Page 79 of Us Dark Few

Wyatt’s body splayed like a broken ragdoll, staring into the empty space.

Memories raged through her mind, and she couldn’t shut them out.

The horrors housed inside often took up the most space.

“You okay, Khalani? Looking a little green.” Adan’s voice pierced through her dark thoughts.

Adan and Derek sat tensely, eyeing her with concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Khalani said quietly, still not eating her food.

Bile crept up her throat, and at the first bite, she thought she might hurl. Alexander Huxley’s decrepit voice slithered across her skin again,as if he were hovering over her shoulder, breathing in her ear.

“That plague of ignorance was never cured…reminding me of my duties.”

“Hey.” Derek placed a calloused hand on her shoulder, breaking her concentration. “You wanna talk about it? About what happened up there?” He pointed to the ceiling.

Khalani opened her mouth but found no words.

How could she describe a place that embodied both her most stunning fantasies and the deepest horrors beyond her imagining?

Genesis was hell, disguised as heaven under a perceived dome of safety.

Lies. All of it.

No one was safe from the Governor. Not even the Council.

“We found him.” Khalani’s head lowered.

“Who?”

“Wyatt. The Governor had his own councilman murdered. And we found him in the garbage. Not one person said a word against it,” she hissed.

“Damn,” Adan muttered.

“We hid while the guards joked about butchering innocent people. The guards even bragged about torturing and killing a scientist who spoke of crop failure. Obviously delusional, but they will murder anyone. They’re all monsters.”

Her hands fisted at the memory, wanting to take out her rage on the nearest guard. The next training session with Takeshi wouldn’t be pretty.

“What did you just say?”

She turned to Derek, who gazed at her with wide eyes, his body incredibly still.

“I said they killed the councilman and threw him in the garbage.”

“No, no. Not that.” Derek gripped her arm. “The part about the scientist. You said they tortured a scientist who spoke of crop failure. Did they say who?”

“I don’t know. No, wait…I do remember the guards mentioning the name Vincent. Why?”

Derek’s face paled, and his brows were low on his forehead, like he was attempting to solve the world’s most complicated math equation, only to discover that it was never meant to be solved.

“Can’t be,” he whispered.

“What is it?” she asked, flustered by the sheer terror on his face.

“Hey, guys! Sorry, the line was taking forever.” Serene gracefully set her plate down as her eyes wandered around the room, on high alert.

“Derek.” Khalani didn’t take her eyes off him. “What’s wrong?”

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