Twisted Stars (Hardest Mistakes #3) (8 page)

“We had a deal!” he screams, throwing a frightened glance my way.

“The deal was that we would release her, which we will, because I do not go back on my word, but you said nothing about killing her afterwards,” Cait answers calmly as they enter the trees.

The soldier behind me ties a cloth over my mouth. I stop struggling. What’s the point?

Jayden’s screams echo through the trees around us.

As I’m dragged toward the edge of the valley to my death, I run the last few hours through my mind again. My hands are only tied loosely, leaving me plenty of wriggle room. Obviously I’m not a threat. I twist my shoulders, trying to struggle free. The two soldiers on either side grip my arms tighter and push me forward quicker.

We stop beside a large dead tree, and they let my arms go. I seize the opportunity to pull my hand free and punch the nearest soldier in the face. He flinches back with a surprised yelp. The other idiot shoves me hard. I land in the fresh mud, gasping for breath.

When I turn back, one of them is nursing a bleeding nose, and the other is frowning at me. I smirk, feeling proud of myself.
Didn’t expect that, did you?

Being hit by a girl obviously hurts. The soldier with the bleeding nose advances on me, picks me up by the front of my shirt, and lands a punch on my ribs. I fall backwards as he releases me, the air in my lungs escaping in one big whoosh. Spittle trickles down the side of my chin. I glare at them both and wipe the saliva from my mouth. I’m not going down without a fight.

I stay down in the mud, waiting for their next move. I won’t run. They don’t deserve the fun. If they want to murder me, they can look me in the eyes while they do it.

A third soldier emerges from the underbrush and stops beside his comrades. I smile at him. “Come to watch the show?” He lifts an eyebrow over his strikingly green eyes and steps forward, holding out his hand. His arms are covered in black tattoos. I frown. What is he playing at? I shove his hand away and stand myself.

The idiot with the bleeding nose pushes past and sneers at me. “If I were you, I’d start running.” He smiles big, blood running over his mouth and chin. The soldier with the green eyes winks at me and turns back to the trees, leaving me alone with the other two. I stare after him.

“Did you hear me?” the soldier shouts. “Start running, because when I catch you, I plan to have my fill before I shoot you in the eye.” My eyes widen as I realize what he means, and I take off, pushing through the thick leaves and bushes. I hear them laugh behind me, loud and ugly.

I don’t know which way to go…or
where
to go if I manage to get away from them.

Chapter Ten

The soldiers circle me from the front, blocking my only route of escape. I back up until my back hits a tree and freeze, holding my breath. I have nowhere to go.

This is it.

I’m going to die.

Suddenly, a hand covers my mouth, stifling the scream building up in my throat. Another arm wraps around my waist and pulls me away from the tree and into the dark.

I stumble over branches and rocks, but whoever is holding me keeps me steady. When we stop moving, I struggle free. I can still hear the others in the distance, trampling through the forest. Taking a deep breath and steeling myself for the worst, I turn to look at my captor. Or should I say savior?

I frown at the green-eyed soldier and take a step back, away from him.

“What do you want?”

He smirks. “Don’t I get a thank you for saving your life? You know I could just shout and they’d come. Then you’d be right back where you started. Dead.”

I narrow my eyes at his cocky attitude. “Do it then.”

His smirk transforms into a full-blown smile. “I knew I liked you for a reason.” He throws a pack over his shoulder and starts walking. “Come on, let’s get away from here.”

“Hold on,” I snap, snatching his shirtsleeve and turning him around. “First, tell me who the hell you are?”

“Charlie.”

“Charlie, why are you saving me?”

He looks away. “I owe someone.” He skulks back through the trees, not waiting to see if I follow.

I look around at the small grove I’m standing in. Really, what do I have to lose?

Shaking my head, I jog after him.

“Where are we going?” I ask as I catch up.

“To rescue your idiot boyfriend, Jayden.”

“He’s not my boy—hold it. We’re going back?”

He stops walking suddenly, and I have to catch myself before I slam into his back. “You don’t want to rescue him?”

“Of course
I
do. But why do you want to help him? And what in the world would make me trust you?”

“I didn’t ask for your trust.” He starts walking again. I glower at his back as I follow.

The forest around is lush and green, the leaves dripping rainwater onto the undergrowth. The dirt and leaf-litter makes a squelching sound as we walk. My shoes are soaked, and my toes are numb from the cold.

As he walks ahead, I study Charlie’s unusual tattoos. They run up his arms and under his shirt. I can’t quite make out a discernible pattern or language. They twitch with his muscles as if they have a mind of their own.

The sun starts to set, darkening the trees around us and turning the forest quiet with the sounds of night.

Charlie holds up a hand, stopping us just inside a ring of trees. Flickering light shines through the wet leaves.

“He’s over there,” Charlie whispers, pointing at a small tent at the edge of the camp. “You wait here. I’ll get him.”

“No.” I grab his arm. “I can do it.” He frowns and then nods once, sitting back. I turn back to the camp, thinking. Is someone guarding him? What if he’s hurt?

“No one is watching him. Paradox has always been arrogant. He’s not hurt…he is unconscious, though.”

I snap my head around to meet Charlie’s eyes. “Excuse me? How do you know?”

He shrugs and moves away, sinking into the shadows around us. I can just see his green eyes glinting at me.

Instead of dwelling on it, I start creeping toward the camp, keeping low to the ground. As I reach the tent Charlie pointed to, I quickly look around, making sure the coast is clear before I slip inside.

Jayden is tied up at the center of the tent, a cloth over his mouth and his eyes closed. I gently nudge his shoulder. “Jayden?” He doesn’t move. I pull the cloth from his mouth and sniff it. It smells weird, like chemicals. They’ve drugged him.

“Jayden?” I whisper urgently. He needs to wake up. I can’t carry him.

He still doesn’t move, so I hit him.

His head jerks up, eyes flying open, wild and unfocused. He starts struggling against the ties around his hands. I grab his face and pull it around to face me.

“Hey, it’s just me.” He sags against me and leans his head against my shoulder. I sigh, relieved. “Stay still, okay? I’m going to untie you.”

He doesn’t answer, so I assume he heard me.

I tug at the rope around his wrists until it loosens. Once his arms are free, he pulls me close and whispers in my ear, “I thought you were dead.”

I wrap my arms around his back. “I escaped.” I pause and glance at the tent opening. “A soldier named Charlie…”

“Charlie?” Jayden interrupts me, lifting his eyes to mine. “Did you say Charlie?”

I nod. “Yes, do you know him?”

He ignores the question and tries to stand. I help him throw an arm over my shoulder, and we shuffle from the tent. I’m surprised at how easy it is to make it back to the trees without being seen. It’s almost too easy. Where are the guards? Does Charlie have something to do with this? As soon as we reach the trees, Jayden’s knees buckle, and he goes down. I kneel beside him and glance back at the camp.

“We have to keep moving.”

He nods once, out of breath, and tries to stand again.

Rustling in the trees makes us both freeze. I wait, holding my breath.

A dark figure emerges from the darkness and smirks at me. His arms are coated in a blue glow where his tattoos ink his skin. “That wasn’t funny.”

Charlie laughs softly. “There’s a cave not far from here. It’s protected.”

I look down at Jayden—he’s staring at Charlie with something that looks close to hate in his eyes. Didn’t he say he was one of
two
successful experiments?

I pull Jayden off the ground, and we slowly start forward through the trees, following Charlie’s dark shadow.

As soon as we reach the cave, I help Jayden sit, and then I lay back on the cold rock, sucking in deep breaths. That was hard work.

Jayden and Charlie stare at each other from opposite sides of the small cave. I sit in the middle, watching them.

“Okay, enough. The way you two are staring at each other is making me feel left out. What’s going on? What am I missing?”

Jayden briefly glances at me. “Nothing.”

His answer makes Charlie snort. “Oh, he’s just sore about me ditching him when I escaped Paradox.”

I stare at him blankly. “What?”

Jayden shifts, sitting up against the cave wall. “Charlie is an ex-soldier turned experiment. When it came down to escaping, I helped him, and he took off, leaving me behind…” He shifts his attention to Charlie. “To receive your punishment.”

My mouth pops open.

Charlie’s lip twitches down. “You do hold a long grudge, don’t you?”

“Wouldn’t you?” I answer for Jayden.

He sighs and drops his head. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I didn’t think they’d hurt their only son.”

Jayden looks away. “We should all get some sleep so we can move before sunrise.”

We all settle as comfortably as we can in the cave.

Jayden lies on his side, facing me. I can see his eyes glitter with moonlight from the opening. “Why did you come back for me? You should have run. You could have escaped all this.”

I grab his hand between us and squeeze. “I’m never going to leave you, Jayden. Never. You’re stuck with me now.”

He shifts closer and presses his forehead to mine. “Ashlee?”

“Yes,” I whisper back. My heart starts pounding. I’m sure he can hear it.

He pauses as if he’s going to say something then says, “Nothing…”

Jayden and Charlie drift off. I can’t sleep. How can I? There are a number of armed soldiers from a secret company out searching for us. And I’m supposed to just close my eyes and dream? I tilt my head and spot Charlie in the dark. The blue glow of his arms seems familiar.

“Charlie?” I whisper. Jayden shifts beside me but doesn’t wake.

Charlie mumbles a quiet yes under his breath.

“Why do your tattoos glow?”

He lifts his head and meets my gaze across the cave. “Experiment, remember?”

“Oh…”

Suddenly, it hits me. The night I thought I was losing my mind. The shadow and the blue glow—that was him. It had to be.

“What exactly do you do?”

I can see his white teeth in the dark as he grins. “Many things.”

“It was you, wasn’t it?”

“What was me?”

“At Paradox. The cages were conveniently unlocked, and no one was around? I doubt they stuffed up that badly.”

He doesn’t answer.

“Is that why you did it? Because you were feeling guilty about leaving Jayden behind?”

“You should get some sleep. It’s only a few hours until dawn.” I hear him roll over, effectively silencing our conversation.

I turn back to Jayden. His eyes are open. Our gazes meet and lock in the dark.

Charlie came back for him. I’m sure of it.

***

We stay quiet as we move about the cave, packing supplies into bags and covering any evidence that we’d been here.

I shake my head as I push another can of beans into my already overstuffed pack. We can’t keep running. They’ll always come after us. We’ll never be safe. Not until they’re gone.

I stop what I’m doing and turn to the boys. “We have to go back.”

“What?” Charlie snaps, dropping a roll of rope. “You can’t be serious.”

“She’s right,” Jayden says softly. He turns to me, meeting my gaze with a nod. “We have to destroy them, or they’ll never stop.”

Charlie shakes his head. “You two are crazy. We just got out.”

“It can be done. Last time I escaped, I got lost and found myself in the basement.” Jayden starts drawing a rough map of the Paradox compound in the dirt. “There’s a set of industrial generators there in the here.” He points to a small room. “They run on gas. If we can damage them and the spark the gas, it should take out the entire institute. Theoretically.”

I frown. “Seems a bit risky. An explosion.”

“It’s suicide,” Charlie pipes up from the entrance of the cave. I frown at his back and look back down at the map.

“What if only one of us sets the explosion while the others keep watch? There will be soldiers everywhere.”

Charlie shakes his head. “If we’re going to do this, at least do it right.” He sits down beside us and draws on the rough map. “You two sneak into the basement and rig the generators. I can keep you both hidden, and then I’ll set the explosion.”

I frown. “How will you make it out in time?”

He grins. “I’ll make it out—don’t you worry about that.” He sits back. “Only thing is, I can’t keep you both hidden and set off the explosion at the same time. Once you’re both clear, you’ll have to fend for yourselves.”

Jayden nods. “Done.”

“Okay, so when do we do this? And how do we get back in?”

“As I said, I can get us in. I’ve been in and out for supplies for months,” Charlie says with another big smile.

“Tonight,” Jayden answers quietly. “The longer we wait, the more of them will be out here, looking for us, instead of inside.”

“That’s a long hike in one day.”

He shakes his head. “I know a short cut back through their land.”

“All right,” I say. “Let’s do this.”