The Awakened (26 page)

“I want to create a utopia with the smartest, strongest people that are left in the world. The people who want to live are the ones that I need to create it. I’ve created a virus, awakened millions of dead people and perfected an army. Sekhmet, the warrior goddess of the Egyptian pharaohs, would be so proud. I am fighting for the world. I am healing it.”

She looked at me appraisingly. “You are one of those, Zoey, one of the survivors. I am so proud of you. I am so excited that you are here to become part of this new world.”

I swallowed hard. I wanted nothing to do with this new world that she had planned. She was playing God, taking nature into her own hands and I wanted no part in it.

“What do you think?” Razi asked, spreading her arms wide, as if to show off the encompassing nature of her facility. “Are you ready to join my utopia?”

“I want to see Ash,” I said immediately. “Now.”

She sighed, looking at me with disappointment. She was quiet for a long time, and I was sure she was going to refuse me. “I see,” she finally spoke. “Very well. I will take you to him.”

We left her office behind and continued through a winding maze of hallways, elevators and even a few flights of stairs. We kept going lower and lower, the air around us becoming thicker and colder. I could see white puffs of breath escaping my lips, and I wrapped my arms tight around me as I followed her.

“Where is he? Ash? Where did you put him?” I asked, looking at the doors we were passing. They were strong, steel, with a small window at the top. They looked like prison doors and I knew, deep in my gut, that Ash was behind one of these doors.

I was right. She stopped in front of one of them and pressed her thumb to the pad. The door sprung open, and she stepped aside, letting me walk in.

Ash was on a chair, not unlike the one that I had just been occupying earlier. His own room was so different though, so dark in contrast to my lighter room, and there was no one in here, just the steady beep of his heart on the monitor. He was completely out, but looked unhurt.

I spun around, facing Razi. “Why is he here? Why isn’t he upstairs, with me?”

“He’s sick,” she said simply. I looked at her, horrified. “Nothing serious. We think bronchitis, perhaps strep throat. He was trying to hide it from you, but we noticed it right away. He will heal but…” She sighed again, looking disappointed. “He is not strong, not like you. He really serves me no purpose.”

“He serves
me
purpose,” I protested. “He’s important to me.”

“That is human weakness, emotions,” she said, sharply, pushing me out of the way, to stand next to Ash. “To be part of this new world, you need to find a new mate, a strong one. Holding on to those who would only make you weak is a false move, Zoey.”

Razi leaned over Ash, running her long fingers over his forehead, smoothing out the wrinkles of stress. “I’m not cruel though, of course! I will allow you to say goodbye.”

This was all happening too fast. It seemed like it had only been hours (though I had no idea how long I had been under) that Ash and I had been on the road, heading to what we thought was Sanctuary, and now we were captured, kidnapped by this crazy doctor playing God who I was pretty sure was going to kill the boy I loved. I was not ready to say goodbye. I was not ready to join this ridiculous utopia that she thought she was creating. She was crazy, and all these people that she had upstairs working for her, they were crazy as well. They had been killing innocent people on a false cause, and they weren’t stopping anytime soon.

She woke Ash up gently, coaxing him awake. His eyes flew open and darted around wildly, taking in his surroundings. His lip curled at the sight of Razi; this was definitely not the first time that he had seen her, and his previous experience had not been good, judging by the disgusted look on his face. His eyes wandered and fell on mine, and I felt a sense of relief as I crossed the room toward him.

“Zoey,” he breathed. “You’re all right.”

I nodded. “Of course. Are you okay?”

He coughed loudly. “Of course I am. Never been better.” He tossed a glare at Razi who didn’t flinch as she watched us. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m…I’m…” I started to say. I could feel tears building up, and the words got caught in my throat. How could I tell him that we were trapped, stuck with the people who were responsible for the deaths of everyone we loved and cared about?

“She’s come down here to say goodbye to you,” Razi cut in, pressing a few buttons on the machine. There were so many wires connected to it, and I was sure that at least one was connected to Ash in some way. I watched her apprehensively, afraid that there was one button, a simple button, that could just end his life right then and there.

Ash turned to glare at her, and I stepped back. “Should I be grateful to you, Doctor Cylon, that you brought her down here to say goodbye? Did you tell why I am forced to say goodbye to her? Did you tell that I didn’t fit into your ridiculous idea of a perfect world?”

I gaped at him. “You know?”

“Of course,” Ash spat out, though his venom was aimed at Razi, not me. “She told me that you were the only one that they wanted. You were strong, and I was weak, and I would only hold you back.” He met the doctor’s eyes squarely. “They’re going to kill me.”

“No!” I shouted, looking over at Razi, who was still regarding me calmly. “No, you can’t do that. This is ridiculous.”

“I am building a perfect world, and I cannot afford you to be emotionally weak. He is sick; his immune system is not as strong as yours. He would be a waste to keep around,” Razi explained, no remorse in her voice.

“You’re sick,” Ash yelled at her, struggling against his bonds. “You’re a sick woman, and you’re acting like you’re God, like it’s a game, but you’re taking away innocent lives. Who gave you this power? Who decided that you could do this?”

Razi didn’t answer. She blinked her large dark eyes at us and used her hands to wipe off imaginary lint off the perfect creases of her blazer. She was too far gone to be reasoned with. She’d been planning this for the past four years, and there was no stopping her from her objective now.

“You should just kill me too,” I said angrily. I saw Ash shake his head out of the corner of my eye, but I refused to look at him. “I want nothing to do with this new world you think you’re creating.”

“That is not going to happen. Say your goodbyes,” she said, firmly. “I’m tired of this. I have better things to waste my time on.”

Ash shifted, turning his head toward mine, a smirk on his face. “Can I get one last goodbye kiss, Zoey?”

All the words that I wanted to say, the “I love you” that I needed to say, were stuck. I couldn’t get them out. Now was the time. It didn’t matter if he didn’t feel the same; I needed to say it now. I leaned forward and pressed my lips tightly to his, feeling the sparks dart through me. I went to pull away, but the look in his eye stopped me. “Now,” he whispered.

It took me a moment before I realized what he said. I nodded slightly, watching Razi out of the corner of my eye, just a short length of space away from me. She was completely unprepared.

“Now!” he urged, and I moved. I whipped around, catching Razi around the waist, spinning her to face me. I caught a quick look at the surprise in her eyes before kneeing her in the gut and sending an elbow to her throat and then her head. She collapsed quickly, slumping to the ground.

“God, I always forget how fast you are,” Ash said, staring at her body on the ground. “Get me out of here, will you?”

I raced back to his side, yanking the needle out of his hand and the wires pasted to his chest. I fumbled at the metal cuffs around his wrist unable to find a clasp. I thought of Razi’s fingers, gentle on the cuffs that had released me earlier. “Hold on.”

I went back to her body and lifted her up, buckling a bit under her weight. I lifted her hand and pressed her fingertips to one of the cuffs. It sprang open at the touch. “Perfect.” I reached over, pressing her fingertips to the other cuff, and Ash sat up, pushing her off his lap and back onto the ground. She flopped back, smacking her head on one of the machines that surrounded the chair. I had hit her hard.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said, grabbing my hand and heading for the door. He looked left, and right, both leading into long hallways. “So, uh, any idea on how to get out of this place?”

“No idea,” I answered, promptly. “Come on, let’s go. We’ll figure it out.”

“Make it up as we go along,” Ash said as we went left and headed quickly up the hallway. “That’s always my favorite kind of plan.”

“Shut up,” I said mildly as we came up to another fork. I immediately turned right and was relieved when I saw the door to the stairs. We had to make our way upstairs. We could only find a way outside the facility if we made our way upstairs. We moved quickly up the stairs, careful to keep our steps as quiet as possible.

We finally reached a door that led to an actual floor. I peeked through the window and saw no one around, so I pushed the door open slowly. I motioned for Ash to follow me and we crept through the empty hallways, peeking in doors. There were a lot of empty rooms just like the one I had found myself waking up in, but none of them led to an exit. None of them even had windows.

“We have to find a way out of here,” I said as we continued hopelessly down the hallway. Ash squeezed my hand in response, and I immediately felt calm. It felt silly that a simple hand squeeze could make me feel better, but there it was. The warmth of his palm was the perfect comfort.

“There they are!”

We whirled around and saw several people at the end of the hallway, pointing at us. I looked up at Ash. “Run!”

We took off, running as fast as we could, skirting around a corner into another endless hallway. There were no other sounds except the falls of our footsteps and the heavy breathing as we sped through the hallways. I could hear them behind us, and I flashed back to us running through the woods, away from the Awakened.

We hadn’t made it more than a few feet before I went flying into a wall, landing with a smack. I fell to the floor and rolled onto my side. I saw a pair of heels clicking down the hallway toward us and felt a sense of dread.

“Did you honestly think that you would be able to get away?” Razi’s voice sounded annoyed but also a bit amused. “Someone pick her up.”

I was yanked to my feet, my arms held by two overgrown goons. I glared at both of them and saw Ash held up in between another two goons, both of whom seemed to be even larger than the ones holding me. Where did they get guys like this? Was there some sort of “evil company lackey” school that these guys went to? Was there a Craigslist ad that read, “Need ginormous men to work for evil genius”?

Ash coughed loudly, and I met his eyes, wincing at the blood dripping from his nose.

“You were foolish, both of you,” Razi said, looking back and forth between us. “Trying to escape from Sekhmet was bold, almost worth admiration but very idiotic. I’m only trying to help you.”

I met her eyes and noticed the bruises that were already forming on her face. Rich stood just behind her, and I had to suppress the smirk that was threatening to burst out onto my face at the bandage that was across his nose. I did that, and I was damn proud of it.

“We don’t want your help,” I said, firmly.

She pressed her fingertips to her temple as if I was giving her a headache. Good. I wanted to give her a headache, and stomachache, and all sorts of things that were massively unpleasant. “Don’t make me regret choosing you, Zoey, to be part of this new world. You are one of the strongest I’ve seen. You’re a survivor. You just proved that again, by attempting to escape. Let me help you,” she pleaded.

“No. Definitely not,” I answered again.

“Very well.” Razi shrugged and motioned to her minions.

“Dr. Cylon, should we stick to the original plan for the boy?” Rich said, coming up to stand next to her.

She eyed Ash carefully and my heart slammed in my chest, beating a rhythm against my ribcage. “No, no, I don’t think so.” Her eyes met mine and a smile crept across her face. “I think for now, I’d prefer to keep Mr. Matthews around. He might work as great…motivation for Ms. Valentine.”

The sinking feeling in my stomach multiplied as I realized what she meant. Ash and I looked at each other. They would not kill him, not yet, and now it was up to me. My compliance would be the only thing keeping him alive. The men holding him nodded in understanding and started pulling him away.

“No,” I said, struggling against the large hands holding on to me. “No, please, don’t take him, please. I’ll do whatever you want, just please don’t hurt him.”

“It is far too late for that, Zoey,” Razi said, her voice clipped and brisk. “But I love your attitude change.”

I watched helplessly as they dragged Ash down the hallway. He struggled, trying as hard as he could to break free of their grip. They pulled him to the elevator. His hands gripped the doors as they began to close. I strained against my own hold, but it was useless. I wasn’t moving. “Ash!”

“Zoey! Zoey!” Ash’s voice echoed through the hallway, and I was desperate. I was dreading the doors closing, that watching him being dragged away would be the last time I saw him, that it would be the last memory I ever had of him.

“Ash!” I looked at Razi, fury blazing on my features. “Stop them!” I screamed.