Reclamation (Book 3 The Ravening Series) (19 page)

As the blood left the Seeker, it began to dwindle from the size of a school bus to that of a midsize sedan. The tentacle retreated from the pipe on top of the canister and pulled back within the creature that had returned to its natural opalescent hue now that it was empty. The three silver canisters that had been filled moved forward on a long conveyer belt that aligned it behind four other full canisters set out on the platform.

"That's how we get on," Jessica whispered in my ear.

"In the containers?" Cory blurted.

"Yes. They'll keep filling them until morning when one of the smaller ships will arrive to pick them up," Jessica explained.

"How do we know they'll go to the main ship?" Steve inquired.

"All the blood supplies originally go to the main ship. It's decided where else they go from there," Jess explained.

"And we come back in those things?" Craig inquired.

"Yes."

"They don't notice the weight difference?" I asked.

She shook her head. "It's all robotic arms that lift them in and out of the ships. I don't think they put a weight system into effect because they never expected anyone to try and sneak on or off the ships in the containers. They would
never
expect anyone to disobey them."

"How did you know that before you went on there last time?" I demanded.

She shook her head. "I didn't."

"And you went anyway?" Betty inquired.

Jessica looked at the others before meeting my gaze. "I met Leo before this happened, before I even knew that The Freezing was going to occur for certain, before we graduated from high school. I knew that you and I were supposed to meet our freshman year in college, but I simply... I just couldn't," she whispered. "They had another station like this on an island off the coast of Maine. I only knew about it because the family I'd been placed with was Tintagelian too and I overheard them discussing the island. The island was set up as a test run for The Seekers and the ships, along with other places where I'm sure that the missing populace wouldn't be overly noticed.

"I went onto that ship with the hope of finding a way to end all of this before it even started. In the hopes that I could free myself from the destiny they had set out for us, and instead I discovered that The Freezing was going to occur before the summer ended. The Freezing wasn't the escape I'd been looking for, but it was a way for Leo and me to get away all the same. I took a chance going up there, I didn't know if I would be able to make it back to him, but I was going to lose him no matter what and I wasn't willing to do that without a fight. It may have been stupid and rash..."

"I understand," I interrupted as she continued to try and justify herself. I may not have boarded a ship, but I'd risked Bethany's life with my own stupid and rash decision. I could only hope The Ancients arrogance in believing that no one would dare cross them, or outsmart them, would be their ultimate downfall after this day.

I leaned back on my heels as I studied the containers. She was right, even for one of our kind I wasn't exactly thrilled at the prospect of using them to enter the ship. "We have to go now," Jessica urged. "The last time I was here there was only one hour between each one of those things arriving. I doubt it's happening as quickly now as they have to be running out of people, but I don't want to take the chance that it's not any different."

"Let's go then," I said as I slipped away from the tree.

We descended the hill rapidly and perched at the corner of where the fences joined. From here I could see the patrol making their rounds on the other side of the compound near another platform. Jessica broke out a set of wire cutters and began to snip at the metal wiring. The metal was cool beneath my hand as I helped to roll it out of the way for her. Pinning the makeshift gate back we moved quickly through the hole and kept to the shadows as we hurried toward the elevated platform.

Reaching the platform, I cupped my hands together before me and helped to boost Jessica up. She grabbed hold of the platform and lifted herself onto the landing. Craig helped push Betty up as Steve boosted Cory upward. I could hear the three of them moving around above us, but from this angle I couldn't see them up there. "Lowering one down," Jessica whispered.

Raising my hands above me I braced them to grab hold of the bottom of the canister. My knees bent beneath the weight of it but I brought it down and placed it on the ground beside me. Jessica disappeared briefly before reappearing with another one. I lifted it down as she jumped off the platform with Cory and Betty at her side.

I didn't know how much time had passed but I could hear the steady click of the clock winding down as I lifted one of the canisters onto my shoulder and scrambled back through the fence and up the hill with it. Jessica and I, faster than the others, made it to the top of the hill first.

"This should be good," she panted.

Grabbing hold of the edge of the canister, I yanked the top free. The blood was the color of coal in the dim moonlight but the scent of it assailed me. Inhaling deeply, I had to fight the urge to dip my hand in and savor in the warm life pooled within. I forced my head up and wasn't surprised to see the darkness that resided within us, and that was ruled by our hunger and rage, creeping across Steve and Cory's faces. There was no name for it, it was simply who we were, who we had always been, and what resided within us, but I believed it was what had caused the humans to come up with the legends of demons.

Though their desire was evident, Steve and Cory tipped the canisters onto their sides and poured the blood onto the forest floor. I placed the canister upright again and gathered leaves and pine needles to cover the massive puddles seeping into the earth. I knew there was no way to cover it all but I was hoping that between what we did now, the location, and the trees they wouldn't be able to spot the blood from above.

"Leo helped you do this the first time," I said to Jessica as we started back to the platform with our much lighter stowaway containers. Her head tilted as she studied me. "This isn't a one person job," I answered her unspoken question.

She took a deep breath and shook her head. "No, I never told Leo I was going to do this until after I was back."

"Who helped you then?"

"Rosemary."

She turned to face me when I stopped walking. "How long have you known Rosemary?"

"She was a teacher at my high school; I think she had been placed there with the sole purpose of watching over me." I didn't doubt it. The Tintagelian that had watched and reported on me was the adoption agent that had originally placed me with the Marshall's and moved me about over the years. He had also been the one to decide that the Marshall's had to go.

"Rosemary saw the difference in me after I met Leo; she knew what was happening to me even when I didn't. I don't know what I would have done without her there to guide me; I don't know how you or any of the others managed to navigate those waters alone. It must have been horrible."

It had been but I wasn't about to admit that. "She let you go alone?"

Jessica flashed a wild grin. "She didn't have a choice. Our breeding has ensured that we are the stronger ones after all. I don't pull that card often but in this case it helped me to get my way."

I couldn't help but smile back at her as I nodded. "I understand."

It only took a few minutes for all of us to help each other onto the platform. We were just beginning to get organized when I began to feel the solid thump of one of the larger Seeker's approaching the station again. Placing the empty canister down I lifted my head to see if I could locate it. The solid wall behind the platform made it impossible to see what was coming our way though.

"It's too soon," Jessica whispered.

Betty bent over the canister still situated in the middle of the wall between where the full ones slid through and where the empty ones remained. She stood immobile for a full minute before turning back to us. "There's one coming!"

I jumped forward to help shove the empty canisters back into the places we had removed them from. "We have to go," Steve, who had taken over Betty's position, declared.

Grabbing hold of Jessica's elbow, I pulled her toward the edge of the platform as the others leapt off. I landed smoothly on the ground and took a swift step back so that we were underneath the edge of the platform. The wall behind us should keep us blocked from the Seeker but even still I bent low as I crept toward the edge of the platform and rested my hand upon the ground. Drawing within myself, like I had taught Bethany to do, I searched the world outside of myself. My ears became more attuned to the subtle sounds of the earthworms moving through the dirt, the mice within the forest, but I mainly focused upon the creature less than twenty feet away from us.

I could hear the pulse of blood exiting the creature as it filled the next canister in line. The sounds of it withdrawing from the canister reached me as the line of containers was shoved forward. Another click indicated that another full canister was moving forward but from the less forceful pumps of the Seeker I realized that the creature was starting to empty out. Jessica knelt by my side as another canister slid into place. More blood rushed out, but the next container wasn't completely filled as it didn't slide forward.

Dull thuds resonated as the creature retreated from the platform. "We might as well take our clothes off now," Jessica suggested in a low voice when the ground stopped trembling from the Seeker's retreating weight.

I glanced at her and then back at the others. "Why do we need to take our clothes off?" Betty inquired.

"The minute we climb into those canisters we're going to be coated with blood. We can't walk around the ship like that."

I nodded as I pulled the folded up plastic bag from my back pocket and began to hastily unbutton my shirt. I didn't look at the others as I carefully folded the shirt and wrapped it within my other clothes to keep the explosives as protected as possible. I barely noticed their naked bodies as I pushed my sneakers and socks inside and knotted the bag.

Their eyes didn't flicker away from mine when I looked at them again, I didn't try to shield myself from them nor did they attempt to cover themselves either. I assumed the sight of my naked flesh had the same affect on them as theirs did on me, nothing. I didn't feel curiosity, didn't feel a stirring of lust or attraction or even a morsel of embarrassment at being naked before them.

The air was cool against my skin as we stepped back out from under the platform but I barely felt it as we maneuvered ourselves back onto the platform. I made sure the others were in containers before settling into one with the bag on my lap. I met Jessica's gaze across the platform before I pulled the lid into place and tugged it down until I heard the click of the locks sliding into place. The blood still lining the container was warm against my flesh but I fought the impulse to taste it as I impatiently waited for the smaller ship to come and pick us up.

The ride was far less jostling than I'd expected it to be, a fact I was extremely grateful for with Lloyd's makeshift bombs in my lap. I wasn't sure how much time had elapsed though before the container was finally settled into position somewhere aboard what I assumed was the main ship. I remained where I was, curled up amongst the blood and over my bag of clothes. I was about to lift the top off the container when a small tap on the side sounded near my ear.

Dim illumination flooded in as I pushed the top off with a soft pop of air. I inhaled the fresh air as I rose to my feet and stretched out my cramped legs. Grabbing my bag of clothes I climbed from the container. The others were streaked with blood that smudged their cheeks and foreheads, and coated their backsides. I knew I wasn't much better though as I could feel it sticking and cracking against me with every step I took.

As I worked the cramps out my legs I got my first good look at the ship I'd spent the first two years of my life on. I didn't remember those days, but then I had no aspiration to either. Especially not as I looked around the football field sized room that contained canisters for as far as I could see. I'd never imagined anything like this could exist and though I'd never been ashamed of what I was before, I was suddenly disgusted by the more twisted ones amongst us that thrived on such atrocities.

"Oh," Betty breathed and lifted her hand to her mouth. She winced and instantly jerked her hand away to reveal the blood print it had left on her mouth. "This is awful."

I met her stricken gaze. "If we're successful it will end today."

Tears briefly swam in her eyes before she nodded. "Art will never know this atrocity, he'll never experience this. I don't care what I have to do to make sure of that."

I knew exactly how she felt as I began to move through the endless rows of blood and human life that cluttered the room. It wasn't until we were halfway through the room that I realized it was even more massive than I'd originally thought. At least three football fields could fit within this part of the ship, and at least two of them were full of containers. The other one was stacked full of people that remained frozen within their bodies.

I stopped walking, and so did the others, as we spotted the humans packed like sardines into the other third of the ship. "What is this room?" I asked Jessica.

"It's the lower level of the ship. There were only a few canisters the last time I was here, I wasn't... I didn't expect this," she choked out.

Though the room appeared cavernous and never ending, our voices didn't echo amongst the nearly black walls that had an almost reflective quality to them. I tilted my head back to take in the recessed lights burning down from the ceiling.
It's like some kind of crazy ass greenhouse except they aren't growing plants, they're cultivating humans,
I realized.

I half expected twigs and vines, or perhaps even a flower, to be sprouting out of the human's heads but they remained immobile and completely human in appearance. "Let's get out of here," Betty whispered.

"There's a shower station at the other end," Jessica said.

"Why..." Craig's question faded away as he took in the people. "They
bathe
them when they bring them up?"

"They're unclean," Cory said in a hushed voice.

"Thank you Jodie," Craig muttered the name of the human woman that had stood by his side all week. The woman that had given him a new perspective on human life, and his own.

I couldn't help but share the sentiment. It was difficult to imagine that at one point I would have stood within this room and felt nothing but excitement at the spectacle spread out before me. I'd always been glad that Bethany had appeared in my life, but now I was so unbelievably thankful for it that I could barely breathe.

She'd saved me from a lifetime of nothing. She'd given me a gift and even if my life ended today, that gift made it completely worthwhile.

"This way," Jessica said.

She led the way through the barrels to the human side of the ship. The thought of touching them made my skin crawl but they were impossible to avoid as we wound through the thousands upon thousands of bodies crammed within the room. I was repulsed by the feel of them and though I knew they were unaware of us, I could almost hear their voiceless pleas to be free of their arctic state.

Relief filled me, and I was finally able to inhale deeply again, when we finally found the end of the people. Jessica moved to the right and a doorway that almost blended in with the rest of the room. The only distinguishing difference between the door and the wall was the simple gold square in the center of the door. Jessica slipped her index and middle finger into the center and pulled the rectangle handle up.

The door slid silently to the side to reveal a dull gray shower room within. There were ten nozzles lining the walls but only one drain. "Won't they hear the water?" Steve asked.

"They didn't last time and honestly it doesn't matter, we can't go out there with blood all over us," Jessica answered.

"We can't leave a wet trail everywhere we go either," Betty said.

"We have to stay in here for a bit after," Jessica informed her. "It sucks, but it doesn't take as much time as you would think to dry off in that main room."

The last thing I wanted was to sit around here with the greenhouse humans for any longer than we had to, but I wasn't willing to do anything to jeopardize our secrecy upon this ship. Stepping into the room, I twisted the knob at the end until a clear stream shot out. The spray was room temperature and unlike earth water there was the subtle taste of fruit and an almost coppery blood tang to it. The taste brought back memories of my infancy and a memory of being bathed in the sweet water tickled at the edges of my mind. I recalled the name of the fruit that had given the water this taste, the olinade. It grew within the water and added its flavor to the supply that was recycled throughout the ship.

My head bowed as the water rushed over me and I tried to shut out the memory. I didn't want to remember anything about this place, it wasn't a part of me but even as I thought that I knew that it was. This place was as much a part of me as Bethany was. It was engrained into the fabric of my being; I had been conceived on this ship and kept alive here for the first two years of my life. This was my beginning and I was willing to destroy my beginning to ensure
her
future.

I wondered what she was doing now, how she was. Yesterday had been amazing, the only day we'd ever gotten to share with just the two of us; I would have given anything for just one more of those days. I closed my eyes as the water poured over me and I rested my hands against the wall before me. I could almost taste her again, so much sweeter than the water.

My fingers curled into fists as I tilted my head back so that the water was hitting me full in the face. The needlelike spray helped to turn my thoughts off of Bethany and back to where it belonged, on the mission now facing us. The water swirling down the drain became entirely red before it began to finally run clear.

I tried to ignore the thousands upon thousands of frozen humans surrounding us as I stepped from the shower room. My foot tapped and my gaze ran constantly around the room as I waited for the water to stop dripping from my hair and body onto the floor. The heat of the room was helping the drying process but it was nowhere near fast enough as far as I was concerned.

My hair was still damp but the rest of me was dry when I bent down and began to pull the clothes from my bag. The girl's hair was still wet but I didn't have the patience to wait for that right now. I shrugged the shirt back on and slid the buttons into place. "Everyone ready?" Jessica asked as she stepped in front of the door next to the shower room.

"What if someone is out there?" Betty asked.

"We take them out," Jessica answered. "If we can," she added in a muttered aside I was certain only I heard.

I shifted back on my heels as I braced myself for what was on the other side of that door. If anything was out there I was going to destroy it. The door slid back as soundlessly as the shower door had. I spotted the male on the other side of it before it was even completely open. His hand went to the weapon at his side but his posture relaxed when he recognized his own kind emerging.

It was that relaxation that was his downfall as I leapt forward, grabbed hold of his head and snapped his neck before he could put up any kind of a defense. From the corner of my eye I saw Jessica and Steve rushing to take down the other Tintagelian that had been in the hall. Jessica dodged the shards of ice that noiselessly burst from his weapon in a blue cloud, but Cory wasn't as fast.

Lifted off his feet, Cory was thrown back a good ten feet by the impact of the shards. I ducked his body as it soared over my head and crashed into the wall behind me. I didn't have to look; I knew he was dead before his body hit the wall. No one survived a direct hit from a frost gun. Jessica slammed the guard's arm down with her fist before he could fire off another round and drove her fist into his nose. She twisted the man's hands around, pressed the gun against his chest and pulled the trigger.

The force of it was hard enough to thrust the guard back, but Jessica had kept hold of his hands and jerked him down before he could hit the wall. His body slumped to the floor when she released him. I stayed low as I studied the hall and waited for more of them to emerge, but it remained still and I sensed no one else out there.

When I was certain it was safe, I lifted Cory's prone body over my shoulder and placed him back into the storage room we had just exited. It may not be possible, but if we were able to escape this place I was going to make sure he made it back to earth where the human he loved, Blanche, could have some sort of goodbye.

Craig and Steve dropped the bodies of the Tintagelians unceremoniously into the room and closed the door. I knew it wouldn't be long before someone came to look for them or to relieve them. "Why are there guards posted?" Steve asked.

"I don't know," Jessica said. "No one was here last time but there was nowhere near as much blood and no humans inside before."

"We don't have much time, let's go," I said crisply and hurried to the door at the end of the hall. I pulled the small rectangle handle down to open the door.

I frowned as I stared at the ground before me and then at the wall across from me. "What the...."

"You have to step forward," Jessica said. "I was stuck here for a good ten minutes before I figured that out. It's going to take you for a ride and a pretty amazing one, but it will be fine. Or at least it was last time. Just stay on the same pathway."

Those weren't the most comforting words after the events that had just transpired, but I didn't see any other choice as I studied the polished white floor before me. Taking a step forward I watched in amazement as a step molded itself out of the floor and around my feet before me. It was like an escalator but unlike an escalator it was only one stair that rose up a good ten feet before it began to slide forward.

There wasn't anything holding me to the step but I felt secure on the single two by two piece I was standing upon. I could hear the faint clicking of the mechanics running the "escalator" and as it began to move forward I could clearly see the gold encrusted rail running beneath it that drove it onward.

The walls around me gave way and when I looked back I could see Betty on a stair behind me. I kept my face impassive as I began to move into a wide open room. Other Tintagelians began to appear on steps above and below me as they slid across the cavernous room. There were a few Tintagelians that were moving parallel and even perpendicular to me. The rails running the system were so faintly hued that it almost appeared as if some of the steps were floating through the air.

Massive white crystals reflected the light filling the room as they flipped through pictures of a planet that none of us had ever seen, and that had ceased to exist centuries ago. Even so I found the rolling hills and shimmering water displayed within those crystals captivating as they played through the stones like a movie of a time long forgotten.

Despite my best intentions I found myself more than a little amazed by the world surrounding me. I didn't understand how a species that could create such wonder could commit such atrocious acts. Even as this thought was crossing my mind the stairs began to move over what I assumed was the center gathering area within the massive room.

Royal purple vines twisted over railings that marked what appeared to be a large dining area beneath us. Large sage and orange flowers bloomed from the vines and I dimly recalled that they were the flower of the Tintagelians, the lalitus. Through the center of the massive room ran the clear blue river that provided water to the entire ship. Drifting along the top of the water were dozens of the large red olinade fruits. Looking at them now I recalled that biting into them brought a surge of juice into the mouth. Juice that had a coppery tang to it, much like the blood that pulsed through the prey we all sought in one form or another. It was the only fruit my species ate, perhaps the
only
other thing, besides blood and souls that they consumed while aboard the ships.

This part of the ship didn't have black walls like the holding area; they were a blue so clear that it made me think of the pictures I'd seen of the Caribbean Sea. It almost seemed as if I could dive right into those walls. The ceiling was ablaze in a yellowish orange glow that reminded me of the sun and as I turned in the other direction I spotted the receding night. It took me a moment to realize that from within the ship the top of it was a massive dome that revealed the open sky, instead of an impenetrable wall like we saw of the ship from the ground.