Defiant: Quantic Dreams Book 2 by Elizabeth McLaughlin (reading list txt) 📗

poison could make it into the food supply? Or the veins of a loved one.” He cast an appraising look down at his stolen body. “Though if it comes to that, I’d much prefer killing them myself. Don’t worry, I’ll take you last. That way you’ll know what it’s like to lose everything before you die.”

My jaw worked, adrenaline coursing through my veins. My instincts screamed at me to leap on him, to punch, and kick, and tear his throat out. The bastard had already threatened my family’s lives once before, and now he was using them as leverage to coerce me. It pained me to admit it, but there was nothing I could do. For now.

“Fuck you.” I spat.

Gabriel laughed. “Now where have I heard that before? It’s just as cute as it was then, Jacob. Now if you’ll be so kind-” My vision disappeared as a black cloth bag was shoved over my head. “My friends will return you to your quarters. Cause them any trouble and they’ll haul you right back to me so I can put this body’s capabilities to good use. You look like you already had someone take a swing at you once today.” He pressed a finger to the lower half of my face, still caked with flecks of blood from Frank’s head bashing against it. I resisted the urge to turn and bite him. “I’d be happy to make that look like a flea bite.”

I said nothing and walked from the room, frogmarched by Gabriel’s companions. When we reached the door to my quarters, they pressed me against the wall. I felt the cool kiss of a gun against the nape of my neck. Gabriel had obviously been up to more than I thought. Neither person spoke, but the message was clear enough. If I moved or took off the hood before their footsteps had faded away, they would shoot me. I nodded my understanding, and they took off.

I opened my door and sat on my bed, intending to retrieve my first aid kit to set my nose. Instead, it was as if a rock was lifted from my shoulders. Tears sprang to my eyes, and I didn’t try to hold them back as I sobbed. A keening wail broke free from my throat and I grabbed a pillow to muffle the noise. How stupid I was. Everything I had worked so hard to achieve was pointless. Yet again, the certainty that I had any control over my fate had fallen to a goddamned machine. It was too much. Too fucking pointless.

I don’t know for how long I cried. Silent screams of pain wracked my body as anger and sadness overtook me and I felt my jaw pop when the muscles couldn’t take the strain anymore. My bloodied nose made it even harder to breathe, and dry heaves eventually forced me to steady my breath. I grabbed a waste container and vomited up what little dinner remained in my stomach. It felt like being stabbed. I rolled my eyes before my body forced another agonizing gagging fit. I was getting a little too used to that feeling.

When it felt like the storm had finally passed, I reached for a towel and my hand mirror. My face was a mess. My nose sat crooked unnaturally. I would have to set it. Below the nose my face ran red with streaks of blood mixed with vomit. My eyes were set deep in their sockets, dark bruising underlining the fact that I hadn’t rested or slept in far too long. I used the towel to wipe the fetid liquid off my skin as carefully as I could. Once I was clean enough, I grasped the end of my swollen nose and counted to three. The feeling of the cartilage sliding back into place was unpleasant, but not terribly painful. I covered the area with medical tape and that was that. It wouldn’t heal completely straight, but having an attractive visage was hardly my top concern these days.

Exhaustion setting in, I double checked the locking mechanism on my door and left the rest for the morning. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Chapter Seven

My head was pounding. Without opening my eyes, I reached for the first aid kit and tried to feel around for a packet of painkiller gel until I realized that it wasn’t my head. Someone was bashing their fists against the door hard enough for me to feel the vibration from my bed. I exhaled and pushed myself up slowly.

“Wait a goddamned minute!” I shouted at my human alarm clock. My real clock displayed that it was half-past five in the morning. I blinked, hard. I had only gotten something like three hours’ sleep. Whoever was knocking on my door had better have a damned good reason for it.

“Jacob, come quick! There’s a problem with Athena!” I recognized the voice as one of the younger members of the expedition team. Some kid named Thomas, or something. I punched the door switch and leaned against the frame. Thomas reeled back at the sight of my injuries. “What…?”

“Come on, kid. I’ve had a rough night. What’s going on with Athena.” I knew perfectly damn well what was wrong, but I had to play my part well in this farce.

“Her camera’s stuck. It’s like she’s not moving at all. Just grass.”

I sighed. “Okay. Show me what’s going on.”

The exploration team was clustered around a terminal. From a distance, I could see the same view I had left last night. Athena’s camera lay on its side, the lens pointing blindly forward in the grass. Every couple of seconds I could see black specks flit across the camera. Flies. I guess that was proof that more than one form of life survived in the new world. I waited for one of the team to point out the obvious, but it seemed like they were all too stunned to speak.

“She must have died during