The Beyond: Dystopian Survival Fiction (The Breeder Files Book 4) by Eliza Green (most popular novels TXT) 📗

She touched his hand. He startled and blinked again.

‘It’s going to be okay,’ she said.

‘Is it?’

‘I hope so.’ His lips thinned at her reply. ‘What is it?’

‘I can’t help thinking about what you said about Arcis. I’m seeing the similarities now. I’m worried I’ve led us all into a trap.’

‘We can’t know for sure where we are,’ said Sheila. ‘But it has to be better than where we’ve just been.’

‘We were trapped in the city and the camp,’ said Jerome. ‘We would have died.’

‘And we needed to get Frahlia to safety,’ added June.

Dom nodded hesitantly.

‘I promised to keep everyone safe.’ He looked at each of them in his row. ‘Vanessa and Charlie wanted us to return to the camp and I said no. Maybe we should have left when we had the chance.’

Anya shifted closer to him. ‘They were wrong. They were making that decision based on the fact we hadn’t found the Beyond yet. I’m guessing they’re on the other side, trying to work out how to get the door open.’

Sheila nodded in agreement and turned to Dom. ‘I’m sorry for taking their side. I should have trusted you.’

‘Should you?’

Sheila glared at him. ‘Of course, Dom. It’s always been you and me. You’ve never been wrong.’

Dom sighed heavily. ‘There’s always a first time.’

Anya worried for him and the stress he was putting himself under. She took his hand, weaving her fingers between his. ‘We’re in this together. It’s a democracy and we all made the decision to cross.’

Dom nodded tightly. He squeezed her hand in response and released a soft breath.

She looked into his eyes. ‘Okay?’

‘Okay.’

Ω

An hour later, the lights were turned off. Anya had no idea what time it was; she assumed it must be late evening. Dom crashed out on the bed next to her, exhausted. The other rebel soldiers did the same. Nobody had slept properly since the attack outside their camp. It was natural that everyone would want to sleep.

Anya managed a quick nap. She woke some time later and rubbed her eyes. The dorm was quiet, almost zen-like. She looked around her, seeing only shadows and the outline of bodies in beds. She sat up, feeling somewhat rested, but her mind still refused to settle.

With everyone else sleeping, she got out of bed. Now was the perfect time to explore this base and find out why it felt familiar to her.

She hung a left outside the door and walked along a dimly lit corridor leading farther inside the base. The corridor carried on for a while before it opened into a new section that was more modern than the last. Gone were the bare, rock walls. In their place were rendered walls painted in bright colours. It looked almost homely. She looked inside one room. It had sofas and a large screen on one wall. In front of the screen was a couple of black, leather gaming chairs. A memory hit her of the fourth floor in Arcis, where the sexes had been separated. The boy’s dorm room had had a section just like this: bright and airy with a screen and an area for VR game play.

She backed out of the room and checked the other rooms in the vicinity. She found a well-stocked kitchen in one and an area with showers in another. Another memory hit her, this time of the third floor with the maze and three sections, one black with a gold door. It didn’t look exactly the same, but the place triggered enough bad feelings to unsettle her.

She crept through the section, discovering a door that said Authorised entry only. The door was open. Inside was a control room with a collection of black screens on one wall and a glossy, black console beneath it.

Worried someone might catch her, Anya hurried back the way she had come. But before she reached the door to the dorm, someone pulled her into a dark corridor.

What the—?’

A warm hand clamped over her mouth that smelled of lemons.

Sheila turned her around; she had one finger to her lips. Anya nodded and she released her.

‘What are you doing, Sheila?’ she whispered.

‘Same as you, checking this place out. I think we should do a little exploring.’

Sheila pulled her out of the corridor and dragged her back to the modern section. Anya wanted to explore more but not alone. When they heard a noise, Sheila pulled her inside the room with the sofas and the screen.

Anya peeked out to see Alex pass by the door.

She turned to tell Sheila it was only Alex, but Sheila pressed a finger to her lips. Anya tracked Alex again and saw him disappear down a corridor she hadn’t explored yet.

Sheila whispered, ‘We can’t trust anyone.’

‘Not even Alex?’

‘Especially not him or Jerome. We have no idea what was done to them in the city.’

Anya wanted to say she felt odd around Alex, that she thought his reaction to Frahlia was over the top.

Sheila glared at her. ‘What is it?’

‘I don’t know... don’t you think Alex is being too full on with Frahlia?’

Sheila folded her arms and raised a perfect brow. ‘Remember the eighth floor and the babies?’

Like it was yesterday.

Anya hadn’t known what to do or understood the others’ reaction to them. ‘Okay, I get your point. Are you saying I’m worrying over nothing?’

‘No, not nothing. But this place has me more worried than Alex’s obsession with Frahlia. When you went for your examination, what did they tell you about it?’

‘Other than what Agatha had told me and Dom in the office, nothing.’

Sheila uncrossed her arms. ‘Dom’s not trusting his gut. If Max were here, the pressure would be off and Dom would be all over this. But as leader, he’s worried