The Tainted Read online

  “Going for a walk?”

  She turned to the older man, still smiling. “As long as it’s been clear.”

  “Not a blooming thing,” he grumped and stood.

  He pulled a sturdy rope from beneath the crate he sat on, tied it onto an anchor, and tossed the end of the rope over the wall.

  “That’s too bad,” she said, hiding a smile. The older man loved a good fight. She adjusted her quiver and slung her bow over her head and back. “Jo says you owe him a game of chess.”

  “I’ve been hankering to whoop him again.” He grinned at her, bearing a gap-toothed smile.

  Hazel grinned as she knelt down and turned onto her belly. “Hopefully, I’ll snag an untainted hare or two. Does Sarah need anything from the garden?”

  Joss plopped down onto his crate, his forehead wrinkling. “She has plenty of herbs,” he commented dryly. “They’re hanging all over the place at the moment.”

  She suppressed a smile at his tone. Sarah was one of the doctors in Harbor. She always had an assortment of herbs drying or stewing in their home.

  “But if you happen to catch an extra hare, we wouldn’t turn away the meat.”

  “Gotcha,” she said as she scooted backward until her legs dangled over the edge of the wall. She grabbed the roped and smiled at Joss. “I’ll see what I can do. See you in a bit.”

  “Be careful, missy,” he warned. “Your papa would have my neck if anything happened to you.”

  “I’ll be careful,” she huffed as she began to rappel. “I’m always careful.”

  “As you should be,” his voice carried down to her.

  She loved this part. Her stomach caught and erupted in a million butterflies. It was thrilling, but it always went too quickly. Soon enough, her boots touched the red, crusty earth. She straightened, sand crunching beneath her boots, and waved one last time at Joss. She sucked in a deep breath, wet dirt, vegetation, and spices teasing her nose. She loved walking through the farm. It was quiet and peaceful. Slowly she meandered southeast toward the pea trellises and cornfields.

  Hazel ran her hand along the pea vines, plucking pods and tossing them into her mouth as she picked her way through the fields. Sweetness burst across her tongue. Peas were one of her favorite vegetables. There was something about eating them right out of the garden that made them taste even better, crunchier. She glanced over her shoulder at the shrinking wall. Each step she took away from Harbor seemed to help her breathe better.

  She spied a faded red piece of fabric tied on to one of the trellises. Bingo. She squatted and lifted a vine to check her trap. Her breath hissed out as she got a good look at the rabbit inside. Her nose wrinkled.

  Tainted.

  The mutated rabbit monster had broken her trap and managed to strangle itself with the remnants. She pulled an arrow from her quiver and crept closer, then held it near the rabbit’s eye. The tricky bastards knew how to hold deadly still before attacking their prey, but they still flinched when something neared their eyes. It didn’t blink. It was truly dead.

  Hazel dropped the arrow back into her quiver and pulled her brother’s knife from her pocket. She made quick work of the trap. Reluctantly, she pulled the tainted animal out from underneath the peas. It looked even more grotesque in the moonlight. Instead of two blunt front teeth, it had four razor-sharp ones. She lifted it higher and squinted at its grey fur. It wasn’t fur per se, but downy-covered scales. It astounded her that a virus mutated a creature into something other so much that it went against its true nature. Bunnies weren’t meant to be carnivorous.

  Hazel pushed from the dirt, eyed the fence in the distance, and then the wall far behind her. She couldn’t bury it here. Who knew what it could do to the soil. And she couldn’t take it over the wall. That left her with only one choice—throw it over the fence. Chances are it would attract other predators, but that was the chance she had to take. The rabbit wasn’t suitable for eating or burying.

  She held it far from her body and strode purposefully toward the fence, weaving through the trellises and into the cornfield. It amazed her how tall the plants grew. Apparently, before WWIII, corn was used in everything, and so genetically-modified that humans couldn’t digest it. Her great-great-grandpa hated corn and thought it should only be used as feed for animals on his ranch, but he saw the potential to make money. So, he collaborated with the farmers around his area and they created a type of corn that grew all year long, was healthy for people to eat, and could be used as fuel.

  Their super corn spread like wildfire and made them billions in a matter of weeks. But with success comes downfalls. Oil tycoons lost money hand over fist, so they put her great-great-great-grandfather out of business by murdering his partner. The money stopped as quickly as it had come, but it was enough for what he wanted to do. Her wily grandfather saw what the world was coming to, so he again collaborated with the six to build military-grade bunkers beneath their modest ranches and farms. When the world blew up in a big way, it was her great-great-grandfather laughing. He, his family, and his close friends were all safe, along with his corn that would provide fuel to run their generators and help feed whoever was left after the mayhem of WWIII.

  Hazel pushed through the last bit of corn, the leaves scratching at her arms, and glanced in both directions. No guards. She frowned. While it was good for her not to be seen, it still seemed odd that there wasn’t anyone around. But … no time like the present. She lobbed the tainted rabbit over the double chain-linked fence, and then dusted her hands off on her pants. She’d have to scrub her hands with disinfectant when she got home. The tainted virus was only passed through a bite and blood these days, but who knew what kind of disease that thing was carrying.

  She froze when movement caught her eye farther down the fence. Guards. Her father might have allowed her walks, but that didn’t mean he sanctioned them. Hazel slipped back into the corn and moved away from the fence at a diagonal. She stilled when voices neared her.

  “Did you hear that?” a deep male voice asked.

  She held her breath and didn’t move a muscle as the corn swayed around in the night breeze. Guards tended to shoot first and ask questions later. Not that she remembered anyone getting shot while out in the garden, but no one ever snuck out after dark, either. She’d never seen a single soul out here except for the guards. Terror iced her veins. What if they assumed she was one of the Tainted?

  “I didn’t hear anything,” another male voice said, sounding annoyed.

  “I swear, I did.” The deep voice sounded even closer.

  “You’re wasting time. We have to go.”

  Her brows furrowed. Go?

  “Come on out or we’ll shoot,” the deep voice called.

  “How’s that going to help?” a familiar female voice snapped.

  “If it’s Tainted, it wouldn’t understand us. If someone from Harbor, they’d be stupid not to obey.”

  Hazel sighed. Her papa would kill her for being caught. Every once in a while, the guards would spot her, but generally they ignored her.

  “It’s just me,” she called, and slowly edged her way back toward the fence. She blinked when she stumbled into a small pocket of open space in the cornfield. Her mouth bobbed and then closed as she scanned the unwelcome familiar faces.

  “Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Jessy drawled.

  Of all the people to catch her … of all the dumb luck. She tilted her head back and stared at the night sky, wishing for the people in front of her to disappear. She dropped her chin and stifled a groan. Nope, still there. Jessy, Colton, Aaron, and Genevieve all stared at her. Double damn.

  Hazel lifted a hand and waved. “Hey, guys,” she said awkwardly. This night couldn’t get any worse. What were the chances that all three of the guys who had proposed to her would be together and stumble across her? Bad luck, that’s what it was.

  Aaron crossed his arms across his chest and arched an eyebrow. “Are you going to tell us why you’re out here?”

&n
bsp; “Does it matter?” Gen sniped, tossing a glare her way. “Who knows why she does what she does?”

  Typical Gen, so generic a jibe that Hazel thought her brain would seep from her eyes. Could she be more unoriginal? For sure, Gen’s favorite color was white, and vanilla her favorite flavor of ice cream.

  Colton stepped closer with a twinkle in his eye and gestured to her bow. “Obviously, she’s out hunting.”

  “You sure she can use it?” Jessy teased. Gen sniggered.

  Something inside her snapped. Her eyes turned to slits as she gazed at Jessy. Jo was right. Jessy was a dirtbag. He’d been a constant thorn in her side for the last couple of years. There was no way in hell she’d marry him. She wouldn’t put up with this. She was his future leader, and he’d better show some respect.

  “I can show you better than I can tell you,” she purred, not sounding anything like herself.

  In one smooth motion she pulled the bow from her shoulder, an arrow from her quiver, nocked it and loosed. A smug smile tugged at her lips as Jessy gaped at the arrow embedded in the dirt between his legs.

  He yipped and covered himself while hopping back a few paces. “You could have hit me!”

  “You’re right, but I didn’t,” she replied, her tone cool.

  “Kitten has claws.” Colton smirked and wiggled his eyebrows. “Who knew you were so feisty?”

  Hazel rolled her eyes and slung her bow over her shoulder. Once a playboy, always a playboy. “I should be getting back. I’ll see y’all tomorrow.” She was curious as to why they were out there, but not curious enough to stick around.

  “Hazel…” Aaron’s deep voice washed over her.

  “Yeah?” She met his deep brown gaze.

  “We’re celebrating the blending tonight. Come with us.”

  “A celebration?” she said slowly. Where were they having a celebration?

  “It’ll be fun,” Colton added with a wink. “Come on, let loose. We’re only young once, and tomorrow everything will change.”

  “Um … I don’t know…” Why were they inviting her anyway? She almost snorted.

  Because all three guys wanted to marry her.

  “Why invite her?” Gen whined. “It’s not like she knows how to have fun anyway. She’ll ruin the night.”

  “I’ll go,” she blurted. Immediately, she wanted to kick herself. She wouldn’t have fun with any of them. How did she backpedal out of this situation? “Are Baz and Mesa invited?” she asked. If they weren’t going, then she could use them as an out.

  “I’m sure they’re already there,” Jessy said. “I would be if I was blending with Mesa tomorrow.”

  Hazel glared at Jessy and hid her surprise when Aaron reached out and slapped Jessy on the back of his dirty-blond head. “Have some respect.”

  That warmed Hazel up to Aaron a bit. She shifted from side to side. “So, where are we going?”

  “You’ll see,” Gen said darkly, and turned on her heel to stalk out of the little clearing. Jessy tossed a dirty look over his shoulder and followed her.

  Colton shook his head. “She’s always so moody.” He waved a hand at Hazel. “Follow us.”

  With reluctant steps, she trailed after Colton through the corn, followed by Aaron. A million questions hovered on the tip of her tongue. Where was the celebration? Why were they sneaking around in the corn? The skin between her shoulder blades prickled as they traveled further into the corn and she hid a shiver. She hated being stared at.

  “I didn’t peg you for a rule breaker,” Aaron muttered from behind her.

  Hazel kept her eyes forward to avoid being smacked with an ear of corn. “I needed to go for a walk.”

  “Outside the wall?”

  “It’s freeing out here.”

  A pause. “I feel the same. There’s something about being outside of Harbor that calms me.”

  She lifted her eyebrows, staring at Colton’s back. “It calms me, too.”

  “Bound to happen.”

  “What?” she asked, batting a leaf out of her face.

  “That we’d have something in common.”

  She stiffened, but he didn’t continue the conversation, much to her relief. She didn’t want to think about husbands right at this moment. She halted when Colton paused in front of her and then stooped down to crawl through something. Hazel took a step back when she got a clear view of what it was.

  The moonlight gleaming on the fence … there was a hole cut through it. A hole. She swallowed hard as Gen, Colton, and Jessy stared at her from outside the perimeter.

  There was a bloody hole in the fence.

  “What in the world?” she whispered. “What is this?”

  “You didn’t think the celebration would be inside Harbor, did you?” Jessy asked with arched brows.

  “I don’t know what I thought,” Hazel said, still staring at the hole cut in the fence. “Did you guys do this?” If her papa found out, he’d be furious.

  Colton laughed quietly while eyeing the surrounding area. “We’re not the first to sneak out before the blending. This has been a tradition for years.”

  “How have I not heard of this?” she asked no one in particular. “How has my father not put a stop to this?”

  “Hazel…”

  She blinked and peeked over her shoulder at Aaron, feeling off balance. They wanted her to leave Harbor. “Yeah?”

  “This is your decision. You don’t have to go, but we are.” He turned her around to face him and stared down at her, his warm palms on her shoulders. “I think it would be a good idea for you to go. Everyone will be there, your future people. This might pave the way to an easier transition for you.”

  He said for you, but she heard for us. She stared at his green t-shirt pulled tightly across his chest. Was she really going to do this? The freedom she’d craved for so long was within her grasp, and Aaron was right. It would be a good opportunity to be seen as normal, as one of them. She glanced over her shoulder at the fence. She’d always wanted to go out. A part of her cried out to see what lay outside the fence.

  What about her family? Guilt churned in her gut. Would they be worried about her? “How long will we be gone?”

  “Not long enough to cause any panic.”

  She chewed on her lip. Her papa would strangle her if he knew what she was pondering, but she knew her answer the moment they invited her. Maybe her papa would understand?

  That, or he’d lock her up for a hundred years.

  Hazel blew out a breath and tipped her head back to smile at Aaron. The blending was tomorrow. Her papa wouldn’t be looking for her anywhere. Maybe she hadn’t been looking at the blending right. Maybe it wasn’t a cage, but freedom.

  Pulling in a deep breath, she turned back to the fence. “Let’s go.”

  Seven

  Hazel

  As soon as the words passed her lips, her body flashed hot and cold, and her fingers began to numb. That was a bad sign, wasn’t it?

  She curled her fingers into fists and stared at the cut in the fence. Finally, she would leave. What was out there? What would it be like? Was she making the biggest mistake of her life?

  “Hazel?” A tug on her bow pulled her from her thoughts.

  She puffed out a breath and allowed Aaron to pull the bow and quiver from her shoulder. He slung it over his own shoulder and placed a hand at the curve of her back.

  “We have to go,” he whispered softly. “You can change your mind. You don’t have to go. No one will judge you.”

  That was a blatant lie.

  Her gaze slid to the others outside the fence. Gen would harass her for years to come if she didn’t, but that didn’t sway her. No amount of peer pressure would force her to do something she didn’t want to do. She needed to go. “No, I want to come.” She rolled her neck. “Here goes nothing,” she muttered.

  Bending low, she pushed through the first chain-link fence and then the second, the metal scraping the exposed skin of her arms. Hazel stumbled to her feet and spun a
round to stare wide-eyed at Aaron on the other side. She did it. She’d left Harbor. Part of her wanted to dance around and whoop for joy; the other part of her wanted to crawl back through the fence, go home, and get into her bed. But that option disappeared as Aaron laid her bow and quiver on the ground and began to wiggle through.

  “Wait.” She stepped forward and held her hands out. “Hand me my bow, please.”

  “You don’t need it,” Aaron said from the ground. “We have plenty of weapons.”

  That made her frown. “We’re in the wilds. There’s no such things as too many weapons.” She gestured to the gun at her thigh. “Plus, this is veritably useless.”

  He stared at her for a beat and then sighed, shuffling backwards. He handed over her bow and quiver and then wiggled through. Hazel watched in interest as he pulled zip ties from his back pockets and snapped them into place, closing the fence. There was no going back now.

  She glanced around them and spun in a circle as she took everything in. Everything looked the same but felt completely different. A smile curled her lips. She was outside the fence. Fear and excitement caused goosebumps to break out on her arms. Unconsciously, her hand brushed the Glock at her thigh and her right hand tightened around her bow.

  “How safe are we?”

  She ignored the mocking smiles of Gen and Jessy, and pinned Aaron with a glance, who watched her quietly.

  He shrugged a shoulder. “The area’s been swept already. We also have guards stationed along the route. The celebration is not far from here. Despite the horror stories, our valley is quite safe.”

  Matt’s face flashed through her mind. Not safe enough. But she kept those words firmly inside. She slung her quiver over her head and shouldered her bow while battling with the grief that threatened to overwhelm her.

  “Can we go yet?” Jessy griped.

  Colton rolled his eyes and strode toward the forest. “Hold your horses. We’ll get there when we get there. Give the girl a chance to get her bearings.”

  “She wouldn’t be getting her bearings if she’d done her duty like the rest of us,” Jessy grumbled.