The Last City Read online

  Thankfully, the sensation only lasted until I stepped through to the other side, where I was ushered with my group, toward a small house directly opposite us. From there, we crept amongst the shadows along the walls of the houses, until we ducked into another darkened doorway. But thankfully, this doorway was attached to a house.

  The lighting inside the house was kept to a minimum, barely enough to establish the body count in the room. I said nothing. Instead, I only waited while they silently communicated. Communication, I wished yet again, I could have been a part of.

  But it wasn’t long before a hand gripped my wrist and pulled me from the house, beginning yet another stealthy trek toward the center of the city.

  Over the next few hours, we stopped at several more houses. I hadn’t been keeping track, but I was sure we’d been weaving our way back and forth across the city, through the streets and angled lane-ways, no doubt to avoid detection.

  It was during our final stop, that Lena’s remarks in the Colony, hit home. Upon leaving the house, we rounded a miscellaneous corner, where we paused for just a moment, crouching low to remain hidden. I looked up and then out across the dark expanse, a silent moan escaping me as I did. Before me was a wasteland, rubble and ash. Partial walls, most barely knee high, cut a jigsaw of destruction as far into the night as I could see.

  This was Jordan’s world, his city, and it was devastating to look upon it, knowing the tranquility that once graced that space. And I had to wonder why the Central Unit had not yet re-created the houses, the way it had after the previous attack. Perhaps it awaited a command, or perhaps it felt given the current circumstances, that there was no point.

  A hand alighted upon shoulder, gently urging me up and onward once more, and I resumed my pace, picking up a little speed to catch up to the three ahead of me.

  The ceiling that should have covered this part of the city was gone. It just ended in a cleanly cut-away, glowing edge. The field that made up the city wall and the city ceiling, was no longer generated in the northern areas. And I looked up to an empty sky. It was dark. No stars filled it, and no moon could be seen. I hated its blankness, its emptiness. There was no life amongst it. I hated the shield around the planet. And in that moment, I hated everything that had been done to this world.

  While staring upward, I’d forgotten I was walking forward, and my feet dropped down several steps. Before almost tumbling my way to the bottom, a strong arm from behind me, whipped around my waist, catching me, and pulling me upright.

  “Than…” I began to whisper, but Mya’s hand covered my mouth, stopping me.

  Shhh, she said to my mind, and slowly released me.

  Then remembering our mission, I followed them down a narrow set of stairs, and into a long tunnel. In single file, we ascended a winding staircase, that opened up to narrow room. Only then did I realize that we’d made it, finally, to the building at the center of the city. The building, still intact from what I could see, that housed the Central Unit and the Spire.

  And finally, I was closer to Jordan, and closer to knowing what our fate may be.

  The room slowly began to fill as more Heart and Rathe joined us. I watched in frustration as they silently communicated amongst one another, and then a few at a time, they disappeared through a door on the other side of the room, while others left the way we had come.

  I wanted to ask where they were going, but I figured speaking out loud may not be wisest.

  “You can speak,” Aleric said to me. “This room is protected.”

  “Where are they going?” I asked him, and wondered why he didn’t just respond to my thought.

  “Searching for Dax, and a few others we are missing.”

  I wanted to ask if they knew where Jordan was, or if they’d let me seek him out, but I didn’t want to push my luck.

  “If Mya is willing to keep doing what she’s doing, you can come with me,” Lena said.

  At first, I was stunned by her offer. And quickly tried to think of something to say.

  “Yes,” was all I could manage, and turned to Mya. She nodded, acknowledging her agreement. However, no emotion crossed her face as she studied me, and I couldn’t determine if she was annoyed or concerned.

  We traveled several floors up a winding staircase, moving soundlessly from floor to floor, following a dozen or so others who exited, three or four at a time, at each floor.

  With Lena taking point, we stopped several steps from the wall that would soon become the doorway, so she could sense what may lie behind it. Once she was satisfied, she commanded the wall to part and we made our way along another corridor. Scanning first, one empty room and then another, Lena moved us forward with neither sound, nor word. I doubted she even communicated with Mya, for fear of being heard.

  When we came to the end of a corridor, she stopped us, to listen intently to what was behind each section of wall. I couldn’t hear a thing. Apart from our soft footfalls, the only other sound was in my chest. And so, I decided she had to be listening for their thoughts. She glanced once back to Mya, piercing her with an almost downcast glare, and I had to wonder if I had done something wrong, to cause Mya to receive such a scathing look. But then Mya stepped in front of me, and shoved me back against the wall. Her left arm stretched across my body, holding me in place. Lena moved forward several steps, leaving a gap between the two of them, large enough to approximate the width of a doorway. And they waited, staring at one another.

  Without any warning, the wall space between them opened. The first man stepped out, and turned to his right. However, upon seeing Lena, he rose his arm as if to point a weapon at her. But Lena was faster. She clutched his head in her hands, and twisted it, snapping his neck. Before he could hit the ground a second man appeared and Mya grabbed him from behind taking him down the same way.

  The two men were dragged effortlessly away from the doorway, letting it close, and were then removed to the nearest empty room.

  All I could do was stare.

  The men did not disapparate as wards normally would. And I knew they were not wards, they were militia. Lena and Mya had really killed them, and with their bare hands no less.

  And in less time than I knew how to react.

  Before they’d returned however, the door opened again. Two men and a woman stepped out, turning right then left, in search of their friends, but instead they found me.

  I kept my mouth closed, not wanting to create any noise in case there were more of them inside the room. I backed up, preparing to run, but I knew I wouldn’t get away. One of the men yelled at me to halt, and he held up a hand toward me. Lena and Mya then reappeared in the hallway, distracting the three militia, and all I could hear was Jordan in my head, Run, if you can.

  I knew it wasn’t really him, it was only a memory. But I took his advice anyway, and tried to run. However, as I did, one of the men grabbed me around the waist, restraining me.

  I wasn’t sure what to do. Thoughts of being captured and held, tortured or killed, ran through my mind and froze me in place. But only for a moment.

  NO! I yelled at myself, and my training with Dax kicked in. I balled my hand into a fist and thrust my elbow backward. Upon making contact, his grip loosened for barely a second, but that was all I needed. I reached up with both arms, then pulled him over and around me, and threw him to the ground.

  Before he could recover, I tackled him into a ball, then hooked my legs around one of his. I forced one arm under his chest, and then up to grasp his head. My other hand held his head from behind, and I pushed his head to the side and then down into the floor.

  And then stopped.

  Do it! Lena’s voice came to my mind. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t kill him. It just didn’t seem right.

  He would kill you in a heartbeat, Mya urged me.

  But that didn’t mean I had to act as they would. And besides, we should only need to restrain him.

  “Having fun little girl?” the man grumbled
at me.

  But before either of us could move, Lena knelt beside me, and placed her hands over mine, holding them in place. She then glared into my face as she twisted his head further around. The sound of his bones breaking seared through my chest and down into my stomach.

  I shook all over, as I fell off him. My back hit the wall, and my vision blurred, as I watched Lena and Mya drag the three bodies away.

  I held my hands out before me, and stared at them as if they didn’t belong to me.

  I just killed a man, the words reverberated through my mind over and over. But I had to make them stop. I had to stay focused. I couldn’t let myself fall apart now. I closed my eyes, but only for a second, and inhaled the artificial air of the empty hallway. Breathe in. Breathe out. But it didn’t work. It couldn’t work. Not this time.

  I opened my eyes, giving up the effort, only to see my companions striding toward me. Lena opened the door beside me, while Mya pulled me to my feet, and then pushed me into the newly vacated room.

  Bereft of any furniture, save for one long table toward the end of the room, there was nothing to indicate what the room was used for, if at all. The table at the end however, did resemble the memory table in Mason’s room, and I briefly wondered if this was something similar. Though any further curiosity about the room was pushed aside as I was ushered along the wall to our right.

  We stopped upon reaching the opposite corner, and waited for Lena to give the ok. But the door wouldn’t open. From within Mya’s shroud, I heard her whisper Aleric’s name, and moments later the door slid across. We slipped in to our left, and crouched low to the floor. The room was again, empty, as though it had no use. And I had to wonder if all of these empty rooms only waited a command to be furnished, or altered, as needed.

  The two walls on either side of us held open doorways. From the door on our right, a female voice floated from within. But her words were soft, and we didn’t stop to listen. Mya kept her hand upon my back, pushing me onward and off to our left. But as we reached that opening, Lena paused again, to sense all that the room on the other side of the wall contained. I felt her stiffen at my side, before leaping into the room. Mya held me back, stopping me from following her, and we waited near the doorway for her return.

  Soft sounds of movement could be heard from within, followed by a muffled moan, and moments later Lena exited the room, supporting Dax, and helping him walk.

  I winced when I saw him. Stripped to the waist, it seemed every bare patch of skin was bruised, marked or cut. One eye, he couldn’t even open, and one leg was turned outward, bent below the knee in a way that it shouldn’t be. I could only imagine how many militia it would have taken to beat him so badly.

  “Take her,” Lena whispered to Mya, and nodded toward the other open doorway.

  Mya took the lead, and I followed her, slowly around the edge of the room. Quietly. She stopped near the doorway and crouched low, indicating that I should do the same.

  This doorway is shielded, she said. We cannot go in. She then indicated for me to slip within the small space she’d made, between herself and the wall.

  But before I could see inside the room, her hands covered my mouth and the back of my head in a vice-like grip. She pushed me forward in increments, and I moved as she willed me to, not wanting my neck broken. She then stopped our forward movement, so that I could peer into the room.

  In that moment, I was grateful that her hands were in place, stopping me from making a sound. What I saw, I didn’t understand, and what I heard, even less so.

  The inner room contained a large round table, glowing a soft blue. Leaning against the table, both hands planted upon it, was a woman, who at one time would have been quite beautiful, and I was sure she still was even now. However, when she moved, the surface of her skin shimmered with the light.

  Not far from her, was Jordan. His feet were planted, shoulder-width apart, and his arms were folded across his chest, with one fist, tightly clenched, hidden under one of his arms. A cord in his neck, tensed and released as he also, stared down at the table.

  I still couldn’t sense him, not even a little. If I wasn’t looking right at him and hearing his voice, I wouldn’t have known he was anywhere near.

  Every part of me ached to reach out to him with my soul, but I didn’t. I remained frozen at the edge of the doorway, as I tried to focus upon their words.

  On the other side of him however, another man appeared out of nowhere. He’d suddenly taken up the empty space next to Jordan. If Mya had not been holding me, I may have fallen backward from the shock of seeing it.

  He remained partially hidden from my view. Jordan however, didn’t turn to greet him. He didn’t move. He only listened to the man speak, as he informed the woman that the wards and the Guardian were awaiting her command.

  His voice, low and gruff, was a voice that had sounded too many times inside my head. I pushed back against Mya, needing to get away from him, while forcing the scream that tried to rise, to stay locked within my chest. There they were, standing together. Jordan and my ward. And Jordan made no move toward him.

  This couldn’t be real. The scene before me had to be something the Heart had manufactured to turn me against him. Jordan would not, could not work with him. Not him.

  I couldn’t hear all they were saying through the roaring in my ears, and my heart pounding almost out of my chest. I was sure, the three in that room, should have been able to hear my clamoring insides.

  The ward is not really with them, Mya’s voice cut through the noise in my head. He’s only a communication. Not really there.

  The panic within me began to ease. The ward hadn’t appeared in person, it was only an image of him, and I silently thanked Mya. Every part of Jordan’s defensive stance indicated to me, that he didn’t want to be in that room, any more than he wanted to be near the ward, I was sure of it. I had to believe that. But I shouldn’t assume anything. He may only be tense from the battle that raged around them.

  However, the information the ward had given the woman was not good. She was clearly the enemy. And the Guardian, designed to protect the city, was now doing the complete opposite. There had to be something wrong with its programming. I hoped it wasn’t anything Mason had done to it.

  “The Spire and the Central Unit are ready for you,” the ward continued. “Bring your men through the northeast entrance to avoid the Heart.”

  She snorted. “They don’t bother me. I’ve defeated them before.”

  “And they you,” Jordan added.

  The moment before the ward disappeared, he glanced in my direction and smiled. He could see me. My heart leapt into my throat, but he left without a word.

  Mya! I wanted to gasp, but I kept it within me. If he’s only a communication, how can he see me?

  Shhh, just trust me, she whispered back.

  “You’re sure she will come?” the woman asked Jordan, ignoring his comment, and her words brought my attention back to them.

  “I know her. No one would be able to stop her from coming,” he paused, and I watched him clench his hidden fist even tighter. “Lydia will come. She will come for me. There is no way in her heart, that she would ever believe that I would betray her.”

  “And yet here we are,” the woman said. I was sure, from her tone, that she was smiling at him.

  I needed to hear the rest of their conversation, but Mya pulled me backward, away from the room, away from Jordan. It was most likely for the best.

  His final words came at me as unintelligible sounds spoken in another language. But as they sank in, part of me wanted to rush into that room and demand an explanation. The other part of me felt as though it had died.

  Don’t think about it, came Mya’s voice in my head. Just keep moving.

  The whole way out of the room, she kept one hand upon my mouth and the other at the back of my head. I was grateful that she had. Her hands kept me upright, and my steps moving forward. But as we caught up to
Dax and Lena, she released me. And I tried not to stumble my way back to the stairwell, as we followed them out.

  The entire way back, I kept my focus upon Dax. The red and black welts across his back and arms looked like they really had whipped him with fire. The sight kept any other thoughts from forming in my head.

  However, once we were back with the main group, I had to stop moving, but I forced myself to stay on my feet. I didn’t know what to think, or what to feel. No words ran through my mind, no justification for Jordan, but nothing against him either. My heart was numb. I didn’t want to feel what I suspected I should be feeling, and was glad in that moment, that being torn in two left nothing inside of me to feel.

  From deep within the darkened recesses of my mind, a memory began to surface. A recent memory of Jordan speaking, imploring my understanding. His hand had touched my chest where my heart would be, and then he’d touched my temple. His words reminded me of a promise he’d tried to extract. But why would he want me to promise that? When the truth was clearly before me.

  My hand moved to my chest as I thought of him. He was still in there. And this was one situation that I didn’t like.

  And didn’t understand.

  28

  Isolation

  Mya moved me onward, through the room, to where Haize had begun healing Dax. Upon stopping once more, I felt her shroud lift from me, not completely, but enough to know she was withdrawing. When I turned to question her, she was leaning against a wall, as though exhausted.

  “Mya?” I asked.

  But she didn’t respond. She only looked up at me, one hand swiping at the moisture on her cheeks.

  “It takes a lot for her, to do what she did for you. Concealing you that way,” Lena told me. “But you forget, not only does she hear your every thought, she also feels your every feeling.”