Chapter Ten
Iwas frozen in fear, the deafening noise of the helicopter thrumming through my body. The men around me, still wearing their metal horse masks, sat silently along the perimeter of the vehicle. Shimmering faintly in the dim light, their white robes brushed the cool metal floor as we flew through the sky.
Did I really just get kidnapped byhumans?
My lip snarled behind the contraption affixed to my face. The cool metal of the helicopter rested on my fingertips as my arms were still handcuffed behind me. I was trembling, both from fear and the cold temperature, but I refused to let them see. My mind was reeling, a jumble of terror at the possibility of death and a torrent of unanswered questions. Surely my father had a valid reason to offer me to the rebels, right?
The light-haired man who surprised me in my penthouse stared at me through his mask, his eyes glinting from the controls at the head of the helicopter. He was slightly shorter than the other men, his blond hair pulled back tightly.
“Sir, we’re descending,” one of the men piloting the helicopter gruffly said in the front seat.
He nodded and crawled over to me with a metal contraption clenched around his fingers. “I’ll remind you,” his voice was stern, “cooperate and you will not be hurt.” With a sharp snap of his fingers, two men, one on each side, grabbed me and pinned me down. “Open your mouth.”
The rough fabric was pulled from my head, and I stubbornly refused to open my mouth. I wasn’t following their direction. Two strong hands, rough and calloused, wrapped around my jaw, forcing my lips apart. The man’s hands moved quickly, attaching the complex metal device to my mouth. The arms of the contraption extended and latched onto the hook toward the back of my neck.
They must not know I don’t have fangs. Idiots.
“This is for our protection,” he explained. “Is it too tight?”
Ignoring the question, I craned my neck, peering through a tiny, square window at the world outside. The ground was covered in a thick layer of untouched snow, snowflakes whipping past, obscuring my vision. A hole in the ground below opened inward. The black rectangle looked ominous as we headed straight for it. The helicopter shuddered to a halt, its descent slow and measured, reminding me intensely of the smooth, silent elevators in Elysium.
As we disappeared into the dark hole, bands of white lights sprang to life within the helicopter cabin, illuminating the metallic surfaces and our anxious faces. The man’s hand, resting on the cold, metallic handcuffs, signaled me to stand, and I flinched at the harsh, blinding brightness. I stirred, my knees cracking like twigs as I extended both legs with a grunt.
“Did he just growl at you?” A man in front of her laughed behind his mask. “Make sure the thing around its mouth is tight.” Lifting his black boot, the man exited the helicopter and twisted a silver-handled flashlight.
“Idiot,” a man behind me muttered as he pushed me forward.
Stepping from the helicopter, I was met with a dozen blinding circular orbs of light, each flashlight held by a robed figure, their beams intense. I squinted, unable to shield my eyes from the harsh glare despite struggling against my bonds. The lights swung wildly, and he gestured me toward a large metal cart, its wheels rusted and set on two ancient, groaning tracks.
“Get in.”
I nodded, taking a moment to try to see through the mask placed over the man’s face. A glint of unexpected kindness shone through the mask’s eyeholes, piercing me with their warmth. I inhaled deeply, the musty scent of damp earth filling my lungs before settling onto the frigid metal seat. The robed men joined me, and the cart rumbled to life. Two orange lights blinked on at the head of the vehicle, casting an eerie glow on the damp tunnel walls ahead. A loud, ear-splitting screech echoed from beneath the cart, making the wooden structure shudder violently before it lurched forward.
The only sound in the dark tunnel was the rhythmic click of the cart’s wheels on the tracks, the orange light ahead cutting through the inky blackness. Where were we? The jarring turns and bumps made the ride feel precarious. It felt unreal, like a movie set, but the bumpy road made me fear I’d be thrown from the vehicle at any moment. Peering through the inky black surrounding us, the beam of light cutting through the oppressive darkness, I almost expected something to jump in front of us, scaring me nearly to death.
But nothing did.
The cart came to a stop, a gentle bump that jolted me back to reality, and I realized I’d lost all sense of time. It felt like I’d been in the cart for hours, although my sense of time was skewed from the helicopter to where we were now. It could’ve been minutes, but it could’ve also been much longer. A dim, whitebulb sputtered to life, its weak light barely illuminating a cold, metallic ladder ascending into the darkness above.
The blond-haired man behind me pointed toward the heavens. “You three climb up and let us know if the coast is clear. I’ll need to free his hands to climb, but as soon as he gets to the top, I want him in handcuffs again.”
The white-robed men nodded, then scurried up the rusted metal ladder one by one, leaving me alone at the bottom. I shook my head, the murmur of their voices washing over me like a wave, as they spoke of me as if I weren’t there. A lesser human. A monster.
The man beside me seized my hands, his whispered breath hot against my ear. “I trust you not to try anything sneaky. We have men armed, and we’ll not hesitate to shoot you.”
I nodded, and with a click, the pressure of the handcuffs eased on my wrists. I tried to talk and ask where I was being taken, but the metal constraints made my words sound nothing more than a jumbled mess.
A slow shake of his head, followed by a finger to his masked lips, conveyed a clear message of silence. “You won’t be harmed as long as you cooperate.”
Hesitantly, I nodded. He sounded genuine, like I could trust him. But to what extent? He’d been true to his word thus far; I just needed to know where I was going before I made a move. With a deep breath, I placed my foot on the cool, metal bottom rung of the ladder and carefully climbed upward, following orders.
Reaching the summit, I was suddenly surrounded by a snowy tundra, the biting wind whipping around me. Pulling myself from the cold, damp darkness of the hole, my eyes burned from the sudden brightness of the blinding white landscape. Even though I may not be human, I do still get cold. It’s just not as much of a shock as it is to humans. Two handsfastened themselves under my arms, and the sudden pressure was alarming as they secured fresh metal restraints around my wrists.
A cold wind swept across the open ground as the remaining abductors crawled from the hole, quickly pulling their hoods low to protect themselves from the elements. “Let’s go,” one of them said, gesturing to me. “This quell will slow us down. Do you need a jacket?”
I shook my head. The cold pierced me to my core, but my body would soon acclimate. If we didn’t keep moving, my body would begin to use as much blood as needed to feed me until I ran out and started becoming an Exile. Plus, I didn’t want to ask them for any favors. I was strong, and I wanted them to know it.
The wind felt like a wall in my face as we traveled through the waist-high snow. Due to the quell, we were unable to see too far in front of us. The inky darkness reminded me of being in the cart, but wisps of white danced around us and continued to coat my eyelashes. The swirling snow obscured my surroundings, a biting wind whipping around me as the white-robed figures huddled closer, rubbing their arms for warmth. I thought I saw a flash of red catch my eye, but when I turned, it vanished. Paranoia was seeping into my body.
