Chapter Two
Anya
I hate the city.
I hate the smell of it. The putrid smell of rot never fully goes away. Blue
trash cans stand on the corner of the streets, with trash all around them. Not just the trash is rotting though, so are the people. You can see them
everywhere, laying in various stages of death, all over the city. The rot and
the filth can’t be avoided, but humans are quick to adapt. They just step over the limp bodies that were unfortunate enough to fall. For today, at least it wasn’t them.
Things were especially bad in our part of the city. My two sisters and I had
been here for almost two months already. I really hoped Verdas had the injection ready soon so we could be free of this disgusting, dying place.
I held my breath as I made my way down the narrow alleyway to our small
apartment. A woman sat quietly in the shadows outside the door, a man lay beside her but he looked to be dead already. Before I could turn the knob I heard myname being called.
“Anya!” I looked up to see a tall scrawny man with light blond hair hurrying
towards me. He kept his hands shoved in his pockets, probably cradling a gun of some sort. My eyes narrowed as he approached me.
“What are you doing here Garret?” I didn’t bother to pretend happiness at
seeing him.
“Came to give you a message.”
“What is it?” I hoped he didn’t see my spine stiffen.
“Ryan wants to see you tonight.”
“I can’t.”
“He said to tell you,” he looked down at the woman but she hadn’t moved at
all, “that he looks forward to seeing you.”
Translation: I didn’t have a choice. “8?”
“At the shed.”
I nodded once and turned away without waiting for him to say anything else. I only allowed myself a sigh after I heard him leave. I had promised Raven I
wouldn’t see Ryan again or… I bit hard on the inside on the inside of my lip. I
had no choice. I just wouldn’t tell Raven were I was going.
She would see right through any kind of lie I told her, so I would just have
to leave without telling her anything. I almost groaned out loud. It was hard to keep things from Raven. We had been together for too long. It would be
thirty-seven years soon, I realized.
On an impulse I turned to look out the wide, dirty window on the front door.
It looked like an old black and white war photo I thought dismally, but there
was no sign of garret. “Don’t feel sorry for yourself,” I heard Nadia’s voice
from my memories. She was always the one to keep us smiling. Without her, Ray and I would be cynical old women. I smirked there in the hall at my thought.
“Old women who looked to be about seventeen,” I mumbled. With a final sigh, I pushed myself away from the door and started up the narrow staircase.
I rolled my shoulder with a wince. It had started hurting a few days ago, a
sure sign that something was coming. By the time I reached the door, I had
replaced my grimace with a fake smile.
I pushed the door open and sucked the smile back in, Ray would see through
it. “Hey,” I called out.
Nadia and Raven were sitting at our old wooden table that hung halfway into
the living room, a pile of wrinkled bills sitting between them. Nadia’s wide
blue eyes and long pale brown hair made her look about thirteen but when she smiled at me I had no choice but to smile back.
Raven, on the other hand, was not smiling. Her long dark hair hung straight
down, framing her now scowling face. “Where have you been?” she demanded.
I shrugged, scowling myself. “Just out.” Without looking at her anymore than
I had to, I made a beeline for the bathroom.
I closed the door behind me, careful not to slam it. Why did she have to look
at me like that? It wasn’t like I was a little kid, out getting into trouble. I
could do whatever I wanted.
I grabbed the faucet with more force than I intended and turned the water on. I waited impatiently for the water to at least turn warm. We shared our water heater with all three apartments on our floor so hot water was rare, but sometimes it was at least warm.
Not willing to wait, I splashed my face with ice cold water. I leaned hard on
the sink, my breath coming too fast, and studied my reflection in the small
mirror.
Unlike my sisters, I preferred to keep my hair up and off my face. Ray liked
to call me a blonde but my hair seemed more brown to me. My eyes were so deep blue they looked purple, but now they were dull with dark circles under them. The skin was puffed up too. A thin white scar ran from my left eye all the way to my jaw line.
I shivered at the memory of that night. Just after Jewell hit. Everyone
thought for sure that food would run out. I automatically rubbed my shoulder. It had been a bad night.
When I was sure I could no longer hide out in the bathroom I turned the water off and flushed the toilet. Maybe they would buy that I was in here for an actual purpose.
I opened the door and crossed the apartment to where my sisters still
sat.
“You alright?” Raven asked.
Of course she would know. I gritted my teeth. “Yes.”
“You going to tell us where you were all day?” Raven asked again. She watched me through narrowed eyes, not missing a thing.
“How much are we short?” I asked with a nervous twitch in my shoulder.
“You alright?” Ray asked with her own nervous glance.
“Yeah,” I pushed her hand away when she would have touched my shoulder.
“Is it bothering you again?”
“No.” I tried to not twist my face up, but I hated when she acted all
maternal. “It’s just the weather.”
“It’s hot outside,” Nadia needlessly pointed out.
“I know.” I rolled my eyes and plopped down hard on the only remaining seat.
“How much are we short?” I repeated.
“A hundred bucks.” Ray chewed on the inside of her lip, but barely looked at
me. She must really be mad.
“What’s your deal?’ I nudged her arm.
“My deal?” she half snarled. “You already know.”
“Well be out of the city soon,” Nadia was quick to try and smooth over any
harsh words that might be said.
“I hate this city,” I pushed my chair back with a loud scrape and jumped out
of my seat. “It stinks.” I reached for a plastic cup and filled it with water. I
sighed inside the cup. Yeah, I did already know. Ryan.
Raven hated Ryan, more than I hated the city - more than anything. He had
found us though. It wasn’t like we could run from him now, it was better to join up with him, just for a few days. We could find out if he meant the things he said while we waited for Verdas to get the injections ready…
“How are we going to get the money. Bing will be here in the morning. He said
if we’re late again we have to get out.”
“We’ll get it somehow.”
“You going to ask Ryan?’ raven demanded.
“Why not?” I shrugged, then winced at the old pain in my shoulder.
“Why?” Her scowl couldn’t possibly get any more pronounced.
“He said he would help,” I reminded her.
“He’s lying,” her voice busted out in an almost screech.
“We don’t have any choice but to trust him. We’ll…use him until we leave.” I
shrugged again. “If he just believes that we buy into him….”
“It’s not going to work.” I usually didn’t argue with Ray when it came to
Ryan, she was bonded to him after all, but I didn’t see any other way this
time.
“We need our injections. It’s already been too long.’ Nadia kept her wide
eyes fixed on me. “We can’t fight him ray, we can’t run from him. It’s just a
…temporary truce.” I rejoined my sisters at the table, willing them to see
things like I did. “You know, he says we can beat Rueben, together.”
“And you think he’s telling the truth?”
“I do,” I nodded quickly. “He hates Rueben as much as we do.”
“Why does he need us?”
“My bond with Rueben,” I reminded her. “I know when he gets to the city and
maybe I can even call him here.” I shrugged, the pain becoming stronger. “Ryan says he hears you calling to him sometimes,” I looked at Ray.
“I do not,” she gasped.
“Maybe not on purpose. But Ryan says your bond makes it so you want to be
with him, even if you don’t want to admit it.”
“And you want to be with Ruben?”
I hesitated. “No.” I couldn’t lie, no matter how much I wanted them to agree
with me.
“I’m glad I wasn’t bonded with anyone,” Nadia shivered.
“Yeah, lucky you,” I raised my eyebrows high on my head and turned to look at the clock. 5:17. The shed wasn’t far away but I felt suffocated in the small apartment with raven; maybe it was just guilt, but I needed to get out of there.
I slapped my hand on the table and stood back up. Trying not to look directly
at Raven, I made some lame excuse and retreated to the only bedroom. I hurried to slip into a pair of green army pants and a grey t-shirt. I didn’t bother looking in the mirror or fixing my hair; Ryan didn’t look at me like that. He only wanted me for one thing; to get close to Rueben. I didn’t see how I could help him with that, but as long as he thought I could it helped keep us alive.
The truth of the matter was that Rueben wanted me dead worse than Ryan did. He had hunted me and my sisters since we were fourteen and escaped the lab. Sometimes I think he didn’t really want us as bad as he made it seem. I mean how many times had he almost had us and then conveniently slipped up so we could just barely get away. Not that I was complaining or anything.
“You going to see Ryan?” Ray asked from the door. I hadn’t even heard her
coming this way. How had that happened?
“No.”
“I thought we weren’t going to do that.”
“I said I’m not going to see him.”
“I meant lie to each other.” She looked really mad, as mad as I had ever seen
her. She was still beautiful even with her face all scrunched up and her veins
bulging in the side of her neck but wow… I suddenly understood perfectly well why the boys in York had called her the White Ninja.
“I don’t know what you expect me to do Ray,” I sighed. “We can’t run from him now unless we leave the city and you know we can’t do that yet.”
“You don’t know what you’re messing with Anya.” But she relaxed her stance a
little.
“I know who he is. I have known since I was fourteen.”
“I just,” she hesitated, “I just don’t think this is going to end well.”
I would have laughed, we usually did at those crazy doomsday people, but Ray
sounded so serious that I didn’t dare. “We’ll leave the city soon, then we can
run and hide from him again.”
She nodded but didn’t look very happy. “Just promise me one thing.”
“What?” I hoped she wouldn’t say what I already knew she was going to
say.
“No drugs.”
It was like she wanted me to lie to her. “Ok,” I nodded, “I won’t mom.” She
rolled her eyes but managed a smile. “Happy now?”
“Not entirely.”
“No one ever is Ray.”
I kept my head down as I made my way back through the city. I couldn’t
understand Ray. Why did she always try to make me promise impossible things? Why did it matter to her if I got a little high anyways? What did it hurt anyone?
Garret was standing outside the old grey shed when I came up to it. The shed was a very small building where Ryan did his most dirty dealings; where he always insisted I meet him because he knew how much I hated the smell around the place. I crinkled my nose as I had to step around a crumpled heap that might have once been human.
“Glad you could make it half-breed,” Garret sneered.
“Good to see you too.”
“He’s waiting.” I took a deep breath of putrid air and followed him
inside.
Anya
I hate the city.
I hate the smell of it. The putrid smell of rot never fully goes away. Blue
trash cans stand on the corner of the streets, with trash all around them. Not just the trash is rotting though, so are the people. You can see them
everywhere, laying in various stages of death, all over the city. The rot and
the filth can’t be avoided, but humans are quick to adapt. They just step over the limp bodies that were unfortunate enough to fall. For today, at least it wasn’t them.
Things were especially bad in our part of the city. My two sisters and I had
been here for almost two months already. I really hoped Verdas had the injection ready soon so we could be free of this disgusting, dying place.
I held my breath as I made my way down the narrow alleyway to our small
apartment. A woman sat quietly in the shadows outside the door, a man lay beside her but he looked to be dead already. Before I could turn the knob I heard myname being called.
“Anya!” I looked up to see a tall scrawny man with light blond hair hurrying
towards me. He kept his hands shoved in his pockets, probably cradling a gun of some sort. My eyes narrowed as he approached me.
“What are you doing here Garret?” I didn’t bother to pretend happiness at
seeing him.
“Came to give you a message.”
“What is it?” I hoped he didn’t see my spine stiffen.
“Ryan wants to see you tonight.”
“I can’t.”
“He said to tell you,” he looked down at the woman but she hadn’t moved at
all, “that he looks forward to seeing you.”
Translation: I didn’t have a choice. “8?”
“At the shed.”
I nodded once and turned away without waiting for him to say anything else. I only allowed myself a sigh after I heard him leave. I had promised Raven I
wouldn’t see Ryan again or… I bit hard on the inside on the inside of my lip. I
had no choice. I just wouldn’t tell Raven were I was going.
She would see right through any kind of lie I told her, so I would just have
to leave without telling her anything. I almost groaned out loud. It was hard to keep things from Raven. We had been together for too long. It would be
thirty-seven years soon, I realized.
On an impulse I turned to look out the wide, dirty window on the front door.
It looked like an old black and white war photo I thought dismally, but there
was no sign of garret. “Don’t feel sorry for yourself,” I heard Nadia’s voice
from my memories. She was always the one to keep us smiling. Without her, Ray and I would be cynical old women. I smirked there in the hall at my thought.
“Old women who looked to be about seventeen,” I mumbled. With a final sigh, I pushed myself away from the door and started up the narrow staircase.
I rolled my shoulder with a wince. It had started hurting a few days ago, a
sure sign that something was coming. By the time I reached the door, I had
replaced my grimace with a fake smile.
I pushed the door open and sucked the smile back in, Ray would see through
it. “Hey,” I called out.
Nadia and Raven were sitting at our old wooden table that hung halfway into
the living room, a pile of wrinkled bills sitting between them. Nadia’s wide
blue eyes and long pale brown hair made her look about thirteen but when she smiled at me I had no choice but to smile back.
Raven, on the other hand, was not smiling. Her long dark hair hung straight
down, framing her now scowling face. “Where have you been?” she demanded.
I shrugged, scowling myself. “Just out.” Without looking at her anymore than
I had to, I made a beeline for the bathroom.
I closed the door behind me, careful not to slam it. Why did she have to look
at me like that? It wasn’t like I was a little kid, out getting into trouble. I
could do whatever I wanted.
I grabbed the faucet with more force than I intended and turned the water on. I waited impatiently for the water to at least turn warm. We shared our water heater with all three apartments on our floor so hot water was rare, but sometimes it was at least warm.
Not willing to wait, I splashed my face with ice cold water. I leaned hard on
the sink, my breath coming too fast, and studied my reflection in the small
mirror.
Unlike my sisters, I preferred to keep my hair up and off my face. Ray liked
to call me a blonde but my hair seemed more brown to me. My eyes were so deep blue they looked purple, but now they were dull with dark circles under them. The skin was puffed up too. A thin white scar ran from my left eye all the way to my jaw line.
I shivered at the memory of that night. Just after Jewell hit. Everyone
thought for sure that food would run out. I automatically rubbed my shoulder. It had been a bad night.
When I was sure I could no longer hide out in the bathroom I turned the water off and flushed the toilet. Maybe they would buy that I was in here for an actual purpose.
I opened the door and crossed the apartment to where my sisters still
sat.
“You alright?” Raven asked.
Of course she would know. I gritted my teeth. “Yes.”
“You going to tell us where you were all day?” Raven asked again. She watched me through narrowed eyes, not missing a thing.
“How much are we short?” I asked with a nervous twitch in my shoulder.
“You alright?” Ray asked with her own nervous glance.
“Yeah,” I pushed her hand away when she would have touched my shoulder.
“Is it bothering you again?”
“No.” I tried to not twist my face up, but I hated when she acted all
maternal. “It’s just the weather.”
“It’s hot outside,” Nadia needlessly pointed out.
“I know.” I rolled my eyes and plopped down hard on the only remaining seat.
“How much are we short?” I repeated.
“A hundred bucks.” Ray chewed on the inside of her lip, but barely looked at
me. She must really be mad.
“What’s your deal?’ I nudged her arm.
“My deal?” she half snarled. “You already know.”
“Well be out of the city soon,” Nadia was quick to try and smooth over any
harsh words that might be said.
“I hate this city,” I pushed my chair back with a loud scrape and jumped out
of my seat. “It stinks.” I reached for a plastic cup and filled it with water. I
sighed inside the cup. Yeah, I did already know. Ryan.
Raven hated Ryan, more than I hated the city - more than anything. He had
found us though. It wasn’t like we could run from him now, it was better to join up with him, just for a few days. We could find out if he meant the things he said while we waited for Verdas to get the injections ready…
“How are we going to get the money. Bing will be here in the morning. He said
if we’re late again we have to get out.”
“We’ll get it somehow.”
“You going to ask Ryan?’ raven demanded.
“Why not?” I shrugged, then winced at the old pain in my shoulder.
“Why?” Her scowl couldn’t possibly get any more pronounced.
“He said he would help,” I reminded her.
“He’s lying,” her voice busted out in an almost screech.
“We don’t have any choice but to trust him. We’ll…use him until we leave.” I
shrugged again. “If he just believes that we buy into him….”
“It’s not going to work.” I usually didn’t argue with Ray when it came to
Ryan, she was bonded to him after all, but I didn’t see any other way this
time.
“We need our injections. It’s already been too long.’ Nadia kept her wide
eyes fixed on me. “We can’t fight him ray, we can’t run from him. It’s just a
…temporary truce.” I rejoined my sisters at the table, willing them to see
things like I did. “You know, he says we can beat Rueben, together.”
“And you think he’s telling the truth?”
“I do,” I nodded quickly. “He hates Rueben as much as we do.”
“Why does he need us?”
“My bond with Rueben,” I reminded her. “I know when he gets to the city and
maybe I can even call him here.” I shrugged, the pain becoming stronger. “Ryan says he hears you calling to him sometimes,” I looked at Ray.
“I do not,” she gasped.
“Maybe not on purpose. But Ryan says your bond makes it so you want to be
with him, even if you don’t want to admit it.”
“And you want to be with Ruben?”
I hesitated. “No.” I couldn’t lie, no matter how much I wanted them to agree
with me.
“I’m glad I wasn’t bonded with anyone,” Nadia shivered.
“Yeah, lucky you,” I raised my eyebrows high on my head and turned to look at the clock. 5:17. The shed wasn’t far away but I felt suffocated in the small apartment with raven; maybe it was just guilt, but I needed to get out of there.
I slapped my hand on the table and stood back up. Trying not to look directly
at Raven, I made some lame excuse and retreated to the only bedroom. I hurried to slip into a pair of green army pants and a grey t-shirt. I didn’t bother looking in the mirror or fixing my hair; Ryan didn’t look at me like that. He only wanted me for one thing; to get close to Rueben. I didn’t see how I could help him with that, but as long as he thought I could it helped keep us alive.
The truth of the matter was that Rueben wanted me dead worse than Ryan did. He had hunted me and my sisters since we were fourteen and escaped the lab. Sometimes I think he didn’t really want us as bad as he made it seem. I mean how many times had he almost had us and then conveniently slipped up so we could just barely get away. Not that I was complaining or anything.
“You going to see Ryan?” Ray asked from the door. I hadn’t even heard her
coming this way. How had that happened?
“No.”
“I thought we weren’t going to do that.”
“I said I’m not going to see him.”
“I meant lie to each other.” She looked really mad, as mad as I had ever seen
her. She was still beautiful even with her face all scrunched up and her veins
bulging in the side of her neck but wow… I suddenly understood perfectly well why the boys in York had called her the White Ninja.
“I don’t know what you expect me to do Ray,” I sighed. “We can’t run from him now unless we leave the city and you know we can’t do that yet.”
“You don’t know what you’re messing with Anya.” But she relaxed her stance a
little.
“I know who he is. I have known since I was fourteen.”
“I just,” she hesitated, “I just don’t think this is going to end well.”
I would have laughed, we usually did at those crazy doomsday people, but Ray
sounded so serious that I didn’t dare. “We’ll leave the city soon, then we can
run and hide from him again.”
She nodded but didn’t look very happy. “Just promise me one thing.”
“What?” I hoped she wouldn’t say what I already knew she was going to
say.
“No drugs.”
It was like she wanted me to lie to her. “Ok,” I nodded, “I won’t mom.” She
rolled her eyes but managed a smile. “Happy now?”
“Not entirely.”
“No one ever is Ray.”
I kept my head down as I made my way back through the city. I couldn’t
understand Ray. Why did she always try to make me promise impossible things? Why did it matter to her if I got a little high anyways? What did it hurt anyone?
Garret was standing outside the old grey shed when I came up to it. The shed was a very small building where Ryan did his most dirty dealings; where he always insisted I meet him because he knew how much I hated the smell around the place. I crinkled my nose as I had to step around a crumpled heap that might have once been human.
“Glad you could make it half-breed,” Garret sneered.
“Good to see you too.”
“He’s waiting.” I took a deep breath of putrid air and followed him
inside.
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