Tremble (Denazen #3)(28)

Like I could have prevented it.

“I should have tried harder to stop you. I should have made him take me instead.”

“You’re lying,” he said simply.

“I’m not.”

He grabbed my arm, stubby nails digging into the skin. A few moments later, a wash of cold hit me, starting in my arm where Kale’s fingers rested, then spread through my entire body. I refused to look. Keeping my eyes on him, I locked my jaw and waited for the pain.

It didn’t come. I wasn’t the only one surprised by this. Kale’s eyes widened, alternating between my face and arm. “What—”

It went against every one of those little voices in my head, but I forced myself to look down—and wished to hell I hadn’t. The skin beneath Kale’s fingers was blackened, darkest at the center, getting lighter as it fanned down my arm. Just under the surface, a mass of black twitched and churned, making it look like a swarm of something moshed to a death-metal symphony beneath my skin.

“You should be screaming,” he said matter-of-factly, and a small part of me wanted to smile. It was the kind of simple statement that my Kale would have made. Blunt and to the point.

“It’s part of the Supremacy drug’s side effects. It just means I’m going to end up like the others.” It was the first time I’d admitted it out loud. There was something freeing about it. “Crazy, then dead.”

“Why haven’t you tried to run? You wouldn’t get far, of course. The only reason you got away from me last night, and in the garage, was because I let you. Your actions are confusing. You may not be able to feel it, but you must know I can kill you. Dead is dead.” He removed his arm, the expression on his face one of genuine interest.

I watched, relieved when the black mark faded. “I’m hoping you don’t kill me.”

“But why would you risk it? Do you have a death wish?” He shook his head. “There are easier ways to die.”

“No death wish,” I said. “I guess the truth is I really don’t believe that you’ll kill me.”

“I’ve been told to.” He unlocked the phone and stared at the picture of us on the screen. With his index finger, he traced the outline of my head, frowning. “At first they wanted me to bring you in. Marshal was convinced you would tell them what they wanted to know about the Underground. They changed their mind, though. I was given the order this morning that you needed to be terminated immediately.”

“Why do you think that is, Kale?”

He looked up from the phone, eyes burrowing straight through me. “Stop saying my name.”

“Why?”

“Because, I… Just stop it!”

I held both hands up in surrender. “Okay.”

He took a deep breath, then settled back in the seat and glanced at the cell. “They think you’re going to jeopardize what they’re doing.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

The question seemed to confuse him, which in turn made him angry. “I’m not sure.”

I gripped the steering wheel tightly. The leather was peeling at the top and I picked at it with my thumbnail. “So by jeopardizing what they’re doing, you mean killing innocent kids?”

“These people are anything but innocent. Some are dangerous and lack self-control. The others will soon be the same way. They’re a menace and need to be stopped.”

“Not long ago, you lacked control,” I fired back. “They considered you a menace.”

He looked at me like I’d just recited the alphabet in Elvish. “I’ve always had control over my gift.”

Gift? If he could only see the wrongness of what he’d just said. Kale never considered his ability anything other than a curse. Something that kept him separated from the rest of the world. “The ones who have become dangerous are only that way because they’re sick. They don’t need to be killed. They need to be cured.”

“Marshal said there was only enough to cure Roz.”

More than anything, I wanted to shake him and scream that there wasn’t a Roz. She was a figment. A thing made up to blot me out. But there was no point. Not yet, at least. Nothing I said would get through the wall they’d created. “There isn’t much, but we’re sure there’s more.”

He was silent for a moment. “And what if there is? What will you do with it?”

“Cure them,” I snapped. “What else?”

“You said there wasn’t much left. How will you choose who lives and who dies? There are several left. Surely there isn’t enough for everyone.”

I didn’t know if Mom and Dax would have any luck with their names, but we hadn’t found many alive. Still, there were bound to be some. Ginger confirmed at least that much. If we didn’t find this Penny person but managed to get our hands on Dad’s reserves, there wouldn’t be enough for us all.

“I won’t have to choose. You were told to terminate me immediately, remember? Speaking of which, why haven’t you?”

His lip twitched with the smallest hint of a smile. There and gone. Boom. “I thought you said you didn’t have a death wish.”

“I don’t, but you said you had orders. You’ve made it clear you don’t trust me—or believe what I’ve told you. So why not just do it?”