Page 2 of Beta Lies and Cursed Lives
The ground is still quaking beneath my feet, and I take solace in that fact. It means they haven’t subdued Dad yet. He’s still fighting for his life.
Fighting for me. For our freedom.
“Find her!” yet another voice yells, this one just north and to the west.
They’re trying to cut me off.
Another block, and I head south, back toward where I came, and duck behind a couple of dumpsters in the alley. The scents wafting off the trash are excruciating but provide some cover, like the bins themselves.
I fight to slow my breathing and listen for whatever sounds come my way.
Unhurried footsteps. Idle chatter and a loud female laugh that echoes off the brick walls around me. Then pounding boots from the north.
They’re coming. Of course, they are.
My options are limited. I could just keep running through the alleyways as long as I can and try to avoid capture. Or…
My eyes land on a fire escape ladder down the alley.
I hadn’t heard any helicopters in the area, but that didn’t mean they weren’t coming.
I have to chance it.
Wincing whenever my sneakers audibly scrape against the wet concrete, I scurry to the ladder and hold my breath when I reach it, listening.
The boot stomps are closer now.
I grip the rung above my head and pull my body upward, propelling myself to the roof of the four-story building in three leaps.
Once at the top, I keep low in the dark. That’s when I hear chatter from below.
“No one’s seen the Cursed Omega yet,” one guy says without any urgency. “That Cursed Alpha is resisting.”
“I heard he already took out some of Blue Team,” the other informs him.
Dad…
Of course, he’s resisting. My father wouldn’t give up easily; he’d fight for his life and mine.
They won’t kill my father unless they have to, and he wouldn’t give them a reason to do so, not if there were a chance we could be together again. I know this with all of my heart and soul.
Besides, the Cursed are too valuable to the GBE. The capture and sale of Cursed nearly run our global economy.
If they catch me and find out what I’m hiding, though, they’d kill me right then, valuable Cursed commodity or not.
There are only a few places the GBE bring Cursed after capture, the most common being the Korezak Prison and the Cursedblood Military Academy.
The more you fight, the more likely you’ll end up in prison for “rehabilitation” before eventually being transferred to the Academy.
The GBE doesn’t hide what they do, either. They always create huge public showings of their captures to make an example of the Cursed and to serve as a warning to anyone who thinks about breaking the law and harboring one of us.
Once the soldiers below are out of earshot, I crawl along the outer edge of the roof, staying as quiet as possible. Another fire escape ladder is on the other end of the building, but I can’t chance moving on the ground again. Too many foot soldiers.
I need to make it ten blocks to the east and enter the subway system unseen. Down one of the tunnels is a safe house I can lie low in for a few days to plan my next move.
My father wants me to get as far away from here as possible, to keep running and stay safe. But there is no way in hell I am going to leave him behind.
I scan the surrounding rooftops.
