Final Extraction by Julie Trettel

Vada

Chapter 6

 

 

 

The journey had been a long one. We’d ridden mostly by train and then offloaded onto trucks. The smell was horrendous. Like animals, we were kept in the cages the entire time. That meant if someone had to go to the bathroom there was really nothing to do but go. The worst part of all was that the cages were stacked and despite the pan in the bottom it wasn’t uncommon for them to drip down. I was very grateful I was stacked on top. I’d served more than my fair share of time on the bottom.

It was humiliating, but then, that was what they were best at. They stripped us of our humanity. Why? In all the years I’d been with the Raglan, I’d never figured that out.

Some of them were worse than others but none were as bad as Trevor Daniels. He was sadistic and, for some unknown reason, he despised shifters. I grew up in a human world where there was kindness and compassion. Because of him I would have trouble ever trusting another human again.

The trucks had finally come to a stop. When I felt the brake kick in, and then settle into place, my stomach fluttered. It was the same routine as every other move, but that bit of unknown on the other side still always made me nervous.

I knew when the bay doors opened, the blinding light would hurt after the time spent mostly in the dark. There was absolutely no way to tell just how long we’d been traveling. The majority of cages would now be filled with animals. The harsh travel environment was disgraceful, and shifters would withdraw, and then turn into their animals to try and cope. I didn’t blame them that, but I refused to cave.

When those doors opened it was far easier on the Raglan waiting to unload to see a bunch of animals. There was always the same few, but they also had additional help and it was my hope that they would see firsthand what they were really doing when they saw my human body trapped among the animals.

There was always one that was horrified enough to speak up, but it always fell on deaf ears. Trevor would be furious with me. I’d be punished for it, but then things would settle, and nothing would change.

“Did we stop?” A weak voice asked out of the darkness.

“Yeah. I’m not sure yet if it’s just for the night or if we’ve made it to the next destination,” I said. “Is this your first move?”

“Yeah. Yours?”

“Nah. I’ve been around a long time.”

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Don’t be. What’s your name?”

“Greggor. Yours?”

“Vada.”

“Do you think the others are still alive?” he asked sadly.

“Yeah, they’d just retreated into their animal forms. How come you haven’t?”

“They can’t know.”

“Know what?”

“What I am.”

“What are you?”

He was quiet for quite some time, and I didn’t think he was going to answer. “A platypus,” he whispered so softly that even my accelerated hearing almost missed it.

I sighed. The rare and exotic were always the ones most brutally damaged in the trials. It was as if Trevor felt they somehow had greater powers or genes that would help his cause. As far as I knew they didn’t. It was one of the reasons I kept my gorilla to myself.

“I wouldn’t let them know that.”

“That’s what I figured.”

“My parents are probably freaking out. I had just shifted for the first time and wandered off without realizing it. We were in the area on vacation.”

“Where are you from?”

“Australia.”

“That’s what I figured.” I smiled in the dark. “I like your accent.”

“What are they going to do to us? Where have they taken us?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you know why they took us?”

“They’re experimenting on shifters.”

He gasped. “What?”

“How did they find you?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I woke up naked after my first shift. I wandered out of the woods trying to get my bearings straight and they snatched me before I could even react.”

“Wrong place at the wrong time. I’m sorry.”

“Do you think they know what I am?”

“I hope not. Naked walking out of the woods would be enough for them to assume. They’ll try to do whatever is necessary to find out though.”

There were some voices outside. Greggor started to yell.

“Hey! We’re in here! Help us!”

“Shhh. They’ll kill you if they hear you.”

“But what if it’s not them and we’re just stopped for the night? I have to try.” He started yelling again and this time he began rocking his cage, so it banged against the wall.

The noise echoed through the room stirring the others.

Suddenly the small space was filled with the cries of various animals. I covered my ears and crouched in the far corner of my own cage as it started rocking and swaying from the movements of those stacked below me.

“Maybe if my cage falls off, it’ll bend enough for me to escape. I’ve been trying everything and it’s not budging enough for me to reach the latch, but I’m so close it shouldn’t take much.”

“It won’t work,” I tried to reason with him. “We’re packed in here. You aren’t going to fall off or anything, no matter how it feels.”

“I have to try,” Greggor insisted as he continued ramming his cage into the side of the cargo box further stirring the others. “That’s it. Keep it up.”

I had no doubt he must always be on top. His awkward confidence was almost enduring, but I feared it would get him killed if he didn’t stop.

I heard the click of the door from the outside. Everyone quieted or moaned as the light flooded in. It was as disorienting as I knew it would be. I knew that our captors knew it too. They counted on it.

“Hey, help us!” Greggor yelled, still naïve enough to believe these were concerned strangers and not the ones that had put him in here.

“Enough!” Trevor’s voice boomed. “That’s enough. Settle down or we’ll be forced to tranquilize all of you.”

“You can’t do that,” Greggor argued.

Trevor glared at him, lifted his hand and shot. Greggor didn’t even have time to react before the dart lodged into his arm. His cry of surprise was short lived as the small platypus passed out.

I gritted my teeth. I had tried to warn him.

As my eyes adjusted to the light, it was hard for me to contain my own emotions. Two cages over I could see him for the first time. His slight build and pudgy stomach made him appear so much younger than I imagined he must be. The gold tips of his otherwise dark brown hair gave him an almost angelic look. He couldn’t have been more than seventeen or eighteen, still just a child.

I heard my jaw crack as my teeth ground in frustration.

I worked hard to protect as many as I could, but Greggor’s mouth was problematic to that cause. I said a quick prayer that he learned that lesson by the time he awoke.

“Anyone else have something to say?” Trevor asked.

Aside from a few quiet whimpers, no one made a sound.

“That’s what I thought,” he said still waving the pistol around in his hand. “Get them unloaded and cleaned up. Filthy beasts stunk up my truck.”

A lift truck arrived and started removing one crate at a time. It didn’t matter how mad I was about the situation; I knew there was nothing I could really do. Not yet at least.

I sat back and even closed my eyes and dozed off for a bit. I was in the very back corner and knew I would be among the last to be removed.

My time was short lived, or I really had fallen asleep. I couldn’t be certain, but in what seemed like no time at all they were pulling me out. No one cared that I was being jostled around or that it hurt when they dropped the cage to the ground bouncing me all over.

A woman I’d never seen before gasped when she saw me. I gave her a sad look and a small wave.

“I thought you said they were beasts, Trevor,” she instead. “That’s a woman.”

“Half woman,” he reminded her. “Just because she’s in her skin form doesn’t make her any less a filthy animal.”

I bit my tongue until the metallic taste of my own blood filled my mouth. I’d reacted before and learned my lesson. At one time I was as naïve and vocal as Greggor. That fight hadn’t left me, but I knew better than to give in to it. Instead, I let it simmer just beneath the surface knowing that the day would come to exact my revenge. And not just that, but the day would come when I would help free everyone here, even if it meant sacrificing myself in the process.

“Take the boy straight to the exam room. I’ll personally handle him myself,” Trevor said. He looked at me and snarled. “Vada, you can join me just for being your usual pain in the ass.”

“She’s still recovering from the explosion,” Jake reminded him.

“So what? She looks fine to me. But since you’re so concerned, you can join us.”

Jake moaned. “Yes, sir,” he mumbled before walking over and unlocking my cage.

He offered me his hand, but I refused it. It was a kind gesture but one that could get us both killed.

“Let’s go,” he said gruffly leading the way, knowing I would follow him.

Meanwhile two others removed Greggor from his cage and carried his limp body just ahead of us.

As I passed the last group of crates, I saw a familiar face crouched naked in his cage. It was Jax. His eyes showed pure hatred as he glared at Trevor’s back, but I knew they would only come after him too if he tried to speak out. I caught his eye and discreetly shook my head. The tight set of his jaw told me he wasn’t happy about it, but would heed my warning.

I followed Jake down a long hall. The cargo area where they had unloaded us had been huge. I’d noticed more than a dozen truck bays. This wasn’t a small off the beaten path place this time. It was a huge warehouse and from the signs of cameras being set up everywhere, and the truck of crates they were also unloading that no doubt housed equipment and weapons, they were fortifying it for a fight.

My mate’s face flashed into my mind. Would he find me again? I had feared he would assume I was dead and not even look, but then Jake’s words had given me hope. Help is on the way. I just prayed they were ready for a fight too.

“Put him on the table,” Trevor barked once we were in the small cold room. “Tie him down, Vada,” he snickered.

I clenched my fists at my side but that was the only sign I would give him that any of this bothered me.

The satisfied smirk on his evil face told me that was enough. He already knew and it gave him obvious pleasure.

Greggor started waking up with a groan as I bound his arms and legs to the cold steel table.

His hazel eyes shot up and bored through my soul. The magical way they shifted from gold to blue to green was mesmerizing, but the traitorous tone of them was what I would never forget.

I hated every second of this. I was the protector, not the captor, but the entire scenario made me feel like the enemy. I wanted to throw up and the room kept spinning, but I couldn’t give Trevor the satisfaction.

He was watching me closely. I could feel him staring holes through the back of my head, studying me. One wrong move could cost me my life. I never forgot that.

To an extent he trusted me. I was the one that always stayed behind. His warped ego attributed it to some weird form of Stockholm Syndrome. It wasn’t. I had seen a few others fall prey to that. The most recent was a psychotic little bunny name Keeley who fancied herself in love with Trevor. She’d gotten out but still showed back up from time to time.

That was not the case with me. I had no love or allegiance to that bastard. I stayed because my moral compass demanded it. I couldn’t live knowing I saved myself over the others. Every life had value. I believed that with every fiber of my being. I also knew I was strong enough to endure what many could not. I remained strong for them.

Until I fully laid eyes on my mate, I had already been dead inside. They couldn’t hurt me. Now, I wasn’t so sure, but I wasn’t going to show them any signs of weakness. I would do what I had to do to complete the mission I’d signed on for since the very first time help arrived, and I’d chosen to stay behind.

I fully believed the Raglan would find their demise. Whoever my mate was, he and his friends were getting closer and closing in faster. If they were the help that Jake had mentioned, then I just needed to hold out a little longer. Help is on the way. Those words had been my mantra since the moment he spoke them.

I tried to stay lost in my own mind while plastering a neutral expression on my face as Trevor set about trying to determine exactly what kind of shifter he was. Greggor was far too stubborn to cave no matter what atrocities Trevor performed.

His screams were unbearable. My eyes burned with unshed tears as I stood by witnessing it all.

I hated Trevor Daniels.

The only thing that got through was imagining their roles in reverse. I took sick pleasure thinking of Trevor being the one strapped to the table enduring endless torture.

“Shift!” he yelled.

“Never,” Greggor spat back.

Trevor was getting frustrated easier than usual. Greggor sensed it too.

“So what’s next? I can only imagine you take some sort of sick pleasure from tying up young boys to a table like this and having your way with them.”

Trevor slapped him across the face so hard that blood flew from his mouth.

“Shut up! Shut your mouth right now. You’re nothing. I am everything.”

Greggor laughed. “Only a man with a tiny prick would say that in a situation like this. Of course, only the lowest of humanity would ever put a child in a situation like this. You do know I’m not even of legal age of consent, right?”

Trevor was so mad he was visibly shaking. My gut churned. Greggor was taking things too far. Trevor despised being belittled in anyway.

“What? You can dish it but can’t take it? I’m sensing daddy issues here.”

Trevor picked up the scalpel on a tray nearby. I wanted to scream. I wanted to jump in to save him, but I knew that to do so was suicide.

I couldn’t watch.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

The door opened and Dick stumbled in. Who named their kid Dick in this day and age?

“Trevor, we have a big problem.”

“What?” he yelled turning to face the intruder.

Dick’s eyes averted his gaze as he stared at the floor. “My laptop.”

“What about it?”

“It’s missing.”

“Missing?” Trevor roared. “When did you last have it?”

Dick shifted on the balls of his feet uncomfortably. “At the last station.”

“In North Dakota?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Why the hell am I just now finding this out?”

“I assumed someone had grabbed it, but it’s not here. I’ve checked everywhere.”

“You’re telling me you left the laptop behind? It had everything on it. Everything!”

“I know. I’m so sorry. I’ll fly up immediately and retrieve it personally.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

Trevor turned and moved so fast that I didn’t even know what was happening until Dick slumped forward and was pushed back. The scalpel was still in Trevor’s hand and dripping with blood as it was ripped from Dick’s dead body.

He turned back to Greggor. The platypus shifter smirked one last time. Trevor yelled out in frustration as the already bloody scalpel was slammed into Greggor’s chest.

Greggor’s eyes widened. “I’m a platypus,” he whispered just before his eyes rolled back.

I stared in horror as the smile slowly faded from his face.

“No!” Trevor yelled as he started pounding on his chest trying to revive him, but it was too late.

I could feel waves of anger and frustration coming after him.

“What a waste,” he said shaking his head, then it was as if he morphed back into the cool, calm, and collected persona he tried to keep. When he spoke again, his voice was void of all emotions. It gave me the creeps. “Jake, use Vada, clean this mess up and dispose of these worthless bodies. I have to go clean up the mess that idiot caused.”

Trevor stomped out of the room. The others quickly followed, leaving me alone with Jake and two dead guys.

“Well, let’s get this over with,” he said. “I’ll be back with a cart.”

He left me alone in the room.

I walked over to Greggor and touched his cheek with my fingertips. “I’m sorry,” I whispered as a few tears broke free.

A few minutes later Jake returned. I quickly brushed my cheeks clear before he could see me. He seemed nice enough, but he was still one of them.

“We’ll have to move them out of here and bury them in the woods nearby. I can do it, just stay with me, okay?”

“I’ll pull my own weight, thanks,” I said as I grabbed Greggor’s legs and nodded towards his head.

Jake sighed. “You’re a stubborn one, aren’t you?”

Together we lifted the body and set it on the cart Jake had brought back with him. Next, we did the same with Dick.

I immediately began cleaning up. It wasn’t safe or sanitary to leave the blood lying around. It didn’t take long because there was a drain in the floor and Jake found a hose in one of the cabinets while I rounded up a bottle of bleach. In no time at all, the room was pristine and wiped clean of any evidence of the two murders that had taken place.

In silence we wheeled the cart down to the loading docks where Jake had appropriated an ATV that already had two shovels and some gloves waiting for us. Together we moved the bodies into the back before driving out of the building.

The second we were out of the warehouse I looked up in awe. The sky was a bright blue with only a few perfect, white, fluffy, clouds. My breath caught in my throat. How long had it been since I had last really seen the sky?

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” I whispered.

“Are you sure?”

“It’s just been so long since I last saw it.”

“Saw what?”

“The sky.”

An awkward silence stretched out between us like a chasm.

“How long?”

“I don’t know. Years. I can’t remember the last time I was outdoors without being shackled or locked in a cage.”

I couldn’t discern the hard set of his jaw. Was I making him mad? I couldn’t be sure, so I figured it was best to just stop talking.

We drove around for a while. I certainly wasn’t going to complain. These few precious moments, even with two dead corpses for company, felt like the closest thing to freedom I could remember.

“I think this looks good,” he said.

I nodded and jumped down when the ATV stopped.

“Here?” I asked grabbing a shovel from the back.

I wasn’t in a hurry to get back, but I knew better than to waste too much time.

“Looks as good as any to me.

I nodded.

“Be sure to check their pockets and remove anything personal. We’ll burn it when we get back.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll start digging.”

For the next few hours, we both dug a hole in the Earth big enough and deep enough to bury the bodies. When it was finally complete, I was wiped. My legs were shaking, and I felt like I might be sick. I knew I was severely dehydrated from the relocation, but not once did I complain.

“Hey, take a break. You’ve been going for hours.”

Jake went back to the vehicle and pulled out two bottles of water and then poured a pack of electrolytes in each one. “Here, you look like you could use this.”

“I’m not supposed to,” I said,

“Says who?”

“Says Trevor.”

That unreadable look was back as his jawline sharpened.

“Well, he’s not here right now, so that makes me in charge. Now drink. I can’t have you passing out on me, or then I’d have to do this all by myself.”

I nodded. That made perfect sense. I sipped at the cold bottle of water. It was heavenly in the heat of the day as my muscles burned from so much digging. I wanted to grin like a fool. It probably seemed like no big deal to him, but for me, it was probably the greatest day I’d experienced in years. Treats such as this didn’t come often, more like never, plus a rare reprieve in the great outdoors.

The fact that burying two men whom I’d just witnessed being murdered constituted as one of the best days I could remember was pathetic, but true.

“You keep smiling. Does this job make you happy?”

I laughed in spite of it all. “You have no idea,” I confessed.

“Come on back to work before they come looking for us.”

I nodded. I wouldn’t complain or cause any trouble. The feeling of the sun warming my skin was more than I dreamed I’d ever experience again. I would cherish this day and knew that it would help get me through the tough days, weeks, months, years, even decades to come. For me there was hope for a life beyond, only a few stolen moments of contentment, like this.

Jake started checking Dick for anything personal. He removed his wallet, keys, and receipt from his pockets. Satisfied, he lifted him into a fireman hold and carried him over to the grave we’d dug before tossing him in.

I started checking Greggor. A wallet, a piece of gum, earbuds no longer connected to a device that was no doubt already confiscated, and his passport.

I tried not to feel anything. I didn’t want to remember anything about what little I knew of the boy. I started to lift him, but Jake returned and stopped me. He hoisted him up with little effort and then tossed him into the grave on top of Dick.

“Sorry. I wish we had time to give you each the proper burial you deserve.”

Then he shrugged and started shoveling dirt on top of them. I joined in, helping to cover them. We once again worked in complete silence.

It wasn’t long before the water started to hit me. “Uh, Jake?”

“Yeah?”

“May I step over there to, um, relieve myself?”

Being at the top of the cages this time, I’d taken great caution to remove my pants before urinating on the drive here. I didn’t want to sit in my own pee or smell like. I was fully aware I still stunk.

“Yeah, of course. Go on.”

I froze. Was it a trick?

“Aren’t you scared I’m going to run away?”

“Are you?”

I shook my head.

He smiled. “Vada, go. Do your business. I’ll keep working here.”

“Thanks,” I said quietly.

Only a few feet away there appeared to be a clearing. When I walked over to it, I realized it was some sort of trail. I crossed it and squatted by a tree on the other side.

When I returned Jake was nearly done with the task.

“Uh, Jake?”

“Yeah?”

“We might have a problem.”

“What’s that?”

“See that clearing over there?”

“Yup.”

“Um, it’s a trail of some sort. The Earth is packed down like it’s been used a lot.”

“Yup,” he said.

“You know?”

He was standing over the grave and I noticed Greggor’s passport was in his hand. He dropped it down on top of him and looked up at me.

“Our secret?”

I nodded.

We got to work and soon the shallow grave was filled and barely noticeable.

“We should head back now,” Jake said, but he sounded a little sad.

He turned and walked away. With his back turned towards me I leaned down and brushed some of the dirt back until the tip of Greggor’s shoe was just barely noticeable. Then I quickly got into the ATV.

Jake drove straight back to the warehouse.

“Why did you leave it?” I whispered.

“They won’t be expecting it in his possessions and just maybe someone will find it someday and let his family know what happened to him. He was just a kid.”

I swallowed hard and nodded as fresh tears started to burn my eyes once more.