Total pages in book: 209
Estimated words: 196141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 981(@200wpm)___ 785(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 196141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 981(@200wpm)___ 785(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
It’s when the woman’s eyes meet Kyle’s that she nudges a guy next to her, and suddenly all the faces turn his way.
The moment Kyle approaches, one of them brandishes a metal tool—something fetched out of a cabinet, a scalpel. “Not one more step, you motherfucker!” he hollers out, trembling.
“Dude, he’s human, like us,” says a teenager nearby.
The guy squeezes his scalpel. “Like hell he is. He’s wearing a fancy f-fucking tuxedo. And his eyes look weird.”
“Your eyes are weird,” mumbles the teen back at him.
Kyle lifts his hands. “I’m just looking for my brother Kaleb.”
“Kaleb?” comes a woman’s voice. She quickly comes forth, a woman in a black dress, her hair half black, half white, pulled into one long braid, her skin pale, eyes striking and keen.
Upon seeing her, Kyle realizes she isn’t mortal, like him, but her energy is immediately trusting, no malice in her heart.
And upon seeing Kyle, she appears relieved, swatting at the others nearby. “Move, move … This is Kaleb’s brother. Blood 1025’s real older brother Kyle. Move, I said!”
“Older?” mumbles the guy with the scalpel, confused, until the group of humans part, nudging him out of the way to allow Kyle through. When he reaches the side of the bed, he finds his brother’s face covered from chin to forehead in bandages and gauze, only one eye showing, but it’s closed, and only through a slit in the gauze are his lips and nostrils freed, gently breathing.
Kyle fumbles for Kaleb’s hand, grips it tightly, eyes glued to his brother. Kyle can’t believe it now any more than he did when his brother was playing violin in a cage with a lion.
“It’s you,” Kyle whispers half to himself, in disbelief. “It’s really you … all grown up … my brother … my Kaleb …”
“The wound was bad,” says the woman whom Kyle presumes is Raya. “He collapsed as we were headed to free the prisoners.”
It hardly surprises Kyle, news of human prisoners here. His brother was one, apparently. There must be countless others.
“He will need round-the-clock care,” says a middle-aged woman standing at the end of the bed, her heavily-hooded eyes appearing tired, black hair tied back in a messy bun, voice hoarse. “I cleaned the cuts as best as I could, administered antibiotics, got him stitched up. He’s stable, but I can’t say one way or the other about that eye.” She sighs, shakes her head. “I think it’s a goner.”
“Thank you for s-saving his life,” chokes Kyle. He looks up at the one he presumes to be Raya. “Both of you.”
Raya waves him off. “I just got him out of the cage from an equally-abused and innocent lion. Mei here did the real work.”
The doctor, Mei, grimaces. “He’s got a long road ahead of him. Speaking of. Shouldn’t we get out of here while we still can?”
Kyle can’t resist clinging to his brother, scooping him into a hug. “Kaleb,” he breathes. He even smells the same. Somehow. Inexplicably. Is it Kyle’s enhanced senses, or pure imagination, that fills his nostrils with the unmistakable scent of home? “I have you … You’re here, you’re alive, my dear brother …” Then he sobs. Uncontrollably. The world is gone, all of it, every last remainder of it. He’s not in the House of Vegasyn. He is back home, time-traveled instantly twenty-seven years into the past, his thirteen-year-old brother, his overworked, studious, violin-hating Kaleb …
Kyle swears, here and now, for the rest of his days, he will never again take for granted this precious human being.
“Hey, you got somewhere safe we can hide?” someone asks. “No way in hell I’m gonna get caught and dragged back here.”
Raya lets out a huff. “Well, if the hundreds of others hadn’t torn off running wherever they pleased the moment I opened the lower cells, not trusting that I wasn’t there to drink them for supper—gross—I could’ve led everyone to the exit. I hope they find their way eventually. With all of the illusions breaking apart, perhaps they have a chance.” She pauses. “Of course, they have just as much of a chance of running into one of the bad ones.”
“Where are we going to go?” asks someone else. “After you lead us out of here, I mean. What will we do next?”
“Up to you,” states Raya too flippantly. “The streets of Las Vegas will not prove so helpful or sympathetic to your plight. I have no home or safe haven to offer outside of this place.” She eyes Kyle. “Do you know somewhere these mortals can go?”
He lifts his face from his brother’s shoulder, nods. “Yeah. Town in Arizona, some ways southeast of here.”
“And do you suppose this little town will have room for …” She performs a quick count. “… sixteen temporary citizens?”
“We’re not going,” blurts the guy with the scalpel, shaking his head. “I have family. 4 and I are heading to them after we get out of this place. Right, 4?”