The Strays

My pain and despair soon switched to anger as I turned to Ratchet. “You bitch!” I screamed as I climbed to my feet. “You said you wouldn’t hurt them. Why would you do something like that? They were innocent people, they never hurt anyone, they just wanted to live in peace.”

“Reach and his people were knowingly harbouring fugitives, we couldn’t let that stand.” She smugly retorted as Drew held me back.

“Up until today you were a fugitive, in fact E.A.D were at the top of Delilah’s hit list, not above me, or Liberty but you were still pretty high up, so who are you to talk?”

“Don’t go getting lippy with me, tough girl, you’ve lost. GET. OVER. IT!” She hissed.

“You just made the biggest mistakes of your lives. Those people were the only thing stopping me from tearing your hearts out, now, they’re gone along with my last shred of compassion and patience. Everyone here has heard the stories of the things Ratchet trained me to do, you all know what I’m capable of and now you’re going to get to see firsthand exactly what I can do.” I snarled as I ploughed my fist into Drew’s face, continuing to pummel him and anyone else brave enough to face me, until Ratchet put a gun to Colt’s head.

By this point, my fists, like the rest of me were covered in blood and there were at least a dozen unconscious bodies surrounding me, most unrecognisable. Drew’s broken arm, fat lip, and black eyes appeared to be the least damage anyone had suffered during my fit of rage.

I got back to my feet and glared at Ratchet.

“I’d think twice before doing anything else, Cae, after all you haven’t quite lost everything, not yet anyway, though that will quickly change if you can’t behave yourself.” The older girl glowered, her finger gently stroking the trigger.

I dropped to my knees and put my hands behind my head, interlocking my fingers. “I did what you wanted, leave him alone.”

Ratchet pistol whipped Colt to make a point, knocking him out before putting her gun away and walking over to me. “That compassion and empathy isn’t entirely gone, now is it? That always was your weakness, you care too much about other people, it blinds you to reality.”

“Go to hell you deceitful bitch, you and Delilah are perfect for each other.”

Ratchet walked behind me and kicked me in the back, knocking me onto my stomach as she applied pressure. “You could have been so much more, so promising, and yet here we are, all that potential of yours, wasted.”

“Disappointing people was always a skill of mine, you aren’t the first to tell me I wasted my potential and I doubt you’ll be the last.”

Ratchet dug her boot further into my spine as one of her guys handed her a length of rope that she used to bind my hands behind my back before dragging me to my feet and tossing me over to two of her goons.

I could feel the rope digging into my wrists and I did my best not to move too much as I was forced into the back of an old police van, Colt’s limp body being tossed in beside me. The cut on his head was pretty bad, and he was still out cold, but I was relieved to see he was breathing, even if he wasn’t quite awake just yet.

I took a seat on the bench that had been affixed to the wall and tried my best to hold on as the van trudged along, hitting every pothole on its way into the city.

Roughly half an hour had passed before Colt woke up, and I watched with a smile as he tried to put his hand to the cut on his head, only to realise they were fixed behind his back like mine.

“Nice nap?”

“Yeah, nothing like the butt of a pistol to help a guy sleep, works better than most pills if you ask me.” He joked back as he joined me on the bench.

I soon found myself crying yet again, unable to control myself as everything boiled over.

“What happened wasn’t your fault, you couldn’t have known.” He hopelessly tried to reassure me.

“Really? I was the one that agreed to us surrendering, I was the one that left. At least if we’d stayed and tried to fight she wouldn’t have been able to blow the place up, besides I should’ve known this was too easy, I should’ve known better, spotted the bomb and defused it, I’ve done it before, I could have done it again. Delilah was counting on my decision to sacrifice myself and she used it to her advantage. I was played and everyone else paid for my mistake, she knew exactly what she was doing. I’m an idiot and they’re all dead because of it.”

Colt shook his head. “You used the information at your disposal to take a calculated risk, nobody in their right mind would ever think anyone capable of what just happened and you can’t blame yourself. These psychos were the ones responsible, only them, and if you ask me you did a pretty good job of making them pay for it, though you shouldn’t have stopped on my account.”

I turned to Colt and glared, my anger rising. “Can you stop making jokes? This isn’t funny, our friends are dead.”

“That just means we give up then, does it? Let’s just throw in the towel and call it quits. Yes, our friends are dead, but life goes on, we can’t change that and feeling guilty about the lives of everyone you’ve lost won’t make a difference either. The best we can do for anyone now is avenge them, we bring this thing to an end, finish what we started and take Delilah down, the E.A.D too, for good, before they can hurt anyone else.”

“How are we supposed to do that?”

“We escape, then we go find your brother and Ace in the city, once we’re reunited we can try to convince the other factions to help us fight.” He whispered so nobody but me could hear.

“Well, if we’re going to do that we need a plan and fast, we don’t have long as soon as this van stops we’ll be dragged inside the Sanctum, then escape will be practically impossible.”

We spent the rest of the journey plotting, occasionally raising our voices while having a different conversation just so our captors wouldn’t get suspicious as we tried to free ourselves from our bindings.

After some time, we were both finally able to get free, and we set our plan into action. Colt resumed his position on the floor, his hands hidden behind his back as he closed his eyes, while I banged on the floor and walls with my feet, making as much racket as I could until the van came to a screeching halt.

I crossed my fingers behind my back as the back doors of the van swung open and Ratchet appeared with five or six men beside her, which was less than I was expecting. “What’s all the fuss about?” She impatiently scowled, keeping her distance.

“You hit Colt pretty hard, and he hasn’t woken up, I don’t think he’s breathing, I also thought I saw him convulse, normally I’d check to make sure he’s okay but I’m a little tied up at the moment.”

Ratchet motioned for two of her men to climb inside and check on Colt, an opportunity I took to kick them against the wall. Ratchet sent in two more guys and I did the same thing to them whilst Colt took care of the other two before jumping out the back. Ratchet tried to stop him but I grabbed her from behind as I followed Colt’s lead, only she put up more of a fight than I was expecting and she easily pushed me back into the van before I could climb out, pinning me to the wall.

When Colt realised I wasn’t behind him he turned back and came to get me, nearly getting himself caught, again, in the process.

“Don’t be an idiot, run.” I shouted as I slammed Ratchet’s head into the wall and she swiftly retaliated with a knee to my gut.

“I’m not just going to leave you here.” He argued as he punched someone in the face.

“Colt, stick to the plan and quit worrying about me, I can take care of myself. You know where to go and what to do, so just do it, please, no more arguing, for once just trust me when I say I know what I’m doing.” I choked as Ratchet threw me around like a rag doll and more of her friends started to show up. I could see his hesitation in his eyes as he looked at me, but I reassuringly nodded my head. “Think of the bigger picture right now.”

To my surprise, he nodded his head with a sad smile. “I’ll find you again, we’re not losing anybody else so stay alive or I’ll kill you myself.” A wave of relief washed over me as I watched him get away, disappearing into a nearby cluster of trees before Delilah or her thugs could catch up to him.

As soon as I knew Colt was safe, I stopped fighting, letting Ratchet get the better of me. “What, no fight left in you?” She mocked as she pinned me to the wall, holding me firmly in place as she stuck her gun into the crook of my neck.

“All I needed to do was buy him time, I knew I wasn’t getting out of here, but if I told him that he’d have never agreed to it, now he’s gone I’ve got no reason to expend anymore energy on you, or your thugs.”

I felt the gun as she dug it in deeper.

“I know how tempting it must be to kill her, but I must ask you to refrain, at least for now. I need to get her back to the city alive and in one piece.” Delilah sighed as she witnessed the spectacle.

Ratchet threw me backwards and, I landed on the bench, slamming my head against the wall as I fell.

“No restraints this time? Should I be flattered or concerned?” I asked as she left.

“There’s no need for them, if you try a stunt like that again or try to run, I’ll put a bullet in your leg. We may need you alive, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get creative.” She warned as the door shut behind her with a crash, sealing me off from the outside world all over again.

I kept taking deep breaths, feeling a panic attack as it started to form. I gripped the cool metal as hard as I possibly could, focusing on Ty’s words from when he found me breaking down at The Paragon. The thought of him, Leo, Linc and everyone else I’d met or lost along the way started to consume me, the pit in my stomach growing as the void threatened to swallow me whole. I had to stay strong; I had to focus; I had to keep my hope alive, I couldn’t break, not when there were still people who depended on me.

I could hear the raucous of the city outside and the van came to a sudden stop, flinging me from my seat onto the floor.

Ratchet opened the doors, her gun pointed directly at me. “One wrong move and you’ll be limping.”

I put my hands in the air and slowly climbed out of the back of the van, standing still so as not to give her a reason to pull the trigger.

I’d expected to find myself standing outside either the police station or Delilah’s base of operations, but I was surprised to see I was actually on the railroad tracks, just north of The Paragon. I looked around, trying to work out why I was there.

“For the first time since we met, you are genuinely speechless.” Delilah observed.

“Not speechless, just thinking, maybe you should try it sometime.” That statement earned me a swift punch to the gut, but I smiled through the pain. “This hardly seems like your scene Delilah, maybe Ratchet’s, but not yours, so why are we here?”

“Is the great Caelyn Lewis asking for help, is this too difficult a puzzle for you to solve? Are you finally conceding?” She mocked.

“Somehow, you’ve become more insufferable as time passed. I genuinely didn’t think it was possible for me to hate you anymore than I already did, yet I do, so congratulations.”

Ratchet grabbed a chunk of my hair and forcefully jerked my head back. “I think that’s enough lip from you.”

I was dragged by my hair towards one of the train carriages and tossed inside as Delilah pushed me along, Ratchet not far behind us with her gun.

“What are we doing here? It’s not like you to change venues in the middle of a show and I’d have thought you’d make more of a spectacle having caught me, after all, what’s a girl like you without her audience?”

I didn’t get a response, which put me even more on edge as we reached the end of the carriage we were in and approached the next, which appeared to be locked.

Ratchet grabbed my arm as Delilah unlocked the door and shoved me inside. I tripped on a piece of torn up carpet and stumbled forward, putting my hands out instinctively as I anticipated hitting the floor, except I didn’t because someone caught me before I could. I looked up to see who I had to thank, and my heart stopped once again. After all this time, he’d grown up so much and as I stared into his eyes, it was like looking into my mother’s.

“Caelyn? Ace was telling me the truth when he said you were alive, I almost didn’t believe him yet you’re here.” He gasped as I gained my composure and got to my feet.

“Hey, big brother, it’s been too long.” I smiled as I dusted myself off.

“Your hair, it’s practically gone, and oh my god, your skin, please tell me those tattoo’s aren’t real, you’re covered in them, mum would faint if she could see you.” Sean’s words poured from his mouth before he could think, a comforting and familiar gesture. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Don’t worry about it, I know mum and dad wouldn’t approve of half the things I’ve done since they died, since Miles died.”

The relief in his eyes started to fade as he realised what my being there meant, the predicament we were in and it quickly shifted to anger as Ratchet once again dragged me backwards by my hair, her gun under my chin as I tried to struggle free.

“Let her go!” My brother shouted with an anger in his words I didn’t recognise.

Ratchet pulled me further back as Delilah stepped forward. “I warned you what would happen if you didn’t listen to me, baby.” She grinned as she brushed up against Sean’s body, tracing the grooves of his chest with her finger as he tried not to vomit, clearly repulsed by her, a silver lining in all of this as it meant he finally had taste. “You disappoint me, and I have to punish you, that’s the way it is, but you’re far too valuable, so I think I’ll take it out on little sis here instead.”

“Don’t touch her.” He sternly replied as she continued to caress his body, her hands now tracing his face as she stood on her tiptoes and whispered something in his ear. Sean took a step backwards, hatred in his stare. “You already took my brother, I will not let you take her as well.”

“Do as you’re told and I’ll have no reason to.” She sighed.

“I can’t do what you’re asking me to, I won’t give you that kind of power.” He argued.

“That is a shame. I guess Ratchet will have to persuade you to change your mind.” I could see Delilah was enjoying this game, making my brother choose between me and the lives of the innocents in the city.

Ratchet cocked the trigger, taking the gun from beneath my chin and instead digging it into my shoulder. “Caelyn doesn’t need this arm, does she? It’s just, if I shoot her in the wrong place it could cause some rather irreparable damage.”

I stared at my brother and shook my head. “I know you found our father’s research, you torched the lab, and whatever she wants from his work will only end in death, no matter what you do people will die, you can’t help her, not on account of me.”

“I’m not just going to let you die.”

“The moment I stepped back into this city I was dead, the moment I allied myself with rebels I was dead, the day Miles died and Delilah realised I was still alive, it was decided I had to die. You can’t save me, nobody can, my action’s sealed my fate years ago, but the kids in this city, those like them, you can still save, so stop worrying about me and focus on them.”

Delilah scowled at me before looking up at Ratchet. “Why don’t you take Caelyn somewhere a little more private, I think this little reunion has stirred enough emotions and I’m sure Sean could use some time apart to come to a reasonable conclusion, we wouldn’t want any external opinions influencing him to do something rash, now would we?”

I tried to fight Ratchet as she pulled me away and my brother tried to reach out to me, only to be restrained at Delilah’s behest by two guards lurking in the shadows.

“Let me go.” I cried as Ratchet’s grip on me tightened and Sean slipped further from my grasp. Delilah followed us out, locking my brother in his carriage, as I was thrown onto a seat in the one adjacent that we’d previously passed through. I tried, and failed, to scramble to my feet as Ratchet booted me in the chest, holding me down, the gun pointed at my leg. “We need you alive, not in one piece.”

I stopped squirming and instead settled for a stare so cold it could freeze water as Delilah gestured for two of her men who were waiting apprehensively by the door to enter. One of them walked over to me, a chain in his hand which he wrapped around the leg of the chair I was sitting on, before proceeding to wrap it around my wrists, securing me to the carriage, in a way that meant I couldn’t pick the padlock standing in the way of my freedom, even if I’d wanted too.