Legacy (Alliance Book 3) (2 page)

She was angry now, really angry, “You can stop saying that, Brody. You haven’t been a boyfriend in days, just the bloody instructor. I get it. What will you have me do now, sir?”

He was watching her, eyes softer, “I want you to hit me, as hard as you can. That’s an order.”

She shook her head at him. Whatever game this was, she was done playing it. Not after today.

“Hit me, Laurel. You need to let that anger out, so I need you to hit me,” he ordered, glaring at her, hands behind his back, waiting.

“Will you threaten to shoot me if I don’t, like you did your boys for refusing your stupid order? Because unless you are willing to do that, I am not touching you, Brody. Not shooting at you and not hitting you. I am just not.”

And he suddenly lunged for her, laughing, but she squirmed away, and then he was panting, not in a good way either. She really bloody hurt him today. Brody never got like that before.

She threw her arms around him, holding him, letting him catch his breath, “Girlfriend, not recruit. You are an idiot. I don’t know what I did to your heart, but we need to get you some help, Brody. What you are doing, this not being able to breathe thing, it’s not okay. I know you know that. You can’t go anywhere like this, until we know what it is and can fix it. You just can’t. We have to tell Ella and Riley. We have to.”

He was shaking his head at her, all serious again, “We can’t, Laurel. I’ll be all right, I promise, but you can’t tell them. It’ll go away on its own. I just need a little bit of time,” and the way he said it, she knew that whatever she did to him wasn’t going to go away on its own, that it was serious, bad kind of serious, bad enough that he didn’t want anyone to know, bad enough that she knew she’d tell them, even if he never talked to her again after that. They would have to go to Reston anyway to get the right clothes for them and supplies, and to talk to Stan. Ella could fix him there. They had places where he could be fixed, like the place she took the tag out of Drake. He needed that, and he seemed to know that he did, but she knew him well enough to know that he’d risk dying before he told anybody he was in pain, and she knew he’ll be doing his best to hide it from everybody. She didn’t owe him that, didn’t owe him watching him be in pain or watching him die. That wasn’t part of any deal she made.

They walked back, slowly. She didn’t want to rush him and he seemed okay while they walked, not panting.

“I know what you are thinking, Laurel, and you need to promise me that you won’t do that to me. I am asking you to please not do that.” He put his arm around her, turning her around, making her look at him.

“I can’t, Brody. I can’t promise you that,” and she ran from him, ran to the flier as fast as she could, knowing he couldn’t chase her the way he was, the way she made him, and knowing that he’ll probably never be boyfriend again, just the instructor, but hopefully, he’d be alive.

Riley, May 25, 2236, Reston

H
e had just fallen asleep when she was shaking him awake, and not in her normal gentle way. She was panting, eyes full of tears and far too awake for however late it was. He jumped up, waiting for her to catch her breath and just say it.

“Brody, whatever I did to him with that stupid gun, he is not okay, Riley, only he doesn’t want anyone to know, but I promise you he is not. And he is going to be all kinds of mad at me for telling you when he gets here, but I couldn’t help it. He can’t breathe like he used to, and he pretty much collapsed in on himself in pain when we were just walking before, couldn’t move kind of pain... I am sorry, but we have to help him, help fix it before we go anywhere, we just have to. Maybe Ella can do it in one of those big med floor places in Reston, like she did with Drake, but he can’t go to Crylo like this....”

He saw him before she was done, but there wasn’t a thing he could do about it then, so Brody heard most of it. He was leaning on the wall of the flier by the door, face flushed. And he could tell by the way his chest was moving that he wasn’t breathing okay. Laurel must have figured out he was behind her now, because she wasn’t saying anything anymore, not looking at Brody either. He got up and walked over to his friend, only Brody was still staring at Laurel as if he wanted to hit her. He took him to the clearing, away from her and sat him down on a log, looking at him, reading his face. He didn’t see any pain in it, but his hands were in fists, only it could have been anger, not pain.

“If you tell me that you are okay, I’ll take your word for it, and I won’t tell Ella or anybody else, but I need to know for sure,” he asked softly.

Brody shook his head. Not okay then.

He walked over to him, and put his hands on his shoulders, “Go easy on her, Brody. She wasn’t wrong. I would have done the same thing, as would you, and you know that. We’ll figure it out. I am sorry this happened, Brody. I truly am,” and he left him alone after that, not knowing what else to say to him.

Ams was already at her target when he woke up, Drake teaching her today. He was good at this, almost as good as Brody, but Ams was a terrible shot. She didn’t seem to have any patience for it. Just kept unloading the weapon into the tree, not hitting the target, and then putting more bullets in it and doing the same thing again. Drake watched, patiently. He hoped they didn’t run out of ammo, the way she was doing it. He watched her lock her hand around the gun, holding it so tightly, he thought she’d break it. That’s what was throwing off her aim, but Drake wasn’t saying anything, just letting her do it.

He walked over to him, whispering, so Ams wouldn’t hear them, “Please tell me you know why she is all over the place like that.” Drake nodded. “What am I missing here, Drake?”

Drake leaned over to him, smiling his crooked smile, “What you are missing, Riley, is that this isn’t target practice, it’s anger management. She is shooting at that tree as if it really pissed her off. I want her to let it all out, and when she is calm, I’m going to adjust her grip on the gun and she’ll hit the target every single time.”

He let them be after that. He had to find Ella, and when he did, it seemed she already knew. Laurel must have told her, because she looked at him as if he kicked a puppy.

“It was a stupid thing to do, Riley. I know it wasn’t you who did it, not quite, but you were all too cavalier with them stunners, so something like that was bound to happen, and it was bloody stupid of you to let it. I don’t know if I can fix it, is what I’m saying. I am not a surgeon, and if you recall, they don’t have anything to knock him out with, and I’m not cutting that kid open like that, I am just not. So you and the rest of your soldier boys need to find something we can use to at least make it bearable for him, or I’m not touching him, not after I had to with Drake. And this kid isn’t Drake. I don’t know if he can take it, not with what I’d have to do to him. The rest of your training for now will have to happen in Reston, because we are leaving in an hour. We have to fix it before there is permanent damage. Somebody should have woken me up with this last night.”

He ran to the clearing to get Drake and Ams, but they were gone, and then to where Brody and Laurel were supposed to be training, only they weren’t where they were supposed to be either, so he ran to the flier, and it seemed everybody already knew. They were all strapped in and ready to go, nobody saying a word.

He went into the cabin and watched Trelix maneuver the flier into the air and then told him to shield it until they’ve landed wherever somebody must have already decided they were going to be landing. “Do you know if anyone got in touch with Stan?” he asked.

Loren nodded, “We did. He’ll meet us at the tall building you had him in with the drawing, whatever that means. And he knows about Brody, sir.”

“Thank you, Loren, and please stop calling me sir.”

The trip only took an hour. He saw the dead city in the distance through the little window he was staring out of, and turned away from it. He knew where the field was, and didn’t ever want to see that again, didn’t really want to see anything here, less Stan. Stan he was okay with seeing again.

They put down just on the edge, sufficiently covered by trees and brush, but much closer to the center of the city than where they camped out the last time. Nothing has changed here, not even the smell. It’s as if none of the trees bloomed yet, only he knew of course that they had. He really hated being in this place. He could hear the rest of his group following him, Brody’s boys walking next to him, guns drawn, their faces serious.

“There isn’t a soul left in this whole place, boys, but that man Loren spoke to. You won’t need your guns.” They nodded, but kept the weapons pointing as they were.

He saw Stan running to them, waving his arms, and smiling. Poor bastard missed them. Only he stopped waving and smiling when he saw the Alliance soldiers with their guns drawn like that.

He got in front of them, holding his hands up, “I need you to put those away and go to the back, please, and whatever you do, don’t pull the guns out again. I’ll explain later if I have to.” And they did, no questions asked.

He ran up to Stan and hugged him, smiling at him, “Don’t mind those boys, Stan, they are with us, and they are good kids. They are actually with Brody, whom you haven’t met, and he looks like them, but he isn’t. I am making very little sense now.” Stan grinned at him, and they went into the building they camped out at when they were here last. Brody was standing next to him in the elevator, and he saw his face go hard, and then he turned away from everybody, panting. He grabbed him, but Brody just shook his head, and then the doors opened and they were out, and he sent everyone to the large room with the drawing in it, and stayed with his friend.

“It’s not what you think, Riley. I am okay. I just wasn’t expecting it to feel like that. It was... I don’t know how to explain it. I’ll get used to it,” he whispered. He didn’t want to press further. Maybe he was afraid of heights, or small, fast moving boxes. Whichever it was, he would tell him if it became important enough for him to know.

The room hadn’t changed at all since they were here last, and he wished he was smart enough to file them all into the room on the other side, the one without the bloody thing Stan drew on the wall. He turned away from it, had to turn away from it, and caught Brody staring at the damn wall, his eyes large, and then looking at Laurel, a question in his eyes. Laurel just nodded softly and turned away.

“I put a few things together for you for the broken kid. I don’t know if it’ll be enough, but that’s all I could find. We should go whenever you are all ready. Maybe not all of us. Ella and two people to hold him down, and if he’s got somebody else he wants to take, just in case. Sorry, I shouldn’t have said it like that. I just say whatever pops into my head.” He was looking at Brody, apologetically.

“I am not an idiot, Stan. It’s okay. I am glad you just say what comes to mind. It makes this easier. I’ll take Riley and Drake, if they are okay with it. I’m good with that. I am ready if everyone else is.”

Laurel was watching him, tears in her eyes, but she didn’t move towards him, just stood there, looking at the back of his head. He couldn’t do that to her, what he was doing, she didn’t deserve this.

“Brody, can I have a minute,” he snapped at him and walked out into the hallway, and leaned on the wall, just far enough away to where the others couldn’t hear them through the door.

Brody stopped a few steps away from him, looking too calm, given what was about to happen.

“You have to let her come, Brody, and I know you know that. You can’t do this to her now,” he said, hoping he didn’t sound angry.

“It’s between me and Laurel, Riley. You need to leave it alone.”

And he couldn’t help himself after that. “No, Brody, it isn’t. She is your girlfriend or whatever you are now, but she is my friend, and right now you are hurting my friend. So no, I can’t leave it alone. And, more importantly, I don’t understand why you are punishing her for trying to save your bloody life. That’s all she did.”

Brody was looking at him in his angry way now, “Are we done, Riley? I’ll take Trelix and Drake. I don’t want you there,” and he turned away.

He ran out in front of him, putting his hands up, stopping him, “We are not done, Brody. I don’t know where that switch is between Brody I know and love and this soldier Brody I don’t know and don’t understand, but please find it and switch it back, because you are not being you now, not to any of us, and I can’t stand to watch you do what you are doing. Not to Laurel. You can punish me all you want, but she doesn’t deserve this from you. Let me make it simple for you. She shot you, Brody, so if you die from this, she will spend the rest of her life with that. You can’t leave her with that. You just can’t. Now we are done,” and he walked back to the room, not hearing Brody’s footsteps behind him, but he didn’t care. He was too angry at him to want to turn around.

Brody finally walked in, and he watched him walk over to Laurel and whisper something to her. She took his hand, and he knew he made it okay for her to go with him. And when they were filing out of the room, Brody stopped and looked at him, old-Brody-like, “I’d rather it was you, Riley, if you still want to do it, but I’ll understand if you don’t.”

Stan did that magic thing with all the lights again, flipping them on before they got through all the dark places in this huge building. They were in the room he remembered, Ella doing whatever she had to do with all the metal things. Brody was leaning against the wall, still holding Laurel’s hand, watching. Stan pulled some kind of a scanner out of his bag and walked over to Ella, explaining to her what it was and how to use it. He didn’t know what half of it meant. He trusted the crazy scientist not to kill his best friend, at least not on purpose. Ella nodded after a while and went back to whatever she was doing.

Stan walked over to Brody and handed him a bunch of little pills. Brody shook his head at him. “You need to take these, kid. They’ll put you to sleep. That’s all we have here, and even that might not be enough, but that’s all we can do.”