Dead and Buryd: A Dystopian Action Adventure Novel (Out of Orbit Book 1) (16 page)

Keiran rolled his eyes as he glanced at her and brought his cigarette up to his lips, inhaling a large breath of the sweet-smelling smoke. He finally flicked the gathering ash off the end, and Georgianna watched as it flittered through the air into the dry grass.

“That’s not the same,” Keiran dismissed her before pointing his cigarette at her. “And it’s not like you can claim complete innocence either.”

Laughing, Georgianna brought her knees up to her chest and perched her heels on the edge of the wall, wrapping her arms around her legs. Resting her chin on her knees, she nodded her head in determination.

“I certainly can, thank you very much!” she claimed happily. “I am just a medic. A nice, wants-to-help-others medic who always follows the rules.”

Keiran paused in his pacing, watching her for a moment before turning and stepping up to stand before her. With the cigarette still perched loosely between his fingers, he leaned over, placing his hands against the brick on either side of her body, smirking at her.

“You, Miss George, are anything but innocent.” His hand moved closer to her, his thumb stroking gently back and forth against her hip.

“That’s not a very nice thing to say.” Georgianna tried to look moody, but failed. She grinned instead.

“Nice, no,” he replied, cocking his head to the side as he considered it. “But true, yes. I don’t think there is a person alive who’d think you were innocent if they knew the truth about you.”

“Oh?”

“If the Adveni found out that you help the Belsa, you’re not an innocent young medic anymore. If your boss at the bar finds out you swipe a bottle or two practically every shift you work, you’re not the sweet, cheerful barmaid.”

Georgianna opened her mouth to argue. She didn’t swipe alcohol nearly as often as he was making out, but just because she didn’t do it every night, it didn’t mean she didn’t do it at all. Seeing as his point was relatively valid, she pouted at him, nodding for him to continue.

He leaned in closer towards her, his lips just shy of brushing her skin as he spoke. Georgianna shivered, his breath flowing over her lips and past her cheek.

“And let’s not forget your da’ and how innocent he’d see you if I were to tell him just how much you like it when I…”

“Alright!” she yielded, placing her hands on his shoulders and pushing him sharply away from her body. “Let’s just agree right now that you are never meeting my father!”

Keiran laughed as he grinned triumphantly and took another drag of his cigarette.

“Agreed.”

She nodded.

“So, I know you’re already un-innocent,” Keiran said slowly, the amusement from his voice gone in an instant as he took a seat next to her. “But that doesn’t mean you have to be stupid. He’s asking too much, George.”

The smile faded and she let out a huff. She should have known better than to think they were off that conversation. Staring out across the grass of the park, she couldn’t think what to do. She didn’t want to hurt Taye by saying no, but the risk of getting caught had been weighing on her long before Keiran had put it so bluntly.

“I just hate seeing him miss her like this.”

“Yeah? How much is your family going to miss you? I mean, forget the things you do for the Belsa, and how much time I’d have on my hands if you weren’t turning up in my bed when you’re bored, what would your da’ be like if you were caught? Or your brother…”

Keiran paused and she glanced at him. His brow was furrowed, his tongue darting out to wet his lips.

“Halden,” she confirmed.

His expression immediately loosened and he nodded.

“That’s it! What are they going to do if you get locked up?”

Georgianna frowned. She hadn’t really thought about how it would affect her family. She worried about things happening to them, but it was never the other way around. They’d already lost her mother to the Adveni and Halden had lost Nequiel. Neither her father nor brother would be happy if anything happened to her. She would be inconsolable if anything happened to Halden, Braedon, or her father. She would go to the ends of the world for them, put herself in the line of five bears if it even gave one of them a slim chance of getting away unharmed. The way she saw it, she had been selfish to even consider leaving them to such sorrow.

The more she thought about it, staring out across the dry, yellowed grass, the words her father had constantly driven into her began replaying in her head. The same words her mother had told her as a child. The Kahle were family. It didn’t matter that they were not all connected by blood; they were family because they chose to be. They looked after each other. They cared like family and so that made them one. She couldn’t leave Taye to his sorrow and heartache any more than she could abandon Halden. Nyah was her sister, and Taye her brother, both by choice. If it were Halden in the compound or sold on, Georgianna knew she would not stop until he was safe, until he was free, so how could she expect Taye to leave Nyah to her fate?

“You’re right,” she exclaimed, nodding her head.

Keiran leaned back and let out a sigh, a thin stream of sweet smoke billowing up into the warm air. She pursed her lips, watching as he stared up at the sky. From the look of relief on his face, he obviously thought he’d convinced her, and he had.

“I have to help him.”

He sat up much faster than he leaned back and turned his head, glaring down at her.

“What?”

“I have to help,” she repeated. “If it were Halden, I would want help getting him out. So how can I not expect the same of Taye?”

“George, that wasn’t what I…”

She cut him off, reaching out and placing her hand over his, resting it in his lap.

“I know it isn’t what you meant, but it’s what I have to do. You won’t change my mind on this.”

Keiran groaned and untangled his hand from hers, reaching up and rubbing his fingers over his face. For a moment, he frowned up at the stars, his gaze darting amongst them before he finally looked at her, giving her a resolute glare.

“You’re going to be the death of me.”

 
16
Games of Escape

 
The next few days after her discussions with Taye and Keiran, Georgianna hardly had any time to think about what she might be able to do to help Nyah. There had been a fight between some Belsa and a number of Adveni trying to push their control further into the Camps, which ended up with three dead and two injured men who needed almost constant care on the Way.

She hardly found the time to go back home, let alone go down to the Carae grounds to look for Taye. She could, in the end, only hope that Taye hadn’t rushed off to do anything stupid without waiting for her.

The tunnels were sweltering, a constant mist of sweat dampening the dry heat that emanated from the earth. Georgianna had finally convinced Jaid to take some time off from watching over Si. Getting Jaid to leave the Way was a good sign, but it also meant Georgianna had to stay in case anybody came in for help, and to keep a general eye on the patients they already had in, Si included.

In the furthest car from the entrance to Medics’ Way, Georgianna sat cross-legged on one of the makeshift beds, a pile of freshly washed dressings next to her, one wound tightly around her hand. Across the car, Jacob was sitting up in bed. Lacie perched on the end of the mattress, a leather bag in her lap and a selection of small wooden tiles in her hand. It was nice, watching the two of them. While they never really spoke about anything very serious, the two kept up an almost constant stream of cheerful chatter.

“How can you say you prefer the wash?” Jacob asked in disbelief. “Everything is so… wet.”

Lacie let out a laugh, a high giggle that chimed like the metal bells that hung from caravans on the trail. Georgianna smiled down at her knees. Lacie was much more cheerful than when she first came to the Belsa, a tiny, thin, battered girl in Beck’s arms. Georgianna had hardly ever heard the girl laugh. There was usually a sadness to her that she had barely asked about, past needing to know her injuries.

Jacob, too, was much happier in Lacie’s presence. When others were around, even Georgianna, the young man was quiet and withdrawn, pulling himself back into the corner any time anyone came near him. Yet with Lacie he seemed like any other man of his age, almost rambunctious while talking with the younger girl.

“But freeze is so cold!” Lacie complained, a wide grin across her lips making her complaint almost impossible to take seriously.

“Snow!” Jacob answered quickly. “Snow is so much more fun than water.”

Lacie shook her head quickly and crossed her arms over her chest in determination. Jacob, seemingly ignoring the girl’s silent defiance, placed one of the wooden tiles onto the pile.

“Only three to go,” he teased, reaching out to take the small leather bag from her and selecting a new tile.

Georgianna looked up just in time to see Lacie pout in frustration as she turned her attention back to her own tiles, moving them one at a time from one hand to the other.

“Well, I only have two to go,” Lacie quipped.

Jacob looked at her, a competitive glint in his eye, and chuckled.

“I never liked snow,” Lacie admitted, flicking through the rest of her tiles. “Maybe it would have been different if I had brothers and sisters.”

Jacob, holding his tiles up in front of his face to shield them from being looked at by his opponent, furrowed his brow.

“I guess my sisters made it more fun,” he said slowly. “Dessie loved the snow, even as a tiny girl. She liked caking it onto me like a coat so I was a walking snowman.”

Georgianna smiled as another bell-filled giggle spilled from Lacie’s lips.

Shifting her position on the bed as she placed the tightly wound dressing into the linen pack, she glanced over at the couple, smiling for a moment. It was nice that the two of them had each other. Even while the young man was unconscious, Lacie had taken it upon herself to tend to his every wound and to make sure that he was always comfortable. She was sure that even if she hadn’t been in Medics’ Way all the time, Lacie would have found reasons to come check on him.

She wondered whether it had been curiosity on the young girl’s part, knowing that this man had been through the same things she had, felt the same pains and in some cases, worse. She wondered if he was a little slice of salvation for the redhead. If he could get past his injuries, maybe Lacie could as well? Up until now, Georgianna hadn’t dared ask the young man anything too stressful, but as she watched, she realised that here was her perfect opportunity.

“Jake,” Georgianna opened cautiously, placing the dressings aside and leaning forward.

Jacob looked up from his tiles in surprise, glancing over towards Georgianna with wide brown eyes. Beneath his mop of curly, dark hair, he looked so childlike, so innocent, that Georgianna wanted to scoop him into a tight hug and never let him go. On the other hand, it made asking her question so much more difficult.

“Yeah?” he asked.

Lacie was watching from beneath a fan of fair eyelashes, keeping her head down towards her lap though her gaze darted between Jacob and Georgianna. Georgianna shifted her legs out, placing her feet on the ground.

“I was wondering,” she continued, “How did you escape?”

For a moment, Jacob simply stared at her. There was no shock on his face, no anger, just a quiet sort of expectation, like he’d known the question would come and it was only a matter of when, and from whom. Georgianna blinked, wondering if he’d already been asked by others and he was checking off each person and how long it would take them. If that was the case, Georgianna could only hope she’d lasted longer than others.

“George,” Lacie complained quietly. “That’s… That’s not… He’s still healing.”

Georgianna frowned and pushed herself back, opening her mouth to apologise. Lacie was right. Jacob was still healing from his wounds, was still sent into fevers from the continued pain of the Nsiloq mark branded into his skin. However, before Georgianna could spill a single word of apology, Jacob reached out, sliding his hand cautiously over Lacie’s and squeezing her slim fingers in his own.

“It’s alright,” he whispered.

Georgianna and Lacie both stared at the hand in Lacie’s lap, grasping the girl’s pale flesh. Yes, Jacob had been friendly and cheerful towards the girl, but he was still incredibly skittish about being touched by anyone, including Lacie. It was why they changed his dressings while he slept, because everyone on the Way knew how much anxiety it gave him to have people close. Lacie’s mouth dropped open, her expression doing nothing to hide the fact that the gesture was as shocking to her as it was to Georgianna.

It only took a second, a single second of them both staring at his hand, for Jacob to quickly tug his arm back, breaking the connection. He buried both his hands into his lap, staring at his knees for a moment.

“What do you want to know?” he asked quietly.

“Jake, you don’t have to,” Lacie urged.

“No, it’s okay.”

Georgianna gazed apologetically at Lacie for a moment before turning her attention back to Jacob. She wanted to move closer to him to hear better but she didn’t dare for fear of making him retreat further into himself. Instead, she grasped the edge of the bed, holding herself in place.

“I have a friend who has been sold,” Georgianna explained. “I want to know how it happens, where you go. I know this is hard, Jacob, and I don’t want you suffering, but… any information you can give me might be useful.”

“Are you planning something?” he asked, not meeting her gaze.

Georgianna tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. She couldn’t tell them that yes, she was planning on helping to break a drysta away from her owner. However, she also didn’t feel right lying about it, especially when Jacob was offering her more than he probably wanted to give.

“For the moment it’s just information.”

That much was the truth at least. She couldn’t plan anything if she didn’t have the information. Maybe Jacob’s story would prove that it was practically impossible, that his escape had been a rare fluke that relied on luck and nothing more. Maybe she would find out that planning was useless.