Extinction (16 page)

      Chai didn’t speak
to me after that. I couldn’t sleep, eat or train and not even Erich could cheer
me up. It felt as if something had died inside of me. I was like the walking
dead. I carried this constant hurt inside of me. It was like the pain when Mom
died, but this was worse, because Chai was still alive and I saw him every
day. 

People’s attitude changed toward me. Word spread
about the test and Mrs. Richards even came and apologized to me. They didn’t
regard me suspiciously anymore, but I couldn’t care anymore. Only Emily
remained as obnoxious as ever and didn’t let a moment go by without making a sarcastic
remark about my childhood. Until yesterday when Arianna finally had enough and
pushed her against a wall and threatened to rip her intestines out. I thought
Gaios would stop her, but he folded his arms and gave Emily a frosty look. It
should’ve made me feel better, but it didn’t. It only hurt more. I couldn’t
believe we were once friends. One thing did change – I didn’t see Emily anymore
with Chai. I didn’t know what happened between them, but he avoided her almost
as much as I did and she wasn’t happy about it. 

I religiously kept helping in the kitchen, dragging
myself between my room and the mess hall. Other than that I didn’t leave my
room. I holed myself up in the colorless cubicle of a room. I didn’t even visit
my mother’s photo. Somehow even that was too painful for me to endure.

I headed to my room, feeling exhausted. My birthday
was coming up in three days and I was running out of excuses to not have a
birthday party. I didn’t feel like celebrating my birthday. The door to my room
slid open and I looked with surprise at the people inside the room waiting for
me. 

Eric was sprawled over my bed and Arianna was
perched on the side. Gaios sat on the chair next to the table and straightened
when he saw me.

“What’s going on?” I asked suspiciously. It couldn’t
be good if Erich and two aliens were waiting for me.

“This is an intervention,” Arianna announced and I
gave Erich a death- stare. This was all his doing; I could smell it from a mile
away.

“I’m not doing drugs,” I said annoyed and swatted Erich’s
legs away, so that I could sit on the bed. 

“Lexie, we’re worried about you.” Gaios was always
the reasonable one.

“I’m fine,” I groaned. I knew I wasn’t going to like
what they were going to say.

“You’re not fine,” Erich said smugly and I felt like
punching him.

“Look at you! You’re as pale as a freaking ghost and
you’re so thin, I swear people thinks Gaios is eating all your food,” Arianna
said.

“Okay, you’re here to tell me how bad I look. I have
a mirror.”

“We want to help you. We care about you. Erich isn’t
your only brother in this room. You are our family too. And by the gods, I’m
not going to sit by and watch you do this to yourself.” I stared in shock at
Gaios. I had never heard him speak so passionately. I didn’t realize he felt
like this about me. There was a lump in my throat.

“Gaios is right. You are family, like it or not. So
stop feeling sorry for yourself.”

 Arianna was right. I was feeling sorry for myself. The
Targon mind meld had brought back so many painful memories and adding Chai to
the equation, I felt like dying. I felt ashamed. I had given up hope when there
was so many that cared about me. I couldn’t explain to them how broken I felt. It
wasn’t just Chai, it was facing all the hate I grew up with, losing my mother,
feeling so helpless to help the people around me. I needed something to make me
feel whole again. 

“I’m sorry,” I said and tears welled in my eyes.

“No more crying,” Erich said and gave me a kick. “Today
you’re coming with us. So get changed.”

“Where are we going?”

“You’re going with us on patrol today.” Erich answered
and I inhaled sharply. The idea of seeing the outside world again, to feel the
sun on my skin was exhilarating. Maybe it was not a bad idea to go on patrol.

“It could be dangerous,” Gaios said as the voice of
reason. “We don’t want you in any danger. We’re just going to take a look
around at one of the buildings outside of Palasium. They noticed some movement
of the Guard in that area earlier this week. You’re going to tag along. You’ll
be careful and you won’t do anything stupid. If anything goes wrong, you’ll get
out of there. Is that clear?”

“Yes sir,” I answered and giggled at the pained face
he pulled at me.

     
Erich
insisted
that I wore a bulletproof vest. He gave me a gun and a knife that I had to wear
on me and made me promise to stay near the group at all times. Arianna had me
put on the Epsilon uniform and I had to admit I looked badass. Black suited me.
I struggled to fasten the clasps of the bulletproof vest as we waited at the
truck for the rest of the group. Slim fingers took the clasps from mine and
Chai pulled the straps tight and fastened them. My heart fluttered. Gaios
conveniently forgot to mention that Chai was coming too. I looked up and immediately
realized my mistake. I looked straight into his eyes and there was so much
emotion in them that I couldn’t look away. I kept staring at him and it felt
like I was lost at sea and he was the only thing keeping me afloat. 

“Stay close to me today, little one.” I wanted to
say something, anything to bridge this gaping hole between us, but the moment
was instantaneously lost when Emily’s shrill voice rang through the cavern
calling his name. Of course she was going too. Chai looked extremely annoyed
and muttered something under his breath, before he reluctantly strolled over to
her. He said something to her and her face contorted in anger. He stalked off
and Emily wandered over to me.

“He’s mine,” she hissed at me and kicked the bag I
was about to pick up, under the truck. 

“You can have him. I’ll l even provide the silver
platter,” I retorted. She quickly moved away as Arianna appeared around the
corner. 

     
The
sun shone bright
in the sky and I practically hung out
of the window trying to soak up every ray. Erich laughed at me and shook his
head. It’s been weeks since I last saw the sun or felt the wind on my skin and
I felt like laughing with pleasure. Not even Chai’s presence could damper my
spirit as I watched the endless dunes we passed. I never thought I would miss
seeing them every day. Chai was driving and I caught him staring at me in the
rear view mirror. I quickly looked away and focused on the rays of sun dancing
on my arm. There was another truck behind us and Emily was very verbal in her
annoyance when Chai ushered her inside the other truck. She didn’t want to be
separated from him. We were heading towards a half-finished warehouse a few
miles from Palasium. I couldn’t imagine why the Guard was suddenly so
interested in the building. Chai pulled the car to a stop and I couldn’t wait
to get out of the truck. I sighed in pleasure and scooped up a handful of sand
and let it run through my fingers. I tilted my head back and soaked up the sun
on my face.

Emily gave an unladylike snort behind me, but I
ignored her. Nothing could spoil this moment for me. Erich gave me a playful
shove and I smiled at him. It was the first time I smiled in days and I was
glad they let me come with them. Chai gave a few orders and they inspected the
perimeter. There were no Guards and the building looked totally deserted. Chai
and a couple of rebels went inside and when he returned he was frowning.

“They were definitely here. The place is stacked
with boxes of food and other supplies.” 

Erich and the others followed him inside to take a
look. For the first time the sun didn’t feel so warm anymore. I had a sinking
feeling in the pit of my stomach. Something about this place wasn’t right. I
knew Robert better than anyone else. He would never leave supplies out here in
the middle of nowhere and unguarded on top of it. Something caught my eye and I
wandered across the sand to where the sun glinted brightly of a silver object
lying in the sand. I bent and picked up a knife. I turned it in my hand and
squinted around me. Someone dropped it. I examined the sand around me and I saw
drag marks leading towards the nearest dune. Whatever made it, had to be still
around. The wind would have covered the tracks with sand by now. I turned
around to look at the building, but everyone was still inside. They hadn’t notice
that I wasn’t with them. For a moment I considered going back and telling them
what I found, but then I thought of Emily’s smug face and I turned back to
follow the tracks.

I followed the drag marks over several sand dunes
when I stumbled over something sticking out of the sand. I bent and wiped the
sand away with my hand from the object and then I jerked my arm away. Half
buried in the sand was the body of a Palasium soldier. His throat was slit and
sand stuck to the dried blood at his neck. I covered my mouth with my hand and
swirled around. I could see another half-buried body sticking out of the sand a
few inches away and I wanted to scream, but no sound came from my dry throat. I
needed to run away, to get far away from here, but I couldn’t move. I just kept
staring at the lifeless bodies of the soldier.

“What do we have here?”

I whirled and came face to face with a Scavenger. His
face was wrinkled and sunburnt and his chapped lips revealed a set of rotting
teeth. Long brown hair hung in oily streaks down his face and I swore I could
smell him from where I stood. 

“It’s the Minister’s daughter,” he continued. I felt
terrified as I noticed more Scavengers appearing from behind the dunes. It was
a trap and I walked straight into it. 

I pulled the gun from its holster, but the Scavenger
already took a step closer and slapped it from my hand and it flew across the
sand, too far for me to reach. There were at least five of them and I didn’t
stand a chance, not even with the training I had. I glanced at the sand dunes. I
couldn’t see the building anymore. Nobody knew where I was.

“If you let me go I can get you anything you want.” It
was worth a try to negotiate with them. I noted in my peripheral vision that
the others moved closer as I spoke.

“We want you, honey. There’s nice reward waiting for
us.” He grinned viciously at me and I shuddered. Of course Robert had something
to do with this.

“Don’t do this.” I couldn’t go back to Palasium. I
couldn’t go back to Robert and the Vandelrizi.

Laughter sounded around me. “Don’t worry honey. Your
father doesn’t care if you’re dead or alive. We will do you the favor and kill
you first.” He looked greedily at me. “But first we are going to have some fun
with you.” The others jeered in agreement.

I didn’t wait a second longer and sprinted towards
the dune I came from. His body slammed into mine and I hid the sand with a
thud. I spit out the sand in my mouth. The Scavenger laughed thunderously as he
stood over me. I crawled into a sitting position and my hand went to the knife
sheathed at my side.

“You are a pretty little thing,” he said with a
snarl and he bent toward me. I could smell the stench of his breath on my face.
I closed my eyes for a brief second before I slammed the blade of the knife
into his chest. His eyes went wide and he looked at me in surprise as if he
didn’t believe I actually had the guts to stab him. He grabbed the hilt of the
knife and pulled it from his chest, blood dripping from the blade.

“You’re going to pay for that!” he growled at me and
his fist connected with my jaw. 

Bright spots danced in front of my eyes and I had a
metallic taste in my mouth. He lunged at me and I felt the oppressing weight of
his body on mine and I closed my eyes. I gagged on the stench coming from him
so close to my face. I did the only thing I could think of. I thought of Chai,
conjuring up his face in my mind and I sent him a message. My only hope was
that we could still communicate with each other. Chai, please help me. 

One moment the Scavenger was still on top of me and
the next moment he was gone. I was too scared to open my eyes and I carefully
peeked through my lashes. Chai was standing a couple of feet in front of me.
His back was turned to me and the lifeless body of the Scavenger lay next to
him. He heard me. I wanted to cry and laugh at the same time. The other
Scavengers were circling him, armed with knives and sharpened metal pipes. Chai
stood perfectly still and waited for them to attack.  When the first one came
at him, he was ready and moved with deadly precision and snapped his neck.

He wasn’t alone for long. Erich came sprinting over
a dune. He gave me a quick look and rushed to help Chai, shooting a Scavenger in
the chest. Arianna and Gaios with the rest of the rebels appeared and I pulled
myself upright. I looked straight into Emily’s face. She stood with one hand on
her hip and watched the others fight the scavengers irately.

“If you want something done right, do it yourself,”
she muttered and gave me a look of pure hatred.

“You had something to do with this!” I stammered. It
couldn’t be true. Emily hated me, but she would never betray us like this.

“Who do you think set this whole thing up?” she
asked and smiled slyly. “You were supposed to be dead by now. I guess I’ll have
to do it myself.”