Page 31 of Born to be Broken

How could one female cause such havoc? Corday was furious, looking down with a scowl at the suggestive image. At first he saw only rubbish on the ground; most of it wet from the sludge, and then he saw familiar eyes.

Naked, she looked out at him from the page, marred and damaged, but so fucking proud. Then there was her message… her goddamn message! What the hell was she thinking?

As he made his way to her, Corday passed people on the street who had their own copy, whispering the name ‘Claire’ amongst themselves.

Corday moved as cautiously as he could through the city until the mid-level byways spread out before him. The flyer crushed in his hand, past pissed off, he found the Processing Plant shut up, desolate and lifeless, just as the Omegas intended it to look. But a careful eye could see the sentry with one of the Omegas’ acquired automatic rifles guarding from the chute hatch. The way was opened for him and he went inside, barreling through the space to find Claire and shake some sense into her.

“Corday has made contact with the Omegas. No visual on O’Donnell.”

Shepherd and a team of twenty had already surrounded the clever home Claire had found for her pack. There was little view within. Even so, from Shepherd’s invisible perch on the building opposite, he and Jules could see the females mulling about in the dim space… but just like the Beta Enforcer scanning the room, they saw no sign of Claire’s raven hair amongst the herd.

7

Nona had been expecting the young Enforcer, and walked forward to greet him. “When you did not return, I was worried you’d been killed. Claire assured me you were not—said she could feel you still lived.”

There had been no chance to sneak off with Leslie demanding so much of his time. Three days he’d worked on translating the Followers’ written language. Every hour they learned more, but at the cost of time he needed to be with Claire. Had he been here, he could have stopped Claire’s lunacy. “Do you know what she did?”

Nodding, Nona gave a tired smile. “I do.”

Corday held up the crumpled flyer. “How could you allow it, Nona?”

“There is no stopping that girl now.” Nona gripped his arm, trying to get the boy to see what was right before him. “There is no stopping what’s coming.”

Corday cocked his head and had to agree. “You’re right. Claire unleashed a storm of trouble with this shit.”

“Corday—”

He didn’t want to argue with an old woman. Corday wanted to argue with Claire. “At least tell me she is here.”

“She is with the boy.”

Corday narrowed his eyes, teeth clenched. “What boy?”

“Her dead boy.”

“Oh…”

“She buried him in the compost pile out back.” When Corday shifted away, Nona gripped his arm again, stopping the Beta so she might speak her piece. “Claire only just returned. She is tired, don’t expect much.”

Not interested in wasting more time, Corday held his tongue, marching right through Omegas who were less than happy he’d called again. A reinforced door swung in, sunlight invaded, and there she was, head bowed over a freshly turned pile of dirt.

The angle of the building hid her from view, forcing Shepherd to shift from his perch and move like a shadow over the roof. And then there she was, still as a statue, less than thirty feet away, staring down at a small mound of snow-dusted earth. Captivated, Shepherd let out a breath, watching the Beta approach her.

It was as if she didn’t register Corday—not until the Enforcer shoved the flyer under her nose. “What is this?”

The Omega brushed the hair off her face, rubbing her skull as if it ached. “A picture of me naked.”

“Do you think this is funny?” Corday snapped, working hard to keep from raising his voice. “Do you realize what you’ve done, Claire? Everyone will know. There will be no safety in anonymity, EVER!”

She would not need anonymity, but she did need Corday to move. “You are standing on my boy.”

After a quick exhale, Corday stepped off the mound, pulling her to him. He hugged too hard, his voice breaking. “Your message… it is going to cost you any type of life. You will be hounded until the day you die.”

The Omega pushed away, sniffed, and wiped her tears with the heel of her hand. “I know what I did. I know you cannot understand, that our agendas don’t line up, but I cannot wait for the resistance to stop dragging its feet. There is no hero, Corday. There is no savior. Thólos has become hell, and I cannot even heap the blame for it at Shepherd’s feet. What has happened here, we did to ourselves. Either the citizens see what complacency in the face of evil has cost them, or they are all going to die.”

Corday pressed his hands to his face to keep his frustration in check. “Are you trying to inspire a revolution? You promised me you would not attack Shepherd’s men.”

Claire took his hands, pulling them down so he could look at her. She looked like death, exhausted, dark marks under her eyes. “It is not an attack on Shepherd. It’s an attack on conscience. It’s an attack on the people of Thólos.”