Chapter Eleven: Killing a Living Soul
Copyright © by J. Faith Kenney
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission.
My sleep gets interrupted again with a hard shake that isn’t an ounce of gentle. Groggily, I open my eyes just a little to see Cole, then close them again, trying to ignore him. He shakes me even harder, not caring if he leaves a bruise on my arm.
“What?” I whine with irritation, barely opening my eyes.
“Sit up.” His voice cold with the demand.
I stay lying down, my body heavy with my tight muscles. A breath releases from me, but gets caught when Cole pulls me up, and my eyes widen. He lets go and I almost fall off the table, catching myself just in time. I turn to face him with a glare for a second before I can feel the extra eyes on me.
Eight guards are around the room, mostly covering the only exit and the only entrance. Six out of the eight have their guns in hand, ready to be used at any time. Fear prickles through my veins with the raising of panic.
“What is going on?” I ask with the tremble of fear.
Cole notices the fear, and the sickly grin forms. “You have a new assessment, Thela. It is out of this room and something very different that I think you’ll enjoy very much. It is a direct order from Lily.”
“Well, who else would it be from?” I say, my voice filling in with an edge.
“Funny, now get up. I need to take you somewhere first.”
I lean closer to him. “You’re not going to try to dance with me or try to kiss me again like you did yesterday?” I ask in a whisper.
“No, not at first, but maybe when we are done with this assessment. It’s your chance to prove me wrong.”
“Prove you wrong?”
He nods. “Let’s see if you are really under Lily’s control. Besides, you don’t have a choice but to follow me anyway.”
Nodding, not making any general eye contact to anyone but the floor, I slide off the table. The guards creep closer, and my blood turns cold. They all know. I am going to die, or someone else is, like Tess or Zac. My insides crumble at the thought, with my face staying stony the best it can.
The guards don’t touch me as we take a few steps forward. They hold out their hands to stop me, but still they don’t touch me. They keep their distance from me and Cole, but edge me forward to him. Maybe they don’t want to be close to Cole either. Cole waves his hand for the guards at the door to open it. He goes out, then comes back in, wearing his smile of pure evil and making my stomach drop. He leans into me, his mouth only a half an inch away from my ear. A tremble that I can’t hold in goes through me from him being so close. I can feel the way his grin deepening with joy, and my disgust grows.
“Remember the time you were a Caretender?” he says, his voice threatening with amusement. “What is outside of these doors will make you cry. You will cringe at the sight, and most importantly, it will make you break.”
Cole leans back to see my face, but I show no emotion that he can see. He leans back with a smug grin and waves to a guard. The guard steps forward until he’s only inches away.
Cole holds out his elbow, and I don’t take it, but the guard pushes me toward him. Again Cole holds out his elbow, his eyes crazy with power. I wish they had emotion. Gradually, I hook my elbow with his, swallowing down the fear and bile that want to rise up. We walk toward the door, Cole mostly dragging me behind him. My steps too small.
We hit the hallway and turn down another. My eyes squeeze shut, knowing something bad is going to be down this hallway.
“Open your eyes,” Cole grumbles in my ear.
Wary, I open my eyes, releasing the breath I have been holding in. My breath is lost at the sight of Zac bleeding from his stomach. His cuffs are tighter around his hands with a new addition around his feet. Bruises and cuts, all different sizes and all different shapes, are bad on his skin. The left side of his face is bruising more and coated in patches of blood. His left pant leg is ripped, blood soaking through from a fresh cut on his calf. Somehow, even with all the cuts and blood, he looks fine—bad yes, but fine, like he is used to it.
Tess stands beside Zac, but she isn’t as near as bad off as Zac. He put up a fight, she didn’t. She stands on her own feet with her forearm wrapped in gauze, but her blood bleeds through. The fear, the mortified fear, in her eyes trumps Zac’s by a million more times.
“Why are you showing me this?” I ask, my voice nice and steady, as I turn toward Cole.
“These fools are people you care about the most,” he snaps.
Turning back to Zac and Tess, I make sure I lock eyes with Zac for a few seconds before looking back at Cole. Swallowing down the words I want to say, replacing them with the words I have to say.
“How can I care for these people the most, if I don’t even know them?” dying inside, my throat closing in, but my voice is strong enough to play the cards just right.
Cole’s face lights up in rage or surprise. It worked, how about that. Wishing I could take them back. Wishing that I didn’t have to play this card.
“THELA, NO, THELA!” screams Zac.
It didn’t work with him though. The regretful pain gnaws at my insides. I turn around to face Zac just in time to watch him get punched right on the already bruised side of his face by one of his guards. It takes everything in me not to wince at his pain, not to scream out from the punch like it was me getting hit.
The guards pull Zac and Tess away back into their cells with a dismissive hand from Cole. My breaths waver, as I am unable to control the heaviness in me. They are gone. Lily—of course, she lied because she thinks I can’t remember the first day I was here. Of course, she would harm Zac more and put Tess through tests just like me. She only cares about the power.
Someone grabs my arm lightly. The grip different from what I am used to, making my attention turn to the person. I look up to Lucas, who has tears in his eyes that he wipes away with his other hand like it is no big deal. He looks into my eyes briefly, only to look back down to the ground, his jaw muscles tightening.
“Let’s go to Lily now, she is waiting for us,” hisses Cole, trying to put the power back into his voice.
Cole nods to Lucas, and he pushes me forward without losing his light grip on me. A couple of feet ahead of the rest—more importantly, in front of Cole—Lucas whispers to me, “Sorry, Thela.”
Looking up to him. “For what?” I whisper back.
For turning in Tess? For turning me and her in to the witch known as Lily Brown? Or for turning in Tess’s mother, knowing it would destroy Tess with sadness and fear for the rest of her life?
“For everything. You, Tess, and Zac, you guys don’t deserve any of this.”
I don’t respond, just keep my eyes forward. You’re right, we don’t deserve this, especially Zac and Tess.
We turn down the main hall with the rooms leading to the jail, dining room, and the room with Lily’s throne. Cole replaces Lucas’s grip on my arm, once more pinching the bruises he caused me before that were so close to healing. His grip is much tighter than Lucas’s, and it tightens more as we walk toward the room with the throne.
Lily is already on the throne, wearing a pleased smile of joy and power that scares me. She sits on the throne like the queen she isn’t, but she is the only one who has power in this building.
Cole drags me over to stand at the base of the platform, giving me a rough shake as we stop. Lily leans forward, looking right into my eyes, into my soul, rejoicing for all the wrong reasons. Cole’s grip doesn’t loosen at all, still pinching my skin with his hands. I look to him before looking at Lily’s pleased little beady eyes, and she nods her head. His grip loosens a little but still holds firmly.
“Thela, you have a new assessment. Under my control, you will kill a living soul.” Her voice cold with power.
“Wh-what? Wh-why me?” I ask, my mind racing, my words stumbling without meaning to. “Isn’t th-that il-legal?”
Whose soul? Who do you want me to kill? This isn’t right, you can’t just kill people! Me! You want me to do it. This is too far, even for you as an owner.
“It’s not illegal if I command you to do it,” she states, like that will help the situation.
Yes, it’s still illegal! You want me to kill someone for you?
“And why question it, Thela? I am your owner, and you have to do as I command.”
TO KILL SOMEONE!
“This for me is a test, and I want to know the results.”
A test? A test to kill someone?
“With that being said, you will have guards with you at all times now, so if you try to pull any tricks, you’ll be dead and so will the others.”
“Why?” My voice just above a whisper, but it screams in my head.
“Because this soul is useless to us. He is only causing us problems.”
He? No.
“Do I make myself clear?”
Clear yes, but I wish it wasn’t. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. Zac’s is the soul, the life you’ll be taking.”
Of course it is. Swallowing down the rage, I use the fear to keep my face straight. My hand twitches at my side, and I clench it in a fist to hide it. Lily looks into my eyes, deeper, looking for a reaction that I will not give to satisfy her. My skin crawls, turning ice cold with too many emotions that I will not show.
“Guards, take her to the prisoner!” yells Lily.
Cole grabs a hold of me, and three other guards follow closely behind. Lucas continues looking at the ground, not daring to look up at me. You knew. Cole drags me out of the room, too eager to see the outcome of the kill, not caring, not slowing down. Guards open the jailer room with their keypad, letting us in.
They march while Cole drags me down to the very end of the hall. To the thick isolating room I was in. This is where he has been living for the last week and a half. Isolated, away from the whole world like he doesn’t matter, like he is worthless. He is not worthless, he’s the sweetest guy—person—ever in this world. But they don’t care about him. My assessment is to kill him, take his life.
“Regretting your choice?” asks Cole.
He pulls me from my panicked, dreadful thoughts, and I turn to look him in the eyes, not showing my rage toward him.
“I’m doing what my owner told me to do,” I snap out, wishing it were his life instead of Zac’s.
“Hmm, we will see here in a minute—because the time has come.”
Cole pulls a small handgun that looks too big for him out of his uniform waistband and hands it to me. He watches my hands as I grab it steadily—until it reaches my side, when my hands start to tremble.
“I’m going to unlock the door now, and it will truly begin,” Cole says with a hint of a smile, knowing he will win. “He was a Protecttender, so he is skillful, but I doubt you need that reminder.” A dark, deep, amused chuckle releases from him. “Let the game of watching you fall begin.”
Cole watches me a couple of seconds, making the seconds drag on longer than they should before unlocking the door. He turns to me, reaching up to cup my face, and I want to vomit from his touch.
“Either way, he will be killed shortly. Just keep that in mind.”
Rolling my eyes with irritation, I take a step back to get out of his grasp. “Can you please open the door so I can do my assessment?”
Cole grins to me before looking at the door and opening it all the way. I go in, followed by the three guards who watch my every move and stand by the door, blocking the only exits. The door clicks shut, mocking me. Now I am trapped, and I am the one who put Zac in this position.
To my surprise a light fixture was installed, but I assume it was only installed for this reason. My eyes look everywhere but into Zac’s. My throat dries up, and my heart sinks so I don’t feel a pulse, but at the same time, it is the only steady, drumming beat.
Zac's eyes are on me, and I meet his gaze. He stands against the wall with his shoulders down in bad posture, and sadness takes over his entire body—an unnatural look for him. I try to smile to say everything is okay, but his eyes stay the same. Please, Zac, see me. Know you didn’t lose me. I know I gave you hope. Please still have that hope.
One of the guards groans with annoyance at the silence. “Are you going to kill him or not? We don’t have all day to waste.”
“Kill me?” asks Zac, his eyes lighting up with shock, but it vanishes just as quickly as it came. “Go ahead, Thela. I know I lost you,” he says quietly, looking down at the ground with loss.
My heart shatters into a million pieces, and I hold back tears. NO! YOU DIDN’T LOSE ME! I AM RIGHT HERE! PLEASE, please be the one to see me, not that stupid asshole Cole.
Instead of letting the screams take over my body or the tears fall, I play my part and lunge at him. Zac slams me against the wall with ease, pinning my wrist to it. He instantly regrets that he slammed me so hard. The gun drops from my hand, crashing to the ground.
My chest tightens, with my breath getting trap in my chest. Little dancing dots play over my vision, and my head spins around and around. Zac’s eyes search mine to see if I am still there, not gone like he thinks.
Zac blocks me from the guards, and I don’t care if they say something out of impatience, just to see the show of me killing him. I need Zac to see me—see that I am still here. My chest heaves and it is hard for me to find my voice and keep it low, but I need to do this.
My voice comes out as a shaky breath instead of words. My blue eyes lock with his hazel eyes, and the world stops spinning on its axles. His grip around my wrists loosens, and a small smile curls his rosy red, perfect lips. He sees me. My heart flutters with relief, and I smile at him—the smile we have been doing since we were children. Everything is going to be alright.
“Fight, but don’t kill me,” I whisper to him so he is the only one to hear me. Don’t give up on me Zac. They will kill you if you don’t fight for your life. I will not let them kill you.
“Thela?” he breathes.
Pulling my knees up to my chest as Zac’s grip on my wrists to hold me up loosens. With a kick to his stomach, I send him stumbling backward and releasing me. I land on my feet. I know I can’t do any real damage to him because he is solid muscle and much stronger than me. Zac stands to his full height, putting up his fists and shuffling toward me.
Zac’s eyes flash with a language that only we can understand. A grin curls his lips, and I know exactly what he is thinking—the old days at the orphanage when Zac show me what he was learning and training for as a Protecttender to teach me tricks on how to defend myself. I nod with a little grin of my own.
We circle around each other, and I mimic what Zac is doing with my hands, like I used to do. With each circle we get a little closer to each other until we are only inches apart. I swing my fist at him, and he catches it, turning it away from him gently, just like he used to do at the orphanage.
With one of his hands holding my fist, he wraps his arm around mine, and I know exactly what he is doing. His words ring through my mind from when we were younger. ‘You are small, use that to your advantage because you like to jump.’ I jump to the side, wrapping my knees around his waist. It doesn’t make him lose his balance like it would to someone who isn’t expecting it. He grabs my forearm with the hand that used to be on my fist and pushes it back, grabbing my legs with his other hand.
Zac “pushes” me off to the wall. I lose my footing on my own account and fall to the ground. I sit back up on my elbows, supporting my whole body as my breathing come in heaves. Zac isn’t even breathing a little heavily, hasn’t even broken a light sweat. He is just fine.
He walks closer to me, making eye contact and giving a nonchalant nod. One step closer. Two steps closer. As the third step hits the ground, I slide my legs on the ground and trip him. Quickly picking up the gun on the way up with my hands trembling. Zac stays on the floor, and I raise the gun up, my hands shaking more.
“SHOOT HIM!” screams one of the guards. “DO IT NOW!”
I look at Zac and raise the gun so it aims at his head. My hands still tremble, and I’m unable to keep them still. Zac looks me right in the eyes, but I can’t look at them without the feeling of throwing up at the back of my throat.
The whole world dissolves around me. The guards are yelling at me to shoot, but all is mumbles. Stairs. The stairs to the upper level, the exit of this hell are not too far.
The gun clatters from my hands to the floor. My eyes open in time to see Zac kicking it out of my hands. Zac is up and he pins me to the wall, his grip on my wrists are light as a feather.
“Thanks for not giving up on me,” I whisper to him.
He nods. “I said I will always protect you, and I am never going to leave for anything,” he whispers back.
“Hold out your arm when I say go.” He nods, turning to semi face toward the guards so they can see me behind his lean, muscular body. I look at Zac, then to them, making sure I look in to all of their eyes. “I can’t kill him. I won’t kill him.”
“You have orders from your owner,” states one of them.
“I know,” I say, looking at Zac, then back to them, my look hardening. “But Lily doesn’t own me, she doesn’t even have my mind.”
The guards exchange glances before looking at us with confusion. Two out of the three take a step closer, their hands reaching for their guns. My back turns to them, and I look up to Zac with a small nod. One more step forward from the two guards, last than a foot from Zac and I.
They charge and I yell, “NOW!”
Zac holds out his arm, and I turn, grabbing it. With a swift movement I run my legs up the wall, swinging them over and kicking both of the guards in their noses. I stand up in time to see them grabbing their noses, which are gushing blood, and stumbling to the ground.
Zac and I lock eyes for a long second. Zac smiles with amusement and releases a little laugh. The last guard charges after us, and Zac steps in front of me. It only takes one punch from Zac to knock the guard cold. The other two bleeding more blood than they should, and making me feel funny, and not in a good way.
Zac turns to me, and I look up to him with a small smile. He closes the gap between us with a tight firm hug. I am safe, he is safe, let’s keep it that way. Stairs and leave.
“I’m so happy I didn’t lose you forever. You had me worried,” breathes Zac.
“Me too, for all of it. Let’s go get Tess and get the hell out of here.”
Zac pulls back, but not all the way, cupping my face with both hands. “Are you alright?” he asks, not breaking eye contact with me.
I nod, my head still in his hands, and we hold the stare for a little bit longer. The world around us stops to actually let us breathe, to be alright only for a few needed seconds.
“I need to go out there first to deal with Cole. From the very first day, I wanted to punch him in the face.”
“Me too,” Zac says, smiling. “You remember our little training in the barn at the orphanage?”
“Yeah, it was two months before you turned sixteen and four months before you took the final exam to become a Protecttender.”
“And two more months after for you at the orphanage before you turned sixteen, and go to school to complete your course for a Caretender.”
We share a smile before I turn to open the door, just a little, for me to fit through. Cole stands against the wall with the smug smile on his face that will turn sore with the news I have for him.
“Wow, you don’t have a drop of blood on you. Not bad for your first, especially because it was someone you were so attached to.”
“It wasn’t my first kill,” I say, and his eyes widen before the smugness takes over and he gives a simple nod of his head.
“Uh, when you were a Caretender, you probably killed people all the time.”
My fists clench, and hot flashes of anger boil at my skin. Shut up. I was one of the best Caretenders in this town, in this world. You and Lily took that away from me.
“I never killed anyone,” I say through gritted teeth.
“What?”
I open the door all the way, showing him Zac. Cole’s eyes widen like he is seeing a ghost. He reaches for the empty gun holster on his hip, forgetting he gave the gun to me. Cole looks up, his eyes on fire, and I take a step forward with the smug look on my face. That is right, feel scared of me, because it is my turn to make your stomach turn with the sick, smug look of my own.
“Remember, he will be killed for any tricks like this, and so will you,” states Cole, trying to add the power back into his voice.
I look at him for a second and only a second. My elbow smashes into his nose with all my anger, all my disgust for him and him alone. A loud cracking crunch fills the empty hall as his nose breaks. Cole covers it and stumbles to the wall, not quite sure what happened. Dark red blood coats his hands and runs down the sides of his face and arms, ruining his uniform.
Cole’s eyes are fierce as he looks up to me. “You’ll be sorry you ever did that, Thela Brown.” He reaches to the walkie-talkie on his belt. I pull Zac out of the room, and we run down the hall. “CODE 963!” Cole’s voice cries, cracking.
The only thing on our minds is running. Running to get Tess. Running to get up the stairs. Running to save our lives. I know for a fact that in a matter of seconds, the sound of guards’ footsteps will be chasing us, but the only real problem is we don’t know where Tess is.
She could be anywhere! This place isn’t small, and I don’t know where everything is at. Tess, where—
Someone grabs me from behind, making my thoughts shatter as their hand goes over my mouth. They pin me to the wall, my veins thickening in clots of fear. My vision focuses on the face as his hand drops to my forearm.
“Lucas?” I ask with panic and disbelief.
“Shh, I want to help you,” Lucas states, letting go of me while taking a step back to Zac. “I know where Tess is and a way out, but we need to hurry.”
“How do we know it is not a trap?” asks Zac.
“It’s not. I-” He looks to the ground, trying to find the right words.
“It is not,” I say. “He feels sorry for what he did,” I finish, looking at Zac.
Zac looks at me and releases a hard breath, making up his mind in a matter of seconds before looking at Lucas. “Alright.” He points his finger at Lucas like scolding a child. “If you do anything, anything at all that is suspicious, you will be sorry.” Lucas nods, and I know Zac means every word that he said. “Now, let’s go.”
Lucas leads the way up the stairs and down to a corner, then straight down the hall to a room that looks exactly like mine—a lab. Lucas places his badge over the keypad to unlock the door and it opens.
The lab is exactly the same, both inside and outside, just like mine was. Tess is on the metal table, her back toward us. Her shoulders shake with the rest of her body as she cries softly, but loud enough to echo off the machines.
I run up to her and touch her arm. She cringes in fear, trying to pull herself together.
“Tess?” My voice desperate to see if she is alright.
She turns just enough to see me, and her eyes widen with relief and disbelief. “Thela?” she asks, sitting up.
I nod and she pulls me in for a tight hug, happy to feel some sort of safety, and lets out a ragged breath of relief.
“Your last days won’t be here,” I whisper to her, holding back tears of my own. “I wouldn’t let you suffer like that. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
She nods and slides off the table, stumbling a little, and I catch her. She wraps her arms around me for support. We nod to each other, knowing we are there for each other. We take a few steps, and she looks up, noticing Lucas. Her weak steps stop all together.
Her breath becomes still, and we close the gap to him. She removes her arms and takes a step forward, almost falling, but looks right into Lucas’s eyes.
“Tess, I am-”
Tess doesn’t let him finish his sentence by slapping him in the face. I catch her as she almost falls again. Single strings of tears stain her cheeks.
“I hate you now,” Tess says, her voice quivering. She beats on him weakly with me supporting her body weight, and Lucas takes it, just standing there. “I hate you, I hate you!” More tears fall with each hit. “But I am glad you are here now. You hurt me though, and I don’t think I will ever forgive you for what you did to my mother, to me.”
Lucas nods, not looking at Tess, his face stricken with regret. Tess wraps an arm around me again, and we walk out of the room—just to stop in our tracks. On the other side of the door is a line of guards, their guns pointing right at us.
Right in front, in the middle, are Lily and Cole, his broken nose already black and purple.