Kite
I'd had a strong stomach even as a human. And watching a girl get eaten by Vs whilst tied to a pole – right down to the bone – didn't make me feel remotely ill. As a V, my stomach may as well have not existed. I still cared about the girl. Sort of. I mean, I'd rather not have seen her get eaten alive. And I wanted to kill everyone in the resort for it. But it didn't exactly 'affect me'.
Someone who clearly didn't share that sentiment, was Ned. He stood across from me and Mercy within the crowd, his face shifting from white to green. I could smell the sweat on his forehead as a single bead trailed under his mask. Jameson and Cass had headed toward the bar a while ago, probably to try and avoid the show. But Ned, for reasons beyond my comprehension, had weathered out the entire display of death.
I nudged Mercy, subtly gesturing toward him. She watched him for a few seconds before weaving her way to his side, laying a hand on his arm. I trailed after her and the spectators gave me a wide berth.
“Come to my room for a drink,” Mercy said, flicking her hair flirtatiously.
“Of course,” Ned said, looking grateful as Mercy led him from the circular room. I followed them back to the Troposphere and we headed upstairs in the elevator. Ned looked seriously peaky by the time we entered Mercy's room on the 51st floor. The second she closed the door, he darted into the bathroom.
Mercy frowned as the sound of Ned's heaving reached us.
“Guess some people can't handle blood and gore,” I muttered.
Mercy remained silent for several seconds before asking, “Do you think I should have brought him here?”
“No one's going to bat an eyelid at you bringing a guy back to your room.”
Mercy glowered, but didn't contradict me.
Ned stumbled out of the bathroom, dabbing his forehead with a white towel.
“You alright, puppy?” I raised a brow. “Thought you might have coughed a lung up.”
“I'm fine,” he muttered, looking like he might retch again.
Mercy fetched a water bottle from the mini fridge and passed it to him.
I observed him as he took little sips. “You're not really cut out for this, are you?”
Ned grimaced at me. “I earned my place here, just like you. Doesn't mean I can watch it with a smile on my face.”
“I never smiled,” I snarled. “Blood just doesn't bother me anymore. Well, apart from when I'm hungry. Then it bothers me that I'm not drinking it.” My eyes slid to Mercy's neck. I'd fed on her a couple of times, and she hadn't complained once.
Ned dabbed his forehead again, releasing a shaky breath. I could tell it was more than the death show bothering him.
Mercy gestured for him to sit on the sofa, dropping down beside him as he did so. “Are you alright?”
Ned hung his head. “I just have some stuff on my mind.”
“Like?” she said softly.
Ned pushed away the sweaty hair that was clinging to his mask. “My daughter died in a game,” he said in a hoarse voice. “Seeing girls killed here...” He trailed off and my heart tugged a little.
“Oh,” Mercy said quietly. “Do you want to talk about it?”
I bit my tongue on interjecting. Surely Mercy was the last person Ned would want to talk to about this?
Ned sipped his water for a minute before saying, “She was backpacking in South America. Girls go missing all the time out there. But I'm Immortal; I know where some of them end up.” He rubbed his eyes wearily. “I tracked her to the Partridge twins' game in Peru. Took me two years to find out where it was...just to learn she'd been dead all that time.”
“I'm sorry,” Mercy said, her eyes straying to me, encouraging me to be more sympathetic.
I floated closer, perching on an armchair nearby to show I was listening.
He shook his head vaguely, his eyes glistening. “No point being sorry. Doesn't bring her back. But I can do something. I can help stop these games for good.”
He relaxed a little with his admission and I listened to his heartbeat slowing. “So you're married?” I asked, searching for a ring on his finger.
“Na,” he spluttered a laugh, pointing at his face. “Knocked a girl up by accident. I was an idiot when I was younger. Used to use my power to make beautiful women fall in love with me, take them to bed.” He grimaced at himself. “Not exactly proud of it. After I found out I was going to be a father, I straightened myself out. Sent money, kept a watch over her. I chose not to be a part of her life. I couldn't talk to her mother without explaining what I was, that I'd essentially tricked her into loving me...”
I wrinkled my nose. It was pretty gross to think someone could do that to a person. But I decided it was best not to voice that thought right then. It'd probably make him cry. And crying people made me uncomfortable.
Mercy laid a hand on his knee. “I understand.”
I sensed I was intruding on something as they continued talking, and casually made my way out onto the balcony. I leant my elbows on the railing, breathing in the scent of death on the breeze. It was a scent I knew all too well.
Five Years Ago
Cade drove us down the dark country roads at speed. I could barely focus on the blur of trees surrounding us.
Poppy reached around the passenger's seat, clinging to my hand. It was sweaty and hot but I never let go, not once.
“Where are you taking us?” I asked, my voice shaking a little.
“Somewhere safe,” Cade replied, not looking at me.
I narrowed my eyes on him. He looked flushed, panicked. He didn't know what he was going to do with us, I could tell. And that scared me even more. What if he changed his mind about killing us? Realised it was the easier option?
I clung to the seat with my free hand, my nails digging in. Cade took corners so fast, I feared the car would roll every time.
“Why should we trust you?” I snarled and Poppy's fingernails dug into my palm.
“Because you have no choice,” Cade snapped, glancing at me.
“Let us go, we'll make our own way home,” Poppy pleaded.
“We can't go home, puppy,” I answered before Cade could. “The bad men will find us.”
Poppy started crying.
“Stop that,” Cade snapped. “I can't think straight.”
A clip sounded and Poppy suddenly had her arms around me.
“Put your belt back on!” Cade barked at her, turning to push her back.
“Poppy – listen to him!” I tried to peel her hands from me, but she wouldn't let go.
“Pull over, I'll get in the back with her,” I said to Cade.
But I never got an answer from him. Lights flared beyond his head. A horn screamed in my ears. The crash happened so fast, I couldn't focus. My world became a kaleidoscope of colours, lights, pieces of metal bending and buckling.
I reached for Poppy but she wasn't there. An airbag exploded in my face. I couldn't breathe. I was suffocating. My heart wouldn't stop racing. I was numb, shaking, trying to work out if I was hurt. I just couldn't tell.
The bag deflated enough for me to breathe. I pushed it away, finding myself hanging in the seat belt, my hair dangling around me. We were upside down. Cade was unconscious beside me, blood dripping from a cut on his temple.
I smelt smoke. Fire.
I started screaming for help, reaching for Cade, shaking him.
Eventually, I calmed down enough to unclip my belt, bracing myself against the dashboard. I fell to the roof in an awkward tangle of limbs. I slid through the window, the broken glass slicing my clothes, dragging over my skin. I scrambled off of the road, rolling into the grassy lay-by away from the glass and the jagged bits of metal. The headlights were still on, illuminating a still figure lying in the road.
“Poppy!” I screamed so loud my throat hurt. I crawled my way to her, gently rolling her onto her back. She was floppy and unusually heavy. The blood in her hair made me ill. Her face was somehow untouched, but the top of her head was bent inwards like it was made of rubber.
I laid with her hugged to my chest for so long. Time stretched by. Clouds thickened overhead until we were drenched by rain. The blood swirled around us in a growing puddle.
At some point, an engine approached. A man appeared from a huge Land Rover, the headlights blinding me as it stopped before us. I couldn't see his face; he was just a silhouette moving toward us.
“Please. Help her,” I begged.
He stopped beside me, his boots huge and shiny.
“Cade!?” he called to the car and my heart sunk like a stone. He was one of them. No one was coming to help us. “If you're alive in there, I'm gonna kill you myself.” He huffed his annoyance, taking something from inside his large coat. “I'm sick of cleaning your mess up,” he muttered.
The flash of a needle caught my eye and I tried to slap his arm away as he reached down. “Get away!” I screamed, trying to move, trying to take Poppy with me.
He grabbed a fistful of my hair, grunting as he jammed the needle into my exposed neck.
A fog filled my mind, dragging me away. Away from the road and the rain. Away from Poppy.
“No. I love you, pup. I love-” I slumped forward, never feeling the press of her body against mine as I flew away on dark wings.
◐ ☼ ◐
I woke on a soft bed. Sunlight filtered through a nearby window. A vase of flowers sat on the table beside me. Birdsong filled the air. Sweet and calming. But I was anything but calm.
“Poppy!” I bolted upright, but found myself held in place by straps on my arms. I wheeled to face the door across the room. “Hello!? Help! Help me!”
A golden-haired nurse burst into the room, sighing at the sight of me. She produced a needle and I tensed with all my might to get away from it.
“No! No – don't- please,” I begged.
“There, there. It's alright, child. It's just a sedative,” she said in a thick Manchester accent. “Take a breath and I might not need to give it to you.” She held the needle back and I forced myself to breathe, not wanting to be drugged again.
“Where am I?” I demanded. “Where's Poppy?”
Her lined face softened and she laid a hand on my arm.“You're in Sunny Lodge. We're looking after you here.”
I gazed down at my body. “Am I hurt?” I felt fine. There wasn't a scratch on me as far as I could tell. How was that possible?
“No love, you're not hurt. Your uncle brought you here, remember? Just over a week ago.”
I shook my head violently. “What? I was in a car crash. Yesterday – it must have been yesterday!”
She smiled vaguely, moving away. “So you've been saying.”
“I don't understand. Where's my sister?” I demanded.
She gave me a sad smile. “Your family died a long time ago. Your uncle believes you've become unstable since. Making up stories...stories that you've convinced yourself are true.”
I shook my head, gazing left and right, desperate for a way out. “You're lying. I don't even have an uncle!”
“It's alright, my dear. We're going to help you. We'll get you better.”
“You're not listening!” I screamed, fighting against my restraints. “Where's my sister!” But I remembered how still she'd been, how her chest hadn't risen and fallen with breath. Tears welled and suddenly I was sobbing, pain lancing through my whole body. My family were dead. And whoever had found me on the road had brought me here. Told them some lie.
The nurse moved closer again, taking out the syringe. “It'll all go away in a minute.”
“No- I don't want it to go away. Please listen to me-” The needle sank into my neck and my head swam. I descended into a mist that clouded my emotions, made thoughts hard to grasp. And I didn't think it would lift ever again.
◐ ☼ ◐
It took three years to break out. Three years where time blurred. My thoughts jumbled. I held onto the few things I knew to be true. That my family had been killed. Poppy had died in a car crash. A man called Cade had helped us. These things I knew. So every time I rose from the lull of the drugs, I repeated those facts. Over and over. Until they were hardwired. Until they reached me even when I felt like I was nothing more than a girl floating on a cloud.
Sixteen years old. Dates, days, all of it was gone. But I caught sight of my nurse's watch every now and then. Worked out how long I'd been this way. Today was the day I realised I'd been sixteen for three months and eleven days.
“Three years,” I breathed as I ate breakfast in the cream-walled canteen. The girl across from me was drooling. She was more doped up than I was. I'd learned that if I behaved well enough, kept my thoughts to myself, they didn't give me as many sedatives. The girl across the table was new. She hadn't worked that out yet.
Plastic cutlery. Always. But for the past few weeks, I'd been making a shiv, sharpening the end of a plastic knife using a stone I'd smuggled into my room. It was currently up my sleeve.
Emotions were gone. Side-effect of the drugs. So what I was about to do didn't bother me. Not in the slightest.
Standing, I grabbed hold of the drooling zombie opposite me and rammed the shiv into her neck. She gurgled a scream, flying backwards as I leapt onto the table.
That was where I'd make my stand. The drooler was a sacrifice that led the nurses to me. In swarms. I slashed at them, driving my shiv into every piece of soft flesh I could get close to. Blood splattered my arms, coated my sleeves.
I spotted my nurse, Mrs Lewis, the blonde-haired bitch, drawing up a syringe, her eyes pinned on me. “Get her on the floor!” she commanded.
I booted a male nurse in the face, breaking his nose. Little did they know, I'd timed this just right. At the precise point my drugs began to wear off. I wouldn't get my dose till after breakfast. It had been that way for months on account of my good behaviour.
I dove at her before they could get me off the table, yanking her hair. She screamed, rearing backwards as I snatched the syringe from her hand.
I held it to her neck. “Get back!”
“It's just a sedative,” Mrs Lewis growled. “Go ahead.”
I jammed my thumb down onto the plunger, squirting the drug everywhere before drawing back up nothing but air. I held it to her neck again. I'd seen it in a movie once. A shot of air right into the veins could kill a person. I just hoped everyone else in the room knew that, too.
“Stop!” Mrs Lewis shouted at the nurses as they hurried forward.
I tugged her backwards by the hair toward the security door. “Let me out,” I snarled and Mrs Lewis waved her hand, gesturing for one of the nurses to unlock the door.
The second it was open I pointed into the hall. “Throw your passes in there. All of you!” I screamed, pressing the needle against Mrs Lewis's throat. She squealed, waving at them to comply.
When every single one of the nurses had thrown their passes into the hall, I snatched the one hanging around Mrs Lewis's neck.
“You should have believed me,” I growled, then jammed my finger on the plunger as hard as I could, shooting the air into her neck.
I stumbled back, slamming the door, running flat-out down it. Every door I met, I could open with the pass.
I made it to the front door, threw it open, hearing a guard shouting behind me.
I didn't slow as I ran barefoot down the gravel path, as fast and as hard as I could. The gate was high but not so high that I couldn't climb it. I threw myself over the top and suddenly I was on a country road, surrounded by towering trees in every direction. I flew into them, knowing they'd find me more easily on the road. Twigs whipped against my cheeks, my feet sank into the mud, but I never slowed.
I ran for miles, breathless and gasping for water. I'd never go back there. I'd die first. Finally after three years, I was free.