The lepers moved quietly, exchanging low words and curious glances that I could feel going over our clothes and equipment, but especially Angelica’s unreadable face. They were sizing her up; taking her measure… what else did they want from her? What were the conditions?

  As we moved by, a woman near the door held out a hand in hope toward the young girl next to her, except their skin didn’t actually touch. The child must not be ill, I thought, instantly approving of their caution, their determination to save some of their future.

  Angelica

  “We had other visitors, recently, who took shelter with us from the start of the storm season.”

  I knew who he meant and it relieved a part me even as it increased the worry on another side. “They seemed well?”

  Sam had left our parents near here, on her way to escort me to the trials in Adelphia. They had already begun the hard task of gathering help for our cause, planning to meet us in New Network City when they were finished. We were calling in our favors, hoping they would stack up to the battle ahead.

  “Yes. Mary and her party were very helpful to us, as well.”

  I heard the tone and shrugged. “You need only ask.”

  Pleased expressions went around the lepers at my accepting attitude, but I wasn’t fooled by their peacefulness. I knew they were anything but.

  “We have a slight… problem, in one of our neighborhoods.”

  With that statement, I understood this was a city in use. How many of them were here? We emerged into an open area that peered down on another set of wide, wooden steps disappearing into the darkness. Below, hundreds of torch lights glared up. There was an army of lepers here. Why hadn’t they revolted on their own?

  “Perhaps you’d care to explain why we’re fighting without your people. No one has more reason to fight back than you.”

  “Don’t you know our history?”

  Cain turned to me with an ugly sneer that I knew wasn’t directed at us personally. Jason, however, knew no such thing and he stepped closer to me, hand almost touching mine.

  “No.”

  “You should - the Pruetts were responsible for it.”

  “After the Network came into power?”

  Cain nodded savagely. “Pruetts worked for them, cleared us out, and forced us into the abandoned cities of the old world. When we reached this place, the riots of 230AW had started and we were forgotten in the panic to regain control.”

  I thought about those words as we began our shaky descent. There had been Pruetts around right after the War. Interesting.

  “Now, we wish to leave this place, but before we can, there is a small matter of area 51.”

  I jerked. That name was well known for its horror stories, but wasn’t that a different part of the Borderlands? My confusion was evident, but the lepers escorting us below didn’t explain further. I wondered how much of that forbidden area they’d brought with them on the journey…

  I realized what that meant. I’d assumed the lepers were chased into the Borderlands from the east, but if they’d been to area 51 first and brought things along, that meant they were from the opposite direction.

  I forced my attention back to Cain. “What do you know of the West Coast outpost?”

  He gave me a small, bitter smile. “Very little, now. Like I’ve stated, when the Pruetts came, we were run out.”

  My mind raced. What were the chances that a line of the Pruett family still existed there? It was information I stored as we reached the bottom of the first wooden landing.

  Cain waved a hand toward a wide, stone door near the very end of the long corridor we were stopped at. “We do not expect you to win against such a creature.”

  Feeling trapped, something that would make me ruthless, I untied Jason’s rope and handed the end to Sam. As I moved for the stone door, I pulled the Change close in case it was needed. The feeling of loss I’d gotten the second Jason and I weren’t attached anymore, I let sink into the rage and bubble. “What is it you do expect me to accomplish?”

  Cain’s expression was desperate. “Bargain for our freedom in the ways we cannot.”

  As soon as I opened the door and scented that wild musk, the Change ripped through me in immediate defense.

  Jason

  As Angelica padded through the door and closed it, my tone quickly became frantic. “What’s in there? What is it? Why is she going alone?”

  The big Runner she’d given my rope to kept a firm hand on my arm. “Something we need, I’d guess or she would have come right back out.”

  The lepers were gathering in the halls and on the stairs, watching us with hopeful, diseased faces.

  “What is it? What does she have to do?”

  The Runner jerked on my arm, trying to quiet me, but I wrenched away from her unsuspecting grip.

  I grabbed Cain by the arm, the danger forgotten. “Get her outta there!”

  I was on the ground an instant later and not sure how I got there. The man hadn’t moved! I glared up at him warily.

  Instead of the fight it could have caused, the man’s tone was laced with sympathy and pain that defused my Runner’s instant need to strike out. Sprawled against her leg, I felt her arm tense and then lower.

  “For me to send my people out to die in her war, I will have what I need for my survivors in return.”

  The big Runner I’d jerked away from helped me up, this time keeping a locked hand around my wrist.

  “Mary Pruett could not give you this?”

  “She would not.”

  The Runner grunted, and I saw her fast motion to the women around us. If Angelica chose to say no as well, we may have to fight to get back out.

  “Slam you! And stay outta my head!”

  Angelica’s angry shout swung all of our heads toward the door.

  Thud!

  Crash! Bang!

  The sounds were not encouraging, and I saw I wasn’t the only one worried.

  “What’s in there?”

  My Runner’s question was asked in a tone that only a fool would have denied. Cain clearly wasn’t one.

  “It is a horror from our past, one that we cannot be shed of.”

  “Why don’t you kill it yourself?”

  Cain’s answer was simple. “Because it cannot die, and without it, we cannot live.”

  More crashes and awful sounds of fighting came through the door, and I noticed that the number of lepers around us had grown from twenty, to double that.

  “Exactly what does she have to do?”

  My question was ignored until my big Runner glared at the leper leader with pink eyes.

  Cain let out a resigned sigh. “Survive, of course.”

  Angelica

  I couldn’t win.

  It was a test of my strength, and of our loyalty, but it was also a centuries-old power struggle that I wasn’t going to be able to fix. It was the last thing I’d expected to find here, and I was careful to stay ahead of those violent swings as the creature tried to determine who had disturbed its slumber.

  A piece of familiar cloak lay in the corner, telling me Mary had faced this loathsome thing as well during her time here, and it made me determined to win, to discover the terrible knowledge she’d earned.

  I ducked an enormous gray claw, and giant yellow eyes quickly narrowed in on my new location. I wasn’t sure yet, what type of animal it had been, but the creature was easily twice my size, with all of my Changeling fury. It had slung me away from the door as soon as I entered, preventing me from leaving, but I’m not sure I could have anyway. The Pruett blood that drove my sister to survive in the Badlands wasn’t exclusive to her. I’d never faced a challenge like this.

  I jumped another swing, wondering vaguely why the sloth-like monster didn’t break free. Dozens of thuds with those enormous fists would bring these walls down. As I lunged for the corner, buying time, I began to understand.

  “Be still.”

  I heard the voice in my head, as well as through my ears, and I lunged upward in awkward shock as a huge claw swung in from the left.

  Now perched precariously on rotting debris, my feet automatically kept the balance as I stared intently into the creature’s face. “Slam you! And stay outta my head!”

  Used to servitude, the creature immediately slowed its next swipe, and those piercing, ugly orbs swung around until they found my face.

  “Who are you?”

  In my head and from its mouth… this creature wasn’t a prisoner. It was the master.

  “Angelica Pruett.”

  The creature slowly lowered its arms, and I was able to discern that it had once been a monkey or an ape of some type. Its ancient gray hair hung in tattered mats that had never been brushed, giving it the appearance of a Bigfoot from tattered old books. I’d found those eerie descriptions too fantastic to believe, but the creature in front of me wasn’t a myth. It was as real as I was, and twice as deadly.

  I saw human and animal bones on the filthy floor near me, and then more under those, and understood the ape was a flesh-eater.

  Wonderful.

  “Why are you here?”

  My thoughts were chaotic, but not so much that I couldn’t make connections. This monster ruled the Lepers and they’d sent me in here to end their slavery, figuring if we were already doing it for the males…

  “The rebellion needs your help.”

  The ancient Ape moved slowly back toward a cave-like entrance I hadn’t noticed.

  “We do not give aid and succor to friends. We have none of those.”

  I took in a breath, grateful but curious as to why my name had stopped the attack if that was true. “Maybe it’s time that changed.”

  “Would you challenge my leadership, then?”

  I thought faster. “Only if I have to. It seems much easier to give you something you want.”

  The creature heaved itself into the gory stone chair near the cave doorway. When it sat, the room rattled and I shifted from foot to foot to keep my balance on years of debris.

  Wizened palms turned up in agreement. “And what is that, unsatisfied Pruett?”

  I hadn’t been prepared for the sharp intelligence that could read me. I wasn’t dealing with an instinct-driven animal. I was facing a primitive being whose brain had kicked on hundreds of years ago. I wondered briefly what had caused the flip, and then frowned at myself. The War, of course. What hadn’t that dark day caused? Nothing that remained was the same.

  I met the ape’s morose sneer with a nod of understanding as I made that final connection. “I’ll provide the only thing someone as ancient and tormented as you could possibly long for - an honorable death.”

  Jason

  I listened to the quiet, beyond worried. There hadn’t been a single noise in almost five minutes.

  I turned to the big Runner on my right, hoping my voice didn’t trigger her heat. I tugged on the rope. “Will you… check on her?”

  The woman’s eyes flickered pink, making me take a step back. It was as far as I could go with her hand still locked tightly around my wrist.

  “Yes.”

  She let go of me to approach the cruddy door.

  “You may not enter, no matter what you find.” Cain informed her arrogantly.

  I saw the Runner’s glare in response. It said she would make her own choices.

  The woman peered through the door after cracking it, and paled enough to send my heart into a faster rhythm.

  The Runner closed the door and turned back with a much calmer tone than I’d expected. “They’re talking. Where can we get some food?”

  There were surprised mutters and cheers that told me the lepers had also thought Angelica might be dead. I glowered at them as the Runner took a fresh, sweaty grip on my wrist.

  The lepers led us through the maze of wooden stairs, my feet dragging. I didn’t want to go anywhere without Angelica. Beyond needing her protection, I was growing used to it, and it felt wrong to leave her in there with whatever was… I tugged out of the Runner’s grip and stopped.

  The Runner started to take my wrist again and I moved back, shaking my head. If she beat me, I’d survive it. “I go when she goes.”

  It was assuming a lot, but I’d heard Cain call them the Pruett clan. I was hoping the same leniency Angelica had showed would be allowed among her relatives.

  The Runner stared at me, wild hair and filthy goggles adding to the impression that she was a hard-ass. I was counting on the other side of her existing as well - the Pruett part that didn’t like slavery, and respected courage.

  Grunting, my Runner motioned to Cain. “He’ll wait here for her.”

  I wouldn’t have refused that tone, and I was suddenly sure he wouldn’t either.

  Cain’s face was ugly as he stared at me. His distaste was obvious, and it gave me the urge to strike him. Did he hate me because I wasn’t infected? Did he long for the protection I now had? If he knew I was about to give that up for the freedom to pick my own future, would he laugh mockingly at my stupidity?

  “As long as he does not leave this floor.”

  I flashed another grateful look to the big Runner and saw her nostrils flare. I couldn’t stop the instant flinch backward.

  She turned to Cain, orbs flashing red in warning. “He’ll stay by the door, but if she comes out and her property is damaged in any way, she’ll take it out on your people - and we’ll help.”

  The menace was hard to miss, and I held still as the leper leader approached me. He held out a small cord with a yellow pendant in the shape of a tear.

  “Keep this visible. It tells the others that you are allowed to be here.”

  I slid it over my covered wrist and headed for the door. I desperately wanted to see who Angelica was talking to.

  “Keep the door closed. A fresh male has never left here, once sighted.”

  I swallowed the fear from that and settled myself across from the door. Next to where I was standing, a gray set of bones protruded from the sand like an omen.

  Chapter Twelve

  Rankin

  “Are we going in there?”

  I shook my head at Lena’s question. Hadn’t my heavily scarred XO seen the bodies of The Ring spread out like a bloody fan? “Not without a death wish.”

  Undefeated, The Ring had supplied me with males for all the years I’d labored to get this coveted position. And the Pruetts had taken them out. It made their level of threat go up in my estimation. I would get this dangerous family with their backs up against a wall, where I could trap them and demand Jason’s return… and then open fire.

  “Why aren’t they worried about being infected?”

  My second in command was full of questions and I shut her down with a scornful tone, hearing the rise of Nature. “Pruetts don’t fear anything - least of all the walking dead.”

  Silence fell.

  My orders were to confirm a rebel location and call in the strike, but I would get my property back before then, and my crew should know it of me by now. I hadn’t groomed him for all those years to give him up to a Pruett, and I thought maybe the Network had known that, as well. Maybe it was even why I’d been sent. They knew my relentless nature would eventually give them what they wanted - the rebels. My vendetta against them all would never end now that I’d been crossed.

  I knew of the infamous Pruetts from the recent Games, but I’d also known their mother before she burnt out, and I hadn’t liked her haughty ways either. The fact that they resembled her closely - from their tanned, tattooed bodies, to their thick, smooth faces - didn’t help that feeling.

  As I worked it out, my crew waited restlessly on either side. They’d been with me when I’d flipped and killed Jason’s family - they were very aware of my obsession. If not for the value of being on my team, they would have turned on me long ago, and I was careful to reward them well to prevent that. Or kill them. I’d replaced a few of my crew not long after lying to the Network about Jason and making them sign the report.

  “They’ll exit somewhere else. We’ll get up high and wait them out.”

  “And the storm that’s coming?”

  I kneed my horse without answering, telling them I didn’t fear anything either.

  But they knew that to be a lie, didn’t they? I feared what they all did - losing my place within the Network hive during the time we were out on runs. Tensions had risen since these Pruett women had started winning the Games, and my behavior during the match had my girls on edge. Not so much that they wouldn’t follow me, though. There would be big rewards if we could locate the rebels. After the mob at the northern border, they were the biggest enemies the Network had.

  “Someone try a call before the bugs get here.”

  I picked a crumbling part of the wall that was out of sight of the city, and quickly began making a nest to shelter in. Around me, my hard-asses did the same. It wasn’t the first time we’d sheltered in the open, and they knew what to do.

  As we got set, the bugs started coming over the southern landscape, turning it to night. Knowing we had only a few minutes before they reached us, our pace increased.

  Thick tarps and spikes provided a flapping shelter that became sturdy when packed with a hard bodied-horse and gear. Once lying down, the animals kept the tarp in place and allowed for a heat source. The mounts would also make a softer pillow than the ground we were used to.

  In the lea of the wall, most of the storm would miss us. It was the coming insects we had to be on guard against right now, and I felt my hatred of the Pruetts, of Angelica in particular, grow. They were safe inside, likely enjoying food and exchanging information, while I was stuck out here in this Borderlands hell.

  I thought of her and Jason sharing a cozy corner of the ruins and smothered my rage until my vision was black again. My harem of males was my weakness, but only Jason held any power over me. I’d taken the others, not needing them as more than a way to relieve my torment, but with him, I felt something more. I didn’t want to, and I loathed myself for having such immaterial feelings, but there was no fighting it. I wanted him more than anything except my Network career…. and I wanted him willing. It was why I hadn’t taken him yet.