THE GREAT WAR ( aaron warner )

VI ━ The Preposition

I'm not sure I'm hearing him correctly.

"You two have something I want." Warner is still staring at me.

"I don't understand," Juliette tells him.

"We were both in solitary confinement in an asylum. We have nothing besides the clothes on our back. What could you possibly want?"

He takes a deep breath and stands up to pace the length of the room. Juliette's "cell mate" has not yet been dismissed. "You are kind of a pet project of mine." Warner smiles to himself. "I've studied your records for a very long time."

I can't handle his pompous, self-satisfied strut. I want to break the grin off his face.

Warner stops walking. "I want you two on my team."

"What?" Juliette lets out broken whisper of surprise.

"We're in the middle of a war," he says a little impatiently."Maybe you can put the pieces together."

"I don't-"

"Absolutely not-"

"I know your secrets. I know why you're in here. Your entire life is documented in hospital records, complaints to authorities, messy lawsuits, public demands to have you two locked up." His pause gives me enough time to choke on the horror caught in my throat. "I'd been considering it for a long time, but I wanted to make sure you two weren't actually psychotic. Isolation wasn't exactly a good indicator, though you did fend for yourself quite well." He offers me a smile that says I should be grateful for his praise. "I sent Adam and Zeidan to stay with you as a final precaution. I wanted to make sure you weren't volatile, that you were capable of basic human interaction and communication. I must say I'm quite pleased with the results."

Someone is ripping my skin off.

"Adam, it seems, played his part a little too excellently. He is a fine soldier. One of the best, in fact." He shifts his gaze from Juliette to me, "Zeidan became your companion, a friend even. Does it feel nice to be betrayed." Warner spares them a glance before smiling at the both of us. "But don't worry, they don't know what you're both capable of. Not yet, anyway."

I claw at the panic, I swallow the agony, I beg myself not to look in his direction. I refuse to give anyone the satisfaction of me breaking. My body is seething in anger but I most control it before I start seeing red.

I am a monster.

"I'm not as cruel as you think," Warner continues, a musical lilt in his voice. I have to hold back my eye roll. "If you're so fond of his company I can make this"-he gestures between Juliette and Adam-"a permanent assignment."

"No," Juliette breathes out.

He looks directly at me and gestures to Zeidan, "And you two"

"I would rather burn in Hell."

Warner curves his lips into a careless grin. "Oh yes, I know you would. But be careful, pretty girl. If you do something . . . bad . . . he'll have to shoot you."

My anger is like a ticking time bomb and I must stop the fuse before it blows. But the fire is getting dangerously close to the end. I still refuse to look at Zeidan.

I didn't expect his betrayal to bury me so deep.

I keep my hot glare trained on Warner.

"If you accept my offer," Warner interrupts my thoughts, "you will live like I do. You both will be one of us, and not one of them. Your life will change forever."

"And if we do not accept?" I ask, catching my voice before it cracks in fear.

Warner looks genuinely disappointed. His hands are clasped together in dismay. "You don't really have a choice. If you two stand by my side you will both be rewarded." He presses his lips together. "But if you choose to disobey? Well . . . I think you both look rather lovely with all your body parts intact, don't you?"

Juliette is breathing so hard that I can see her frame is shaking in my peripheral vision. "You want us to torture people for you?" She says in a shaky voice.

His face breaks into a brilliant smile. "That would be wonderful."

The world is bleeding.

I don't have time to form a response before he turns to Adam, then Zeidan. "Show them what they're missing, would you?"

Adam answers a beat too late. "Sir?"

"That is an order, soldiers." Warner's eyes are trained on me, his lips twitching with suppressed amusement. "I'd like to break this one. She's a little too feisty for her own good."

"You can't touch us," I spit through clenched teeth.

"Wrong," he singsongs. He tosses Adam and Zeidan a pair of black gloves. "You're going to need these," he says with a conspiratorial whisper.

"You're a monster." Juliette says with an even voice.

My body filled with a sudden rage. "Why don't you just kill us?"

"That, my dear, would be a waste." He steps forward and I realize his hands are carefully sheathed in white leather gloves. He tips my chin up with one finger. "Besides, it'd be a shame to lose such a pretty face."

"Don't touch her" Juliette says before a soldiers boot meets her spine in a harsh way.

I try to snap my neck away from him but the same steel- toed boot slams into my spine and Warner catches my face in his grip. I suppress a scream. "Don't struggle, love. You'll only make things more difficult for yourself."

"I hope you rot in hell."

Warner flexes his jaw. He holds up a hand to stop someone from shooting me, kicking me in the spleen, cracking my skull open, I have no idea.

"You're both fighters for the wrong team." He stands up straight. "But we can change that. Adam," he calls pointing at Juliette. "Don't let her out of your sight. She's your charge now."

"Yes, sir."

"Zeidan." Warner backs away from me, "Keep a special eye on her." He looks back at me with a mischievous look in his eye that makes me want to throw up the last thing I ate. "I expect great things from you."