The Unnamed | The Unnamed Duology Book 1

THE ELITE CH. 7 - SAMPLE

7: Cross Examination

"So. How do you plan on infiltrating their system?"

Rose the Runner shrugs, a faint smile tugging at her mouth in the dark. "I was hoping you'd have the answer to that one."

Daniel shakes his head, studying her. "How did you get away? After I..."

"Betrayed the entirety of the Unnamed?" She finishes, chuckling. "We had people everywhere, Elite Runner Daniel. It wasn't hard to get free. The hard part was keeping the Unnamed focused on what we were really after: bringing down the Elites. Which, now, includes you. And I'm not sour about it anymore, you know," she says, beginning to pace. "I"m completely and utterly over it. Well, a part of me still hurts, but, you know--doesn't matter much to anybody else so why should it to you?"

"Rose--"

"Nope, save it. Lucky for you, you're still at the position we needed you at in the beginning: an Elite. And our goal was to bring them down, once upon a time... but now it seems like they want to bring only you down from revenge. They're ready to go to war."

"And how do you expect to stop this war?" Daniel the Elite Runner asks, leaning against the wall beside him. "Wars are nearly impossible to disintegrate once they're in motion."

"Ah, but the war hasn't started, you see." Rose walks closer. "It's in its early stages and will no doubt be in full-force once the Competitions roll around."

"But why would they risk everything to destroy me? I'm only one Elite."

Runner Rose sighs, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall too. "They want to make an example out of you. And not just to frighten the Elites, but to show the rest of the Unnamed what could happen if they're double-crossed. Once they have you, the torture doesn't end there."

"Then where would it end?"

"When the Elites are all dead and bleeding out." She pushes herself off the wall and takes a step back, watching Daniel closely. "They're hungry for revenge, Daniel. It's stronger than their long for freedom, and they don't care who they have to go through to get it."

Her eyes are hard as they look into his. Everything she's saying is so extreme... but then again they did put a bomb inside of a girl to destroy him. Would his death by explosion be enough of an example for them though? Would it be enough for them? Or would they...

"Why are you here then? It seems like your life is on the line just by talking to me."

"Oh, trust me," she scuffs her shoe across the floor, scattering dirt. "It's way worse."

"What could be worse?" Daniel asks.

Her eyes rest on his face, intensity burning in them.

"Torture." Rose's voice is steady as she lifts her chin a bit higher, her hands continuing to rest on her hips. "It's hard living once you feel the sting of death in your limbs."

"Why are you doing this then?" Daniel asks. "Why are you risking everything for something that used to be, and when no one seems to want to think that way anymore? It sounds like that way of thinking is dead."

"It's not dead!" She snaps, jabbing a finger at the Elite Runner. Lowering it, she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "It's not dead... They've just forgotten..."

Running a hand through her hair, she exhales heavily, her breath and body weighed down by whatever plays in her mind.

"Daniel," she almost whispers. "Have you ever believed something so fully that you would do anything, and I mean anything for that ideal? Would you kill someone for it? Because I did. The Unnamed wasn't supposed to be about revenge or bloodlust... but about freedom. And... and I understand that everything comes with a cost, but the cost of those are far steeper than for freedom, whether they fail to see it or not. Freedom will bring happiness, whereas vengeance... vengeance is a fire you can't smother. It only grows or finds a new home. And I don't want... that... to be something this rebellion is all about. I need to show them their wrongs. I need to, of all the selfish things I could muster... I need to be free and..."