Page 21

I’ve witnessed the fiercest and bloodiest of wars in the battleground of my mind.

Khalani picked at her food. The brown mixture sloshed around her plate like the misshapen contents of her plagued mind. Messy and in disarray.

The Governor’s keen eyes following her closely as if she were a puzzle unraveling before him.

The booming echo of a gunshot ringing across the beautiful expanse, signaling the brutal consequences for those who dare step out of line.

Wyatt’s body splayed like a broken ragdoll, staring into the empty space.

Memories raged through her mind, and she couldn’t shut them out.

The horrors housed inside often took up the most space.

“You okay, Khalani? Looking a little green.” Adan’s voice pierced through her dark thoughts.

Adan and Derek sat tensely, eyeing her with concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Khalani said quietly, still not eating her food.

Bile crept up her throat, and at the first bite, she thought she might hurl. Alexander Huxley’s decrepit voice slithered across her skin again, as if he were hovering over her shoulder, breathing in her ear.

“That plague of ignorance was never cured…reminding me of my duties.”

“Hey.” Derek placed a calloused hand on her shoulder, breaking her concentration. “You wanna talk about it? About what happened up there?” He pointed to the ceiling.

Khalani opened her mouth but found no words.

How could she describe a place that embodied both her most stunning fantasies and the deepest horrors beyond her imagining?

Genesis was hell, disguised as heaven under a perceived dome of safety.

Lies . All of it.

No one was safe from the Governor. Not even the Council.

“We found him.” Khalani’s head lowered.

“Who?”

“Wyatt. The Governor had his own councilman murdered. And we found him in the garbage. Not one person said a word against it,” she hissed.

“Damn,” Adan muttered.

“We hid while the guards joked about butchering innocent people. The guards even bragged about torturing and killing a scientist who spoke of crop failure. Obviously delusional, but they will murder anyone. They’re all monsters.”

Her hands fisted at the memory, wanting to take out her rage on the nearest guard. The next training session with Takeshi wouldn’t be pretty.

“What did you just say?”

She turned to Derek, who gazed at her with wide eyes, his body incredibly still.

“I said they killed the councilman and threw him in the garbage.”

“No, no. Not that.” Derek gripped her arm. “The part about the scientist. You said they tortured a scientist who spoke of crop failure. Did they say who?”

“I don’t know. No, wait…I do remember the guards mentioning th e name Vincent. Why?”

Derek’s face paled, and his brows were low on his forehead, like he was attempting to solve the world’s most complicated math equation, only to discover that it was never meant to be solved.

“Can’t be,” he whispered.

“What is it?” she asked, flustered by the sheer terror on his face.

“Hey, guys! Sorry, the line was taking forever.” Serene gracefully set her plate down as her eyes wandered around the room, on high alert.

“Derek.” Khalani didn’t take her eyes off him. “What’s wrong?”

“I killed him,” Derek muttered. Tears pooled at the corner of his eyes, and his hands visibly shook.

“Killed who?” Serene interrupted.

Derek scraped both hands over his scalp like he was trying to rip out the pieces of his mind. “Do you remember when I told you why I was sentenced here?”

“You worked in the Research and Resource Labs. You told me you found something…something they didn’t want you to find.” Her lips pursed, remembering.

Derek’s mouth twisted, and his resolve broke before her very eyes. “I never wanted to tell any of you.”

“Tell us what?” Adan frowned.

“It all began several months ago, when I still worked in the labs,” Derek began. “Several farmers reported to me something strange. Five percent of their crops died after fertilization. I should’ve been able to locate the cause quickly. I checked the sheets on the air pumps, soil content, green lamps…nothing. The data was normal. I wrote it off, assuming the crops would stabilize in the next planting. But the next month comes, and eight percent of the crops fail. The following month…ten percent crop failure. The problem was getting worse, and we didn’t know why.

“I immediately informed my superiors, who reviewed the charts themselves. They told me not to worry, dismissing the issue as improper seed bank cultivation and refusing to believe it was a systemic problem. What I inferred was deemed ‘impossible’ by them,” Derek gritted through his teeth .

“I couldn’t let it go, though. I sensed something was wrong. Over the next few months, I started collecting water and soil samples myself. What I found was…terrifying. There was another substance present in the irrigation pumps. I’ve never seen anything like it in my research, but I can only describe it as a virus consuming the plants from the inside out. Each month, the virus spread through the irrigation system, and if it continued at that rate, all our crops would be dead within a few years.”

Khalani minutely shook her head. Impossible.

Crop failure was unthinkable in Apollo. In the 300 years they’d lived underground, Apollo never had a food shortage.

Serene broke the silence. “Did you show your superiors what you found? This…virus?”

“Of course, I did,” Derek said dejectedly. “I assumed they would immediately fix the pumps and flush out whatever that thing was. But they didn’t. They thought I was crazy and feared that if word of a potential crop malfunction got out, it would incite panic. After that meeting, I had a feeling they would soon release me. Before I got thrown into Braderhelm, I gave all my data to a colleague, hoping he would continue my work. His name was Vincent.” Derek closed his eyes and his shoulders slumped over, as if he wished he could disappear like Khalani had always wanted to.

“What are you saying, Derek?”

Derek leveled Khalani with a grim stare. “What you heard the guards say… it’s not a coincidence. Vincent must have been murdered for trying to reveal the truth about imminent crop failure. You know what that means just as much as I do. Apollo never fixed the crops. It’s only a matter of time before we all starve. And prisoners will surely be the first to go.”

His words sucked the air out of the group. A crushing silence settled over them.

“How long does everyone have?” Serene’s voice cracked.

“A year at best.”

“That can’t be true, Derek. You must be mistaken,” Adan denied, his face turning ashen.

Derek just shook his head, unable to speak.

Khalani dug the nail of her pointer finger into her thumb like a sharp blade, focusing on the cutting pain because the walls seemed to draw in closer, threatening to suffocate and grind away every shred of her existence.

A year.

A year before everyone died.

She wanted, no needed , to deny it. But a memory raced through her mind, and she drew in a sharp breath.

“We have plans to address this in light of recent events, as you know. But in reality, this is all a means to an end.”

Deep down, the horrible truth screamed through her lungs and bloodstream, weighing her down with terrible certainty.

“He knows,” she whispered. “The Governor knows about this.”

“No way.” Adan shook his head vehemently. “I hate the guy too, but no way he’d let this happen.”

Serene's face was paler than usual. “The Governor mentioned that people are expendable last night. They might be keeping this all a secret to prevent panic. But if what you say is true, Derek, the Council must have a plan, or else they’d die too.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Derek asked in a scathing voice. “They have enough supplies for those on Genesis. But for everyone else underground…we won’t be so lucky. The guards will seal off the Genesis entrance and bring up the remaining food. We can’t stop it.”

Khalani’s chest felt like it was about to cave in. She glanced at some malnourished prisoners eating hungrily, completely unaware of what awaited them and their families.

Did the guards know?

Her muscles locked up, and an icy chill shot through her core.

Did Takeshi know about this?

Adan slammed his fists down on the stone floor, the veins in his neck popping out. “There has to be something we can do! We have to warn people. ”

“Keep your voice down,” Derek commanded.

“What if we get help?” Serene asked, a calculating gleam in her eyes.

“Who would help us?” Derek’s green eyes blazed with fury. “It’s impossible to escape Braderhelm, and prisoners aren’t viewed as humans. The Council would sooner see us dead.”

Serene’s keen eyes were set with determination. “I’m not talking about Genesis.”

They all whipped their heads to her, unsure if they heard correctly.

“What do you mean?”

Serene glanced around apprehensively, making sure no guards or prisoners were paying attention, and reached into the pocket of her overalls, revealing a tiny black bag.

“What is that?” Adan frowned.

She placed it on the ground. “Open it.”

Adan reached into the bag and pulled out a broken mess of wires and metal, about the size of a handheld device. The black object was crushed, as if someone had aggressively disassembled it.

“It’s a…walkie?” Adan’s eyes narrowed as he inspected the item, concealing the jumbled material with his body.

“Not just any walkie-talkie. This belonged to a Death-Zoner. And you see that tiny blue H insignia? This is from the other underground city, Hermes,” Serene whispered, her face gleaming.

“Where on earth did you get this?” Adan’s mouth hung open.

“I stole it from the Governor’s mansion last night. The guards mentioned equipment they had recovered from a Death-Zoner, so I snuck into his study and hid it in the oversized bra they forced us to wear. No one noticed.”

Khalani’s eyes widened as Serene continued.

“If we can somehow fix this, we might be able to get in touch with Hermes from here. Maybe they can send help. We have to try,” Serene exclaimed.

“But wouldn’t the Council already have done that? Asked them for help?” Adan’s brows furrowed as he continued to eye the object.

“With the few radiation suits Apollo has, widespread evacuation is impossible. Hermes wouldn’t be able to send enough food to save everyone, and Apollo would never tell another city of mass genocide,” Derek bit out.

The silence expanded at their harsh reality.

“You used to be one of their best engineers. Can you fix it?” Serene turned to her brother, her eyes blazing with hope.

Adan carefully turned the walkie over in his hands.

“I don’t know. I’ll need supplies, like a screwdriver, tape, and a battery pack. Some guards have walkie-talkies that are less advanced than this one, but their battery packs might be compatible. If I get those items, I might be able to fix it in a few weeks. But I can’t guarantee it will work.”

“Give me a few days. I’ll get you those supplies,” Serene stated, determination set in her eyes.

The bell pierced through the tense air, making them all jump. Adan quickly shoved the broken walkie-talkie into his overalls before any passersby could notice.

“We keep this to ourselves for now. We can’t trust anyone but each other,” Adan implored, and they all nodded in agreement, except for Derek.

As the prisoners dispersed for their afternoon assignments, she tried to catch up with Derek, but he raced out of there as if he didn’t want to speak anymore. The truth shone in his eyes.

He’d already lost faith in anything or anyone saving them.

Khalani kept rubbing her hands together and rolling her neck back and forth as she walked through the tunnels alone.

Her muscles moved. Her heart beat. But she felt disconnected.

She was on a train with no conductor.

When Khalani first set foot within the stone walls of Braderhelm, she resigned herself to a slow, cold, and lonely death. Accepting the cruel fate handed down to her, beckoning the end to draw nearer.

But now. Everything changed. She had…friends.

People she cared about. People who cared about her. They returned something she thought was lost in her life forever—a hope that endured even when her worst fears threatened to tear her apart. Proving that she was more than the bad things that had happened or the mistakes she’d made.

Life was like poetry in that way. It was never meant to be shared alone.

That afternoon, as she walked to her cell to wait for Takeshi, a wild part of her mind yearned to confront him.

To find out if he knew the truth about the crops.

His duty as Captain would be to kill them all for thievery and insubordination alone.

But what if he could help?

She shuffled nervously back and forth, waiting for Takeshi in front of her cell. Every passing second felt like an hour as war waged in her mind.

The heavy sound of rugged boots barreled around the corner.

About time.

Khalani stepped forward, about to deride him for being slow, until she realized who had rounded the corner. It wasn’t Takeshi.

It was Guard Barron.

Khalani’s body froze, taut as a string, as icy-cold fear shot down her spine. His characteristic, evil smile was on full display, his bulky body nearly filling the entire walkway.

“Well, well, look what we have here.”

All at once, goosebumps rose on her arms, and she slowly inched backward, not taking her bulging eyes off him. Her heart pounded like a drum in her chest.

Barron cocked his head to the side. “Going somewhere?” His eyes flickered with malicious intent as he stepped toward her.

Without hesitation, Khalani whirled away, running in the opposite direction. She pumped her arms as fast as possible, turning at the corner.

The hard slam of boots chasing behind ignited every cell of fear in her body. Her body trembled, eyes racing the dim hallways to find someone. Anyone. But no one was in sight to save her. Everyone was down in the pit, and Takeshi was nowhere to be found.

Her lungs rasped as her feet kicked up dirt. His harsh footsteps grew louder as a deep, grunting sound bounced along the walls like a lingering curse.

True panic set in.

She hastily turned at the next hallway, heading toward the pit, praying with every fabric of her being to make it in time. Metal bars flew past her vision as she barreled forward. The set of stairs leading to the pit were in sight. She was going to make it.

Suddenly, a powerful arm grabbed her shoulder and slammed her into the wall.

Her cheek scraped against the rough rocks, and Khalani cried out in pain, trying to throw a punch. But Barron's arms wrapped around her from behind, his immense weight pinning her down and robbing her of any movement.

Khalani bucked backward, desperately trying to force him off her, but he didn’t budge. Hot breaths exhaled past her ear.

“That’s it, you fight. I like it when they fight.”

She screamed at the top of her lungs for help, but Barron’s filthy hand clamped over her mouth, silencing her cries. He pressed her face harder against the wall, his strength overwhelming her. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks, soaking into his grimy palm.

“I’ve been imagining this moment for quite some time now.”

Barron raked his teeth along her neck, and Khalani twisted her head, fighting to get his mouth off her. He banged her forehead against the stone wall, and Khalani saw stars.

“Once I’m done enjoying my time with you, no one will find your body. Not even the Captain. It will be like you never existed.”

He took his hand from her mouth and tried to unhook her overalls. She used all her weight to dislodge him, but he held fast, managing to unhook the first button.

“Stop. Please stop!” Khalani wailed.

But he ignored her pleas, roughly pulling down the top of her uniform .

Her muscles burned as she fought to no avail. A torrent of tears flowed down her face as her energy and willpower began to flag. Still reeling from her head injury, Khalani squeezed her eyes shut, utterly helpless as the guard refused to let her go.

Khalani couldn’t handle it. Couldn’t live within herself as he attempted to violate her in the worst way possible.

She began to have an out-of-body experience, watching her body from above, being pushed up against the wall, shutting down, as Barron attempted to undress her.

Was this really happening?

All her training...all the effort she had put into becoming stronger and learning to defend herself. Was it for nothing?

‘Tell me what you’re feeling right now,’ Takeshi demanded.

‘Powerless.’

‘Yes. You feel out of control, weak. But that isn’t you. You need to take back that control and prove that you are not to be thrown around and discarded. You, Kanes, are strong.’

Khalani’s eyes snapped open as Barron roughly grabbed at her naked breast.

No.

Khalani braced a foot against the stone wall and pushed back with full force against Barron’s chest. His intense grip loosened, and she clasped her hands together. With all the strength left in her body, she thrust her elbow deep into his gut, yelling out in fury.

Barron choked out a breath, struggling to exhale as he released his hold on her and stumbled back.

Khalani immediately ran toward the stairs, but he snatched her arm, throwing her back against the wall. Barron wrapped both hands around her throat.

And started to squeeze.

“ I’m going to enjoy killing you ,” he snarled.

Khalani’s vision blackened as he crushed her windpipe. Her mind panicked when she couldn’t get a single ounce of oxygen in .

In a last-ditch effort, she put her thumbs out and pushed deep into his eyeballs, her nails digging and squeezing through his pitch-black pupils. An ear-splitting scream came out of Barron as he let go of her throat, holding his hands to his face, blood gushing out of his eye sockets.

Khalani collapsed to the ground, coughing and heaving. Desperately trying to chug in air.

“My eyes! You fucking bitch!” he howled.

Pools of crimson poured down his cheeks and he squinted through his damaged orifices, attempting to spot her lying on the ground. He shakily reached for his gun and pointed it in her direction.

She braced herself for the hit, but the next moment, Barron went flying as Takeshi Steele tackled him to the ground.

Takeshi roared out in pure, unadulterated wrath as he knocked the pistol from his hand and flipped Barron over like a ragdoll. Barron threw out a fist, but Takeshi simply blocked it and struck him in the throat, causing Barron to heave.

Takeshi proceeded to punch him in the head, over and over. His expression transformed into a heated rage as he slammed his knuckles into Barron’s broken, unrecognizable face. Blood splayed everywhere, but Takeshi didn’t relent.

She’d never seen Takeshi like that, so overtaken with fury.

When it was clear Barron’s body no longer moved, Takeshi finally stopped, but remained crouched over him like a hungry animal. He breathed heavily, his fists clenching as if he wanted to continue the blistering assault.

Khalani silently watched from the ground as her vision faded in and out. Takeshi whipped his head when she let out a small whimper of pain. He rushed to her side and knelt over her body.

“Kanes! Can you hear me? Are you okay?”

Takeshi’s ferocious expression darkened as he readjusted her top to cover her naked breast. His large hand gently cradled her cheek, and his shadowed eyes pierced her with such anguish, as though he himself had been the one hurt .

Khalani nodded and tried to sit up, but vertigo almost made her lose consciousness. She leaned to the left, puking her lunch out. Takeshi moved behind her, supporting her body up as he pushed her hair out of her face and continuously rubbed her back.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I’ve got you now,” he consoled her.

When she began to dry-heave, Takeshi slid his arms under her body and lifted her effortlessly, as if she weighed no more than a feather.

Khalani feebly shook her head, not wanting to be a burden, and tried to wriggle free, mumbling that she could walk.

Takeshi would have none of it.

“Be still, Kanes. Nothing in this world would make me put you down right now,” he declared, his voice guttural.

His words ushered into her ear like a metronome, soothing her troubled mind, making her want to fall asleep. That was all she wanted to do, sleep.

She felt his arms tighten around her, his gentle and protective touch the diametric opposite of Barron’s.

Her lids slowly began to close, and the last thing she remembered was Takeshi’s black eyes gazing down at her with concern, tenderness, and a depth of angry passion that rivaled every story that’d been written and song that’d been sung.