Now, walking away from Theo’s office was like floating in a dream. My gaze drifted over the familiar surroundings of headquarters, suddenly colorless as I balked at what I’d agreed to. The museum we’d covertly transformed into our home base was a winding building. Rooms led into more rooms with seemingly no end. Half stairs would fade into oddly shaped alcoves with glass display cabinets, now empty except for the ever-present layer of dust. Sporadic ornamental fireplaces and dried-up fountains decorated several rooms that had been converted into sleeping quarters or training facilities.
On the ground floor, three French doors led to stone terraces, though the windows had been shuttered by metal. The back patio opened out onto extravagant sloping gardens, decorative ponds, and a gazebo with a single bench inside, all overgrown and rundown with time. Far behind that, a creek was crisscrossed by quaint wooden bridges.
An ode to what once was.
Tragic beauty.
In the current state of cruelty and unrest, the artistry seemed wasted.
Violence had darkened our lives even in the days when the gardens had still been manicured and neat, so much that by this point, I hardly thought twice about it.
I was thinking now.
I didn’t want to do this.
I didn’t want to be a plaything for a Hunter.
Hunters enjoyed violence the way normal humans basked in sunlight—it was an expected boon to life on earth. When President Haynes was found guilty of violating the Fourteenth Amendment two years into his term, I rejoiced. Surely this meant people would finally see the ruthlessness inherent in his administration.
But the next day, the judges were doused in gasoline and set on fire. Members of the NAO murdered them—unofficially, of course—and their loyalists celebrated.
His dissenters went quiet. Fear seeped into our bloodstream, an icy poison.
“It is a tragedy,”President Haynes said in a statement following the event.“Sad. Very sad. My thoughts are with the families of Judges Hannity, Armstrong, and Strauss. Even though I disagreed with their decisions, no one should face violence for doing their job. I have always said our legal system needs reform. These are the things that happen when you let illegal criminals into your country, when you forget the importance of loyalty and family, when you allow women and dissenters to serve in positions of power. We must restore law and order to make this country safe for all true Americans.”
The subsequent spree of brutality against judges and representatives who disagreed with the party went ignored and unchecked.
No one saved us from the violence.
Just like no one would save me from it now.
I passed a doorway to one of the downstairs common rooms, and Devon’s voice called out, “What did the general want?”
For two seconds, I considered ignoring him. Did I have the mental capacity to pretend everything was fine?
Instead, I entered the room and flopped onto the couch next to him. “Nothing important. Checking on me. You know how he is.”
Adam sat nearby, strumming his guitar, but he stopped, curious eyes meeting mine. Born with a level of trustworthiness that shouldn’t be allowed, Adam was often privy to information most didn’t have. Would he find out about this? Did he already know?
“Heard the Prime Delegate is here,” he said, referring to Williams.
“Yeah,” I replied. “Something happened with the Hunters, I guess. Theo wouldn’t talk.”
Adam raised a brow. “No surprises there. Hunters gonna hunt.”
Oh, the truth of that.
Toward the end of his term, when presidential elections drew closer and we had the slimmest chance of ousting him, Haynes enacted martial law and instituted the National Stability Act—a sweeping set of legal doctrines that dismantled the presidency and created an autocracy under a white flag boasting the symbol of the NAO, the Brotherhood Cross. With it, he also created a brand new branch of the military.
The National Stability Force.
The NSF was sold to the American people as a body to protect us. Really, it was the militarized police force of the NAO, intent on eradicating dissidents. We started calling themHuntersthe moment we realized they were authorized to shoot citizens deadin the streets. A protest near the Capitol turned into a bloodbath when Hunters gunned down hundreds of Americans merely for disagreeing with the NAO.
The verdant grass of the National Mall ran crimson, ornamented with the bodies of innocent men and women, people who only wanted to exercise their right to peaceful protest.
The Capitol Hill Massacre had been proof that the NSF didn’t exist to protect the people. It existed to protect the party.
A Hunter has come forward offering information.
