Aegis (Book Three)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"What do you mean Paradigm is on fire?" Aviva asks me confused as I stand a sizable distance away from the engulfed building.

"It's on fire," I repeat and there is a long pause.

"Lena, Paradigm is on fire," Aviva says, and I hear shuffling.

"What? How?" Cathleen asks me.

"I'm not sure," I admit while scratching my head. The building was mostly made of metal and concrete but that doesn't mean it wouldn't burn. The flames continue to climb higher and higher and I think of the three other buildings that have gone up in smoke this month.

"Maybe someone is trying to burn some evidence," I say thoughtfully.

"But what would have been in those two warehouses and the random house?" Cathleen asks me and suddenly I am exhausted. Checking my watch, I see it is getting late.

"I wish I had even a shred of a clue," I grumble. I was no further to getting answers almost three months later than when this whole mess began. Trying to tap my watch, my hand misses, and my body sways.

"Zana?" I hear someone ask and I crumble to my knees. Trying to open my mouth to respond to them, the world spins violently and darkness looms on the edge of my vision. Faintly I hear voices, they all sound female, but the noise distorts, and I blackout.

My heart kicks into overdrive, I can't place where I am, but I am being jabbed with something and there is so much screaming. The voices are horrifically shrill and pierce my eardrums leaving my head throbbing. Trying to make the noise stop, it only grows louder as does the scene around me. Prying my swollen eyes open, I see blood all across the hallways, the scent is consuming, and I choke and start crying. I see the bodies sprawled on the floor, lifeless as crimson just continues to flow out of them. The guards are fatally wounded as well, they lean against the wall with tears in their eyes.

"Close your eyes Zaney!" Someone screams and I see a woman leaning on the edge of the metal surrounding me.

"Close your eyes sweetie," a calmer voice says, and I see her face for a moment, her one eye is swollen shut and there is a massive gash across her neck. I see a spray of half-cracked crystals around the wound and tears blur my vision.

"Close your eyes Zaneliah," she says sweetly, and I do before I hear a deafening bang. My heart races away and I don't dare to open my eyes for a moment until I hear a thud. Glancing down at the woman on the floor, her eyes are still open, but now unseeing, the compassion is gone. Focusing on the massive gaping wound in-between her eyes, I fall over and my back hits metal bars.

"A warzone is no place for a child," I hear a calm voice say and when I look around, I see red boots. The lid is lifted off of the cage and I am pulled up and sat on someone's hip. Glancing into the piercing blue eyes of the man who performed experiments on her, he gives me a reassuring smile before we turn to leave the room. I memorize the way his nose slopes low before hooking to the left slightly, his cheekbones are overly sharp, and he is very thin. His teeth are bleached and straight and lead to his slightly to large mouth surrounded by a faint bit of blonde stubble.

"My name is Soren, I will take good care of you, okay?" He asks me with a tight-lipped smile, his eyes show how angry and dead he is inside.

"You're a worthless piece of trash!" A voice screams and suddenly we are on the street. I now hit his shoulders, my hands are jammed in my pockets and my head hangs low. That isn't something I haven't heard before.

"Answer me!" He screams before I am shoved, I don't have time to even remove my hands from my pockets as I smash face-first into the ground. I feel the sparse crystallization on my face, I was hitting puberty and the disease I supposedly have is getting worse.