Dead and Buryd: A Dystopian Action Adventure Novel (Out of Orbit Book 1) (12 page)

“What?”

“Get off me!”

Si pulled at the bonds, rocking his hips one way to the other in an attempt to throw Wrench off him. It was no use, the bonds holding him down were strong enough as it was without the fact Si had been out in the sun for three days, probably without much to eat or drink.

“Get Alec! He’ll tell you! He’ll tell you they sold me out!”

A pain tightened in her chest as she held back a dry sob. She’d fought so hard to forget, and now here Si was, bringing him up like he would walk through the door any minute.

Georgianna didn’t know what to do. She knew that there was no chance of giving Si what he wanted. She returned to her bag, opening it up and taking out a couple of small cloth bags, opening each until she found the ones she needed. She took out a pale yellow pill and dropped the rest of the packets. Moving to stand next to Keiran, she looked down at Si.

“Si, I need to give you a pill. It’s medicine, it’ll help,” she told him softly. “We’ll sort your burns and I’ll send these guys to get Alec for you, alright?”

Her voice cracked around his name.

Si looked at the pill in her hand and shook his head violently, his cheeks slapping against his arms. Keiran frowned at her for a moment, questions in his gaze that he didn’t put voice to. He shook his head, moving forward and grasping Si’s chin, prising his mouth open. Si’s protests slipped into an unintelligible gurgle of sounds as he struggled against Keiran’s hold.

Georgianna dropped the pill into Si’s mouth and pinched his nose hard as Keiran let Si close his mouth, holding his hand over it until he saw the motion of swallowing move down Si’s throat. Si began coughing, shaking his head again. Grabbing up a cantina of water, Georgianna returned to Si, placing the spout near the man’s lips.

“Water, Si,” she said.

Si reluctantly accepted the water, gulping down a half-dozen mouthfuls before he began spluttering and Georgianna pulled the cantina back, screwing the lid in place. There was nothing to do but wait and sure enough, within minutes Si had begun to relax.

“You’ll get Alec,” he murmured. “Get Alec, he’ll tell you.”

Leaning over Si, Georgianna nodded.

“We will, Si. We’ll get Alec. He’ll be here.”

She felt horrible lying to him, but she could see no other way out. Whatever had happened to Si, the sun had made him delusional. Maybe, for the moment, it was better to play on his delusions and keep him calm than to tell him the truth and risk his anger.

Georgianna checked that Jaid was okay before they set to work. She was definitely shaken, and Georgianna couldn’t imagine the pain the other woman felt knowing that her husband believed her to have sold him out in some way, but Jaid was a hard worker, and quickly assured Georgianna that she was fine before setting about treating the burns on Si’s arms.

“Jaid, do you know what happened?” Wrench asked, taking a seat on the bed opposite.

Jaid shook her head, glancing over towards Wrench for a moment before turning her attention back to her husband. She collected up some dressings and placed them next to her before grabbing a jar of pale blue powder and pouring a large amount into a clay bowl.

“Every ten days or so, Si goes off on some job the marshall gives him,” she explained. “He won’t tell me where it is or what he’s doing, just that it’s really important. The last time he came back, he said he had some great news and he had to tell the marshall straight away.”

“What was it?” Keiran asked, looking up from where he’d been peeking underneath the dressing around his arm.

“He wouldn’t say,” Jaid answered. “He said it could change things, but he needed more time and information before he would know for sure.”

“So, what changed?” Georgianna asked.

“I don’t know. He went off that evening and everything seemed fine. When he wasn’t back, I just assumed he had other jobs. Wrench and I went around to check for him when I got off shift in the morning when you showed up, George, but we couldn’t find him. And then… that night Marshall Casey came down asking if I’d seen him, saying he hadn’t shown up for his duties nor checked in with him.”

Georgianna glanced at Wrench. He’d told Beck about Si not showing up. Had Beck known where Si was all along? Surely he would have known where to send people looking for him?

“When nobody had seen him, I began to panic. I found him in one of the northern tunnels, rambling to himself.”

Jaid took the cantina Georgianna had used to give Si water and poured a small amount into the powder. Returning the cantina, she began stirring the mixture into a thick paste which would be used to take the heat from Si’s burns.

“Saying?”

Georgianna glanced at Keiran. He was watching Jaid curiously but his gaze kept flickering to Si’s face. Si wasn’t one of the Belsa under Keiran’s command, but Georgianna could only assume he was curious as to this special job and why he hadn’t been told about it.

“Something about taking them down,” Jaid answered, brushing the back of her hand across her eyes. “That taking them down would give us an opening.”

“Take what down? The Adveni?” Wrench asked.

“I don’t know, I don’t think so, or at least it didn’t sound like it. It sounded, the way he was muttering about it, like something that would help against the Adveni, a target to destroy.”

“He didn’t say anything else?”

Jaid frowned and shook her head.

“That was when he started claiming I sold him out. He was so angry I barely got him back to the Way.”

“And Alec?” Wrench asked.

“Belsa,” Keiran explained. “Alec Cartwright.”

Wrench rubbed the back of his thick neck, glancing at Si.

Georgianna shook her head and stepped over to Jaid.

“It’ll be okay. He’ll be calmer when he wakes up,” Georgianna assured her.

Jaid glanced at Georgianna, a sadness in her eyes that showed she already knew how much damage had been done. There were no medicines they knew of to reverse completely the effects that being left out in the mid-heat sun could have on a person.

“I know,” Jaid whispered, putting down the bowl. Leaning down, she kissed her husband’s forehead, her lips lingering against his raw skin.

“But he’ll never be my Si again.”

 
11
A Twisting of Wills

 
Georgianna had been right to some extent. After waking up from the sedative, with his burns treated and having got some relief, Si was much calmer than he had been before. However, he was still muttering to himself when Beck came down to the Way to check on how things were going.

“You mind giving me a moment?” he asked, glancing around at the different faces in the small car.

They trooped from the car, all except Keiran moving a dozen steps or so away from the opening. Keiran stayed next to the metal shell, his expression twisted in curiosity. Jaid shifted her weight anxiously back and forth between her feet, and when the marshall appeared at the opening, she was the first to leap forward toward the car. She didn’t pause to speak to Beck as she pulled herself past him, vanishing inside.

“Anything?” Keiran asked.

Beck shook his head and jumped down.

“Nothing helpful,” he answered. “Maybe after a couple of days, once he’s settled, he’ll be more forthcoming.”

“So he stays here?”

Glancing into the car again, Beck nodded.

“I’ll station someone at the end of the Way. With the other end blocked, there won’t be anywhere for him to go.”

Georgianna clambered into the car whilst Beck ushered Keiran and Wrench a little further down the tunnel.

Si kept on muttering about Alec, asking where his friend was, and Georgianna could only continue with the lie, telling Si that Alec was out on orders from Beck, but he’d be back soon.

She felt awful about it. Si was her colleague’s husband, she didn’t want to lie to him any more than she would have her own friends. While she knew that it was better to tell the truth, the truth would only hurt him. Georgianna had asked Jaid about it, but she’d agreed: until Si was better, they wouldn’t tell him anything.

Georgianna had stitched the gash on Keiran’s arm before bandaging it again. It hadn’t been long before he and Wrench both had to get back on duty, leaving Jaid and Georgianna to watch over Si for the rest of the day. Georgianna knew she could have left, that Si would be more than safe in Jaid’s capable and loving hands, but she didn’t want to leave the woman alone, not when she knew there was a chance Jaid might need someone to talk to.

It was only when Lacie came down to the Way that Georgianna finally excused herself to head out. Lacie could keep Jaid company while the woman was unwilling to leave her husband, and Jaid would help Lacie if any emergencies came in.

Wandering through the Belsa territory, Georgianna made her way to the guard’s sight, coming up slowly to find Keiran sitting against the wall, his Tyllenich rifle resting across his lap. He glanced up, giving her a tired grin.

“How’s he doing?” he asked, shifting the rifle off to the side and patting the space next to him. Georgianna stepped over and pressed her back against the wall, sliding down to sit beside him.

“He’s…”

Georgianna sighed. Bringing her knees up towards her chest, she turned to look at him, resting her temple on her arms. Si had been agitated after the marshall had spoken to him, not to mention that Jaid had been rather indignant at being asked to leave.

“He’s still muttering, still thinks Alec will be down to see him any minute.”

“You didn’t tell him?”

“Couldn’t,” Georgianna explained. “The moment I even tried he got all freaked out, saying we’d sold him out. I had to change mid-sentence, telling him that Alec was on duty.”

“Didn’t know he even knew Cartwright,” Keiran admitted.

“All Kahle. Alec and my brother were good friends, back before all this.”

“Shit.”

Georgianna nodded.

Alec Cartwright had been another of those difficult disappearances. From what Georgianna knew, which was little, he’d been out on orders from Beck with another Belsa, Ashoke. The two of them had been scouting a building out and next thing anyone knew, Ashoke was dead and nobody saw Alec again. With a pass to get into the compound, Georgianna had kept an eye out for him, but with each trip, her heart sank and her guilt rose a little more. It looked more unlikely that any of them would see Alec Cartwright again. After a few weeks people stopped looking, his friends stopped expecting him to come back. Even his brother Landon gave up. Georgianna gave up on ever hearing his voice or seeing that look in his eyes when he believed she was being reckless. Alec Cartwright was dead. Now they just had to find a way to tell Si.

“Did you know him?”

Keiran’s tongue swept out, wetting his bottom lip before he shook his head.

“Not really,” he answered. “I mean, suns, it was two years ago. We may have had duties a couple times, but we weren’t friends or anything.”

Keiran was blunt, but Georgianna didn’t blame him: deaths were common, especially among the Belsa. If Keiran let every one of them get to him, he’d probably never pull himself out of bed. Better to care about the people he was actually close to, she supposed.

“Look, I’ve been thinking.”

Georgianna lifted her head and looked back at Keiran. He was staring at the wall opposite, his gaze occasionally flickering down the tunnel.

“What?”

He placed the rifle down next to him on the ground. Leaning forward, he rested his elbows against his knees, clasping his hands together.

“After Si and all,” he said slowly, “are you sure you should be taking that delivery?”

Georgianna stared past him down the tunnel, not sure what she was supposed to say. She’d agreed to take the packet into the compound for Taye and when she’d told Keiran, he hadn’t said it was a bad idea. If anything, he’d been amused that it had taken her so long to say yes, as if it was clear that this was the only option she would choose.

“I don’t…”

“Si was almost caught doing something, George,” Keiran interrupted. “He had to hide out for three days. If you get caught, you’ll already be in the compound. It’ll be a short trip.”

“I promised, Keiran.”

“I know, but he’d have to understand. Things change.”

“Not for him.”

Keiran let out a frustrated huff, wringing his hands tighter together. Georgianna was at a loss, she’d never seen Keiran worried, not about something personal. He had always been so carefree and charming, almost cocky even.

“It’s only small,” Georgianna assured him. “I can hide it under my clothes, it’ll be nothing.”

She let out a breath, leaning towards him. Resting her elbow on his shoulder, she gave him a bright smile.

“It’s adorable that you worry,” she murmured.

Keiran glanced at her and rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, tell me that when we’re sneaking stuff in to you.”

“Better make it alcohol when it’s me,” Georgianna teased. “This thing is tiny. No way there is actually more than a note inside telling Nyah that he loves her.”

Keiran’s eyes narrowed as he looked back at her. He sat up straight, and Georgianna’s arm slipped from his shoulder as he turned to face her a little better.

“Why don’t you just open it and memorise the note?”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not? It’d be safer.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, Georgianna frowned back at him. The Adveni couldn’t read minds, she didn’t think even they had a machine for that. Still, the idea of reading a personal message from Taye made her feel dirty.

“It’s not mine. I can’t open and read Taye’s private words to her. It wouldn’t be the same.”

“Seriously?”

Georgianna shook her head, her nose wrinkled in disgust.

“Fine,” she argued. “What if it’s dirty?”

Keiran’s grin slid easily across his lips. In a single moment, all the worry and argument had melted away, replaced with a dirty smirk and a suggestive glance.

“Well, then you bring it to me and I’ll read it,” he answered, waggling his eyebrows.

Georgianna reached out and smacked him. If he thought she was letting him read Taye’s dirty messages to Nyah, he was going to be sadly mistaken. At her attack, Keiran laughed, grasping her wrist before she could pull away.