Chapter Forty-Six - Lincoln
I kick out, swiping my foot into the Old Man’s ankle, and he stumbles. The shot rings out and chips of stone fly up and cut my face as the bullet hits mere inches from my body. I roll, missing another shot. The inhibition poisoning is in full force and I’m doubling over on myself as the stomach pain takes over.
“Did you come here to save her, Alpha Three? How ironic. After all those years of staying away because you thought you were keeping her safe, all you did was buy me time to put my plan in action. And then, just when I thought she might need to be culled from the program due to her breakdown over Will’s death, you come through again and deliver her into my waiting arms.”
“Fuck you, you bastard.” I growl it out, my eyes trained up at his. He’s standing over me now, and even though everything in my body wants to rip his throat out, the sickness does its job. It kicks my ass and makes me heel. I am nothing but his dog.
He points his gun at my chest again, a glint of triumph in his eyes. “You did your job well, Alpha Three. But I’m afraid you’ve outlived your usefulness.”
“Stop!” Molly screams. “Stop! I’ll go with you, Montgomery. Just please, don’t kill him!”
The Old Man kicks me in the stomach to make sure I’m not recovered enough to act. He looks at her as I cough and spit blood on the stones. “You’ll come willingly?” he asks her. “No fighting? No protesting? No last-ditch effort to save yourself and this mistake who is too weak to even get up off the ground?”
“I p-p-promise,” Molly sputters. “I promise! I’ll do whatever you want.” She gets to her feet and puts her hands up. “I won’t fight you. I won’t do anything but what you tell me to. Just please.”
“Lincoln!” Case yells in the maze. “Lincoln!”
I can’t even answer him, but when I turn my head to see the dark spot where the maze dumps out into the center, he and Thomas come running into the courtyard, guns drawn.
The Old Man squats down and looks me in the eyes. “They can’t help you either.” And then he stands and raises his voice so everyone can hear him. “I’m in control here, Alphas. Did you really think I’d breed monsters capable of such evil and not have a way to keep you under my thumb? But by all means, boys,” he says, shaking his gun in the direction of Case and Lincoln. “Give it a try. You’ll end up on the ground like your little attack dog here.”
Case and Thomas stop short. I can already see the signs of inhibition poisoning on their faces just from their traitorous thoughts.
“Good boys,” the Old Man says with a snide laugh. “Molly, you offered to be cooperative if I spared your lover here?”
“Please,” she begs again. “I’ll do whatever you say.”
“Well, there’s the problem with your offer, honey.” She recoils at his term of endearment. “I don’t need you to promise me anything. I own you, Omega Three. I have owned you since birth. My will is your will. And believe me, I am one hundred percent in control of this situation. So I’m going to decline your offer and cut my losses while I’m ahead.”
He points the gun at me.
All three of my friends protest with yells and screams. Case even runs towards me, but he is quickly overcome by the inhibition poisoning for approaching the Blue Boar. And the last thing I see before the bullet strikes my chest is Case’s body falling to the ground.
The impact hits me so hard, I feel like I meld into the stone pavers under my back. The pain erupts like a volcano. My mind swims like never before and the world begins to fade.
I hear voices yelling, hands on my chest. “Lincoln.” Case calls my name from somewhere far away. “Get Sheila!” This time he’s right over my face and his voice reverberates in my head. “Get Sheila!”
“Lincoln,” Thomas says, a hand pressing on my chest. It feels squishy and empty. My life is flowing out of me in rivers of hot stickiness. “Open your eyes, brother. Open your eyes.”
I try, but it’s hopeless.
“Get that bike out of here, Case,” Thomas commands.
I swim in the dull gray world of in-between. My chest barely able to draw breath. My body limp and weak. My mind slipping…
“Sheila’s here with the car,” says Case.
I open my eyes a slit, just enough to see blurry motion all around me.
“We have to move fast.”
“He’s dying!”
My consciousness fades in and out as my body is lifted, set down, lifted again, and finally placed to rest. I will die here. In my own car. But then I think of Molly and the defeat I feel stops my heart.
“Breathe!” someone calls out. “Breathe, Lincoln.” Someone is pushing on my chest, and all I hear is the pumping of blood through my body.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
“Do not fucking die on me, Lincoln!”
“Do not fucking die on me, Lincoln.” Thomas is standing in my doorway as I pack one change of clothes. “I need you. Do not do anything stupid, you hear me?”
“I don’t take orders from you.” I growl it out. “I’m the only real Alpha here. You two don’t have an Omega. You have no idea how it feels.”
“They breed them, Lincoln. They breed them to control us. They have been programmed from birth to kill us.”
“Don’t lecture me, Case. I know what she is.”
“She’s your killer, Lincoln.” Thomas, ever calm, says it so matter-of-factly, we might as well be talking about homework and who we’re taking to the movies on Friday night. “He bred her to kill you. He’s manipulating you into loving her so when the day comes, you will submit.”
“I’m not leaving her behind.”
Case grabs his hair and lets out a frustrated sigh. “We need to get going, Thomas. If he wants to save her, we can’t stop him.”
“Is that why you insisted we use the inhibitor on ourselves?” Thomas is bright. I’m sure it surprises him that I got this far and he didn’t suspect it.
His hate for the Omegas is so strong he probably can’t even imagine the feelings I have for this one little girl. “What do you think?”
“You wanted to make sure I didn’t kill you over this.”
“Well, you’re not exactly known for your familial loyalty, Thomas.”
“She’s not my sister. She’s an engineered killer, Lincoln. Genetics don’t make a person family.”
“Did you hear that, Atticus?” I say, looking over to the tall golden boy who sometimes rooms with me. He’s standing in front of the window, just watching. Noncommittal. He’s always been the favorite. He rarely spends time here at school. The Old Man keeps him at home as much as possible. “Thomas says Omega Three is expendable and she’s not his kin.”
Atticus rubs the slight yellow stubble on his chin. I know he doesn’t want to be here. I know he’d rather pretend none of this is happening. But I also know he won’t leave Omega Three behind. He’s been her brother since she was born. He loves her like a sister. He is as committed as Thomas is indifferent.
Two brothers. Two sides to every story.
“Kill her, Lincoln,” Thomas says.
“No,” Atticus says. “Get her out of here. I’ll do your part, Lincoln. I’ll help Thomas and Case and then I’ll go home and no one will ever know I was here.”
“I’ll go with her,” Will says from behind Case. He’s the smallest of us Alphas. A couple years younger than me. “I don’t want to kill anyone, you guys. I’ll take care of the Omega. I know a place.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Thomas snarls at Will. “I should kill you myself, you sniveling piece of shit. You’re gonna do your part, just like—”
“No,” I say, cutting Thomas off. “I like this idea. I’m not shoving her out a window and telling her to run without help. That’s a death sentence. She’ll die tonight. She has no bond to Will, he can help her better than anyone.” I walk over to Will and grab him by the shirt. “You better take care of her, Will. Because if I find out you fucked up and she got hurt, I’ll chop your goddamned head off.”
“I will,” he says, swallowing down his fear. “I promise.”
I look at my brothers one by one and then say, “I’ll meet you downstairs in ten minutes.”
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
“Lincoln,” Thomas says. “Don’t die on me, brother. I really do need you.”
“Change him,” Case says. I try to open my eyes, but it’s hopeless. “Change him, Sheila.”
“Do it,” Thomas says.
“I can’t,” Sheila says. “It’s irreversible. He’s been ready for the change for more than a year and he never initiated it. It’s not my decision.”
“He has no say now, Sheila.” Thomas sounds angry, but Sheila won’t respond to that. “He is going to die. I’ve got my fucking hand on his heart, pumping it myself. He’s going to die. So get that jellyfish shit out, put it in the vector, and shoot him up right fucking now!”
“Do it,” I whisper.
“Shhh,” Case says. “Lincoln?”
“Do it,” I croak again.
I want to say more. I want to tell Thomas to stop squeezing my heart because he’s creepy as hell and I don’t want him touching me. I want to tell Case to calm down, I’m fine. I’m gonna be fine. He’s gonna be fine. I’m gonna make sure he’s not left standing empty-handed when all this is over. I want to tell Sheila—
I’m here, Lincoln, she says inside my head.
Sheila.
Are you sure about this? You can’t go back once I start phase two.
I’m sure. I’ve never been more sure. Make me mean, Sheila. Make me the meanest motherfucker that Old Man never imagined. I’m gonna kill him. I’m gonna end him in a way this town will never forget.
I have a lot more to say, but a warm infusion rushes into my veins and the only thing left on my mind is Molly.
I will get her back. I will make that old man pay.
I will be Alpha in every way.
Just not the way he imagined.