Steven Santos - The Culling

I swipe at the cold sweat coating my face with my forearm just in time to see two of the sick grappling with Digory. If he weren’t ill, he’d be able to hold his own. But in his weakened state, they’re steadily gaining the upper hand. My eyes widen, now able to take in every terrifying detail.

One of them’s about to bite into the wrist holding Digory’s hypodermic packet.

“ Watch out! ” I lunge and shove the man away before he can sink his teeth into Digory’s flesh. The man falls to the ground and grabs my ankle, but I kick it away.

I spin around. Digory punches the second one in the jaw and he topples backward, sprawling down the stairs.

“ Th-thanks … ” Digory rasps, trying to smile.

But my relief’s short-lived. Half a dozen more of the infected drones are scrambling up the stairs, trampling the two on the ground in their effort to reach us.

Crunch!

One of our pursuers grinds a heel into the jaw of the man I just pushed, and shatters it.

“ Let’s go! ” I grab Digory’s arm and sling it over my shoulder, running on pure adrenaline now. It’s awkward going. I’m too weak, and he’s too heavy. But I manage to haul him up the stairs, dogged every step of the way by the unrelenting pack.

Just a few more steps to go and we’ll be at the top, and I can get the remedy to Cole.

Recruit Juniper. Your Incentive has received the antivirus. Proceed immediately through the next gateway to your final Trial.

There’s the woosh of a door sliding open just as Digory and I stagger over the last step. Digory leans against the tube marked Tycho Incentive Storage .

Aside from the three steel capsules, one of which is now blinking green, there’s an open door with nothing but darkness beyond. Ophelia must be halfway to the next Trial by now.

I rip out my second packet and am about to shove it into the receiving slot of Cole’s tube when Ophelia steps out from behind the capsule and tears it away from my hand.

My breath crystallizes in my lungs. “What the hell are you-?”

“Now you can get a taste of what it feels like to lose someone you love, Spark.” A smile rips across her face, from one of her ears to the other. She draws back the hand clutching Cole’s salvation.

I stumble forward on liquid legs, my hands flailing for the packet.

Her face twists into a snarl. She hurls the cure back down the stairs …

I drop to my knees, watching, stunned, as the packet twirls end over end, the vial of antivirus glinting in the light, moving farther and farther away from my brother, taking his life with it in the process.

It shatters against the far wall, exploding into a million gleaming shards, just as my entire universe implodes in on itself.

As my cheek slams into the cold floor, I see Ophelia’s boot withdrawing. Then she runs through the door and disappears.

I punch my fist into the base of Cole’s storage tube-his coffin -feeling as if my soul’s been ripped out, and I squeeze my eyes shut for what will probably be the last time.

Recruit Spark. Your Incentive has received the antivirus. Proceed immediately through the next gateway to your final Trial.

My eyes flutter open.

I bolt upright.

Arms lock around me from behind and drag me away from the looming infected bodies, toward the gateway that Ophelia disappeared through.

I manage to turn around.

It’s Digory. He looks paler than I’ve ever seen him. Trails of dried blood cake his nostrils. A grayish film coats his once brilliant blue eyes.

But he still smiles at me. “ Lucian … ” he croaks. “ You … gotta … go … now … ”

Behind him, Cole’s tube is blinking green, just like Maddie’s.

How is that possible? I saw Ophelia destroy Cole’s cure with my own eyes.

And that’s when it hits me. Digory sacrificed not only his husband’s life but his own, so that Cole might live.

I grip his forearms. “What about you ? What about your husband?” My eyes flit toward the tube still pulsing red.

He shakes his head. “F-forget … about … me … save … your … brother … ”

He collapses. I don’t have the strength to hold him up so I slide down with him.

Beyond us, the horde’s making its way onto the landing and lumbering toward us.

I seize Digory’s wrists. “ I’m not leaving you here! ”

I pull with every fiber of strength I have left, dragging him across the floor toward the doorway. One of the infected springs from the ground, gripping his ankle.

I pull Digory through the doorway and hit the button on the panel on the other side, praying it’s the locking mechanism.

For a split second, nothing happens.

The sickly woman opens her mouth right above Digory’s ankle …

Then the door wooshes closed again. There’s a sharp snap as it severs the infected woman’s hand and slams shut at last. The hand’s still gripping Digory’s foot, jetting out gobs of dark blood from the jagged end with each twitch.

Kneeling beside him, I pry it off and hurl it away from us. “It’s going to be okay now, Digory.”

His eyes are closed, his chest bobbing up and down with each raspy breath. I touch my palm to his forehead. It’s like touching fire.

Recruit Tycho, your actions have caused you to forfeit your participation. You must remain behind and await collection. Recruit Spark, continue now or face forfeiture as well.

I can see a light, down the sloping path Ophelia took.

What am I going to do? She’s going to reach Maddie before I reach Cole.

“Lucky,” a voice whispers in the dark behind me.

Even before I whirl to see the figure emerging from the shadows, I know who it is. That voice is branded into me forever.

Cassius.

I spring to my feet.

He’s the cause of all of this. All the pain, the suffering.

I’m so overwhelmed by rage, I’m paralyzed. I can only watch as Cassius slinks into the light. Behind him, I can see the outlines of two Imps holding weapons. Styles and Renquist. Of course the coward wouldn’t come to see me alone.

He looks at me with shock and pity, holding out his arms. “ Oh, Lucky … look at you … I … I never wanted things to be like this … ” He takes a step forward.

I shrink from his disgusting hands. “What do you want, Cassius, huh? Killing Mrs. Bledsoe wasn’t enough for you? You need to make sure you destroy everyone I care about?” My fingernails pierce my palms.

It doesn’t matter about the Imps protecting him. I’m going to kill him right now.

He shakes his head, dislodging tears from those hateful eyes. “You have to listen to me, Lucky. I feel terrible about what’s happened. I’ve come to set things right between us.”

A hollow laugh bursts from my lips. “Set things right ?”

His eyes pierce mine. “I can make sure you get Cole back.”

The words stop me cold. “What’re you talking about?”

He steps aside. A side door in the tunnel opens, letting in a stream of harsh artificial light that knifes through the dimness, causing me to squint against it. Beyond the door I can see a gangway leading to a Squawker.

“That’s my private transport,” Cassius says in hushed tones. “Right now, Recruit Juniper is traversing the sea to get to the final Trial. I can fly you instead. You’ll get there ahead of her and be reunited with Cole before she even arrives.”

His words are like hypnosis. I walk past him to the threshold, staring at the Squawker that could mean Cole’s salvation.