Zoo (27 page)

I start to weep. “No, I don’t want to die. I
want to live. If you send us back, we’ll die.”

He takes my hand. “No.
You
will
live,”
he says with confidence.

I shake my head. “No. Please don’t do
this.”

“
Look at me,” he says.
“Look at my eyes. You know me because I’m your descendant. I’m here
because you lived. I’m here because Kale lived.”

What did he just say?

“
Whatever you’re thinking
is right. Now, I have to leave, and you have to do some things on
your own to get out of here. This could all still go to hell, so be
careful. It’s my life too that we’re talking about. I’d like to
still exist at the end of the day tomorrow.” He lets my hand go and
walks over to his discarded hood.

“
Tomorrow the women will
bring you breakfast and primp you for your vows. The rebellion will
start mid-morning, so you’ll need to get to the dungeon for Kale
before then. The Rebels will be breaking the enclosure’s dome. This
will send the people here into a state of panic, since most of them
won’t be expecting it and the ones that are will be trying to get
out. The dungeon is below this building. Cat will be waiting for
you with the keys. Take them and free Kale. There is a tunnel at
the other end of the dungeon. Take it. There’ll be a horse waiting
for you. You’ll need to make it to the Safe Zone as quickly as
possible. When you get there, you’re going to have to get in the
well.”

“
Get in the
well?”

“
Yes. Lower yourselves in.
Then you’ll have to swim down until you feel a panel with a button.
Press the button.
You
have to press the button. Not Kale. I was only able to
program one set of prints into the scanner. A hatch will open, and
that’s where I’ll be waiting for you. Understand?”

“
You want us to swim to
the bottom of a well? Are you crazy? We’ll drown.”

“
You won’t drown,” he
assures me.

“
Isn’t there an easier way
to do this?”

“
No, sorry.” He puts the
head covering back on his suit.

Before he leaves, I ask, “What’s your
name?”

“
Kai,” he says. I can tell
he’s smiling by the way his eyes light up—the same way Kale’s
do.

“
Kai, is your suit going
to shock me if I hug you?” I ask him.

He shakes his head no. I cautiously walk
over to him and open my arms to embrace my
great-great-great-whatever-grandson. This is so weird, but so
right. I knew that I knew him. How could I not? He’s part of
me.

OMG!

That was completely insane and amazing! I
just met my great-great-great-whatever-grandson. Has that ever
happened to anyone . . . ever? I don’t think so. And he’s Kale’s.
That means Kale and I . . .

OMG!

Breathe, Emma.

Once again, I take up
pacing the room and wishing the night away. Tomorrow can’t get here
soon enough.
FOCUS!

I have to remember what he said. Get to
Kale. Escape through the tunnel. Get to the Safe Zone. Cross my
fingers and pray we don’t drown in the well. I can do that. We can
do that.

I work the butter knife back and forth in my
hands as I continue to pace. I’m full of nervous energy. Then I get
excited and a smile breaks over my mouth. WE HAVE A PLAN! THERE’S A
PLAN! I bite my lower lip so I don’t squeal with joy.

Wait. Shit. What about Victoria? I didn’t
ask him about Victoria. I hope she’s okay wherever she is. I can’t
just leave her here in the middle of a war. We’ll have to find her
and take her with us.

After wearing myself out
mentally, I blow out the candles that line the walls and then crawl
into the large bed. I toss and turn.
SLEEP
, I urge myself. I count sheep.
I count happy puppy dogs. I hum Auntie Josephine’s lullaby, but
it’s all useless. I’m too anxious.

***

My door creaks opens and four women scurry
in. They all look the same, with brown and beige dresses. Their
mousy, brown hair is pulled back from their round faces. I must
have fallen asleep at some point, because I’m having a hard time
rousing.

“
Come, M’Lady. Today is a
very special day,” one of the women chirps in my ear, as she slides
an antique key into the pocket of her frumpy dress.

I want to say to her, “You have no
idea.”

Before climbing out of bed, I slide the
butter knife out from under my pillow and hide it, once again, up
my sleeve. The women are excited and chatty. They gossip about how
wonderful the wedding will be and about the flowers, the food, and
my dress.

The woman that woke me says, “What are you
still doing in that dress?” She turns to the three other women,
shaking her plump finger as she scolds them, “Which one of you was
supposed to help her last night? The King won’t be happy if he
hears about this. Shame on you.” She must be in charge of the other
three. Seems to me like it’s her fault then.

The “manager” turns back to me with a
lopsided smile. “Follow me, M’Lady, so we can get that inferior
dress off of you. We need to prepare you for your beautiful wedding
gown.”

I start to move forward as if to follow her,
but then pretend to trip on my fluffy dress. The woman thrusts her
arms out to catch me, just as I thought she would. As we embrace, I
sneak the key from her pocket before she rights me. “There you
are,” she says. “You must be careful in these big dresses, child.”
Then, she saunters across the hall, expecting us to follow along
after her. And we do.

We all start to move toward the bathroom at
once, but I need to take advantage of this situation. I try to hang
back so that I’m the last one out of my room. Unfortunately, one of
the women falls behind me and pushes me along. So, I’m sandwiched
between a bunch of jolly women with no hope for escape.

How am I going to get out
of here before I hear the dome crack? I won’t be able to later. Now
is the time.
Now!

“
Oh no!” I say in agony,
once in side the bathing room. “I forgot my book. I’d like to read
while I bathe. It’s a lovely story. I’ll be right back.” I rush
past the last women before they realize what’s
happening.

I try to pull the door shut behind me, but
struggle as one of them furiously pulls from the other side while
the others shriek. As I fumble with the stolen key, the door jumps
open. Though I’d rather not, I have to kick one of the women in the
leg to get her to back away. She falls down, landing on her butt,
and as she clutches her injured shin, I take the opportunity to
slam the door shut. I jam the key into the ancient keyhole and turn
it around until the lock engages. After I pull the key from the
lock and toss it into my empty room, I turn and haul ass down the
hallway to the stairs.

I descend quietly and carefully. There is a
guard at the bottom of the stairs, who is already coming up to see
what all the commotion is about. I have no choice but to turn and
run back up to my bedroom. I look around for something heavy to hit
the guard with. The bedpost. I grip one of the spindles and pull as
hard as I can. I use my foot to give me leverage. It cracks. I kick
and twist it until it finally snaps off.

Lucky for me, it happens with just enough
time left for me to hide behind the wooden door. I can hear the
guard jiggling the door handle across the hall where the women are
still shrieking. Then the jiggling stops, and I can hear him
cautiously approaching my room.

He’s coming. I see him as
he fully enters the room and discovers the broken bed. His back is
to me, so I take the opportunity to crack the bedpost over the back
of his head. His limp body slumps to the ground. I stand there
stunned, and I have to remind myself to move.
Go! Go! Go!

I make it to the bottom of
the stairs. All is quiet on the first floor—too quiet. I wait and
watch for a few moments before tiptoeing down the hallway.
Something’s not right. This is too easy, or
maybe
everyone really is at the
trades.

I reach the stairs that lead down to the
dungeon in a flash and start to descend, one careful step at a
time. I’m scared to see Kale. Scared to see what condition he will
be in. My heart is in my throat and I can’t breathe. A gasp escapes
my lips as I slip on one of the steps that are now becoming slick
with moisture. They get worse the further underground I go.

I’ve reached the bottom. The dungeon is
large and dim. The air is stale. I want to run back up as fast as I
can, but getting to Kale is more important than anything else. I
push forward, whispering, “Kale? Kale? Edward?”

Man, this is like some kind of bad movie. I
can hear water trickling down the cold walls, and there are torches
lit to provide small amounts of light in this all-consuming
darkness.

I’ve reached a corridor lined with cells.
After peering into the first cell, I discover that it’s empty. So,
I continue down the corridor, checking each cell while still
quietly calling for him. “Kale?”

I hear a groan coming from further down the
hallway. It’s coming from one of the cells. I lift the skirts of my
dress and rush toward the noise.

It’s him! “Kale!”

The cell door is open wide, and when I peer
in, I can see that he’s chained to the wall. His hands are bound
above his head, and his mouth is gagged so that he can’t speak.
“Unnn,” he groans as he tries to send me a message. He’s shaking
his head furiously, warning me of something. I rush to Kale’s side
and start to remove the leather band from his mouth. I look up into
his eyes, but he’s not looking back at me anymore. He’s looking
behind me.

YOU A**HOLE!

I turn to face him, and
just like I thought, he’s got that smug grin on his face. He also
has a gun holstered on his hip and a baseball bat in his
hands.
That’s weird. And holy shit, what
is he planning on doing with that?

“
Come to rescue a dead
man?” James mocks me as he approaches us.

Kale is struggling against his gag and
chains. I can feel his pure rage seeping into the space between us,
as he battles the restraints that hold him back.

“
Just let us go, James. No
one will ever know it was you. Please,” I beg him.

He laughs. “You think I’m going to let the
King’s prize just run away? You think he won’t put my head on a
spike for setting you free?” He shakes his head as he stands inches
from me. I stand my ground, but can’t avoid moving my head back a
little.

James continues on, “You’re going right back
up to that room, and you’re going to marry him so that I can kick
back and have three meals a day prepared for me. Then I’m going to
sleep in a nice bed every night, instead of on the ground.” James
yanks me away from Kale by the arm.

I try to bend myself out
of his grip, but he’s so much stronger than I am. It infuriates me
to feel so weak.
I’ll show him…

I slink the butter knife out of my dress
sleeve and try to jab it into his gut. I can tell before James says
anything that I didn’t use enough force.

“
Ow!” James complains. He
grabs my wrist and twists my hand up to his face.

The knife is devoid of
blood. James squeezes my hand so hard that the weapon falls and
clatters on the stone floor. “Did you think you could stab me
with
that
?” He
laughs again. “You stupid girl. You want to see pain? Well, watch
this.”

He releases me and then raises the baseball
bat over his shoulder, ready to strike Kale. I scream and turn my
head away from James as he swings the baseball bat into Kale’s
side. Before I clench my eyes shut, I notice Edward standing in the
doorway of the cell. He’s holding a handgun out to me.

I don’t even have to think about taking it,
as Kale groans in pain from behind. “Stop!” I shriek at James. I
pull the hammer back on the revolver, readying it to fire. James
freezes with the bat mid-air, as he recognizes the familiar
sound.

“
Drop the bat. Now!” I
scream at him again.

The baseball bat bounces on the stone floor
until it finally settles. I keep my eyes focused on James’ every
move. “Move away from him,” I demand.

James slowly backs away from Kale, shifting
over to the far side of the cell. He says, “You ever fire a gun
before?”

“
Yep. Hit him too. In the
dark. Don’t test me,” I warn him. My hands shake as I hold the gun
out in front of me.

James keeps trying to get under my skin. He
wants me to screw up so he can take back control of the situation.
“I’m guessing that was a lucky shot,” he says. Then he stealthily
slides his hand down to his own gun and just as he’s about to
un-holster it, I shoot him in the leg. The sound is deafening and
echoes throughout the stone dungeon. A dark red stain spreads
across the thigh of his jeans.

James is stunned, as am I. He can’t believe
what I did. He stands unmoving until he finally snaps out of it and
wails, “You bitch! You shot me!” James falls to the mucky floor.
The bloodstain is steadily growing, causing James to moan in agony,
but that doesn’t keep him from trying to reach for his gun
again.

“
Stop James! I’ll shoot
you again, I swear it!” I scream as I inch toward him.

James reluctantly pulls his hand away from
the weapon, which I take and shove down my cleavage. The super
tight corset will keep it from sliding down—plus I don’t have
pockets. It’s the first place that came to mind.