of blood and lies ; dystopian

13

Present

Karro's grip around my wrist loosened. My nails dug deeper into the top of his hand.

He continued to pull me down the hall, my tongue bleeding between my teeth. I did as he said, remaining quiet as we walked further and deeper through a valley of masked soldiers.

My body trusted Karro. I did not, but my body willingly followed behind him. I kept my eyes on the soldiers lining the walls on either side of us.

They wore white suits, with thick white bulletproof vests over their uniform. I noted how fresh and crisp their clothing appeared; like they had never been in the face of opposition. The uniform was similar to a fencing outfit, a black shield masking their face.

The uniform was not of The Blood, but it was the closest thing to them that I'd seen so far. They looked identical. Orderly. Unmoving.

The guns in their hands caught my attention next. Every soldier had a large machine gun propped on their shoulder. The gun did not move. The barrels were pointed in our direction, straight ahead, but none pulled the trigger as I had expected.

We continued to walk through the alley of gunfire. Hundreds of men, women, and beings, stared ahead as we walked through the hall. They did not move their head to follow us with their eyes. No, they did not even breathe.

They didn't look real.

None of this felt real.

I debated how long it would take to kill them all. I could do it. I may take a few bullets in the side before I got a vest on, but once I got hold of a gun I could do anything. I felt like a god with a machine gun in my hands. Even amongst a hundred false gods.

I fixed my gaze ahead. Karro did the same, his eyes forward and his jaw set. This seemed too casual for him.

Once we reached the end of the hall, a singular door awaited. It was tucked to our left, two soldiers on either side of the door. I looked around, searching for any other door or exit. I found none.

Karro shot a warning glare toward me. He slipped his hand away from mine and entered the room. I hesitated, looking from the left soldier, and then the right. I followed behind him when I realized there were fewer soldiers in the room, and more opportunity to find an escape.

Goosebumps rose on my skin. I crossed my arms over my stomach, clamping my warm palms over my now-freezing arms. In the center of the room was a metal table, and a flickering light swinging directly above it. Beside the table was a tray; it was filled with multiple medical tools. The scalpel was what I focused on.

Soldiers lined the walls of the room, as they had the hall, but not nearly as many. Twenty, maybe thirty, packed into the small room.

It would be difficult to take them all, but not impossible.

I'd need Karro.

I mimicked him, following his every step. When he looked up, I did. When he stared at the floor, I did.

I stopped when he sat on the edge of the metal table.

A woman who had been hidden behind the soldiers approached. I looked up at her, watching every movement. She was tense; however, I noticed a slight tint in her cheeks when she emerged from the soldiers. When she looked at Karro.

She grabbed a needle from the table, before standing in between Karro's legs.

"Good to see you again," Karro hummed, looking up at the nurse through his lashes.

My face twitched.

She flicked the needle with her fingers and aligned it to the prominent vein prodding from his neck. He didn't wince when she pushed it slowly into his neck.

I stared at the needle; something black was coming from it. A few dark drops slipped down his neck. He did not seem to mind.

"It's good to see you again," Karro continued. He hadn't looked away from her. I look at her belly, and where his hand had crept up. He gently fiddled with her shirt, before pulling his hand away.

Her fingers were on his neck, gentle circles tracing far from where she was working.

I moved my attention to a gun. At this point, I was going to call it a day and shove a needle into both of their eyes.

"You're hair looks good. You changed it." He reached for her hair, fiddling with a strand that had fallen from her tight bun. I wanted to throw up. On them.

I noted her hair and how it too was far from The Blood. They had only worn braids; however, her hair was in a bun. That was forbidden in The Blood.

"Thank you," she replied. She pulled her lip between her teeth, a light flush spreading across her pale face.

He leaned forward, whispering something into the nurse's ear. Her eyelids fluttered shut and she suppressed a smile.

I examined the scalpel. It was just out of reaching distance, sitting in the tray beside the door.

The nurse removed the needle and placed it far from us. She grabbed another one and gestured for me to come sit closer to her. Karro looked up at me, tilting his head toward the space beside him.

I crossed my arms tighter, looking down at him.

Fuck you, I wanted to say. Fuck you if you think I'm sitting on that table.

"Come," the nurse smiled, gesturing toward the seat Karro had left open for me.

I laughed and gritted my teeth together. "No."

"Naga," Karro warned. For the first time since entering the room, he looked away from her, and toward me. Something about it all made me sick. Angry. His eyes shifted, something communicating through our gaze.

Trust me, his eyes told me. Pleaded with me.

Fuck you, mine told him.

I sat down beside him, my muscles tense and my eyes hard. She approached me, new needle in hand. I burned a hole into the side of her face as she prepared the needed. She slipped it into my neck, as she had done Karro.

She did not caress my neck, though. No, that was just Karro.

I did not wince. I wouldn't give her the satisfaction.

I stared at her hair, the curls pulled into a tight bun. I wondered if Karro saw something in her, a sort of light, that I lacked. She looked happy. She looked like she would make him happy. She was beautiful, too. I believed I looked better.

"All done." She patted my tense arm, returning to where she disposed of the needles.

I'd been too angry to realize what she'd just put in me. She'd just pumped something black inside of me.

Karro stood from the table. Was that all?

I kept seated on the edge of the table. My nails dug into the metal. I scanned the room one last time, memorizing the room, the stances, and the tools.

They held their guns comfortably, despite the weight. They had to have been well-trained. Even if I somehow reached a gun and best, it would be too risky to take out this many soldiers.

Karro wrapped his fingers with mine. I looked down at it, letting my stomach flip once.

I jerked my hand away. "Don't fucking touch me," I seethed. I pushed him hard into the metal table beside the door. Tools and instruments went flying across the room; some slid under the large metal cabinet in the corner of the room. Not all.

I crouched down in between his legs. He was breathing heavily, looking at me from the floor. For a moment, I thought it was him who would rip my jugular out with his teeth.

I smiled close to his face and pushed myself back to my feet.

I stepped over the spread-out medical tools and I left him in the room.

I did not care that Karro had touched me. It was the sight of chaos, the distraction of it all, that mattered. It did feel good to push that fucker down, though.

I made my way down the hall, Karro close in my heels. Hidden beneath my tank top, the scalpel grazed against my stomach.