The Tainted (The Tainted Series Book 1) (14 page)

Once the last child had clambered in, Etain slammed the door shut and turned toward the older Truaillithe. “Quinn, follow the directions I gave you. The other groups won’t be far behind.”

Giving a terse nod, Quinn disappeared into the haze and they quickly heard the deep roar of an engine starting.

Wasting no time, Etain grabbed Rebecca’s arm and pulled her forward, back toward the house. It was nearly impossible to know where they were going through the thick smoke, but the two found their way up the front porch steps as quickly as possible.

Just as they were about to head back inside, Etain froze in fear, gripping painfully tight onto Rebecca’s forearm. Rebecca turned to see the smoke around them splitting apart at a violent rate.

A brilliant flash of light lit up the air around them and a loud, ear-splitting crack sounded. The rapidly moving smoke stopped instantly.

“Go, now!” Aeden’s voice called from somewhere in the fog, kicking Etain back into motion.

In an anxious and fevered sprint, they rushed the next two groups out, always meeting an older Truaillithe at the van. Each time, they ensured they heard the vehicle peel off down the driveway before heading back toward the house, all the while listening to the growing sounds of violent fighting coming from within the fog.

As Rebecca closed the front door behind her, she watched the final group grasp onto each other, with Fina stationed directly behind Etain at the front.

“Ready everyone?” Etain asked, setting her determined eyes on the door.

Rebecca rushed to the back, barely having enough time to grab onto the last member before they stormed outside into a somehow even thicker smoky haze.

Taking short breaths, as anything more caused her aching lungs to break out in heavy, racking coughs, Rebecca fought to keep up with the group’s rapid pace. After so many trips out into the thick smoke, her eyes burned so badly that streaming tears had begun to flow freely down her pained face.

Rebecca nearly slammed into the line of Truaillithe as they came to a halt. She blinked her eyes rapidly and was able to make out an exhausted Breadan holding onto the side of the last van for support. As bad as her eyesight was, it was impossible to miss the thick stream of crimson blood covering the side of his face, gushing from a deep slash across his forehead.

Etain moved swiftly forward, using her sleeve to wipe away some of the blood from around his eyes. There was a silent, subtle moment between the two of them, but it was cut short when Breadan pulled his head away, out of Etain’s reach.

“Has everyone else made it out?” Breadan’s breath was heavy as his lungs struggled for fresh air.

Etain quickly lowered her hand, suddenly remembering the urgency of their situation. “Yes, yours is the last group.”

Breadan nodded, then turned around and pulled open the van’s side door.

One by one, as fast as possible, the group piled into the van until only Rebecca, Breadan, Fina and Etain remained outside in the smoke.

“Leave now, we’ll take care of the rest,” Etain hurriedly told the two siblings.

Breadan turned to Etain, his face a mixture of gratitude and sadness. Without the deep scowl on his face, his striking attractiveness was even more apparent. He made to take a step toward Etain when, out of nowhere, a thick vine shot up and wrapped itself tightly around his right wrist.

In a sheer panic, he began to forcibly rip his arm away. But, no sooner had the first vine appeared, than a second shot up and constricted his other wrist, wrenching his arms down tight to his sides.

Breadan shot a pained and frightened glance at Etain and Fina. Suddenly, another vine appeared around his throat and, with a sickening snap, his head was violently jerked to the side. Disappearing into the thick smoke, his body collapsed backward with a loud thump.

Tears of grief coursing down their cheeks, Etain and Fina leapt forward, desperately grabbing for the fallen Breadan.

Rebecca was about to rush forward as well, when she felt the abrupt, harsh, constricting sensation of a thick vine wrapping around her right wrist. Instant terror consumed her as yet another vine shot up and clenched around her other arm.

A piercing scream burst from her chest as her entire body filled with a panic so intense it caused every muscle to burn. Every bit of her was overrun with fear. Survival was the only thought racing through her mind as a violent pounding erupted in her skull, blurring her vision even more than the flood of tears that ran down her face.

All of a sudden, the face of an Aillil soldier appeared in front of her. It took the soldier a moment to realize that she was staring straight at him, but as soon as he did, he began to pull away in shock. He’d barely moved backward, however, when a violent roundhouse kick from Etain landed swiftly on his temple, causing him to fall back listlessly into the thick smoke that surrounded them.

The vines holding Rebecca’s arms instantly went limp, and she wrenched her wrists out of their grasp. Once she was free, she looked up to see Etain and Fina silently staring at her, their faces a mixture of confusion and disbelief.

Without warning, a thunderous crack sounded beside them, snapping them back to reality.

Etain dove down into the smoke, reappearing almost instantly with the keys and the directions. She shoved them both into Fina’s hands. “It’s up to you now. You have to bring everyone to safety.”

Tears still flowed down Fina’s grieving face, but she nodded in response and, taking the items, rushed off around the van, disappearing into the cloud. A few seconds later, the engine sounded and the van tore off, causing the smoke to waft away from them in giant swirls.

Etain’s hand clamped down on Rebecca’s arm, “We need to find the others and get out of here now.”

As they turned back toward the house, they realized the sounds of battle were slowly dying down in the distance. Even the smoke had begun to dissipate, leaving only a soft haze encircling the area.

“Etain.” Both Rebecca and Etain jumped at the sudden voice and spun around to find Faolan standing behind them. She was, however, not looking at them, but instead staring down at the motionless body of Breadan.

Etain followed the path of Faolan’s eyes, but quickly looked away, unable to bear the sight of him.

Faolan finally looked up, her face masking her emotions. Her skin and clothes were covered in dirt, scrapes, and blood splatters and she held one arm limply at her side. “Did you see the Aillil soldiers suddenly appear?”

Etain’s mouth dropped open, “All of them?”

“Yes. All of them, all at once. They seemed as surprised about it as we were.”

Etain turned swiftly to look at Rebecca, her face filling with fear as she recoiled slightly. She remained silent, however, choosing not to say anything about what she’d seen Rebecca do.

“Either way,” Faolan continued, “the Aillil may have retreated for now, but that doesn’t mean they’re gone. We need to get everyone out of here immediately.”

“We’re here,” Owen’s voice called from somewhere near the SUV, which was gradually appearing out of the mist, “all of us.”

Etain slowly pulled her apprehensive gaze away from Rebecca as she called back, “Alright, let’s go.”

Instead of moving toward the van, however, she looked back at Faolan. “Can you help me move him?” she requested painfully, struggling to look down at Breadan’s body. Faolan nodded.

“We’ll carry him into the woods…he’d like it there.” Etain fought to keep her voice level as tears began to course down her cheeks again.

Reaching into her pocket, Etain pulled out her keys and handed them to Rebecca. “Get everyone inside the SUV. We’ll join when we finish.”

Silently, Rebecca took the keys and turned away, unable to watch Faolan and Etain as they labored to drag Breadan’s lifeless body toward the woods.

Rebecca curled up in the corner of her dark, dismal room, tightly wrapping the filthy blanket around her shivering body. Her eyes burned, her head throbbed, and her body ached from a combination of thirst, hunger, and a lack of sleep. But she barely even noticed the pain. The realization that she no longer cared about her survival had broken her spirit. Her will to continue was smothered by misery and depression. Whatever little bit of strength that remained was slowly being drawn out of her while a heavy weight of despair was settling upon her chest.

A loud thud sounded from the opposite end of her cell, wrenching her back to reality. The lock in the door had been pulled back. Lately, this sound had only heralded pain, so she instinctively curled her body up even tighter.

She waited for the usual two pairs of footsteps to enter, but only silence filled her ears. Something wasn’t right, but, for some reason, she wasn’t afraid.

After a long moment, a single pair of footsteps entered and rapidly approached her. Her pulse quickened with anticipation as she held her breath. For the first time since she’d entered this horrifying cell, a tiny fragment of hope gripped her heart.

Rebecca woke up in a cold sweat. An involuntary shiver ran down her spine and she pulled her covers in closer around her body. She was slowly getting used to sleeping through her dreams. But even though it was getting easier, and she was now generally able to sleep through the entire night, she was still terrified by much of what she saw.

On the rare night where Rebecca found herself fighting against a nightmare, Faolan would come and curl up on the end of her bed. It was as if Faolan could sense the nightmares, and Rebecca was grateful for it. There was something comforting about her friend’s presence--it made her feel as if she didn’t have to face her fears alone.

Ever since the crew had moved the Truaillithe safe house, her nightmares had become more frequent. In fact, in the two weeks since the battle,
all
of the crew members had struggled to return to normal. Etain seemed to be having the hardest time of them all.

During the first week, it had been impossible to miss the dark circles under her red, puffy eyes, and she’d spent most of her time hidden away in her room or in the downstairs office. This week, she was finally beginning to reemerge and regularly check in with the rest of the crew again. However, it seemed that she’d turned her sorrow into anger, concentrated at Maverick.

They hadn’t heard a single word from him for over three weeks, and no one had any clue where he might be. Apparently, he disappeared like this quite often, but never without checking in, giving them knowledge of his whereabouts, or telling them how to reach him.

Rebecca’s worry was beginning to get the better of her. The idea that Maverick was out there alone, with the Aillil soldiers searching for him, made her more anxious than her dreams did.

Etain had taken to pacing on the front porch, stopping every so often to stare off into the woods. Rebecca wasn’t sure if she was looking for Maverick or for Aillil, but she was too afraid to ask. Either way, it was clear that something was wrong.

In an effort to forget her worries, and become more comfortable in her new home and way of life, Rebecca was spending as much time as possible around the other members of the crew. Whenever she wasn’t training, she would play video games with Owen and Aeden or walk around the nearby woods with Faolan. She and little Trysten were even spending more time together, though he was usually just a silent observer while she played games with the other boys.

However, as Etain’s anger and stress grew, so too did her restrictions on the crew. By the beginning of the second week, she’d moved their training sessions to the back garden and decreed that only Faolan was allowed to go out into the woods so that she could patrol the area.

The tension was starting to grow in the house as well, as it was increasingly feeling like they were under house arrest. Even Owen, who always seemed to be in a good mood, was showing serious signs of unrest. Just a few days earlier, he’d super-sized the potted plants in the sitting room, stating that if he wasn’t allowed outdoors in the woods then he’d have to bring the outdoors inside.

Rebecca heard a door slam from outside of her room, signaling that the others were now awake and heading down to breakfast. Heaving a big sigh, she threw the covers away and pulled herself out of bed.

There was frost on her window, and a thick layer on the plants outside as well. It was hard to believe it was already mid-November. It seemed like she’d only just left Cle Elum. Thoughts of Emily sprang to mind and Rebecca felt a quick pang in her heart. No matter how close she got to the crew, they would never be able to replace her friend.

As she stared out the window, she caught a slight hint of movement in the distant trees. Rebecca stepped forward, against the glass, and squinted. It only took a few seconds for her to realize what she was staring at. Her heart immediately began racing and her breath caught in her throat.

A truck--Maverick’s truck--was making its way through the trees towards the house.

In a flurry, Rebecca spun around and ran to her closet, changed as quickly as possible, took a brief glance in the mirror to ensure she looked somewhat presentable, and then sprinted out of her room and down the stairs.

As she sped into the entryway, she nearly bowled straight into a very shocked Etain.

“Rebecca!” She yelped, leaping out of her path at the last second.

Rebecca slid to a halt, unable to hide the large smile that was plastered across her face. “Maverick’s back! I saw him coming up the driveway!”

Etain raised an eyebrow at Rebecca, taken aback by her enthusiasm, but the meaning behind her words soon dawned on Etain. Without hesitation, Etain quickly made her way to the front door. Rebecca followed behind, slightly chiding herself and trying harder to conceal her excitement.

Etain pulled the front door open just as Maverick began to make his way up the front steps.

“A welcome party? Did you all miss me that much?” Maverick said with his usual cheeky grin.

Etain stepped forward, meeting him on the porch. From behind, Rebecca couldn’t see the look on her face, but she quickly realized it did not mirror her own when Etain whipped her hand back and, with all her might, smacked Maverick across his face.