When Georgianna awoke that morning, it was with a knot in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t think she should really be worried, they had everything planned, but knowing that just one thing going wrong could mean the whole plan falling apart, she had tossed and turned through nightmares until Keiran woke her. Each time she apologised and slowly fell back to sleep, only to be revisited by the same horror of seeing Keiran and Wrench up on the execution block in Javeknell Square, of Landon and Nyah being killed as Wrench tried to remove the collars from around their necks, of Taye being dragged off to Lyndbury by Maarqyn and other faceless Adveni.
It was still early when Georgianna gave up trying to sleep, far too early to actually get out of bed, but the knot in her stomach would not let her drift off again. Instead, she lay motionless against Keiran’s body, listening to his breathing and watching the rise and fall of his chest beneath her hand through the shadows.
By the time Keiran finally woke, she had not only suffered her nightmares, but each scenario had played itself through her conscious mind a dozen times. So Keiran’s first act of the day was not to get dressed, but to talk Georgianna through the plan again so that she could see how they would get out of it if something were to go wrong.
Georgianna was set to visit the compound late in the morning, before sun-high. At sun-high, Nyah and Landon would be ready to run. Taye and Keiran had put aside their sniping at each other long enough to figure out the quietest route through the dwelling quarter, which would also lead them closest to Oppression City where Wrench would be waiting.
Once in Oppression City with Wrench, Keiran and Taye would keep a look out while Wrench removed the collars. Only when that was done would they move onto the new location at the southern edge of the district, where they would wait for Georgianna.
Georgianna didn’t particularly like the fact that Nyah and Landon would have to travel so far with the collars still attached, nor did she like that they would be waiting for her in the same district the collars would give off as their last location. However, it was too late to change the plan now.
Taye banged on the wall of the shack not ten minutes before they had to leave. When he entered, it looked like he’d not slept a minute in days, yet he seemed alert and ready to go. Georgianna could only imagine he’d been pacing down in the Carae for hours, waiting until a decent time when he’d be able to come up to meet them.
“You ready?” he asked, looking at Keiran as he began wringing his hands, his heel bouncing against the ground.
Keiran nodded, tugging on his second boot and reaching out, grasped the strap of Georgianna’s bag to hand to her. Keiran had already tucked two small guns into his belt, where they were covered by his dark shirt. Georgianna wished that he was taking the tyllenich with him, but it would be almost impossible to hide and a coat in the mid-heat weather would only raise suspicion.
Georgianna slung her bag over her shoulder, giving Taye a quick, tight hug before turning to Keiran.
“You…”
“No,” he interrupted. “None of that ‘be careful’ crap.”
She gazed at him in surprise. He took her face in his hands, thumbs brushing gentle, rhythmic strokes across her skin.
“I’ll see you later.” he told her, with a self-assured nod.
He tipped her head up, a soft kiss that felt almost innocent as he looked down at her, his forehead against hers.
“Go save some buryd guy’s life.”
Georgianna nodded against him, squeezing his waist in her fingers for a moment. Then she left, not daring to look back.
YOU ARE READING
Dead and Buryd
Science Fiction"You are an inmate, not a medic. You should get used to that." On the planet Os-Veruh, the native Veniche have endured a decade under the oppressive rule of a race of invaders, the Adveni. When Georgianna Lennox, a Veniche medic, discovers her child...
