High Society (The High Stakes Saga #3)

My screaming did nothing to stop the bird. I began to hyperventilate.

The fowl victoriously plucked what was left of the boy’s eyeball from its socket and gobbled it down. A long, fibrous piece of tissue tore from the eye shell and dangled from the crow’s beak.

I panted, peeling my head from the ground with difficulty and looking down past my feet. Titus and Abram, if they were here, might never be found. Surveying the space around me with great effort, my eyes roved over a sea of dead men.

The familiar smell I’d noticed upon waking was that of death.

It was all around me, as far as I could see in every direction.

Chapter Two

Eve

“Here’s one of ours,” a male said, his voice as low as the lingering smoke. I turned my head to see who was coming.

Two young men were wading through the carnage, moving bodies aside and placing others into a rough, wooden cart. One had dark hair, one had light. For a moment, I thought it was Titus and Abram searching for me. But their voices didn’t match and once they turned toward me, even though they were backlit by the sun, I could see it wasn’t really them.

“You’ve found none alive?” the second man asked. His hair was red, shining brightly in the sun as he went about his task.

“Not yet,” the dark-haired boy replied, grabbing the arm of a fallen man and dragging him out of the way of the wheels. The bright haired man pushed it along, pausing to avoid the dead. They left the men wearing red coats on the ground and plucked up anyone wearing blue ones, their arms dangling lifelessly from the cart.

Whenever I tried to move, a pain streaked through my spine. It had been at least an hour since I landed. An hour I lay among the dead, among the crows, the smoke, the wind and leaves, and the silence that filled the spaces between.

I should have recovered by now.

What if I’m paralyzed?

I didn’t know if I should call out to them or not, and I lay there a few very long moments wondering what they might do if I did. But in the end, I needed help. In the end, they were the only two living souls around. I had to take the chance.

“Help!” I cried out weakly, trying to sit up and failing.

“Who is there? Show yourself!” one replied.

I raised my arm. It was the best I could do. “We’re on the way!” he yelled.

“I’ll just… wait right here.” Among the dead, wondering if Titus and Abram are included among them, or if I landed alone.

I knew I wasn’t back in my time. I didn’t know where I was or what war I’d landed in the middle of, but I never wanted to experience it again. Reminding myself that in our first jump, Titus had the misfortune to land in a bloated pile of dead plague victims, I told myself I’d be okay. I could survive this. The impact. The odor. The memory of the boy. The feeling of helplessness. Aloneness. Smallness.

The cart came closer, the front wheels squeaking under the weight of the dead. Both boys rushed to my side. The dark-haired boy sucked in a breath.

“What is she doing here? Captain’s going to have a fit,” the fiery one promised.

“You’d think she would have learned not to follow us by now. Maybe this will finally teach her, once and for all,” the dark-haired boy clucked, shaking his head.

“Please stop talking about me like I can’t hear you. I’m going to be fine, but I need help,” I gritted. “I can’t stand up.”

The dark-haired young man pursed his lips and wiped the sweat from his brow with a dingy sleeve. “Empty the cart. I’ll help you lift her.”

“Thank you,” I breathed. They placed the dead bodies back onto the soil and the dark-haired boy attempted to wipe some of the blood out of the cart’s bottom. Most of it had already soaked into the wood, but there were puddles where the seams were tightest.

The world spun as they lifted me up and gently positioned me in their cart.

“Not sure if you remember me. I’m William,” said the one with hair of fire, the one who gave the impassioned speech on my behalf. He shrugged off his blue coat and draped it over me. “Best to cover you up, Miss.”

“What?” Why would I remember him?

He took hold of the cart’s handles and lifted them up. Gravity pushed my body forward, farther into the cart. I tried not to cry as the cart bounced over the earth and rolled me through the sea of the dead.