Chapter One
Danni awakened with a start, and almost instantaneously she wished she had not.
The warm darkness that had previously engulfed her was much more comforting and
inviting then the stark pitch-blackness that surrounded her now. She blinked
her eyes several times, hoping that somehow she was still unconscious, but the
pain that wracked her body proved otherwise.
She let out a soft moan, touching her temple with her hand, wishing she could
stop the steady pounding of her head. Her entire body was sore, tenderer in
some places than others. She felt as if she had been beaten up, however her
memory was sketchy and she could remember no such beating.
In fact, everything was hazy for Danni. She could vaguely remember going into
the tribal leader’s gathering and being ambushed by The Chosen. She and the
other leaders were taken and forced to declare their allegiance to Zoot or face
the consequence of death. A cold shiver raced down Danni’s spine as she
recalled the cool metal of the Chosen guard’s blade. She had withstood The
Guardians threats at first, but even she when faced with the blade had fallen
to her knees and spoken the words, “Zoot be praised.”
It was shortly after that the Bray and the rest of the Mall Rats, along with
several of the city kids they had managed to round up, had attacked the hotel.
They had freed Danni and the others and slowly but surely they had pushed the
Chosen back, cornering them on the beach, or at least they thought they had
cornered them.
Danni bit down on her lip hard, drawing a small trickle of blood. They had been
so naive to believe that The Guardian didn’t have a backup plan. To believe
that he didn’t have numerous forces safely hidden away in the sea cliffs just
waiting for their signal to attack. It was impossible for the Mall Rats to
defeat that many Chosen. Impossible.
Danni’s eyes slide shut as a few silent tears slipped down her cheeks. She felt
so helpless. She was locked away in a dark and silent room with no knowledge of
what had taken place to bring her to this room. She didn’t know if the Mall
Rats had survived, had been taken prisoner or what. She was helpless.
Danni curled up in a small ball, pulling the thick comforter that was on the
bed over her shoulders and huddled to herself, closing her eyes once again and
willing herself to slip away into unconsciousness once again. <br />
<br />~*~*~
“Name?” Alana eyeballed the battered looking young man who had just been brought
up to her by Chosen guards. He was covered in grime and dirt and reminded Alana
of someone who had not taken a shower in weeks. He smelled that way as well.
<br /> <br />“Billy Boy.” He stated through gritted teeth, his eyes
murderous, his tone trying to convey his deadly intent.
“Tribe?” Alana arched her eyebrow at him, unimpressed by his threatening tone.
“The Jackals.” He shouted, “And if you know what’s good for you’ll let me go
right now! The Jackals will find me and when they do we’ll show you no mercy.”
“I’m shaking.” She sniffed sarcastically, jerking her head to her left. “Put
him in pen thirteen with the rest of the strays.” She instructed the two guards
who held Billy Boy’s arms tightly behind his back. “Next?”
A young woman was brought before her after Billy Boy had been dragged away. The
girl appeared to be no older than fifteen or sixteen, her long orangey red
locks of hair were matted and caked with dirt and mud. The soft cream colored
peasant style top she wore was now ripped and torn wearing long tracks of mud
along the sleeves and hemline. Her dark brown suede pants had also been ripped
in several places and she was missing one of her boots.
It was quite obvious the girl had been roughed up by the Chosen guards, an
action that would displease the Guardian greatly. “What did you do to this
one?” Alan glared at the two guards holding the girl. “She looks awful. She’ll
be no use to us if we can’t get some work out of her.”
“I don’t think you’ve got to worry about getting her to work.” The older of the
guards replied with an ugly sneer. “She’s a feisty one. Was screaming ******
murder when we found her.”
“And why was that?” Alana arched an eyebrow, shifting her gaze back to the
broken down woman. Her soft green eyes reflected a pain that Alana was all too
familiar with. She quickly jerked her attention back to the guards, determining
that she would not look at the prisoner again.
“Ah, she was just crying over some bloke. That’s all.” The younger Chosen guard
shrugged his shoulders. “I guess he put up too much of a fight during the
raid.”
Sudden realization hit Alana with a sick twisting of her stomach. This poor
girl’s lover had been killed. Alana closed her eyes for a brief second,
determining not to allow her weakness to show on her face. Finally, regaining
control she opened her eyes and stared down at the prisoner.
“Name?” She asked coldly.
“Jenis.” The redhead replied barely in a whisper.
“What’s your tribe, Jenis?”
“The Brotherhood.” Jenis’ voice wobbled dangerously as she spoke and Alana knew
she would soon be in tears. Alana bit her lower lip and mentally turned her
heart to ice.
“Your man, was he killed?”
Jenis nodded ever slowly, a few crystalline tears slipping down her cheeks.
“Yes.”
“I see.” Alana stated with curt acknowledgement. “Simon,” She focused her
attention on the older guard. “See to it that Jenis is able to clean herself up
a bit before she’s put in with the others. Make sure none of her wounds are too
severe.”
Simon shot her a defiant look. “She’s only a slave, Lieutenant.”
“Yes, and she will be no good to us dead.” Alana shot back. “Now do as I say or
the Guardian will hear of your insolence.”
“Yes, Lieutenant.” Simon nodded then began to drag Jenis in the direction of
the holding cells.
Alana watched for several seconds, feeling a deep weariness seep into her
bones. She hated this job and she hated the Guardian for putting her here, but
she supposed she was lucky she was still alive. The Guardian had no patience
for non-believers, especially non-believers who spoke about Zoot being just a
confused teenager.
“Jaffa, Jaffa, Jaffa.” Alana murmured softly to herself, pushing a strand of
her brightly dyed blue hair back away from her face and tucking it behind her
ear. “How I hate you.”
~*~*~
Danni awoke with a start and sat up instantly. Her head was throbbing and the
pain in her body had not lessened at all during her brief rest, but something
had awakened her. Her senses were on high alert as her eyes darted about her
darkened room attempting to discover the reason for her sharp awakening.
“At last,” A strangely familiar voice sounded from the darkness. “You are awake
fair Danni.”
“Who’s there?” Danni demanded, clutching the thin blankets around her
fearfully.
“Did you sleep well, Danni?” The voice was coming closer now and Danni could
almost imagine she could hear his heavy breathing in the dark room. “I suppose
not. You sustained some pretty brutal injuries. Though they will heal, I am
sure.”
“Who are you?” Danni’s hands clenched into tight fists, her fingernails biting
into her skin. “What the hell are you doing with me?”
“You never were one to see the obvious, now were you Danni?” The voice
chuckled, unnerving Danni even more. “Let me ask you a question. Do you still
think your pathetic Mall Rats have defeated The Chosen?”
Cold realization began to sink in and Danni began to feel a rising panic creep
up into her throat. “What do you want?” She whispered, her voice deathly low.
“I thought that I had made that quite obvious by now, Danni.” The lights
suddenly flickered on and Danni was blinded for a moment but when her eyes had
finally adjusted she yearned for the darkness once again.
“Guardian.” Danni’s voice died in her throat.
He continued on as if she had not said anything, moving ever so slowly towards
her. “It’s you I want.”
“No.” Danni clutched at the blankets in terror as she crawled back as far away
from the advancing Guardian as possible. “Stay away from me. Stay away from
me!” And then she screamed.
~*~*~
The day had been long and tedious and Alana yearned for nothing else but to
climb into her nice warm bed and fall asleep for a million years. Lifting a
tired hand Alana pushed open the door to her quarters located the furthest away
from the prisoner’s cells. A small shiver raced down her spine as she stepped
inside her room, shutting the door behind her. She hated this place. She hated
it the moment she laid eyes on it.
“This is it, Jaffa? You have got to be kidding. There is no way I’m going to
be living in a dump like this.” Alana scowled while flipping her long flowing
hair over her shoulders, staring with contempt at the young man whom she had
called her boyfriend until two weeks before.
“You have no choice.” The Guardian, stated with a condescending smile, patting
her on the shoulder as if she were lesser of a human being than he. “I told you
when you joined the Chosen that if you had not accept Zoot and his magnificent
teachings by the time we took over the city you would have to live apart from
the rest of us. We mustn’t have unbelievers interacting with the new converts,
thus creating a stumbling block for them.”
“I can’t believe you still expect me to buy into all that mumbo jumbo cr@p,
Jaffa.” She muttered, first expecting her perfect manicure, then running her
long slender fingers through her hair, separating the luscious curls. “I saw
Zoot die! There is no way you can convince me that he is some sort of deity
worthy of my worship. No way.”
“And that is why you must live here.” The Guardian explained to her as if talking
to a small child. He turned to leave, knowing full well that she would call
after him. He was not disappointed.
“Jaffa, wait!” She cried out, falling to her knees and looking up at him, her
blue eyes imploring him to understand where she was coming from.
“Yes, what is it?” He asked, a small smirk on his face.
“If I promise to consider it, will you please let me go back to the mall with
you? Please?” She begged, the tears already flowing freely down her cheeks.
The Guardian paused for a moment almost as if he were considering her proposal.
“No.” Came his curt response. “You had over three months to come to a decision.
I think we have been more than generous with you.”
“No, please!” Her voice cracked as she clung to the hem of his long flowing
white robe. “Please, take me with you! I don’t want to be left alone again!
Please!”
“Do not be concerned, my little one,” He crouched to her level, lifting her
chin so that she could look him in the eye. His face wore an almost gentle
expression. “You will not be alone for long.” With that he gently kissed her
temple, rose and turned to leave, never looking back.
“Oh Jaffa!” She wailed, curling into a fetal position, sobbing into her hands.
“Jaffa.”
He had been right, but then again he always was. He had everything planned
right down to the most minuet detail. The very next day a troop of Chosen
guards arrived at the old prison with orders straight from The Guardian. He
wanted to restore the abandoned prison into a real one, using it as a holding
cell of sorts for the tribal leaders.
It had all become clear to Alana then. He had been using her since the day he
found her wandering about the countryside confused about everything, including
who she really was. She knew she had been dying and if it had not been for The
Guardian she would have, so she had that to be thankful for. But she could not
forgive him for using her the way he did.
Alana’s eyes slid shut as she tried to push the painful memory of his kisses to
the back of her mind. He was an amazing lover. The best she ever had, which was
strange to her seeing as how she was not physically attracted to him
whatsoever. He had something about him, though, a persona that she had been
drawn to. And once he had ensnared her she had not been able to resist.
Their love affair had been brief and torrid. She knew she had given herself to
him more fully than he had ever given himself to her. But that was not uncommon
in a relationship for Alana. She always fell in love far too quickly and was
usually hurt by that fact.
“I hate you Jaffa.” Alana muttered miserably into her reflection in the mirror.
She quickly wiped away the standard white eyeliner and removed the thin golden
circles that shone proudly in the middle of her forehead declaring herself a
lieutenant in the Chosen army. She hated this. She hated him. But most of all
she hated herself.
Alana looked down at her left hand at the slender silver ring that adorned it.
The Guardian had once asked her why she still held onto it. She lied to him and
told her that it had belonged to her mother. He suggested she get rid of it,
but had not demanded that she do so, she Alana continued to wear it.
“Oh my love.” She murmured softly, squeezing her eyes tightly shut so as not to
allow the tears to slip out. “Why did you leave me? Why did you leave us? Why?”