The Immortal Rules (4 page)

A cold wind blew down the street, stirring up dust and sending an empty can skittering over the ground. It reminded me of what I’d left behind, on the other side of the Wall, and anger burned its way into my stomach, killing the last of the fear. So much food! So much wealth, to have to leave it all behind…. The thought made my gut boil, and I kicked a rock into a dead car, the stone clanking off the rusty frame.

I had to get back there. No way was I going to huddle behind the Wall, eating cockroaches, fantasizing about shelves and shelves of real food rotting away in someone’s basement. One way or another, I was going to return to that place and reclaim what I’d lost.

But right now, my stomach was full, I ached from my fall, and I was damn tired. The flashlight beam shone weakly in the darkness, and I clicked it off, not wanting to waste valuable battery life. I didn’t need artificial light to navigate the Fringe, anyway. Slipping my single prize into a back pocket, I headed for home.

* * *

“O
H
,
MY
G
OD
, you’re alive.”

I gave Stick a disdainful look as I slipped into my room, kicking the door shut behind me. He scrambled off my mattress, gaping, as if I was a hallucination. “What’s that look for?” I frowned at him. “And why are you here, anyway? Have you been waiting up for me all night?”

“You didn’t hear?” Stick’s eyes darted about, as if someone could be lurking in the shadows, listening. “Lucas didn’t tell you?”

“Stick.” I sighed and collapsed on the mattress. “I just got back from a rather hellish night out,” I muttered, putting an arm over my eyes. “I’m tired, I’m cranky, and unless someone is on the verge of death or the vampires are breaking down our doors, I want to go to sleep. Whatever this is, can it wait till morning? I need to talk to Lucas, anyway.”

“The vampires were out tonight,” Stick continued, as if I hadn’t said a word.

I removed my arm and sat up to face him, a chill crawling up my spine. His face was pale in the shadows of the room, thin mouth tight with fear. “I saw them. They were going from sector to sector with their pets and guards and everything, breaking down doors, going into people’s houses. They didn’t come here, but Lucas moved us all into the basement until he was sure they had moved on. I heard…I heard someone was killed…trying to run away.”

“Was anyone Taken?”

Stick shrugged bony shoulders. “I don’t think so. They just came through, went into several buildings and left. Lucas said they were looking for something, but no one knows what it is.”

Or some
one.
I thought back to the vampire in the tunnels below the city. Was he part of that search party, exploring the underworld for whatever item the bloodsuckers wanted? Or…was
he
the mysterious thing they were all searching for? But that didn’t make much sense. Why would the vampires be hunting one of their own?

And if they were, why couldn’t they do it more often?

“There are rumors of a citywide lockdown,” Stick went on in a low, frightened voice. “Curfews, guards, area restrictions, everything.”

I muttered a curse. Lockdowns were bad news and not just for Unregistereds. There had been two in the past, once when gang warfare swept through the Fringe, clogging the streets with dead bodies, and once when an infestation of rabid rats created a citywide panic. Lockdowns were the vampires’ last resort, their answer when things got out of control. Everyone was required to stay in their homes during curfew hours, while armed guards swept the streets. If you were caught outside during lockdown, they would shoot you, no questions asked.

“Allie, what are we going to do?”

“Nothing,” I said, and he stared at me. I shrugged. “Nothing tonight. It’ll be dawn in a few hours. The bloodsuckers will go back to their towers, and nothing will be done until this evening. We can worry about it then.”

“But…”

“Stick. I. Am. Tired.” I rose from the mattress and, taking his elbow, steered him to the door. “If Lucas is still up, tell him I need to speak to him tomorrow. It’s important.
Really
important.” He started to protest, but I firmly pushed him over the threshold. “Look, if you want to stay up and worry about vampire hunts, you can do it for both of us. I’m going to sleep while I still can. Wake me when it’s dawn, okay?” And before he could make any more excuses, I shut the door in his face.

Collapsing on the mattress, I turned my face to the wall and closed my eyes. Stick’s news was troublesome, but I’d learned that worrying about things you couldn’t change was useless and just kept you from getting sleep. Tomorrow, I’d talk to Lucas and tell him about the food cache I’d found, and he could convince the others to go after it. Before the city went into lockdown, of course. Working together, we could probably clear that whole room in two or three trips and not have to worry about the coming winter. Rat was a dick and a bully, but he was part of my crew, and we looked out for each other. Besides, it would take a single person forever to clear that place, and I didn’t want to be in the ruins any longer than I had to be.

With plan firmly in mind, I dismissed all thoughts of that night—of rabids and manhunts and vampires in the sewers—and drifted into oblivion.

Chapter 4

“Allison,” Mom said, patting the cushion beside her, “come up here. Read with me.”

I scrambled onto the threadbare couch that smelled of dust and spoiled milk, snuggling against her side. She held a book in her lap, bright happy animals prancing across the pages. I listened as she read to me in a soft, soothing voice, her slender hands turning the pages as if they were made of butterfly wings. Except, I couldn’t see her face. Everything was blurry, like water sluicing down a windowpane. But I knew she was smiling down at me, and that made me feel warm and safe.

“Knowledge is important,” she explained patiently, now watching an older version of me from across the kitchen table. A sheet of paper lay in front of me, marked with scrawling, messy lines. “Words define us,” Mom continued, as I struggled to make my clumsy marks look like her elegant script. “We must protect our knowledge and pass it on whenever we can. If we are ever to become a society again, we must teach others how to remain human.”

The kitchen melted away, ran like water down a wall, and turned into something else.

“Mom,” I whispered, sitting beside her on the bed, watching the slow rise and fall of her chest under the thin blanket. “Mom, I brought some soup for you. Try to eat it, okay?”

The frail, white form, surrounded by long black hair, stirred weakly. I couldn’t see her face, though I knew it should be somewhere within that dark mass. “I don’t feel well, Allison,” she whispered, her voice so faint I barely caught it. “Will you…read to me?”

That same smile, though her face remained blurry and indistinct. Why couldn’t I see her? Why couldn’t I remember? “Mom,” I said again, standing up, feeling the shadows closing in. “We have to go. They’re coming.”

“A is for apple,” Mom whispered, falling away from me. I cried out and reached for her, but she slipped away, into the dark. “B is for blood.”

Something boomed against the door.

* * *

I
JERKED
AWAKE
,
THE
DOOR
TO
MY
ROOM
still rattling from the sudden blow. On my feet, I glared at the door, heart pounding. I was already a light sleeper, hypersensitive to footsteps and people sneaking up on me while I slept, so the first bang nearly made me jump through the ceiling. By the fourth, I had wrenched the door open, even as Lucas was pulling his fist back to knock again.

Lucas blinked at me. Dark and muscular, he had large hands and a curiously babylike face, except for his thick, serious eyebrows. When I first joined the group, Lucas had been intimidating; a serious, no-nonsense figure even as a twelve-year old. Over the years, the fear had lessened, but the respect had not. When our old leader started demanding a food tax—a portion of everything we scavenged—Lucas had stepped in, beaten him to a pulp and taken over the gang. Since then, no one had challenged him. He was always fair; survival was his priority, regardless of feelings. Like me, he’d watched members of our gang die of starvation, cold, sickness, wounds, or just vanish off the face of the earth. We’d burned more “friends” than anyone should ever have to. Lucas had to make hard, unpopular decisions sometimes, and I didn’t envy him the job, but everything he did was to keep us alive.

Especially now that the group was so small. Fewer people meant fewer mouths to feed, but that also meant fewer bodies to hunt for food and to protect us from rival gangs if they ever got the notion to invade our turf. It was just the four of us—me, Rat, Lucas and Stick, not enough protection if Kyle’s gang decided they wanted us gone. And Lucas knew it.

Lately he confused me. We’d always been friends, but this past year his interest in me had changed. Maybe because I was the only girl in the group, maybe something else; I didn’t know and I wasn’t going to ask. We’d kissed last summer, more out of curiosity on my part, but he had wanted more and I wasn’t sure if I was ready. He hadn’t pressed the issue when I’d stopped him, saying I needed time to think about it, but now it hung between us, unresolved, like a big flag. It wasn’t that Lucas was ugly or undesirable; I just didn’t know if I wanted to get that close to someone. What if he disappeared, like so many of our kind did? It would just hurt that much more.

Lucas was still frozen in the doorway, broad shoulders filling most of the frame. I glanced past him and saw sunlight streaming in the broken windows of the school, casting jagged spots of light over the cement. By the looks of the sky, it was early to midafternoon. Damn. I’d slept far too long. Where was Stick and why hadn’t he woken me?

“Allison.” The relief in Lucas’s voice was palpable. Stepping forward, he surprised me by pulling me into a tight hug. I returned it, feeling the hard muscles of his back, his breath against my skin. Closing my eyes, I relaxed into him, just for a moment. It was nice, having someone
I
could lean on for a change.

We drew back quickly, not wanting the others to see just yet. This was still new for both of us. “Allie,” Lucas muttered, sounding embarrassed. “Stick told me you came back. Were you out all night?”

“Yeah.” I gave him a crooked smile. “Sounds like things got exciting after I left.”

He glared at me. “Rat started telling everyone you’d been Taken. Stick was freaking out. I had to tell both of them to shut up or I’d put a fist in their face.” His glare grew sharper, almost desperate. “Where the hell
were
you all night? The bloodsuckers were all over the streets.”

“The ruins.”

Lucas’s dark eyes bulged. “You went outside the Wall? At night? Are you crazy, girl? You
want
to get eaten by rabids?”

“Believe me, I didn’t mean to get stuck there after sunset.” I shivered, remembering what had almost happened in the shed that night. “Besides, rabids or no, I found something that made it all worth it.”

“Yeah?” He raised a thick, bristling eyebrow. “This I gotta hear.”

“A whole basement of food.” I smirked as both of Lucas’s eyebrows shot up. “Canned goods, packaged stuff, bottled water, you name it. I’m serious, Luc—wall-to-wall shelves, full of food. And no one’s guarding it. We’d be set for months, maybe the whole winter. All we have to do is get out there and grab it before anyone else does.”

Lucas’s eyes gleamed. I could almost see the wheels in his brain turning. The thought of going into the ruins was scary as hell, but the promise of food trumped that easily. “Where is it?” he asked.

“Just past the kill zone. You know the drainage pipe that empties out near the old—” He gave me a confused look, and I shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I can get us there. But we should leave now, while there’s daylight.”

“Now?”

“You wanna wait to see if there’s a lockdown?”

He sighed and jerked his head down the hall. I followed him toward the common room. “No, but it’ll be risky. Lots of patrols today—pets and guards combing the streets, still looking for something. It’ll get worse tonight, though.”

We entered the common room, where Rat lounged in a moldy chair playing with his knife, his legs dangling over the arm.

“Oh, hey, the lost bitch returns,” he drawled. His voice was honking and nasal, as if his nose was still full of blood. “We were sure you’d been Taken, or had your throat torn out in some dark alley. Sure was nice and quiet without you. Except for your wuss boyfriend, bawling in the corner.” He sneered at me, mean and challenging. “I had to shove his pasty head into a doorjamb to get him to stop mewling.”

Lucas pretended to ignore him, though I saw his jaw tighten. We’d kept our…thing…a secret from the others, which meant Lucas couldn’t show favoritism by leaping to my defense. Fortunately, I could take care of myself.

I smiled sweetly at Rat. “I’m sure you did. How’s that busted nose treating you, by the way?”

Rat’s sallow cheeks reddened, and he held up his rusty knife. “Why don’t you come over here and take a look?”

Lucas kicked the back of his chair, making him yelp. “Make yourself useful and get the backpacks from the hall closet,” he ordered. “Allie,” he continued, as Rat pulled himself to his feet, scowling, “find Stick. If we’re going to do this now, we need all the help we can get.”

“With what?” Stick asked, coming into the room. Seeing the three of us, his eyes widened, and he edged closer to me. “Are we going somewhere?”

“Oh, there you are.” Rat smiled like a dog baring its fangs. “Yeah, we were just talking about how we don’t have enough food and that the weakest link, the one that doesn’t do anything around here, should be fed to the vampires. And hey, it’s you. No hard feelings, right?”

“Ignore him,” I said, locking eyes with Rat as Stick cringed away. “He’s being an ass, as usual.”

“Hey.” Rat held up his hands. “I’m only being honest. No one else has the guts to say it, so I will.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be doing something?” Lucas asked in a warning voice, and Rat left the room with a leer, waggling his tongue in my direction. I made a note to break his nose the other way as soon as I got the opportunity.

Stick frowned, looking back and forth at both of us. “What’s going on?” he asked warily. “You guys aren’t…” He trailed off, looking at me. “You aren’t
really
discussing what Rat said, right? I’m not that pathetic…am I?”

I sighed, ready to brush it off as being stupid, but Lucas spoke up before I got the chance. “Well, now’s your chance to prove him wrong,” he said. “Allison, in her insane nighttime wandering, found something important. We’re going to get it.”

Stick blinked, glanced nervously at Rat coming into the room again, four dusty, tattered backpacks slung over his shoulders. “Where?”

“The ruins,” I answered as Rat instantly dropped the packs in horror and disbelief. “We’re going into the ruins.”

* * *

W
E
SPLIT
INTO
TWO
TEAMS
, partly to avoid notice with the patrols still wandering about the Fringe, and partly because I would’ve strangled Rat if I had to hear him complain one more time that I was going to get us killed. Stick wasn’t happy, either, but at least he shut up after the first round of protests. Lucas finally gave Rat a choice: either help out, or get out and don’t come back. Personally, I was hoping Rat would choose the latter, swear at us all and stalk out of our lives in a huff, but after a murderous look at me, he grabbed a pack from the floor and finally shut up.

I gave Lucas directions to the tunnel entrance before we split into two groups, taking different routes in case we met with any patrols. Guards didn’t look kindly on street rats and Unregistereds, and because we “didn’t exist,” this gave some the idea that they could do anything they wanted to us, including beatings, target practice and…other things. I’d seen enough to know it was true. It was almost better to be caught by the hungry, soulless vampires; the most they would probably do was drink your blood and leave you to die. Humans were capable of far, far worse.

Stick and I reached the ditch first and descended into the tunnels. I had the flashlight, but it was more of a “just-in-case” item. I didn’t want to be spoiled by artificial light or, more important, use up all the battery life. The sun peeking in through the grating up top was still more than enough to see by.

“Rat and Lucas better get here soon,” I muttered, crossing my arms and gazing up at the cracks overhead. “We have a lot of stuff to move, and there’s not much daylight left. I’m not doing a repeat of yesterday, that’s for sure.”

“Allie?”

I glanced at Stick, huddled against the wall, an oversize pack hanging from his skinny shoulders. His face was tight with fear, and his hands clutched the straps so hard his knuckles were white. He was trying to be brave, and for a moment, I felt a stab of guilt. Stick hated the dark.

“Do you think I’m useless?”

“Are you obsessing over what Rat said?” I snorted and waved it off. “Ignore him. He’s a greasy little rodent with a security problem. Lucas will probably kick him out soon, anyway.”

“But he has a point.” Stick kicked at a loose bit of pavement, not meeting my eyes. “I’m the weakest link in the gang. I’m not good at stealing like Rat or fighting like Lucas, and I’m not brave enough to go scavenging outside the Wall by myself like you. What am I good for, if I can’t even take care of myself?”

I shrugged, uncomfortable with this conversation. “What do you want me to say?” I asked, my voice coming out sharper than I’d intended. Maybe it was the fight with Rat, maybe I was still tense from last night. But I was tired of listening to excuses, of him wishing for things to be different. In this world, you were either strong, or you were dead. You did what you had to if you wanted to survive. And I could barely take care of myself; I couldn’t worry about someone else’s insecurities. “You don’t like the way you are?” I asked Stick, who shrank back from my tone. “Fine—then don’t be that way. Grow some balls and tell Rat to piss off. Punch him in the nose if he tries to bully you. Do
something,
but don’t just roll over and take it.” He seemed to collapse in on himself, looking miserable, and I sighed. “You can’t depend on me forever,” I said in a softer voice. “Yeah, we look out for each other, mostly. Yeah, Lucas preaches family and all-for-oneness and whatever, but that’s a load of crap. You think any of them would jump in front of a vampire for you?” I sneered at the thought. “Lucas would be the first one out the door, with Rat right behind him. And me.”