Page 77 of Beta Lies and Cursed Lives
Zephyr turns to us, that dark energy of his framing his right eye like blazing lashes. Then the energy disappears, and he’s trudging toward us, slow and exhausted.
I run to him with Aubrey, catching him just before the young man falls to the ground. We pull his arms over our shoulders to help him stand, but I realize immediately the height difference is going to be a problem and wince.
“I’ve got this, Bunny,” Colt says with a grin as he takes my place under Zephyr’s left arm. “I may not be as tall as Aubs, but—”
“We’ve got to go!”
The rebellion soldier shouts frantically just as I hear it. Helicopters. A lot of them.
I can’t tell which direction they’re coming from, but it doesn’t matter. I know where they’re headed.
We run as fast as we can, Rai taking the lead to get us to the SUV in the woods, but we’re out in the open, easy targets from the sky. Shit.
“Hang on!” I yell. “Stick closer together!”
We keep moving, but they move in closer, Rai, my dad, and the soldier in front of me, Aubrey, Colt, and Zephyr behind. I raise my hand in the sky and concentrate on forming ice, just like I had when I shielded us during our approach to the facility. Only I never practiced creating the shield above my head, and as it grows from my forearm skyward, I realize immediately that I’ve made a mistake. The coverage is too wide, the weight of the ice far too much, and my arm swings to the right, topples over, and what ice I did form shatters on impact.
“Fuck,” I hiss. All I wanted was to help. Tears sting my eyes.
“It’s okay, Mira.” Dad is beside me now, his silver eyes filled with concern as they look down at me. “That was a great effort, kiddo. I...I never imagined you could do something like that.”
I shake my head. I should be stronger. I should have been able to protect us.
With my idea a bust, we run as fast as we can for the woods as a helicopter spots us, the bright light shining down from above as gunfire pelts the snow and ice at our feet.
Rai turns his white, glowing gaze upward, and the helicopter begins to spin violently in the air before careening away and crashing in a ball of fire yards away.
More helicopters come, and Rai does the same to them, sending each one away, spinning and screaming. When a few show up at once, the air around us sliced and whipped, snow crystals flying, he disables two of them as soldiers propel down lines from the third behind us.
More gunfire, and the rebellion soldier shields us, but I can tell that he’s straining, just like Rai.
Aubrey turns his head and lets out a sonic scream, sending two of the GBE soldiers flying backward. But there are two more, and they lunge for Aubrey and Colt before they can react. I see the control boxes in their hands, and something...snaps.
I leap at them, forearms to fingertips encased in thick ice claws, and all I see is red. I grab both by their necks as I take them down on their backs. They gurgle in my grasp as I growl in their faces.
How dare they. How dare they try to chain us; take what’s under my protection!
My grip tightens, and still, one of them tries to put that control box on me now. I scream, my claws slicing through both their necks like scissors through paper. Their blood is sour when it splashes in my mouth, and I spit it back in their lifeless faces.
Kill. Kill. Kill.
I am a flurry of rage and redemption, tearing the soldiers apart, ripping into their clothing and flesh, tossing chunks of them all around the pure while snow, until red is all I can literally see. Dark fading to pale, globs and pools, streaks and splatters.
“Miranda.”
Those eyes beneath me fade to a milky color, the light completely gone from them.
Monsters. They are monsters who deserve worse.
“Miranda…”
Worse, yes. What I’ve done isn’t enough. No, there needs to be a higher price to pay.
My head snaps toward the sound of boots stomping closer, and I am in the air again, soaring toward the approaching soldiers, taking them down in twos, crushing throats, tearing out hearts, roaring at their audacity.
When the final soldier’s head comes off his neck in my hands, I look at it, my own head tilting to one side as I do.
Insects. These Beta suppressors are nothing but insects.
