Beasts and Savages (The Beastly Series Book 1) (37 page)

Sitting at the table was Flynn, fork in hand, stabbing at a slab of deer on a plate in the middle of the table. Across from him was Tanner. Flynn flicked at smile in our direction. Tanner glanced over his shoulder and his smile faded.

“I - I’ll wait for you outside.” I stammered and gave Miller a pleading gesture. I bounded through the door and down the stairs.

“Be out in a minute,” he called after me as he plucked a biscuit from a tin on the counter. He turned back to the boys and spoke to them.

I paced in a small spot close the three steps just outside the door. Their voices rang through the house, but were muffled at best outside. Every once in a while I would stop to listen, but I couldn’t make out the words. Miller finally came out and motioned me to him.

“What did he say?” The words escaped my mouth before the kitchen door clicked closed.

“Come on. We’ll talk on the way. It’s a day’s walk remember?” He shoved his hands in his pocket and strode for the tree line.

“But you did talk to him, right? About me, I mean.” I jogged to catch up to his brisk pace.

“Flynn? Yeah. He said he would talk to Tanner.” Miller’s voice was nonchalant.

“What?” I was incredulous. “You didn’t talk to Tanner yourself? You asked Flynn in front of Tanner?”

Miller grinned. “Calm down princess. I’m joking.” He sighed. “Yes I talked to Tanner.”

“And?” I asked.

“And this is why I liked it better when we barely spoke.”

“Miller.”

He shrugged. “He said that anything between him and you wasn’t my business. I told him he was right. He's not ready to talk to you.”

“Oh,” I murmured. A small piece of my heart broke. I had hoped that Tanner would rush out of the house uttering forgiveness as he pulled me into his embrace. He had barely looked at me and had sent Miller out with a message. He wasn’t ready to talk to me. Clinging to the hope that someday he would be was the only thing that didn’t break my heart completely.

We walked most of the day in silence, aside from Miller’s commands of “Watch you step here” and “Turn left at that boulder.” He seemed more peaceful today, and didn’t seem to mind the quiet. I brooded most of the day and spent the other part scolding myself for not keeping my mind on task. I was going to see the last of the girls today.

Excitement and dread raced through my veins as we edged closer to the clearing ahead. It was late afternoon and just beyond the clearing was the last house. My pulse quickened as we cleared the trees. Miller had been right; the house resembled Locke and Dawning’s dwelling. It was a white two story house with smoke puffing out of the chimney. The kitchen had the same potbellied stove and counters over cabinets. A boy of about twelve pointed to an entryway with a door next to it without looking up from his writing.

“Thanks.” Miller replied. I placed my hand on the door handle. “No. Upstairs.” He walked through a room with wooden chairs and benches and climbed the stairs. There was a hall at the top of the stairwell with four doors, all closed. I could hear voices from a door on the right. Miller walked to table and picked up a key in a bowl. Though these girls had to be better taken care of than Anderson’s girls, I blanched at the thought that they had been locked in one room for the last month.

Miller thrust the key in my hand. My eyes met his and gave him a quizzical look. He nodded at the door. I faltered, my hands shaking. Heart pounding in my ears, I slid the key in the lock. Before I turned the knob, I heard the voices in the room quiet. I pushed the door open and hear the most wonderful and heartbreaking sound.

“Lea!” Rally had her arms around me before I stepped into the room.

“Rally! You’re safe.” Unexpected tears gleamed on my cheeks. I hugged her tight, almost lifting her off of the floor. After a long embrace I pushed her to arm’s length to study her, make sure she had been taken care of. I was certain she had grown at least an inch since October, and she no longer looked as young as she had. She was smaller, bonier that I remembered.

I searched her face. It was angular and ashen, not the round plump face I had known before. Though her smile stretched ear to ear, her eyes held sadness and had a hardened edge in them. Her curls were pulled back from her face in the same way it'd been when I'd seen her last. She was wearing a yellow buttoned shirt over knee length pants, similar to the ones Tanner had given me.

“Does this mean we're getting out of here?” Rally looked past me, addressing Miller. After she spoke, she trained her eyes on the floor and flinched. My heart shattered. Rally was broken; they may not have killed her, but they killed her spirit.

“Rally, we're leaving this room, yes, but not tonight. Tonight I'm staying here with you. Tomorrow-”

“No you’re not.” Miller interrupted. “Our room is across the hall. And tomorrow Tanner and Flynn will meet us here to take the girls back with us.”

“Miller!” I hissed. “You can sleep across the hall. I’m staying here with Rally.”

“I’ll have to lock you in.” He sighed.

“Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“It won’t look good, princess.” He used a mocking tone. “What will Torres think when he gets here?” He grabbed my wrist and yanked me away from Rally.

“No!” Rally clung to my arm, panic in her eyes. “Lea! Stay with me.”

“I came to help these girls, Miller. You know that. Tonight they're more important that what some elder thinks.” I glared at him icily. “Besides, you’re right. I am the princess. And I’m staying here.”

“Fine!” He dropped my wrist. “I’ll bring food up later.” He stepped out and shut the door behind him. My heart fluttered when I heard the familiar click of a lock.

“Lea I’m so happy to see you!” Rally hugged me again. She smelled of lye soap.
At least they'd been given soap and water.

“Are you alright? Have they been good to you?” I held her face, stroked her hair.

“Who was that guy?”

“Miller? He’s not important. I’m glad I found you and you’re safe.” My breath hitched, and I swallowed a sob. I lead sat down on a bed and Rally plopped down next to me.

“Why did he want you to stay with him? Mention locking the door? He called you princess? What does that mean? Why did you say you were here to help us?” It was Susie. Her arms were crossed and eyes narrowed.

I looked around the room, taking it in for the first time. Across from the bed was a set of bunks, both with colorful blankets. In between was a table and chair fashioned the same as my room. There was a fireplace with wood crackling in it. Susie was standing in the middle of the room, still giving me an untrusting look. A very slight dark haired girl was hugging her knees on the top bunk.

“It’s a long story.” I let out my breath. “But I’ve gained the men’s trust. The younger boys are helping me. We’re moving to a safe place, a bunker.”

“Then what? You're moving us from one locked room to another? Some help!” She huffed.

“Susie is obsessed with escaping.” Rally yawned.

“You’re not?” I asked.

“I was.” She shrugged. “But they feed us, and let me sleep. Lately I’ve been too tired to care.”

“Oh.” Worry unsettled my stomach. If Rally was tired sitting in a room all day, I didn’t know how she was going to make the journey to the bunker.

“Well, I'm working on an escape plan. So far, we have a bunker near an abandoned women's city.” I sighed. “Don't know how to get us completely out of here, though.”

“Why haven't our mothers come to get us?” Rally asked. I had been so intent on running away, even after my capture, that I'd never entertained the idea of contacting home. I suddenly felt a wave of guilt. These girls wanted to go home. Granted, I was trying to help them, but not in the way they had hoped. Susie was right, I was helping them move to a move comfortable prison, but it was a prison just the same.

“I wish I had a way to get a message to them, but it's a two day walk at least, maybe three.” I finally answered. I didn't tell them about the negotiations or the threats that the women would kill us before taking us back. I didn't believe that, and there was no need to scare them, or give them false hope. We'd been here over a month. If our mothers wanted us back, they should have done something by now.

“Why don't you send that boy who calls you names?” Susie inquired.

“Miller?” I laughed. “He wouldn't do it. Let's just say what we have is more like an arrangement than trust. I mated him.”

“You mated and didn't kill? Lea!” Rally squeezed my arm. “I didn't think that was possible.”

“It is,” I stated wryly.

“You don't look pregnant.” Susie scrutinized my face, my body, my abdomen.

“I don't know if I am. It just happened last week, and until I know, I don't think it's safe to go gallivanting in the woods alone, and since all the other girls are pregnant, it wouldn't be fair to ask someone to risk themselves to try to get a message back to the city.”

“I'm not.” Susie said under her breath.

“I'm not asking you to. What happened, it isn't our fault. They want to keep us, make us a part of their society, but they're afraid of us. They don't know how-”

“I didn't mean I wouldn't go. I meant I wasn't pregnant. So that means I volunteer to go.” Susie interrupted.

“Except you don't know which way to go and would get lost.” Rally chimed in. “We always argue about this.”

An idea was forming in my head. “She may not, but I do.”

Rally turned to me as a flash whitened the window and the room shook. The flash was followed by a large roar, like thunder multiplied. The room darkened and red and white spots floated over my eyes. In the shadows behind them, the door flew open and Miller burst through.

He was yelling something, but all I could hear was blood rushing through my body. He grabbed my wrists and pulled me off the bed. I hadn't realized until then that they were over my ears.

“What's going on?” I called out to him.

“I don't know. I'm taking you to the basement,” He yelled, though there was no need. The sound in my ears faded, leaving an eerie silence behind.

Miller herded us down the stairs and into the basement. It was empty and dark. I slumped against a cool wall in the corner. Rally was next to me, so close our shoulders touched. Susie stood in front of me, bending down to ask what was going on. The other girl curled herself into a ball in the middle of the room and cried.