I shake my head and force my attention off the land to my surroundings nearby. The ground below me is fairly flat, but there are crevices that weave in and out of the surface that drops down. If it was dark, those crevices would be death traps. Death. Sylas. He asked me to kill him and I didn’t. I let him turn into a beast.
“Stop thinking about it,” I mutter to myself.
My palms are sweaty and covered with dirt, so I wipe them on my jeans to clean them off. There’s a small rock on the ground next to my feet. I pick it up and throw it over the side of the cliff, watching it fall until it hits the bottom and breaks apart like I’m about to.
I can feel it. I can feel. My emotions are going haywire and I don’t know how to turn them off. God, what the hell do I do?
“You need to turn off your emotions,” Monarch tells me. “They will ruin you—what you need to do.”
I watch as he urges a young boy behind the red door, pushing on his back. The boy refuses to go, though, and Monarch has to grab him and drag him in, his body leaving a trail of blood on the floor as he disappears into the room.
“What if I can’t?” I ask Monarch as he stands in the doorway, wiping the blood off his hands onto his white coat. “What if I don’t want to?”
He looks angry, but it’s quickly replaced by calmness as he sighs. “I know that it’s difficult, Kayla, but you have to remember it’s for the greater good. The cruelties you suffer through will turn you into the strong person you need to become.”
I know he’s probably right, but it feels wrong. Still, even though it hurts, I bury the pain deep inside me; shove it down into a box and lock it away inside. Then I turn towards the red door, knowing what he wants me to do; preparing to take my next victim because that’s what will make me become a stronger person in the future.
The sound of rocks tumbling rips through the memory and my eyes fly open. Springing to my feet, I span my arms out to the sides and turn in a circle, searching the land and cliff for any movement. There’s nothing around other than dirt and rocks, so I brush the dirt off my pants then decide I should probably return to the others and stop running away from the problem.
I trek back to the edge of the rock so I can climb back down. Lowering my body, I ready to jump off the ledge, knowing the fall won’t hurt me. But as I’m about to bend my knees, I hear something.
Thump… Thump.
I pause and hear it again.
Thump... Thump.
I tense, crouched down, feeling movement behind me. Someone or something is back there; something with a heartbeat. I spin around to the side as I hear the noise again, but I can’t see anything. I whirl in the other direction and hear the thump again. It’s coming from the side of me, down in one of the crevices in the rock.
I carefully make my way over to the edge, keeping my senses on high alert. I can smell and taste the dirt, feel the heat of the air, feel my hyperawareness as I peer down into the crevice just over the edge.
The gap is rather deep and burrows down into the rock, but I can see movement in its shadows.
Thump…Thump... Thump… Thump.
The rhythm is steady and strong; I’m almost positive it’s human. “Whoever you are, show yourself,” I yell, my voice echoing down into the gap in the rock
Fear is radiating off them—I can feel it—and it makes me less afraid, if that makes any sense. I get down on my stomach and stick my head into the gap. “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you.”
A girl’s voice answers me, “How do I know that you aren’t a monster trying to trick me?”
“If I was a monster, I’d be down in the shadows with you,” I say, trying not to roll my eyes. “Not out in the sun. I wouldn’t be talking to you, either.” I scoot closer to the edge to try and get a better view of her.
“You have a point,” she yells up to me. Rocks tumble down the hole as a figure starts to climb up the side through the shadows.
When she reaches the top, I grab her hand and pull her out of the hole. Standing up, I hoist her to her feet and out into the sun.
She’s taller than me, although she’s about my age. Her skin is tanner than mine and her hair is black and coiled into small strands that hang down from her head. She’s wearing a dark shirt and pants, carrying a small pack on her back. Plus, in her hand is a sharp dagger, and when she gets her footing, she aims the tip at my throat.
“You lied. You’re not human,” she says warily. Her hand holding the dagger trembles. “What are you? And how do I know I can trust you?”
“You’re right. I’m not human, but I’m not a vampire, either,” I tell her, stepping away from the tip of the knife, even though I doubt she’s going to use it on me. “But I did come from The Colony… there’s actually more of us around.” I pause, assessing her over. “Did you get thrown out of The Colony in The Gathering or have you been out for a while.”
She doesn’t answer; instead she studies me over for a moment. Then she relaxes as she lowers the dagger and puts it into the bag. “Sorry about that, but you can never be too careful.” She pauses. “My name is Nichelle.”
I don’t give her my name. I’m too cautious of her. “You didn’t answer my question. Did you just get sent up from The Colony?”
Her forehead creases. “No... I came from a town off in the distance.” She points over her shoulder at the hills and desert behind her.
“A town? What? You mean another colony?” I have no idea what she’s talking about. A town? Maybe she’s insane.
She nonchalantly shrugs. “Town, Colony, I think they mean the same thing.”
My jaw drops in shock because I can tell she’s not lying—feeling she’s telling the truth—which means Sylas was right; there are other colonies. How many are there? And how can they survive out in this wasteland?
“Hey, are you all right?” Nichelle asks, inching closer to me and snapping me out of my stupor.
“I’m fine,” I tell her, but I’m still in shock. All this time there were other colonies. Are they better than the one I lived in? Are there rules? “I just didn’t realize that there were others besides us.”
“It’s hard to believe, huh?” She smiles and I’m not sure how to react to her cheerful demeanor. “The members of The Colony forget that there is a whole world out here with people and everything.”