The Ghost and the Darkness Volume 2 (The Fallocaust Series) (3 page)

Reaver seemed to be taken off-guard by this; even I was a little bit. I had assumed from what I have seen from Caligula that he was going to be a little demon shit just like the other chimeras around our age, but he seemed oddly... controlled.

My friend regained his composure pretty quickly though. His eyes found Elish’s. “You trust him?”

Elish nodded.

Reaver nodded back though I knew he didn’t like it. “Alright.” And that was it on the matter. “The more people to help us find the boys the better.”

We all jumped onto the plane, Nico disappeared into the cockpit and I sat down on one of the metal benches. Soon we were flying over the greywastes, the streaks of greys and blacks passing quickly over us.

I glanced over and saw Reaver and Elish both standing side by side, looking out the cargo window of the plane.

Elish was holding the remote in his hand, glancing down at it every few minutes. His lips a thin line and his face firm and without emotion. Though what was seen on the outside of Ice Man and what was going on underneath the surface were two different things. My stone-faced, dark chimera staring out the window with him only solidified that.

They watched the greywastes below us without a word, neither of them moving from their spots. Not an emotion crossing their faces as they watched for any sign, remote control or visual... for their partners.

And my partner? I sighed, though like my friends, I tried not to show it on my face. My partner was in Skyfall... without me.

But well... Garrett had made his decision and as he was making that decision he had showed me that, deep down, he really was a chimera.

He chained me to the bed and not in a good way... so I couldn’t help rescue my best friend. I know Garrett was scared and I know, to him, maybe it was even justified. But I was a greywaster, I wasn’t a cicaro, and no one would keep me from helping Reaver.

What did that mean for me and Garrett after we found the boys? I didn’t know. I still loved Garrett deeply but...

Fuck, I had told him Reaver and Killian would always come first. I had told him that from the beginning. Hell, in the beginning I had only been there to get that Kreig key card.

I had really dug myself into a hole. I loved Garrett but my home was in the greywastes with my boys. So maybe I didn’t know what my future would hold.

I was still homesick...

Several hours later we were in the mountains, a single stretch of highway below us. I couldn’t see much though, just small brown spots that had once been cars, and many dirt roads and small shacks miles away from the main road. No sign of the boys, but I could barely see a thing.

“Elish?” Nico called from the cockpit. “Do you want us continue with an aerial search of the highway all the way until Falkvalley, or touch down?”

Elish was quiet for a moment, both him and Reaver silent statues. “We can’t fly low enough to search properly. Touch down. I want to find some sort of sign of them before we continue on this highway.”

Reaver’s head shot to him. “Why would you say that? Shouldn’t Jade’s chip be alerting you if he’s near?”

Elish nodded slowly. “Yes, but I cannot rule out that it hasn’t been tampered with. I will not put my faith in technology when it comes to my... pet.”

Then his face tightened. “I do not know why you thought it was a wise decision to trust my cicaro with slavers. I expected more from you.”

Reaver continued to stare at him. I saw a flicker of apprehension, almost bordering on shame. “Hopper was fine,” he replied flatly. “They got... along well.”

Elish looked back at him, the two alpha males locked eyes. “Then, tell me, Reaver. How did Nero find you?”

I took a step back, my brow starting to sweat. I saw a mixture of emotions pass through Reaver’s face before he broke his locked gaze from Elish.

“That... was my fault. I took the blocker off of the remote phone; I didn’t know what it was.”

Shit...

Elish’s purple eyes became hard. “Indeed? So if these slavers decide to enslave my pet, your boyfriend, and our only tie to finding the knowledge we need to kill King Silas, it will be because you were stupid enough to broadcast your location to my maniac of a brother? Bravo, Reaver. I suppose it was my fault for expecting more from you.” Elish’s spoke slowly but swiftly, I could see Reaver’s shoulders dropping with each serrated word.

I couldn’t read the emotions on Reaver’s face, but I knew that he was in emotional agony right now. He was harder on himself than anyone, and I knew he was going to hate himself for a long time over this error.

But Elish wasn’t done, true to form; he continued his verbal beat down. “If you think greywaster slavers will not think of an excuse to imprison those three, since most likely it was
you
that they feared, you’re not only ignorant, you’re naive as well. I should have raised you in Skyfall, obviously not only your social skills suffered under Lycos’s parenting. ”

“Lay off!” I shot, glaring at Elish. Enough was enough. Reaver didn’t need this shit right now, especially since we had no proof that that was the case.

I walked up to Reaver and put a supportive hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, baby... we don’t even know –”

All at once Reaver whirled around and like the lightning fast switch that had turned on back in the apartment he put his hands out and lunged at me.

Elish, once again, grabbed Reaver as Reaver started to shout and yell at me, calling me every derogatory name he could think of. Though as my feral friend thrashed and screamed at me, for the first time... I saw real fear in his eyes.

Chapter 36

Jade

Snowflakes were falling, dancing around my head. Falling onto pale skin but they didn’t melt. They stayed and more gathered, sticking together to create the thinnest of film. A separate membrane that was mostly white... but I could see the red underneath.

Icy red, cold, and freezing solid. Polka dot snowflakes on dead flesh, but not melting, no, not melting. There was no warmth coming from the skin, no blood, hot and coursing through.

I opened my mouth and took another bite, the snowflakes stinging the inside of my mouth.

My teeth pinched together and I ripped out the piece of meat. I looked around to make sure the dog wasn’t going to sneak a bite of my kill, and shredded it with my pointed canines.

The dog had his own arm; my arm was mine and I wasn’t sharing. I was hungry. I had woke up ravenous, thirsty, and in a haze. Now I was able to satiate at least one of those problems.

I swallowed the flesh. It was cold in my mouth but as my body heat warmed it I felt blood trickle down my throat. I savoured its sweet taste and leaned down for more.

When my stomach was full of fresh meat I rose, though the dizziness took me it had lessened since the first time I had stood up. I rubbed my gloved hands together and looked around for the dog.

The dog was jerking his head back, trying to pull a finger from the frozen arm he had been chewing on. I looked down at the arm I had been eating and picked it up.

I waved it back and forth and chuckled to myself.

It had been beautiful when I first woke up. The snowflakes falling thick around me, so mesmerizing because I was on my back staring up at the sky. I had called to someone to lie down beside me and look... look up... look up, snowflake.

My eyes travelled back down to the severed arm and I waved it again. The dog saw this as an invitation for fetch and bounded over, blood and snow covering his muzzle.

I was in front of a structure, surrounded by carnage, surrounded by mutilated bodies, missing faces and strips of skin and flesh. The snow around me had been reduced to slushy crimson pools that were only now just starting to get covered by the fresh flakes.

I walked over to the body of a man whose face had been chewed off. I had already harvested all of their warm clothes and the blankets inside. They were bundled over me and in a knapsack I had taken from their cart; a useless cart now. The bosen had been killed and now lay, uneaten, and soon to be lost in both time and snow.

Something bad had happened here, I could feel it in the colours so tangible to my mind. They swirled around this place like misplaced spirits, leaving shadows wherever they flew past. It was dark here, even with the bright mixtures of red and white this place was just black in my mind.

And what was I? My colours were silver and black, with the faintest ribbons of purple, but in those colours I had remembered my own name

My name was Jade, I knew at least that.

It was early evening when I reached the highway. An expanse of mountains around me covered in snow, now a silvery hue from the twilight darkening the sky. Though no new snow was falling, I could only see the thick clouds above me and the miles upon miles of rolling snow-capped mountains. The cold night was now clear of fresh flakes, though with the clouds how they were I held no faith that it would stay that way.

I walked along the abandoned road, my knapsack stuffed with freezing meat, blankets, gloves, and even a spare pair of army boots I had gotten from a man who had been chewed in half.

The dog panted ahead of me, his nose up in the air and puffs of steam shooting from his nostrils. I had woken to him licking my face, his breath putrid and hot. He nuzzled and nipped me until I managed a sitting position.

As I walked along the road I put a hand on the back of my head, feeling the gash open and exposed. I had been putting snow on it but now, now I just covered it with a wool hat. That was the extent of my medical knowledge.

I slept that night in a blue van, huddled in all the blankets I had managed to carry and with the dog beside me as extra body heat. He had growled several times during the night and at one point bounded off into the darkness, but when I woke up in the morning he was there.

I ate a meal of arm meat, my teeth chewing around the bone now. I took off a finger to chew as I walked and carried on down the road.

Where was I going? I wasn’t sure but I wanted to get off of this highway as soon as I could. I knew I was in the greywastes, even a hard blow to the head couldn’t kick that fact out... but besides that it was just a barrier of static, one that filled me with distortion every time I tried to push past it.

I knew I was someone, I knew I was with friends... but it looked like they were all dead. Torn to shreds at the hands of ravers. So disfigured I couldn’t tell who was a raver and who was an arian. I had seen footsteps in the snow on my way up the winding road though, boot prints and raver prints alike. But where they were going I didn’t know.

My mind told me to not go up hill, but I was close to the summit so I decided to climb to the top and then enjoy the road slowly sloping down.

Sometime late in the afternoon I took a rest. Leaning against a rusted out car I whistled for the dog and he bounded over, happy as can be. I pet his head and started to pay a bit more attention to the jacket he had on.

It was a dirty thing and damp too but he had supplies in it. I unzipped some zippers and rooted through it, happily finding a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of rum. Also in a far pocket covered in plastic: two lighters, some money, a bag of gummy worms, and a note.

I read the note.

This is Deek, he is a deacon crossed with a dog. If you have found him please tell him to go home or go to town. He is very smart and will know where to go. Thank You. K

Did I write that? Nah, my name is Jade, and that didn’t start with K. I looked at the dog.

“Deek?”

He tilted his head to the side.

“Bring me to town.” I knew enough to know we weren’t anywhere near where his home used to be, but if the dog could find me a town I could get warm in...

The dog ran ahead and to my dismay he disappeared out of sight. I assumed he would come back once he found any signs of civilization but for all I knew he was finding a town just for him and I was screwed.

Oh well, I could always talk to myself. I was high in the mountains now with only my boots and the chafing of my pants making –

Wow... wait...

I stumbled over and managed to brace myself against a vehicle when a sickening wave of heat swept over me. I closed my eyes and sunk down to my knees, feeling my teeth start to press together.

My throat went dry and my pulse suddenly started to get erratic. I took in a deep inhale of frozen breath and groaned, feeling a pressure start to gather behind my eyes.

Then pain, a pain that made my body clamp down and seize on itself, a screaming, clustered ache behind my eyes that spilled me onto the snowy road.

It was bad... this was bad. I bit my lip to stifle the groan clawing up my throat but as the rapid, pulsing pain started to explode from my head I found not just a groan but a scream rip through my lips.

The next several minutes of my life were pure agony. I spent it writhing and twisting in the snow, grabbing and clutching my face and my head to try and lessen the extreme pressure boiling inside of my head. My brain felt like a canker, swelling and expanding behind my eyes to the point where I thought I was going to die.