I take a deep breath and look back out. Vampires. Everywhere. Shrieking and biting at each other. Their eyes bleed, lifeless corpses of flesh, so desperate for hunger that they’ll sometimes feed off themselves. I think I’m starting to get his point.
“We can go back,” I say and he nods, darting for the back door.
“So I’d be like the vampires?” I ask. “That’s the price I have to pay.”
“You wouldn’t look like one.” He locks the back door, checking it twice. “But you’d be like them, always looking for the next kill. And you don’t have to pay the price,” he says. “You can choose to just be you.”
“It’s time for you to just be Kayla.” One of Monarch’s last words before he died.
“So Bernard’s one of them now?” I ask. “Or were you lying about that too.”
“No, he took the medicine.” His voice is venomous. “He made the choice.”
“But he didn’t know what he was doing,” I say. “We should have tried to help him.”
“We did,” he says. “Where do you think those scratch marks came form on the hillside.”
“He’s there,” I say, relieved.
“Was there.” Aiden leans against the door. “We had to turn him loose.”
I shake my head. “So he’s dead.”
“It depends,” he replies, standing up straight. “If the others found him,” he pauses, “It had to be done—he would have hurt someone, Kayla.” He takes my arm, but I shrug it off.
“Does The Colony know about all this?” I ask. “About these half breeds?”
He shakes his head. “I think that everyone just assumes we’re all dead.”
“Even the Highers?”
“Especially the Highers.” He motions for me to follow him back to our pathetic little fire where we sit down on the rotted floorboards. “I think the Highers want us all dead for some reason—that’s why we end up in body bags,” he says. “I think that that’s what’s really supposed to happen at The Gathering. Were supposed to be killed, thrown into body bags, and tossed into the infirmary.”
“Then why doesn’t it happen?” I ask, thinking of how Maci spoke of Angels. “Do you think someone’s intervening?”
He nods, the fire glowing against his honey eyes. “I think someone makes it look like we’ve died, so they can toss us in the desert and we can be on our way to go on living how we want.”
“Maci said something about seeing an Angel,” I say. “She said it was what gave her the vials.” A pause. “Do you know what or who it is?”
“I already told you I didn’t.”
I eye him over. “I was just double-checking.”
He sighs, reaching for his bag. “Well, I really don’t know.”
“She also said the Angel helped Taggart,” I say. “Do you think he has something to doing with it? My last day he was freaking out because I didn’t stay locked up in the hospital.”
“Taggart?” Aiden questions “You think Taggart could be the one making us all look like we’re dead?”
“He could be the one taking us out into the desert, though,” I say. “But I’m not sure he knows enough about death to make us look like we’re dead.” There’s only one person in The Colony who I know who could do something like that. “I’d say it was Monarch, but he was... He died right before The Gathering.”
He props his back pack against the wall and leans back. “Are you sure about that? Because if he is the one who was making us look dead, then maybe he did it to himself.”
I don’t answer, remember all the feelings I felt when I found out he was dead. But it was never really said if he was. Yes, Gabrielle implied it, but I never actually saw any proof. Why hadn’t I gotten proof, instead of just accepting?
“What would you do,” I say. “If I did turn into one of those half-breeds? If I chose to die? Would you hate me?”
“You won’t,” he says with confidence. “I know you and I know you wouldn’t choose to be like them.”
“But what if I didn’t have a choice?” I’m not really talking about the half-breeds anymore, but about a Higher. “What if I turned into something horrible and I couldn’t help it? Would you hate me then?”
“As long as you don’t put the medicine into you, you’ll be fine.” He puts his arms behind his head and rests back against his bag. “We should try to get some rest. Do you want me to take first watch?”
“No, I got it,” I say, stirring the fire with the tip of my knife.
He yawns. “Are you sure? Because I can—”
“I’m fine,” I assure him. “I’m not even tired.”
It doesn’t take him long to doze off and I relax against the wall, letting the vampire screams drown out my thoughts.
Chapter 31
I don’t fall asleep. I stay up all night listening to the sounds of screams. At one point, I take the vial and stare at the black liquid, bubbling inside the glass. The only person I know of who could create such a medicine is Monarch. He had to be the one who gave them to The Gathering members—he just had to be. Maybe he did fake his own death for some reason. But then where is he now?
When Aiden starts to stir, I quickly shove the vial back into the bag.
He sits up, his eyes blurred over with early morning confusion. He stretches his legs, pops his neck, and glances around. “You let me sleep the whole night?” He yawns.