Chapter 7: Broken Connections and Old Friends

Peter’s eyes flickered open. The first thing he saw was Sparrow leaning over him, hand on his forehead, feeling for a fever. They were camped out in an old warehouse, broken machinery and shattered glass surrounded them. A fire burned in a metal barrel a few feet away.

“Oh, you’re awake,” she removed her hand and helped him sit up.

Groaning, he clutched his stomach. “What in the world happened?”

“You, being the stupid, narrow-minded fool that you are, thought it’d be a good idea to—I don’t know exactly what, but you tried to knock him out, I think. You were a bit slow and he turned around and stabbed you in the gut.”

When she stopped abruptly he said, “And then what?”

“I don’t know,” she said quietly. She removed her hand from his back, taking away the support.

“I saw what you did to that person,” he said quickly before she could leave. He grabbed her arm, keeping her from getting out of the question. “You were beating the life out of him. But you knew what you were doing, Sparrow, like—you’d beat someone up like that many times before.”

She refused to meet his eye.

“Have you?” he pressed.

“Peter, we all have secrets and we all have things in our past that we want to forget and you asking these questions is not helping me,” she finally met his eyes. “If I want you to know, I’ll tell you.”

He let go of her and she stood up.

“I truly am sorry for not telling you. Maybe one day I’ll tell you but right now it’s still too painful,” she walked away.

Raven leaned over and handed Peter a heated aluminum can that tasted like ginger.

“Thanks,” he said as he took it.

“No problem,” she settled down next to him. “The three of us have had a bad past and for some of us it’s a lot harder to handle.”

“What can you tell me?” he asked. “Not that you have to tell me, but I would like to know.”

She glanced over at the others. “Sparrow’s seen some things that some of the toughest people in the world wouldn’t be able to unsee and she’s done things that I don’t think she’ll ever forget.”

Peter nodded.

“Get some rest,” she stood up, patting his shoulder on the way and walked back to the group.

He stared down at the metal can. What could be so bad that they couldn’t tell him? As he thought about it, he noticed something different. It sounded like everything was louder—something was missing.

The heartbeat. He could have sworn his heart stopped for a second. Something happened to Eve.

******

The elevator doors opened but Eve didn’t walk out. She was doubled over on the floor, arms wrapped around her stomach. There was a stabbing pain, and, for a moment, she thought she had been stabbed.

She screamed into clenched teeth, her insides turning. She was positive she was bleeding but when she pulled her hand back, there was nothing. Tears streamed down her face.

The elevator, having decided that its doors had been open for too long, shut, leaving her alone. Anybody walking past the elevator could see her writhing on the floor.

Her stomach went numb with pain. She was still crying, hands clutching her abdomen. Eve caught a glimpse of someone walking by but didn’t think about it. The pain may have subsided, but it was still there. The elevator doors reopened and when she looked up, she was looking at Kade.

“What’s wrong,” he knelt down and pulled her arms from her stomach. Lifting up her shirt, he ran a cold finger over her aching stomach. The moment he removed his hand, she went back to a rolled-up ball. “There’s nothing here.”

She couldn’t answer. Her jaw was clenched so tight she thought she was going to break it.

Kade looked at her face, taking in the tears and the occasional groan that would come from her.

“Do you have a mental connection with anybody?” he asked quickly as if the words burned his mouth.

She nodded.

“Who?” he asked urgently. He pulled her hands away again, searching for any mark for a clue or a hint of what was going on.

“Peter,” she managed. The words hurt to say. Her head hurt, her vision was going in and out, and she was having trouble breathing.

“I think you have a bit of a physical connection too which is rare, but....” he leaned over, slipped a hand under her neck and one under her knees, and picked her up like she was nothing but a pile of blankets.

“Considering how strong Dee was mentally, I’d say she probably established it by accident.”

Eve didn’t want to be carried but she had no other choice. The pain was now racing through her whole body, from her head to the very tips of her toes.

“I have a solution to this problem,” he said slowly. “I think.”

“You think?” she snapped, instantly regretting it. The pain in her head doubled as she opened her mouth.

“I have to say this and then I’ll shut up,” he assured her. “You really are a mean person. I mean, look at you! Snapping at me when I’m trying to help you.”

“Why are you even here? Isn’t there an apocalypse happening or something?” she said this softer, and slower. Eve didn’t know if he knew about Asywnn’s plans or not.

“It’s a fake one seeing the real disease hasn’t actually been released.” he shrugged. So he did know. He nodded at a door. “This is you, right?”

She nodded.

He opened the door to her room and walked over to the bed, laying her down gently.

“I need you to relax for this,” he slid his arm out from under her and straightened up. “You have a connection, a physical one, with Peter. By the way you’re acting, I’m gonna say he’s gotten stabbed or something along those lines. For you to not be affected by this, I’m going to block the connection.” he began talking slowly and soothingly. “It’s going to hurt a little bit up here.” he tapped his head. “But at least you won’t feel like you’re getting gutted, ya know?”

Peter’s hurt. Thinking hurt her head more but she had too. If Peter’s hurt, he might be dying right now!

“Stop worrying about Peter,” Kade instructed, getting down onto his knees so he was level with her bed. He touched the middle of her forehead, closed his eyes, and concentrated.

The moment his finger came in contact with her, a shocking sensation raged through her brain. She screamed, she couldn’t help it. The pain was searing. It felt like her whole being was getting ripped in half. Her body spasmed and then was still. Her vision went black and her eyes rolled back. Her breathing slowed down.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

He removed his hand and stood up. Turning away he walked to the opposite wall. All the names drew his attention to it. He lifted his hand to feel it but stopped. He didn’t need to feel the wall to feel the emotion. His trained brain picked up on the emotions that were let loose in the exact same spot as he stood.

Anger. He could feel the heat of it. It was like he was standing in the middle of a raging forest fire.

Love. It was a cushiony pink that made him feel like he was floating.

Confusion. A solid gray block that barred all other emotions from surfacing.

He took a step back, his heart racing. He’d felt all of those emotions before and all at one time also, just like Eve. He turned to look at her. Her chest rose and fell with each peaceful breath she took.

He smiled, remembering all the mood swings that he’d seen her go through and he finally understood why. She and Peter were connected on a low physical level along with a high mental level. Whatever emotions he felt would be mixed with the ones she was feeling at the moment and vice versa.

“Maybe that’s why you’re always up so tight,” he said with a laugh. “Or maybe you’re just naturally like that.”

He sat down with his back to the door, one knee brought up to his chest and the other stretched out in front of him. He stayed there for close to thirty minutes, eyes closed, and head back against the cold metal.

A groan came from the bed and he opened his eyes slowly. Standing up, he walked quietly to the side of the bed and squatted down.

“How’s your head?” he asked in a low voice.

Before he could say anything or hear a response to his question, she was holding an ice-cold blade to his throat.

“What did you do to me?” she growled.

I knew she’d do this. He thought to himself.

She angled the knife upward, the sharp edge cutting into his throat a little. “Answer me. Now.”

“Relax on the bed, don’t exert your mind,” he commanded. He touched the tip of the blade and used his mental strength to make it vanish. He put a hand on her shoulder and guided her back down to the bed.

“Your connection with Peter had evolved into something more, a minor physical connection. For example, if he gets stabbed, which I’m pretty sure he did, you will feel it. How that works, I do not know but that doesn’t matter because you don’t have it anymore.”

“What do you mean?” she gritted her teeth as a dull throbbing began in her head.

“I had to block it for a while until Peter has the chance to heal,” he explained. “You can say thank you.”

“Thank you,” Eve said. She knew what he was implying. If he hadn’t of found her in the elevator and blocked the connection, she’d probably still be there, basically dying on the floor.

“You’re welcome,” he smiled, standing up. She sat up slowly and stood up with help.

“I have to talk to Aswynn,” she said, heading for the door slowly.

“The body aches will wear off in a few minutes, but you will have the headache for a day or two,” he told her.

He matched his pace with hers. She bit her tongue, trying not to limp as pain shot up her legs with every shot. The bright lights hurt her eyes which in turn caused her head to hurt anymore.

“Let’s get you some Motrin,” he advised.

He led her past Aswynn’s office and into a little room that was barely visible when walking by. He tried the handle of a metal cabinet that had a sticker on it saying that no one was supposed to access it without help from the certified nurse.

“How are we supposed to get in there?” she asked, leaning back, arms folded across her

chest.

“I don’t need a certified nurse to get this open. Besides, I know her from way back,” he turned around in a slow circle, surveying the area around them.

“Tight space, medicine cabinet, bunch of old books, two people, a door, no window, a needed key,” he muttered everything under his breath as he turned. He stopped, facing the door. Next to it, mounted on the wall, was a brown cabinet. He pulled it open and looked inside. “Maple really loved chocolate. She was also really absent minded.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” she asked, confused.

“Well think about it,” he leaned back on the wall. “If you couldn’t remember where you put your keys you’d start looking around. You’d look in the cabinets, drawers, everywhere and while you did such things, you’d find a zip bag of wrapped chocolate.” he picked the bag up carefully. “Now you’ve already looked everywhere imaginable so you, or at least Maple, would decide to have a bit of a snack.” He shook the bag and it made a jingling sound—keys. “And then she’d fined them and—Walla! She’d get into the cabinet.”

“How do you know so much about this Maple person?” she questioned.

He laughed as he pulled the keys out and tossed the bag back into cabinet. “I know nothing about anyone named Maple. I’m an Elite Predictor, Eve.”

A smile crept onto her face. “You had me.”

“I know.” He unlocked the cabinet and grabbed the Motrin bottle. “If you ever need any more of it, you’ll know where the keys will be.”

He replaced the keys in the bag and handed two pills to Eve. “This should take care of the headache for a bit.”

“Thanks,” she swallowed them dry and looked at him. She studied him for a minute and then asked what was on her mind. “Why are you helping me? You could be doing anything else right now, but you carried me out of the elevator, stopped the pain, got me Motrin, and made me smile in the process.”

“Because I’m a kind person,” he looked away. “I’m not entirely heartless ya know.”

She reached behind her and opened the door, stepping out into the hallway. Kade followed, shutting the door firmly behind him.

“So, why do you want to talk to the Wicked Witch of the West?” he asked, following her down the hallway.

“To see when the rest of the Converts get here,” she answered.

“Converts?” he asked.

“They’re gonna be like us only their parent’s will have to pay thousands for it,” she said. She stopped when Aswynn’s office came into view, two guards flanking both sides of the door. “How long will you be here?”

“Eh, I don’t know,” he shrugged. “As long as necessary.”

“Well, I have to talk to her. Thanks again for the help,” she said.

“Yeah, no problem,” he answered. Eve turned and headed towards the office. The guards didn’t stop her, and she opened the door without knocking.

“Hello, Eve,” she said, looking up from a form. “What do you need?”

“We already have one Convert, when will the others be here?” she settled down into her usual chair.

“The Elimination Rounds begin tomorrow,” she started. “We will pick up all the candidates and they’ll be here for three days. Day one we’ll be testing physical endurance; Day two will be testing their survival skills in simulations; On day three we will have the last test. Emotions, mental stability, and results. That night we’ll have the Result Banquet where some will go home, and some will stay.”

“Elimination Rounds?” she questioned. “I thought you only wanted the money and power!”

“As much as I love those things, the few survivors have to be able to do just that—survive,” she explained.

“So you do have a little bit of common sense in you,” Eve muttered as she stood up, pushing the chair back. She headed for the door but stopped and turned back around.

“You mentioned simulations.”

“Advanced VR to test and train their abilities,” she nodded.

Makes sense. She thought. She left the room without another word.

She met Kade outside the door who was leaning up against the wall staring into space.

“That went fast,” he noted.

She nodded. “You don’t want to talk to the Devil for too long, ya know, ’cause then you start to act like the Devil.”

He laughed.

They roamed the halls absentmindedly, not talking a lot. Eve felt something vibrate in her back pocket and pulled out the black square. She turned it over in her hand until she saw the glowing purple writing.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Dinner time,” she waved it in the air and then returned it to her pocket. “I’m hungry, how ‘bout you?’

“I’m down,” he answered.