The Freaks

chapter fifteen

"So Sigma obviously doesn't believe that I can do this by myself," I remark to Serena as she moves around behind me, cutting my hair. We are in another one of the abandoned trains, the sound of us talking and the snipping of the scissors echoing around the large tunnelled space.

Serena grabs a fistful of hair at the back of my head and snips away at it, letting the dark locks to fall around me in thick clumps. "I think she does believe you can do this, Luca," she replies, her voice kind. "Sigma probably got Nox to do this with you because two people can help save the Freaks quicker from that prison."

I want to argue, but what would be the point? Nox is coming, full stop. He and I will be travelling above ground in a matter of a few days to complete this mission. But what I don't get about him coming is that why Nox in particular? It could have been any of the Freaks down here—like Serena or Nathan. Why Nox?

I ask the question aloud to Serena.

She hums to herself as she continues to cut away at my hair. "I guess it's because he knows what to expect up top," she finally says. "He and I went to get you and he's seen what it's like there, in the prison."

"So do I, though."

She sighs quietly. "I know you do. But you said you were taken by the Soldiers at age sixteen, right?"

I nod my head, swallowing the rock in my throat as memories of my friends being shot by the Soldiers come back to me. I blink away the images and focus on the seats opposite me, at the pattern stitched into the fabric.

"A lot has changed in two years since you were in that prison, Luca," she continues. "It was a quieter place two years ago. The Soldiers weren't as ruthless, since they didn't know what they were up against." She pauses, letting the words sink in. "That's why if we need to scavenge for supplies we do it quickly and one Freak at a time. It's too dangerous otherwise."

I swallow again, suddenly really nervous about going up top and pretending to be one of them. How can I pretend to be normal when I'm even more different from the people stuck down here?

Suddenly, Nox being with me doesn't sound as bad anymore.

But still, I say, "I'd rather you go with me."

I can't see her, but I hear a small and quiet laugh escape her—almost like a breath from her nose. "So would I," she says quietly.

Silence stretches on between us as Serena continues to work on my hair. It wasn't so long that I could pull it into a ponytail, but still too long for a Soldier. When it got too long I would brush the wayward strands off my forehead and let them cascade down the back of my head. My hair seems to grow like that now.

Serena passes me a small mirror when she's finished, still standing behind me. I can see her in the reflection, staring at her work with a small smile on her face. Her eyes meet mine and I smile back.

"It looks perfect," I say. I finger the short hair at the sides of my head and run my fingers through the slightly longer strands at the top of my head. I look at her in the mirror again. "You did an amazing job."

She smiles quickly before coming to stand in front of me, her smile no longer there, but a focused one in its place instead. She crouches down so she's my height, tilting my head this way and that—considering her work from the front, I'm guessing.

Back in Sigma's office we were discussing my appearance when Nox and I are up there, and she mentioned that I should keep the beard adorning my cheeks to make myself look even older than I already do.

Because the teenagers that were once in the world are no longer normal. They are being hunted down and killed at eighteen.

They are now us.