Текст книги "Tearing Down the Wall"

Автор книги: Tracey Ward

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Vin steps back suddenly, rolling his shoulders. He glances back at the guards watching from behind him. Listening.

“We’ll have a meeting,” he says curtly. “We’ll let the people decide what we do, both with the building and the cannibals.”

“Are you going to kill them?” I ask anxiously.

He shrugs. “We’ll see, won’t we?”

***

It only takes ten minutes to round up everyone in the entire building—two hundred people plus the cannibal prisoners and three reluctant outsiders rallied into one location in under ten minutes. Vin runs a tight ship.

Ryan, Trent, and I stand against the wall in the common room watching people chat quietly as we wait for Vin to break the news. With how quickly gossip flies in this place, I assume everyone already knows. But do they know who they’ve lost?

Vin stands in a huddle with six other people—four men, two women. I don’t recognize any of them. They’re talking in hushed tones, the men and women holding pieces of paper that they were all pointing to at first, but now dangle limp and useless in each of their hands. Vin is standing in front of them, his arms crossed over his chest and his handsome face patiently serious.

“Did you know her?” Ryan whispers to me.

I shrug. “I don’t know. I couldn’t recognize her. I doubt it, though. I see most of the people I was even a little bit close to.” I jut my chin toward the southern corner of the room where a big man stands next to an older redhead and a young brunette. “That’s the kitchen staff over there. Aside from Vin and Nats they were my only real friends. They’re the ones who first told me about the rebellion.”

Ryan follows my gaze. I think Trent was already looking.

“They made the pie?” Ryan asks, his face very, very serious.

I laugh. “Yeah, they made a pumpkin pie to bribe me. It worked. It was delicious.”

“What are their names?” Trent asks.

“Oh, um,” I stutter, thrown by the question. It’s personal and it’s coming from Trent. I expect battle stat questions from him: How much can they lift? What’s their dominant kill hand? Weapon of choice? “The big guy is Steven. The redhead next to him is Crystal, and the brown-haired girl is Amber. The other ones I’m not sure about. I think one of the other guys is named John? Don? Dan? I don’t remember. We didn’t talk much.”

“Where’s Nats?” Ryan asks.

I scan the room but I don’t find her. My blood goes cold. “I don’t see her.”

“They might not have everyone here yet.”

“Vin would have recognized her,” I say, voicing the fear coursing through my veins. “If it was her in that room, he would have known her.”

Ryan only nods and I wonder who exactly I’m trying to convince—him or me?

Suddenly Vin steps into the center of the room. Without a word from him, without a gesture, the entire room falls into silent expectation.

“Whoa,” I breathe.

“No doubt who the boss is here,” Ryan mutters.

“As you all probably know by now, there’s been a breach,” Vin begins. He isn’t even trying to raise his voice. He’s speaking in a normal tone, just daring people to make a sound above him. “It’s been contained. The intruders have been captured. Their intentions are still up for debate, but we’ll get to that in a minute. The most important thing that has to be addressed immediately is one I’m sure you all know about by now. We’ve had a fatality in the building.”

There’s a scattering of gasps. Maybe a few people were somehow out of the loop, but for the most part the room is unaffected. They already knew the what. They want to know who.

“I’ve spoken to the Mayors,” Vin continues, looking over his shoulder at the men and women he had been talking to, “and through roll call and head counts we’ve been able to find out who we’ve lost. It was Rebecca, from the gardens.”

A wider-spread gasp runs through the ranks. There are tears immediately being shed and quiet sobs are peppered through the room.

“I know we’re all very sad to hear about what happened to her. We’re also very angry because her death could have been avoided.”

“I heard it was a Risen attack,” a man calls out.

“Are there Risen in the building?” someone else cries out fearfully.

Vin shakes his head solemnly. “It looked like a Risen attack but we’re sure it wasn’t.”

“Then what was it?”

“Who was it?”

Vin glances at me for the briefest of seconds. Just long enough to make me sweat.

“It was a cannibal,” he tells the room.

Chaos. Absolute freak out chaos. People seriously scream in fear. I haven’t seen anything like it since the early days, and the sight of it now makes me shift on my feet nervously, eyeing the exits.

“Calm down, calm down,” Vin says loudly, his voice bizarrely soothing. “The Guard is sweeping the building right now. If any other outsiders are still here, they won’t be for long.”

“Are these them?” a woman shouts, pointing angrily at the cannibals held prisoner.

“Yes,” Vin confirms. “They’re cannibals.”

More chaos. There are curses mixed inside angry shouts. Some people move farther away from the prisoners, eyeing them cautiously. For their part, the cannibals stay perfectly still. None of them make a sound or move a muscle as a room full of people is whipped into an angry frenzy around them.

“Stop!” Vin commands sternly.

The Colonists quiet almost immediately.

“It’s being taken care of. You’re safe. I promise you. From what I’ve been able to find out so far, these are not the people responsible for what happened to Rebecca, though we are still looking into it and they will remain in custody.”

“They should be killed!”

“Put them outside the gates! Let the Risen have them!”

Movement from the cannibals catches my eye. I glance over to find Macy looking right at me, her eyes pleading and watery. She looks terrified.

“Wait!” I shout. I’ve stepped forward into the center of the room with Vin before I even realize what I’m doing. When I do realize it, when every eye in the entire place is on me, I wish I could sink into the floor and disappear. “I—we have—”

I look at Vin, feeling frantic. He’s watching me calmly, waiting. They’re all waiting. All watching. I’m gonna be sick.

I swallow hard. “I brought them here to help you.”

“You brought them here?”

“Why isn’t she tied up?”

“She’s one of us! She went for help!”

“She brought death!”

“No, I didn’t!” I shout defensively. “I—We tried to bring The Hive, but—”

“The Hive? Rapists and druggies! That was your plan?”

“I’d rather she brought The Hive than the cannibals.”

“She should have stayed gone. We’d be better off and Rebecca would be alive.”

I can’t tell for sure in the chaos, but I’m pretty sure that last shout was Lexy.

I look to Vin, feeling helpless, but what I find is nothing. He’s staring at me blankly. No emotion, no support. No help. They’re calling out The Hive, his home, as being full of rapists and drug addicts and he’s just standing here, passive. Silent. He might as well throw me to these wolves. Without his support they’ll tear me apart.

“You wanted help and that’s exactly what she brought you!”

I whip around, startled. Ryan is striding across the room like he owns the place. He comes to stand directly beside me, his body nearly touching mine.

“My name is Ryan Hyperion!” he shouts, grabbing the attention of every last person in the room. They quiet again, even though there are still murmurs drifting through the crowd. “I was a member of the Hyperion gang, a fighter in the Arena of The Hive. I recognize some of your Guard. Members of the Elevens, the Westies, the Pikes. I even recognized Vin when we arrived. And yes, we brought them here.” He points to the cannibals, all of them watching him intently. “We went to The Hive for help, but they wouldn’t give it. We went to the Vashons for help, but they wouldn’t give it. No one with the numbers we needed were willing to help us. To help you.”

Ryan pauses to look around the room, letting that sink in. Reminding them that this was all for them.

“Then we found them. Your prisoners. The people you want to kill. The people who risked everything to free you.”

“They killed Rebecca!”

“They were clear from the start that no blood would be shed if they could help it,” he replies, stretching the truth just a little bit. “The man who killed Rebecca was acting alone and he should be held accountable for his actions, no one can deny that, but you cannot condemn them all for what one man did.”

“He’s a cannibal, like them. They’re all dangerous. They should all die!”

“You’re a Colonist!” Ryan shouts back. “You’re all Colonists. You all kidnap and enslave. You should all be punished!”

The anger in the room is tangible. I want to thread my fingers through it as it weaves through the room, feel it ripple warm over my skin. It’s that real. That visceral. Ryan has touched a nerve, but he’s also hit home.

“They’re people,” he continues softly. “They’re men and women just like you, and they want what you want. They want freedom from the Colonies. They want to live with their families in the open, unafraid. Like it or not, right now we’re all beggars and we can’t afford to be choosy. You don’t have to agree with the way they live because, honestly, they don’t agree with the way that you live, but they’re still willing to work with you. I hope you have the common sense to work with them.”

“The enemy of your enemy is your friend,” Trent intones.

Ryan nods to the room. “The Leaders in the stadiums fear them just as much as you do. Take this chance to turn that weapon against them and take back what’s yours—your lives.” Ryan goes to stand beside the cannibals, turning his back on them and proving his complete lack of fear. “Talk to them. Hear them out. It doesn’t have to be here. Send them away tonight, seal your doors, but don’t turn your backs on them for good because they might be your only chance. The way things are right now, it can’t last. You can’t hold this building forever. Eventually the other Colonies will find out what’s happened here or The Hive will get wind of it, and then where will you be?”

“Enslaved,” Steven replies.

There’s a rumble of agreement, grudging and angry. But they’re not dumb. They know what’s coming and they know how fragile their situation is.

“They’ll leave tonight,” Vin tells the room, his eyes on Ryan. “We’ll send them back to their home and we’ll agree to talk about joining with them on one condition. They have to give us the man who killed Rebecca. We do with him as we see fit, no interference.”

It’ll never happen. Elijah will never allow it. Bryan may have acted outside the norm for the cannibals, I don’t really know for sure, but I do know that family is everything to them. Bryan is one of them and they’ll never give him up.

“Good,” Ryan says. “That’s good.”

“But remember this,” Vin continues. “This house will never be theirs. No matter what happens or where we go from here, they will never set foot inside these walls again. Is that clear?”

I meet his eyes, nod curtly. “Crystal.”

“Get them out of here.”

With that Vin leaves the room. I’m surprised by the abruptness of it, but I don’t have time to worry about it. Immediately people are in motion all over the room and I’m worried about the cannibals. That’s the craziest moment of my crazy day—worrying over flesh eaters.

Members of Vin’s Guard appear in the doorway. They make quick work of rounding up the cannibals and ushering them out of the room, a room that’s beginning to buzz louder and louder with discord. I’m starting to wonder if Ryan, Trent, and I shouldn’t leave tonight too.

“Joss.”

I jerk when I feel a hand on my arm, a hand attached to the quiet voice behind me. I’m pretty on-edge the moment, not really sure everyone in the room has moved past the ‘lynch her!’ phase, but I’m infinitely relieved and surprisingly happy when I turn to find Amber standing beside me.

“Sorry,” she says with a sheepish smile, retracting her hand quickly. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You didn’t,” I lie. I do it poorly, as always. I can see it in her bright blue eyes that she doesn’t believe me. “How are you?”

“Good. We’re all really good, actually. Well, except for tonight. The news about Rebecca is unbelievable.”

“I’m sorry.”

“We were worried for you there for a minute. Good thing your friend stood up.”

“Oh, yeah, this is Ryan.”

She smiles. “I heard. I’m Amber.”

“Hi,” Ryan says.

“I’m Trent.”

We all look at him, Ryan and I both a little uncertain.

Amber goes right on smiling, not knowing the weird she’s walking into. “Hi, Trent. I liked what you said about enemies and friends.”

“It’s a proverb. Fourth century.”

“Oh.”

“Arabian or Chinese. No one knows for sure.”

“Well, it’s cool. And fitting.”

“You work in the kitchens.”

Amber looks at me, unsure. It’s not exactly a question. “Yes?”

Trent doesn’t say anything after that. He stares at her as though he’s waiting for something. Problem is, none of us knows what the hell it is he’s waiting for.

“Anyway,” Amber says hesitantly, “we’re so glad you’re back, Joss. You were gone so long we worried we’d lost you.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. Help wasn’t exactly easy to find.”

“You did your best and we’re all grateful,” she says, lying much more convincingly than I do. “We’re lucky we had Vin while you were gone. He’s really turned this place around. It feels so different now.”

“Who are the Mayors?” Ryan asks. “Are they a council?”

“When we were a Colony we were split up into groups based on our jobs. The Guard, the gardens, the kitchen, you know. There used to be a Team Leader in charge of each group. When Vin overthrew the place, he put the Colony Team Leaders in prison and replaced them with our own people who work just like the rest of us, but they also meet with him. They’re the ones called Mayors. They’re a voice for each group.”

“Wait, hold on,” I interrupt her. “Did you say ‘when Vin overthrew the place’? What? He did it alone?”

Amber beams excitedly. “Practically. They tried to kill him twice and he survived both times.”

“And that made him valuable to you,” Ryan says thoughtfully.

“Well, yeah. It’s like what you said about the cannibals. If your enemy is afraid of it, you should use it as a weapon. After he survived the second attack when he was already injured, we were all convinced.”

“Convinced of what?” I ask.

Ryan looks at me with a weird expression I can’t quite read. It’s almost worried. “They were convinced he was the one who would set them all free.”

Amber laughs. “Maybe not so biblical as that, but yeah. We realized he was strong enough to help us finally take over. We’d all wanted it since the day we set foot in this place. Vin gave us the opportunity and the courage to do it.”

“We have to leave,” Trent says suddenly. “They’re moving the cannibals. We should go with them to make sure they get out safely.”

“Oh, okay,” Amber says, sounding confused. She’s probably wondering why we care if the cannibals live or die. Part of me wonders the same thing. “Good to see you again, Joss. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

I smile at her. “Thanks.”

Amber blushes suddenly, her eyes going to Trent who has yet to stop staring at her like a lunatic. “Bye, Trent.”

“Goodbye,” my robot replies.

Chapter Nine

We go our separate ways, Amber heading out with the flow of Colonists and us following the cannibals back to the shower room. More members of the Guard have joined our group, some leading and more following, and I’m grateful that Ryan, Trent, and I aren’t lumped in with the cannibals; we’re allowed to follow freely behind the herd.

“All right, what’s wrong?” I whisper to Ryan as we walk.

“With what?”

“With Amber’s story about the overthrow. You didn’t like it.”

Ryan pauses, his eyebrows coming together in concentration. “It’s not that I didn’t like it, it’s… I think it worries me. The sort of hero worship vibe I got from your friend could be bad news.”

“Why?”

“Because it reminds me of what Sam told us about Westbrook and how the Colonies first got started. And also because it’s not really true. In that story of him surviving two assassination attempts, where were you?”

“I was with him by the wall when Caroline stabbed him.”

“I know that and you know that.”

“Caroline knows that,” Trent remarks.

“But Amber didn’t mention it. Does she not know that you’re the one who saved Vin that night?”

“I don’t know,” I reply, not sure what it matters.

“If you’re being left out of that story, are more people being left out of the other story? The other attempt on his life? If he was already injured, I’m thinking he wasn’t alone for that second fight.”

“Okay, probably not, but who cares? He still survived. She’s right—they tried to kill him twice and he survived both times.”

“But why did they try to kill him? Why did Caroline do it the first time?”

“Because she was crazy and in love with him and she thought I was stealing her man.”

“So it wasn’t an assassination attempt at all. It was one person acting on jealousy. And the second time, why did that girl try to kill him?”

“Probably because Caroline was her friend and Breanne was kind of nuts. She went native the second we got here. She was insanely loyal to the Colony by the time I left.”

“So neither attempt on his life was actually ordered by the Colonies or by the Team Leaders as a group—it was all personal and emotional, but that’s not how the people here are looking at it. They’re looking at him as some messiah who their enemies tried to strike down but couldn’t. It gives him this legend status and puts him on a pedestal. It’s no wonder they follow him like they do.”

I hadn’t thought about it, but he’s right—these people are looking at Vin as their savior, but he’s actually nothing more than a gangster pimp with bad taste in women and a habit of getting shanked.

“If he gets them where they need to go, then what’s the problem?” I ask, trying to convince myself as much as Ryan.

He shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe nothing.”

“Are we staying here tonight?” Trent asks out of the blue.

“I’m not really sure,” I reply hesitantly. “We’ll have to talk to Vin, I guess.”

“Do you think it’s safe?” Ryan asks.

I want to say yes, of course it is, but after what happened upstairs just now I’m not so sure. Vin didn’t turn on me, but he didn’t exactly help me either. He left me to fend for myself, and something about that royally pisses me off. Whether we’re staying here tonight or not, he and I have to talk.

“Probably not. It might not be a bad idea for us to sleep behind locked doors tonight, wherever we go.”

“Careful what you say. I’ll think you’ve grown to love prison life.”

“I do miss the bathrooms. And the soaps.”

“I miss the pillows.”

“I miss the books,” Trent adds.

“Was Sam right?” I ask him. “Could you have busted us out of there?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe or probably?”

“Definitely.”

My jaw drops. “Why didn’t you?”

“I didn’t need to,” he says like it’s obvious. “You wanted to stay.”

“How would you have done it?”

“Picked the lock.”

“Is that easy to do?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know you could have done it?”

Trent grins. “Because I did it.”

“What? When?”

“While you and Ryan were sleeping. Sam was out cold too. I was up and I was bored so I picked the lock. Wandered around a little. That house was nice. Big kitchen. They had oranges.”

“Are you kidding me?” I cry incredulously.

The guards ahead of us look back at Trent warily.

“No.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Ryan demands.

“You guys wanted to stay in that room and play by their rules until they let you talk to their council, so I played by their rules.”

“Not really. You ninja-ed around their house in the middle of the night.”

“Just for a few minutes. I told you, I was bored. Besides, if they had found out I could do that we’d have been killed or kicked off the island immediately.”

“If you had been caught,” I begin.

“But I wasn’t.”

“But if you had been—”

“But I wasn’t.”

“Oh my God,” I grumble, closing my eyes briefly. “Ryan, I can’t.”

He rubs his hand on my back in small circles. “I know. Believe me, I know.”

Luckily, before I lose my mind we reach the showers. The body has been taken out—probably to the gardens, which is kind of fitting considering where Rebecca worked—but her blood remains. There are two people in the room cleaning along with two guards standing nearby watching. The cleaning crew pushes pink-stained mops toward the hole in the floor, water washing away the red remains of Bryan’s mistake.

It changes everything, what he did. This could have been easy. Well, easier. The Colonists didn’t even have to know these people were cannibals. They could have been a random group of gang members we rounded up, something that would have gone over perfectly with the mixed company inside a Colony. But no, Bryan had to go and get hungry and murder some innocent girl and now we’re all screwed—Vin included. This castle of his, no matter how sturdy it looks from the inside, is made of sugar. And the rain is coming.

“Warn Elijah to stay away,” Ryan tells Macy as they approach the drain. “It’s not safe to come here again.”

“No joke,” she mutters.

“I think we’re all assuming the plan is off,” Kyle agrees bitterly.

Ryan steps up to him, catching his eye. “Not yet. It’s not over yet.”

“They’ll kill us if they ever see us again.”

“If they ever see you here again.”

“What’s your point?”

“This place was meant to be a battle, but it’s not the war.”

“You really think they’re going to fight side by side with us someday?” Macy asks, her tone disbelieving.

“I think very soon they aren’t going to have a choice.”

“You think the Colonies are coming,” Kyle says.

Ryan shakes his head. “Worse. I think The Hive is coming.”

“Marlow knows what we have planned,” I mutter, catching on. “He knows Vin is here. He knows we don’t have a prayer without him or the Vashons, and he definitely knows the Vashons told us no.”

“It won’t be long before he comes here. He’ll rally a small army and storm this place, just like we did. The thing that worries me is what will V—”

“No,” I blurt out, interrupting Ryan.

He looks at me with surprise on his face, but I shake my head firmly and shift my eyes to the guards; they’re standing on the edges of the room, listening.

I don’t know what Vin was doing up there in the rec room letting me drown myself in stupid, but I’m not willing to undermine him in his own house. Not yet. Not until I know what his deal is. Ryan must pick up at least part of what I’m trying to convey because he drops the issue immediately.

“Tell Elijah we’ll send word on the plan,” Ryan tells Kyle, offering his hand. “Until then, please ask him to sit tight.”

“What about Bryan?” Macy asks suspiciously.

Ryan sighs. “Tell Elijah about Vin’s demand, but I won’t be shocked when he says no. We’ll have to figure out a way around it.”

Kyle hesitates only a second before taking Ryan’s hand in his. “You got it. Good luck.”

“You too.”

We watch the cannibals go one by one down into the drain. The cleaning crew doesn’t even stop their work. A thin river of blood and water pours through the hole on top of the cannibals as they leave. They’ll be covered in blood when they get home, but they should count themselves lucky it isn’t theirs.

“What’s the plan now?” Ryan asks me when they’re gone.

“You and Trent go look around. Mingle. Whatever,” I say with a shrug, not really concerned what trouble they get themselves into. They can go set the display tree on fire for all I care. Things can’t get much worse than they already are.

“What are you going to do?”

I angrily chew on the inside of my lip until I taste blood. “I’ve got a date with a pimp.”

***

“Where is he?”

The guard—another Hive member, judging by the hornet tattoo on his neck—looks me up and down.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you want to know where he is?”

“Why do you think?” I ask hotly.

The guy smirks. “For the same reason all the women look for him.”

“Unless all the women here are looking to kick his ass, then no.”

“That doesn’t make me want to help you find him.”

I turn away in frustration to head up the hall. “I’ll find him myself, dick!”

“Roof.”

I stop, looking over my shoulder at him. “Why?”

His smirk becomes a grin. “Why what?”

“Why are you telling me?”

“Because you’re not a Colony girl. You’re a wild girl. He likes wild girls.”

“You’re still a dick.”

He laughs. “So are you, wild thing.”

When I reach the roof, there he is—just as the hornet downstairs told me he would be. He’s sitting on the edge of the roof, his legs dangling, his back to me. It’s a dangerous position he’s in, and no eyes on the entrance? It worries me more than impresses me.

“What’s on your mind, Joss?” Vin asks without turning.

I sigh before going to sit next to him. The anger I had building inside of me is dying out. Maybe it’s because I’m tired, but it’s probably because it doesn’t matter. I’m still alive. The cannibals got out alive. One Colonist died—I genuinely feel bad about that, but it could have been worse. So, so much worse. All in all, if I survive to see the sunrise, I’ll count it as a good night.

When I sit, I let my legs dangle off the edge of the building as well. Like a little kid. A little kid sitting three stories above the ground, tempting fate, begging it to take its best shot.

“Nothing much,” I lie.

“Did they send you up to tell me to hand over the Colony?”

“Nope.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Not for the company, that’s for sure.”

“Spill it,” he insists.

I glare at him before looking away out over the black water. “Why’d you do it?”

“You mean why did I leave you hanging?”

“Almost literally, yes. I don’t feel safe being here anymore.”

“You shouldn’t. You shouldn’t feel safe anywhere. That’s when your guard goes down and you die.”

“Did you want them to kill me?”

“No.”

“Then why didn’t you help me?”

“Your boy helped. You don’t need me, Kitten.”

“Is that what this is about? Ryan?”

“Get over yourself,” he scoffs. “No.”

I throw my hands up in frustration. “Then what is it about?”

“It’s about this place,” he hisses fiercely. “It’s about this building and the people in it.”

I stare at him, shocked. Then something slowly begins to occur to me: he’s not actually angry. He’s feral, like an animal. An animal protecting his territory.

“It’s your house. You want to keep this Colony and I’m a threat to that.”

“I took it. I did that. And I did it half dead.”

I pause, feeling scared, but it’s weird because I think I was already feeling it. It’s not a new feeling; it’s an uncovering. It’s shining light on something that’s been hidden in the shadows of my mind since I got here. I think I’ve known something was wrong since the moment I walked in the building.

Something is off, something is missing.

Someone is missing.

“When Breanne died,” I begin, my voice whisper quiet, “you weren’t alone, were you?”

Vin curses harshly under his breath. It’s all the answer I need.

“Nats is dead.”

He nods.

Tears sting my eyes, hot and angry. I will them back, I pull them inside, and I swallow the rough, salty tang down into my stomach where it burns like lava.

“How?” I whisper shakily.

The worst thing is that Vin doesn’t give me a hard time. I’m emotional, I’m obviously nearly weeping beside him, and he doesn’t say a word about it—that’s how bad it is, how hard it’s hitting him, and it makes it so much worse because it somehow makes it more real.

“She was standing watch over me after you left. I was in and out of it, sweating and aching, feeling like I was dying because I was. Sometime the next day I woke up to fighting. It was Nats and Breanne. On instinct I reached under my pillow for a knife. I always kept one there in The Hive, just in case. I was surprised to actually find one. Nats knew. She must have put it there. She fought Breanne hard, but the entire time she was asking her to stop. To remember we were family. I pulled myself out of the bed to help her, but I fell on the floor. I couldn’t stand up straight. I was useless. When I looked up, Breanne had sunk a kitchen knife into Nats’ chest. To the hilt.” Vin coughs roughly, rubbing his hand over his mouth. “She pounced on me, but she was too excited. She didn’t see my knife. I put it in her stomach three times, then I tossed her aside. I lay there on the ground with her and I watched her die. It took hours.”

“Where’s Nats now?”

“She’s buried by the water. Breanne and Caroline are buried by the wall. I wanted to toss them to the zombies, but…”

“But what?”

He runs his hand over his face briskly. “I thought better of it.”

“It would have been an aggressive move for this crowd.”

“That’s what I thought, but they were pretty eager to throw out that option tonight.”

“You were already thinking of ruling this place the second I killed Caroline, weren’t you? Or was it when they asked you to go home and bring back help?”

He chuckles darkly. “I’ve been thinking about ruling this place since we walked in the door.”

“You’ll never be able to keep it. Not once word gets out that you have it.”

“I know that.”

“Marlow will want it and you’ll have to give it. You owe him a lot.”

“I don’t owe anybody anything,” he replies, his tone harsh.

I glance over at him to find his jaw clenched tightly, the muscles working under his skin.

“You care about this place, don’t you?”

“I always watch after what’s mine.”

“This isn’t like the stables, though. Those were Marlow’s. This is real to you, isn’t it? This place really means something.”

He sighs heavily, the air sliding past his lips for what feels like eternity. When he finally speaks his voice is shockingly soft, all of the anger seeming to have slipped out of him.

“In The Hive people feared me. There were a few that knew me better than the others, ones who weren’t afraid of me, but they were of Marlow. That entire place is run on fear. I never knew there was any other way.”

“They respect you here, I can see it. I saw it in the rec room when you talked to them. They listened and it was because they love you, not fear you.”

He nods. “It’s different.”

“And you don’t want to go back to the old way?”

“I don’t know what I want.”

“I think you do.”

“I’m surprised about your boy,” Vin says suddenly.

“Oh yeah?” I ask, thrown by the change of subject. “Why’s that?”

“Because he’s Ryan Hyperion,” Vin replies like it’s obvious. “Kevin was a big deal in the Arena, and everyone—me included—was sure Ryan would follow him. He’s a hell of a fighter.”