Ultraxenopia (Project W. A. R. Book 1) (16 page)

Slipping my hand into his,
I allow him to pull me to my feet. I’m not sure what’s running through his
head, and truthfully, I’m somewhat frightened by that realization. But at this
moment . . . at least for right now . . .

I have no choice but to
trust him.

I WATCH EZRA CAREFULLY, MY eyes
following his every movement. His stride is confident, which I find reassuring,
even if I have my doubts about what he’s planning to do.

“Are you sure about this?”
I ask him. The uneasiness I feel is obvious in my trembling voice, but in spite
of my hesitation, he remains unwavering.

“As sure as I’ll ever be,”
he answers.

Neither one of us say
anything more.

I follow him through the
expansive corridors of the compound as we retrace the familiar path Jenner took
me on earlier. The fluorescent lights overhead cast a blinding glow around us,
seemingly trapping me on this path.

There’s no going back.

I can only move forward.

I’m not exactly afraid. I’m
more . . .
unsure
. . . I guess. It’s comforting to know I have Ezra on
my side. However, I can’t contain the doubt that questions his influence. He
might believe me, but where will the others stand? Will they follow him
blindly? Or will they turn against him as well when faced with the danger I
ultimately present to them?

We soon find ourselves back
in that large central area. The room seems empty compared to how full it was
earlier, but Rai and Jenner are here, and I know without asking that’s who
we’re looking for.

Jenner’s gaze fixes on Ezra
before flicking uncertainly toward me. Rai turns around when she notices his
expression, and I can see her eyes change, even from where we’re standing
across the room.

She immediately walks
toward us with a sense of urgency in her every step.

“Gather everyone together,”
Ezra says when she’s beside us. “I have an announcement to make.”

She hurries off without
speaking a single word, once again leaving us alone. Ezra repositions himself
so that he’s standing in front of me.

“Wait here,” he murmurs.

I nod. His tone is
serious—grave even—and because of that, I do what he asks without question.

My eyes follow his back as
he rushes away from me. I shift uncomfortably on my feet, feeling the
penetrating stares of the few people in the room. Eventually, I lower my head,
unable to bear their distrusting gazes any longer.

After a few moments, the
dull thud of footsteps enters my ears—the sound growing louder with each
passing second. I glance up, surprised to see Jenner less than two feet away
from me. He looks embarrassed or maybe even ashamed. I can’t quite tell which.

“Hey,” he says awkwardly.

A small smile pulls at my
lips as I incline my head.

He clasps his hands
together, his mouth parting to speak, but the only sound to come out is a tiny
nervous croak. He clears his throat before trying again.

“I’m sorry if it sounded
like I was calling you a liar before,” he mutters. He then pauses,
contemplating his next words. “I
do
trust you,” he whispers. “It’s just
. . . I’ve been friends with them for so long, I didn’t think there were any
secrets between us. Makes me feel out of the loop, you know?”

“You didn’t offend me,” I
assure him. “I didn’t believe any of it at first either.”

He peeks up at me, and I
can see the hint of a question deep within his gaze. He doesn’t say anything at
first, clearly unsure whether or not he should ask it.

“This
gift
of yours
. . .” he finally manages. “Is it always like that?”

I think back to the
crippling episodes that go hand in hand with each vision. I recall the pain . .
. no . . . the
agony
. The way the images seem to slice into my brain,
paralyzing me all for the sake of showing me the future.

Is it always like that, he
wonders?

“For the most part, yeah,”
I answer.

He gapes at me in shock but
tries to hide his horror, making a tremendous effort not to appear disturbed by
what I’ve said. I know he’s only doing it for my sake—attempting to lighten the
situation to make me feel better. To make what’s happening to me seem less
serious than it actually is.

“That must suck,” he says
as casually as possible.

I grin at him, thankful for
sparing me his true reaction. “Yeah, it does,” I reply with a laugh.

He suddenly glances past
me, distracted by something. I turn to follow his gaze to see Rai re-entering
the room, accompanied by a small group of people. Ezra arrives shortly after,
bringing the remainder.

The residents of the
compound gather in the middle of the room, each looking as bewildered as the
next and curious as to why they’ve all been called here so abruptly. A low
murmur of confusion carries through the crowd.

Ezra returns to my side,
holding an empty wooden crate. He throws it on the floor in front of me before
stepping up onto it, facing the many perplexed faces staring back at us.

I feel uneasy beneath their
gazes, even with Ezra beside me. Perhaps even more so because of that very
fact.

With a loud cough, he
clears his throat to catch the group’s attention. All at once, the murmur dies
down.

“I’ve gathered everyone
together for one purpose. To tell you that the woman beside me is
not
a
threat. I know you’re all wondering who she is, and even more so, why she’s
here. So, let me put the rumors to rest. She came to us because she needs our
help, and it’s our responsibility to protect her now that she’s with us.”

I stare up at him in awe,
amazed by the gentle yet commanding tone of his voice. However, I seem to be
the only one under his spell. His charisma is proving somewhat ineffective on
the others. Either that, or maybe they’re simply used to it to the point where
it’s lost its power.

“Protect her from what?”
one man yells out.

“I don’t want to lie to
you, and I think you all deserve to know the truth.” He waits for a moment,
gauging the crowd’s impending reaction before continuing. “She’s on the run
from the DSD,” he answers.

An unsettled murmur once
again arises throughout the group, washing over the room like a turbulent wave.
It grows louder as the panic begins to consume them.

“We’ll be found!” one woman
screams.

“They’ll kill us!” cries
another.

Between the countless
outbursts, I catch the various expressions of fear and disdain, all directed
solely at me. No one blames Ezra for defending me. His noble behavior is
apparently to be expected. Instead, they all focus their hatred on my very
existence. On the one person they consider a threat to their way of life.

The distrust that I sensed
from these people before is multiplied now that they know why I’m here. I get
the sudden feeling that things are about to turn hostile.

Rai, seeming to sense this
as well, puts herself between me and those at the front of the group. “They
can’t track her,” she cuts in. Her voice is tinged with the same uneasiness
currently building in the pit of my stomach. “She cut out her ID chip before
she even came to us in the first place.”

The people remain
unconvinced.

The voices in the room
become steadily louder, rising alongside everyone’s increasing hysteria.

I glance up at Ezra, but
his expression is unreadable. His eyebrows are drawn tightly together, and his
gaze is hard as he stares out over the restless crowd. As usual, I have no way
of knowing what’s running through his head. For some reason, something seems to
tell me that I might not want to.

“Listen to me!” he shouts
suddenly.

The noise in the room
gradually ceases as every set of eyes focuses back on him. I watch him as well,
eagerly awaiting his next words, despite my growing apprehension.

“The DSD wants her for a
reason,” he says. “We’re in a position of power if we have what they want.”

My heart begins to pound
and any lingering doubts I have flare up in the back of my head. I knew before
I even came here that these people might not accept me, just like I knew that I
was walking into the middle of a decades—if not centuries—long war. But after
everything I’ve been told, after everything Jenner and Rai said about being the
good guys, is this really what it’s come to? Is this why Ezra’s taking my side,
even after everything he told me before?

When all is said and done,
am I really only a pawn to him?

I’m reminded of the last thing
Dr. Richter said to me, just before I managed to escape the DSD.

“You can’t trust him. You
can’t trust him!”

Trust. Who is
he
to
talk about trust?

Still, I can’t deny that a
part of me wonders if he’s right.

Can I trust Ezra Laramie?

“So, she’s a tool against
the enemy?” one person asks, mimicking my exact thoughts. “We can use her
against them!”

This idea spreads through
the group, and I can see each of them embracing it in the way they look back at
me. My heart beats faster, clenching painfully in my chest.

My feet falter beneath me
as I take a step back.

Maybe I made a mistake
coming here, after all,
I realize.

Ezra’s voice thunders
through the room, silencing everyone and freezing me in place.

“That’s not what I meant!”
he yells.

Hesitantly, I peer up at
him. I’m surprised to find his hazel eyes staring down at me. It’s as if we’re
the only two people in the room, and his words are meant for me, and only me.

“We aren’t like them,” he
murmurs. “Besides, they won’t move against us as long as she’s here because,
for whatever reason, they want her alive. Do you honestly think the same can be
said if anything were to happen to her?”

He pauses for a moment,
running his hand across the back of his neck. Something I’ve noticed he only
does when he’s uncomfortable or nervous.

“Listen,” he breathes. “Her
name is Wynter. She’s only twenty-one years old, damn it. She’s lost as much as
anyone else here, and she has nowhere to go. We aren’t going to use her against
anyone. And I’m certainly not going to abandon her when she needs us most.”

There’s a promise there,
behind those words. And even though I barely know him, even though I’ve only
just arrived here, something tells me I can trust what he’s said.

Something tells me I can
trust
him
.

“What do you intend to do?”

My eyes scan the crowd
until they eventually land on the person who spoke. I see the middle-aged man
from before—the one whose birthday was being celebrated in this very room.

Unlike everyone else, he
seems perfectly calm about the situation.

I feel a spark of curiosity
the longer I look at him. Although he’s taking orders from someone younger, I
get the distinct impression that his position here matters more. It's obvious
by how everyone looks at him that his opinion holds weight—even more so than
Ezra’s. If
he
approves of something, the others are sure to follow.

“Honestly, I don’t know,”
Ezra answers. “But I believe her arrival here will change the tide in this war.
It will be the turning point we’ve all been waiting for.”

The man says nothing more,
and another unsettled murmur progresses through the room. Some people voice
their uncertainty, while others seem frightened more than anything else. But
really, who can blame them? Their very way of life is being threatened. A way
of life they’ve probably grown accustomed to over the many years they’ve been
in hiding. If everything changes, if my presence here really does cause the
tide to shift, then they have reason to be afraid.

Something will inevitably
end. Whether it’s their sense of comfort and the home they’ve built for
themselves, or their lives.

“Why are any of you here?”
Ezra asks them. “Because, for one reason or other, you needed help. Everyone
here joined up for a reason. Perhaps it was the death of a loved one, or maybe
you were simply fed up with the unjust nature of our society. Either way, you
wanted a way out, and we gave you one. It’s no different for her.”