Through Glass(70)

“You can’t leave, Alexis.” He was begging, but I didn’t care, not anymore. I let his pleads wash over me like rain water, cold and then forgotten.

“That girl, Bridget, she said the Tar turn the ones that they take. She said they experiment on them and then they turn them. Is it true?”

“Yeah.” His voice was hesitant and I knew at once. He had probably figured out where I was going long before I had.

“Just like you would do to me, when I turn?”

“Yeah.” I barely heard him. I could tell the truth of what I was telling him was hitting harder than I expected.

“I want to save him.”

“You can’t, Alexis,” he said, his voice a narrow line as he pulled me back into him. His arms wrapped around me, like his embrace alone would be enough to keep me here.

“I can; saving doesn’t always mean rescue. They sent Sarah to me—to kill me—and I killed her. They will send Cohen to me, too, and then I can save him. I can set him free.”

I looked toward the wall, knowing there was something beyond them, a way out, a chance to get out. I stared at the wall, knowing I needed to find a way beyond the stone.

I guess in one way, I was right. Travis was my weapon. If only to escape this place.

“Lex…”

“I can’t stay here, Travis.”

“I know,” he sighed and I had a feeling he knew that all along. Not that I wouldn’t be able to stay here, but that they wouldn’t let me live.

“You can’t let them kill me.”

“I won’t let them.”

“I guess that’s something,” I said into his shoulder, my body sinking into him as I found the comfort I had forgotten I had been missing.





They put me in shackles before they led me toward the people who I was sure had already decided upon my death.

It had only been a few minutes after Abran had left that he’d returned, the shackles in his hands as he announced a verdict to be met.

The heavy metal rings hung heavily over my emaciated wrists, the metal loose enough that I could probably squeeze through them if I tried. I wasn’t even sure where they had found them. The weird metal rings looked more archaic than modern, and even in the destroyed darkness of our current world, they seemed medieval. Instead of a single ring on each wrist, there were two, floating opposite of each other, the gap between them making it look like something should be slid between them.

I was led down the brightly lit hallway of whatever prison I had been enclosed in. I hadn’t seen a light this bright since the darkness came. It was brighter than the fire that had been my sanctuary only days before. The brightness of the light seeped into my skull and burned my retinas so I kept my eyes closed, relying on Travis’s hands to guide me down the halls. I wanted to announce that I wasn’t turning to ash in the light—that I was still safe—but I had a feeling that no one would care.

His hand was hard against my arm, they wrapped around me in obvious fear that someone may simply swoop in and rip me away from him. Judging by what he had said to me earlier, I knew it was probable.

I snuck another peek at the white hallway before I closed my eyes again, the bright light shooting pain into my already throbbing skull.

I dragged one foot in front of the other as my muscles throbbed and pulsed. The stressful strain of my chest only making the pain worse.

Travis’s hand tightened around my arm and everything inside of me followed suit. We were getting close. I listened to the hollow click of everyone’s footsteps as we moved from one hallway into another, the whisper of hundreds of angry voices began to filter down to us, the intensity growing the closer to them that we moved.

The sound of the crowd was the angry whisperings of a mob. The hissing sounds sunk into me like a predator preparing to sink its teeth into its prey. The muscles in my back knit together in stress as I heard them, the sound now echoing in my ears so loudly that I couldn’t hear the tap of our shoes against the floor.

I wanted to run—turn tail and flee—but I had seen the bright green guns being carried by the men who escorted us, they wouldn’t let me get so far as two steps past them. Unless, of course, Travis stopped them, which I had no doubt he would try. Even then, I couldn’t let him die for me.

I wasn’t that far gone. As much as they thought me a monster, I knew that I was not.

So, I continued forward, unwillingly forward, to the crowd that would decide if I was to become a science experiment or plant food.

I exhaled shakily, trying to get some of my stress to dissipate. Travis’s arms snaked around my back as he pulled me to him, his intent to keep me safe obvious.

We must be there.

I opened my eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the thankfully dimmer light as we walked into a cavernous room.

We had walked onto the floor of a large room, the rectangular floor surrounded by levels of carpeted risers, each one crammed with hundreds of angry, disheveled people. They began to yell and throw things the moment I was led into the space.

The noise level continued to increase the further I was led into the room; men, women and children screaming at me like I had mass murdered the world all on my own. I watched them, wide-eyed, as object after object was thrown in my direction. Travis stepped in front of me in his attempt to keep them from hitting me.

Suddenly, Abran’s hatred of me from before made sense. It wasn’t just him, it was everyone. Everyone hated me. The knowledge reawakened that cold fear that I had been trying so hard to keep at bay, it trickled through me and I shrunk into myself, my jaw squaring as I tried not to let the fear turn into anger. I could already feel it growing inside of me, trying to break free.