The Cipher

Chapter five | Cyrus

  Cyrus did not like the idea of Onyx and Aspen alone. It’s not that he didn’t trust Aspen with another man, but he didn’t trust someone like Onyx with Aspen.

  Aspen may be his superior now, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t pin her down with his huge, built arms, and kiss her, or maybe even other, more intimate things. Cyrus knew hormones were ravaging through Onyx’s veins. Cyrus saw the desire in Onyx’s eyes when he had looked over and caught him putting the eye contacts in Aspen’s eyes.

  But of course, Aspen was unaware of it. She didn’t know she should be watching her back. She knew love, not sexual desire, not hormonal insanity, she knew only the passion that she had with Cyrus. She’d never fathom that someone might ever try to make her engage in sexual activity against her will.

  Cyrus was about to start fuming, but then Zulu snapped him out of his angry haze.

  Her delicate hand was on his back as she spoke, “Our tunnel is this way.”

  Her eyes captured him almost involuntarily, not allowing him to look away, at first. It was as if he had fallen into an ocean whose waves were like hands, pulling him deep, deep, deeper. Drowning, drowning drowning, forever, infinitely.

  “Hey, Cyrus. Come on.” Zulu tugged on his wrist.

  He snapped out of it for the second time.

  He turned his back on Aspen and Onyx who were now barely a speck in the distance and began walking away from them alongside Zulu.

  “How far is the tunnel?” he inquired.

  “Not too far.” she replied.

  She flipped her hair almost dramatically, the golden brown locks cascading down her back emphatically.

  “The worst part isn’t walking to the tunnel, it’s walking from the tunnel to the Slum Sector. Colonel Aspen and Commander Onyx will practically be dumped out right in their destination, whereas the two of us? We are dumped out juxtaposed from the Sector. We will have a long walk through the Society. Plenty of time to ease the tension.”

  Cyrus took a moment to analyze her words. “What is the Slum Sector, exactly?”

  “It’s where Soul Mates who return to the Society without Mates go. Also, although it is more of a rarity, after being scanned upon arrival in the Society, if one Mate’s IQ isn’t above a certain standard, they are sent there as well, although the other Mate does not have to go with them.”

  Cyrus was bewildered by this. “That is horrible.”

  “I know. And it is because of this, that the rebellion is stationed there. Nobody cares enough to go there. Ever. If anything, civilians try to avoid being anywhere near it. Most of them are ashamed of the Sector. Hardly anyone in the Sector had enough to get by, so by letting us station there, we give them food.” She said matter-of-factly. “Even for the ones who don’t agree with us, they keep quiet because they know that in the long run, that will be the way to survive.”

  Cyrus nodded. “Interesting setup.”

  “All Shields’s idea.” she said proudly.

  “I can’t wait to see him again.” Cyrus said. “He saved us, and we didn’t have very long to thank him. Now we have all the time in the world.”

  Cyrus watched as Zulu’s features sagged slightly, but she was smart. She recovered her usual mysterious-exotic-girl vibe in a fraction of a second. Cyrus may not be as smart as Zulu, but he was definitely more perceptive than she.