feel too thin, like I’m not full of butterflies, but full of maggots, already halfway to the grave.
The Berserker drops his head. My hand firms around the hilt of my knife and his shimmery fur ripples again as his forearm muscles engage. He slinks forward, splashing into the water with a sense of finality that has me tensing my abs and holding my breath.
The Berserker moves at the same time I do. He’s already in motion, charging me as quickly as a lightning strike, but he’s not going to be fast enough. I have the knife out of my bag and take a deep breath. I ignore the horrible way my skin sizzles and the way my pulse pounds through me to the beat of his steps, shaking the whole damn world. My Omega instinct are kicking, demanding submission.
Never.
I roll my left thigh out, feel for my pulsing artery through my three layers of pants. He’s almost on me… He takes a flying leap. I stab straight down in a motion I’ve practiced many, many times. I don’t even close my eyes and the shock of it — seeing the blade sinking into my skin so easily — makes me slow to react when he lands on the ground next to my frozen feet.
My good buddy Pain doesn’t even have time to comfort me before the Berserker’s huge paw slams down on my shin. I expect to feel the slash of claws and Pain soon after, but as he touches me, his paw transforms seamlessly into a man’s meaty fist. Tan, white fingers dig into my calf as he wrenches my body towards him. The space blanket crinkles angrily underneath me while he continues his transformation, becoming fully Alpha by the time my torso flies back leaving me sprawling over the dirt.
