Flawed (2 page)

Ellyssa was the monster straight from Mary Shelly’s nightmare.

If Ellyssa hadn’t changed…evolved…this type of destruction could’ve been left in her wake.

Ellyssa had no idea how long she’d stayed crushed into a defeated ball. She had no idea how long she’d cried. She vaguely remembered hearing Rein’s and Woody’s deep sobs from different points of the room as they moved from one dead person to another.

After some time, though, Ellyssa felt a hand on her shoulder, gentle and comforting. Careful to avoid the murderous scene, she looked up. Woody gazed down at her, his stormy grey eyes drowning in sorrow.

“We need to go,” Woody said.

“We can’t leave them like this,” said Rein.

Culpability consumed Ellyssa. She hated the emotion even more than incapacitating fear. It ate at her with razor-sharp teeth. She gulped down a sob and bowed her head. “This is my fault,” she choked out.

Rein dropped next to her and brushed her hair away from her eyes. “Don’t ever say that. You didn’t do this.
They
did this.”

“If I had never come, you all would still be alive. Thriving.”

Sliding his hand under Ellyssa’s chin, Rein made her look at him. She couldn’t meet his eyes, though; she stared at his mouth. She couldn’t stand to see the storm of pain she’d caused him.

“Please look at me,” Rein pleaded.

Afraid, Ellyssa closed her eyes. “I can’t.”

“Please, Ellyssa.”

She nodded once and opened her eyelids. Grief hovered within the depths, just as she’d feared, but so did love. She chewed on her bottom lip. “I’m so sorry.”

“You’re not responsible for the actions of others. Do you understand?”

“Ellyssa, listen to Rein,” said Woody. “You became part of our family for a reason. Fault lies with those who pulled the triggers. Fault lies with your father.”

Caressing her cheek, Rein said, “If it wasn’t for you, how many people would have died when Dr. Hirch’s plan came to fruition? How long would we have stayed alive then? You saved us.”

Inhaling, Ellyssa broke eye contact. The true credit belonged to Jeremy, the Renegade who’d led her to the discovery of her father’s plans to splice together her and her siblings’ genes into a creation of true “perfection,” capable of destroying all of what Dr. Hirch had considered inferior humans.

Of course, her whole pseudo-family was dead now. She’d killed them and destroyed The Center in the process. Ellyssa was the last of The Center’s children.

Rein gestured to Woody to help. “Come on.”

“Wait,” she said as she glanced down at the toddler’s hand. Wrapped tight within the little fingers was a shiny, round black rock, a cave pearl. Ellyssa worked it free and slipped it into her pocket.

With their help, Ellyssa found her feet and stood. Rein pulled her close and, needing his support, she leaned into him. Warmth spread through her and helped her to find strength.

Together, they walked through the tomb of their fallen friends. Most of the people she’d barely known. A few, she was acquainted with. There was Bertha, who’d cooked for the Renegade population, and Brenda, the only other female council member, lay twisted around a speleothem pillar. Then she came across Summer, the teenager whom Ellyssa had taught to find wild carrots. Anguish clawed in her midsection again. She choked back a sob.

“How could they do this?” asked Rein.

A chill passed through Ellyssa. “This is what I would have done.”

“No.” Rein shook his head.

“It was the reason I was bred.”

“That’s not true. Something inside of you was different than the others. Do you believe just because Jeremy sent you thoughts was all it took to bring about such a change?”

Ellyssa thought for a moment. How she wanted to believe she was different. That she would’ve broken free anyway, but the fact was she didn’t know. What happened was what happened. For whatever reason, Jeremy had awakened her and led her to the truth.

Casting her eyes down, she shrugged, a natural go-to response.

Once again, Rein placed a finger under Ellyssa’s chin. She looked into his eyes and drowned in the love she found there. “If it wasn’t already alive in you, it wouldn’t have mattered what Jeremy did. I know you, Ellyssa. I know who you are in here.” He gently tapped the place over her heart.

Woody patted her shoulder. “Rein’s right.”

Even if what they said was true, the tinge of guilt still sickened Ellyssa.

Woody turned in a circle. “What are we going to do?” he said, his voice despondent. “We can’t give everyone a proper burial.”

“I don’t know,” answered Rein.

Unlike The Center, the Renegades did not just toss the dead into an incinerator like yesterday’s garbage. Ellyssa straightened her spine and pulled her shoulders back. She needed to be strong for Woody and Rein. They needed her strength to draw upon just like she needed theirs. “We will say goodbye to them here,” she said.

Stepping around a woman with hair the color of ebony and a large hole in her chest—Ellyssa thought her name was Melissa—to a man with greying hair nicknamed Pops, Ellyssa looked around. She’d been so consumed with her emotional rollercoaster, with her guilt, she hadn’t even realized
who wasn’t
there. “This is not everyone,” she said. “Have you seen Mathew? Trista?”

Rein pushed hair back off his forehead. “No.”

Hope bloomed, but before Ellyssa set herself up to be crushed by a more likely reality, she held the emotion at bay. “This could mean…”

“That they are somewhere else in the cavern,” Woody said, his words full of dread, “dead.”

Ellyssa skated along the edges of sleep, but every time she came close to falling into the blissful abyss, the image of the cherub-faced toddler snapped her wide awake. That image would fade to Candy’s frozen eyes, Brenda’s cold waxen skin, Bertha lying face-down. One image flipping after another, like the frames of a movie. Her fingers clasped around the toddler’s pearl within her pocket. Her thumb ran across the smooth surface, soothingly.

Ellyssa rolled to her back and inhaled the mineral scent of the abandoned coal mine. The inky blackness matched the feeling inside her.

Guilt gnawed her insides raw. The feeling of being the catalyst that had started the violent reaction was hard to shake, the aftereffect lying a level below them in pools of dried blood. Brutality and complete disregard of human life delivered from the
perfect
society.

Staying in the cavern wasn’t the smartest thing to do. Even with
The Center of Genetic Research and Eugenics
destroyed, her father and siblings dead amongst the twisted metal, safety was something they couldn’t enjoy. Not only had the
Gestapo
and
Kripolizei
been alerted of their transgressions at The Center, but the area had to be crawling with police searching for Renegade strays. They should’ve left after they’d said their goodbyes and found shelter in the safety of the woods, but the promise of warmth and familiarity lay within the holeys for Rein and Woody. She couldn’t deny them that. She felt the same way. The dark caverns, and now an earthy tomb, were her first true
home
.

Besides, not everyone was accounted for. A thorough search of both levels of the cavern hadn’t produced any other corpses. Out of one hundred forty-seven, they’d only found ninety-six bodies. That left the possibility of fifty-one survivors.

Survivors
.

The thought of any of her newfound family and friends being alive was what kept Ellyssa from crumbling into a useless lump of overly emotional flesh. Trista, Mathew, Eric and the others might still be
alive
.

Maybe at a concentration camp.

Maybe being tortured.

Ellyssa’s fault.

Swallowing the lump that’d formed in her throat, Ellyssa took the guilt and locked it away. If anyone survived, she had to find them. She couldn’t think clearly if she was busy bearing the onus of her father…of society.

Ellyssa rolled back onto her side and snuggled against Rein’s back. In need of a trimming, his dark hair tickled her face. His scent filled her nose.

“I love you,” he mumbled in sleep talk.

Warmth traveled with Rein’s words. Ellyssa kissed the back of his neck. “I love you, too.”

Rein breathed in deeply, then the rise and fall of his chest settled into a slow, even pattern. Woody’s soft snores came from the holey next to theirs, rhythmic and soothing. Ellyssa concentrated on the sounds of their sleep.

“Wake up.”

Frantic words knocked against her slumber. Ellyssa fought against the heavy blanket of sleep that had pulled her under. She tried to force her eyes open, but tiredness kept them sealed.

Rein shook her. “Someone’s coming.”

Ellyssa’s eyes popped open. Disorienting webs of sleep clung to her brain, and black swirled in front of her. She shook her head to dislodge the numbness and clear her head. She couldn’t see Rein, but felt him crouched to the side of the holey’s entrance, his breathing shallow and light. No sound came from Woody at all.

Ellyssa tensed; her ear cocked to the side.

After a moment, she heard the muffled scraping of leather soles across a rocky surface, echoing lightly down the passage. The
ping
of a small pebble bouncing was followed by a soft, irritated voice.

Definitely female.

The tiredness evaporated in a surge of an adrenaline-soaked, blood-pumping rush. Ellyssa sprang onto her haunches, muscles tensed.

The scraping moved closer, turning to hurried padding. Whoever was rushing through the network of passages was alone…at least in the section Ellyssa, Rein, and Woody occupied.

Woody remained silent. Rein shuffled as if preparing to leap into danger. As if she’d let that happen after just getting him back. Ellyssa blindly reached out into the dark and grasped his arm. She shook her head, even though he couldn’t see her.

Suddenly, light washed through the passageway, filtering through the flimsy curtain, and bounced down the stony enclosure. Grey shadows lengthened through the cover hanging over the entrance.

Muscles coiled, waiting to strike, Ellyssa projected her mind and latched onto the signature. Surprised relief filled her.

“Trista?” Ellyssa said, disbelief soaking her words.

“What?” Woody whispered from the holey next to them.

“Trista!” Ellyssa scrambled through the opening.

A gasp of surprise, and the footfalls stopped. A beam of light from Trista’s flashlight blinded Ellyssa, tipped down, then blinded her again.

“Ellyssa?”

Holding her hand in front of her face, Ellyssa stood. Rein and Woody fell in behind.

“Rein? Woody?” Trista hesitated as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. “I knew it.”

Hard leather soles thundered down the passage as Trista’s silhouette bounded toward them; the sound of a coat flapped behind. The light alternated between blinding and reflecting off the grey walls.

“I can’t believe it.” Trista engulfed Ellyssa in her arms.

Ellyssa hesitated for a moment, the touching still feeling a little alien, but then she returned the embrace as joy released within her. Heart swelling, Ellyssa tightened her arms around her friend. Trista’s exuberance brought warm feelings and fed Ellyssa’s hope. If Trista was alive, then there was a possibility that the others were, too.

“I knew I was right. They tried to tell me differently. But I knew.”

They?
She exhaled a sigh of relief. “Mathew? Is he with you?”

Trista didn’t answer; she rattled off a whole series of questions. “What happened? How’d you get back? Did you run into any trouble?” She paused for a moment as she stepped back, her blue eyes sparkling with excitement. “Oh, Woody! Rein!” she squealed.

Trista flung herself into Rein’s arms, then into Woody’s. Utter shock froze their faces into wide-eyed, slacked-jawed expressions. Finally, Woody snapped his mouth closed and ran his hand over his face.

“I knew you were alive. I had to come just one more time before we left.”

“Leave?”

“To find the others.” Trista reached up and touched Ellyssa’s face as if she feared she’d disappear. “Explanations later.” Spinning around toward Rein and Woody, Trista asked the males the same series of questions and added in a few more.
When did you get back? You destroyed The Center?

Suddenly, Trista’s display of happiness and excitement slid away. The smile fell from her face as a solemn expression took dominance. The ease with which Trista transferred from one emotion to another still amazed Ellyssa.

Trista looked down at her wrist and pushed a button on the side of her watch. Red light glowed, showing digital numbers. “We have to go. They will patrol the area soon.”

“Who?” Rein asked.

Trista shrugged. “The
Gestapo
, the
Schutzpolizei
, area police and rangers. The groups rotate, but they do keep up the patrols. It seems we have created quite the stir.”

With all the excitement and the bouncing light, Ellyssa didn’t notice the type of coat Trista wore at first. She yanked the light out of Trista’s hand and shone it on her friend. Her eyes widened in disbelief. Even with the minor changes that had been made throughout history, there was no mistaking the uniform of the
Gestapo
.