The Oasis Page 8

  The other laughed before he turned to the group and started to speak. “It is clear that this woman…” He trailed off as his head tilted to one side and he started seizing slightly. No one seemed to take notice of this and Lena remained quiet. “This woman was sent here to try to kill the free man.” Lena’s head shot up. The room was filled with gasps and screams. The free man. Was their leader the free man she was warned about? She looked towards him and he smiled as if he knew what she was thinking already.

  The room was in chaos as the leader approached her and lifted her off the ground, bringing her face close to his. “Is that true? What has brought you here?” he asked, hushing every else in the room.

  She swallowed as he let go of her arm and walked back towards his place in the center of his worshippers.

  She followed his movement with her eyes, not sure what kind of answer he wanted from her. Nodding behind her, she motioned towards her captor. “He brought me here.” She stood tall as she spoke, unsure of what kind of response he would have for her. Some of his followers hissed in her direction as another one stepped towards her. He slapped her across the face so quickly she didn’t have time to react. The cackling of laughter followed from the other men in the room.

  She spit out the blood that now trickled into her mouth. Straightening up, Lena stood at her tallest, hopefully displaying fearlessness. Although she was unsure what was going to happen to her, she wasn’t going to allow these men to put her down any further than she already was. She had survived this long, had remained untouched. The only hope she had was that the leader would save her for himself. She knew she had no chance with the thugs he kept around him, but alone she could perhaps outwit or escape him.

  “Who are you?” she asked, hoping to find out exactly what she was dealing with.

  The same man who had hit her initially stepped forwards as if he was going to hit her again. When she didn’t cower, he hesitated. “That’s enough,” the leader said. His voice was so low she barely heard him. The other’s hand hesitated and she defiantly raised her chin.

  “Master?” the other asked. Lena could see the sickness in his eyes. His eyes were clouded over as if he was so consumed by hate that the only thing holding him back was his master standing behind him.

  When the other backed up, Lena watched his master. He was a tall man. His skin and hair were clean and his pants were well kept. Not only did he not seem like a member of this group of people, he seemed to be normal. Suddenly Lena’s eyes widened. This man had some kind of control over these people. If she was right in her thinking, the free man was just that, a free man. The virus didn’t infect him. How he had managed to live among these people was a feat in itself, but to have made himself some kind of deity to them… Lena’s stomach roiled.

  Although the others had never given her much reason to like them, she had never considered taking advantage of them. This man’s ability—and willingness—to control these people was appalling. Lena sympathized the most with Rachel, and the other women who he had trapped in some kind of prison. Only someone who had become consumed with power could treat these people this way.

  The leader stepped close to her, examining her eyes, her posture, everything about her. Although she was afraid, she tried not to show it. He circled behind her, then placed his hand on her shoulder. She jumped slightly, unsure what was going to happen next. He turned her to face him and she looked in his eyes. He stood very close to her.

  “I am the free man,” he confirmed, smiling as his eyes wandered up and down her body. She felt repulsed. Not because he was unattractive; in fact, unlike his followers, he was clean and well dressed. His ugliness and darkness came from his desire for power, not from a disease that consumed him, as it did his followers.

  “Who are you?” he asked, leaning in as if he was smelling her. He ran his fingers through her blonde tresses and stroked them. Although her hair was crusted with blood, he looked at her as if she were dressed to impress.

  “Lena,” she whispered, unable to move. Her fear and anxiety had peaked as he stepped closer to her. “How could you do this to them?” she whispered.

  He stepped back quickly, releasing her hair. His face changed, his eyes growing darker. Lena thought he was as crazy as the others, even if he didn’t share their disease. “They don’t deserve this,” she whispered.

  “You are no free man.” Her voice rose in volume as he began to walk back towards the large men in the back of the room. “You are a monster!” she shouted, and the other people in the room got upset. To her surprise, the free man seemed unaffected by her outburst. Raising his hand to his followers, he silently nodded to them.

  Looking around, Lena watched as they all filed out of the room. Their silence and obedience startled her. She had never seen any of the others follow any kind of order, let alone obey silent commands. The free man leaned in close, his breath brushing her ear. “They follow my orders like dogs; they only need to be trained.”

  Tilting her head, she looked over her shoulder at him. His body was large and his authority more evident than she wanted to admit. He smiled with his perfect teeth, only reminding her of how much he devalued these people. Stepping away quickly, Lena panicked. “Please,” she called out to them, hoping to reach what little was left of their humanity. She had never tried to communicate with one of the others, but these ones were more organized than she had ever seen. “Please, he is not who you think he is.” No one responded.

  The men who left last were the large soldiers and her captor who had escorted her and who seemed to keep a close eye on her. It was evident that these were the free man’s soldiers, his closest men. Their bodies and mannerisms told Lena that before they had been infected they had once been a part of the military as well. Stepping in front of one of them, she placed a hand on his chest. He was tall, with blond hair and blue eyes. He wore a necklace, a cross. It reminded Lena of the one her mother had worn. “Please,” she whispered to him, her hand resting over his heart. The man hesitated, looking directly into her eyes. She prayed that he actually heard her and that there was some semblance of humanity left in him.

  He continued to stare at her. He raised his hand as if he were going to rub his palm against her cheek.

  “No,” the free man said calmly, breaking the connection that she held with the man. The other’s hand fell away from her face and he backhanded her, knocking her across the room. The free man’s laughter filled the room as the last of the others left the room.

  Lying down on the floor, Lena realized she was alone in a room with a very dangerous man.

  * * * * *

  Jasper stared up at the skyscraper before him. As he’d suspected, as the day wore on, most of the others had gone to sleep; the few that remained were in some kind of sleepy trance. A small man sat a few feet in front of him. The man had covered himself from the sunlight and hid in the shade. He snored while Jasper evaluated the best way to get into the building. It was apparent that there was activity up top and just a few hours ago he had seen a large outpouring of others from the building. If he wanted to go in, it was now or never; he just wasn’t sure how he was going to get to the top without being noticed.

  He had changed his clothes, rubbed dirt and God knows what else all over his body to hide his scent, but he couldn’t completely hide the fact that he wasn’t one of them. He was banking on the fact that no one seemed to look at him too closely as long as he played the part.

  He had never been this involved with the others and, even in the beginning when the change had first happened, he hadn’t hung around long enough to see in detail how it affected people. Some of his colleagues, specifically the scientists, had stayed long enough to determine the patterns, appetites, and aggressive behaviors that he had been told about. Unfortunately, none of those scientists lasted very long. Either the aggression of the early “test subjects” had resulted in their deaths, or they had gone mad with some infection of their own. It didn’t really matter. At that point, most of his
unit had dispersed in attempts to save their own lives.

  It hadn’t occurred to Jasper that one day he would be throwing himself into such a mess over another person. He no longer found any real value in his own life; what mattered was getting to the O.A.S.I.S. before it was too late, before the information that only a few people knew about was lost. Every day he worried about the knowledge he had about the virus being lost. It was a dangerous world, so to imagine himself running into some pretty hazardous territory for a woman he barely knew seemed a little suicidal.

  But something about Lena was different. Although she carried herself like she needed no one to care for her and had survived this long on her own when he found her, she had a vulnerability that he knew he could fill. He hoped that if she was in trouble she was fighting off anything that came her way, but he silently wished that wherever she was, she was avoiding that trouble and staying as far out of sight as possible. There was no question that when push came to shove he would defend himself and kill any creature that came near her. He was ready for war.

  Stepping over the sleeping form on the ground, he sauntered over to the building, covering his face as much as he could. He stepped into the dark knowing that Lena would be at the very top of the building…that is, if she was still alive.

  Chapter Eight

  Lying on the floor, Lena looked up at the face of her captor. She knew what kind of man he was, what kinds of things he was capable of. What she didn’t know was why. When she had met Jasper, after her initial fear and apprehension, she trusted him, even came to care for him. This man, she sensed, was very different from Jasper.

  The free man didn’t come near her, only watched her cautiously as if trying to decipher what she was thinking. She stared blankly back at him, knowing that any emotion she showed would fuel him. He was looking for something.

  Silently they stared at each other. Lena sat up, slowly lifting herself off the floor, her body beginning to ache. Her cheek still stung from the slap she had received earlier. Pushing through the pain, determined not to show any emotion or sign of discomfort to the free man, who continued to stare at her, she struggled to stand.

  He also showed no emotion. She suspected that he had learned his control over these people was on a deep level, and that the stronger he acted and appeared in their eyes the more powerful he was. Lena knew there were some people who needed to be shown power through violence, like the others she and Jasper had seen in the woods. One powerful leader, usually the most violent member, led those kinds of groups. Here, the free man had been smart in enlisting the strong men that he kept as his bodyguards. Although they were clearly strong and easily capable of violence, their intelligence and perception were limited.

  The free man, a normal man like Jasper, seemed mad with power. He had built this tower of power and found some kind of joy in controlling these poor people. It didn’t surprise Lena that she sympathized with the others. She had suffered as much as any normal person had, but she’d never thought of trying to live among them. It amazed her that this man had managed to create a society based around himself, as if he were some kind of a god. That was part of the reason she was so repulsed by him. He had lost his humanity in the process of trying to be something that he could never possibly be. He was a man destined for hell and Lena could only pity him.

  “Lena.” He whispered her name. His voice startled her, as he moved closer to her. Her thoughts had drawn her inwards, something she hadn’t allowed to happen in a long time. Looking around, she saw that aside from a door in the back of the room leading deeper into the building, there was only one way out of the room—unless you counted jumping out of the (very high) windows. That was an option that Lena had not yet resigned herself to.

  She stared up at the man with defiance. She hoped he knew that she wouldn’t give up without a fight, and deep down she hoped he realized that she knew who he was. A monster.

  Standing straight, she faced the free man. She knew the probability of her fear coming through was great but for now she clung to what little adrenaline ran through her veins.

  “So,” she said, turning away from him. He didn’t attempt to stop her, which only made her a little more worried. He either knew she had no way of escaping or he had lost more of his mind than she had initially thought. As she walked towards the window she could see how high up they really were. Her thoughts of freefalling to safety went out the door with her thoughts of running out of this place.

  “Tell me, free man,” she started again, afraid he knew she was only biding her time. Turning back to him, she saw how closely he watched her. Not watching her because she might escape, she thought, but because it seemed that he hadn’t seen anything like her before. She hoped, in a way, she could use this to her advantage. “How did all this happen?” She smiled at him, a fake smile, but she hoped that he couldn’t tell. Lena hoped that he had been away from women like her long enough that he wouldn’t recognize genuine emotion. Either that, or she hoped she was a better liar than she thought.

  The free man continued to look at her. He reached out and stroked her cheek as he sighed. He never responded in words, only headed back towards his throne.

  “Listen,” she said. “I know who you are.” He neither acknowledged that she had spoken nor turned as if he were surprised by her remarks. “I know what kind of man you are!” Her voice rose. On some level, whether emotional or physical, she hoped to reach him.

  Her mind suddenly went to Jasper. Her heart sank and she tried not to wonder whether he was searching for her or not. She prayed he was still alive. The thought of him dead seemed to make her heart feel worse than the thought of him alive but not looking for her. They had only just met, but she knew they were connected somehow. This whole thing couldn’t just be fate.

  She couldn’t have lived this long, lived through so much, only to be killed or worse by this man. Deep down, she knew there was something bigger going on here. Maybe this man had answers, maybe he only needed someone to reach out to him, maybe he knew how things could change. In all her time alone on her farm, she had never imagined a community such as this. Perhaps it was wishful thinking, but something told her that this community’s leader knew something very important.

  As he settled down in his chair, she was brought back to reality. “I know who you are!” she shouted again.

  He raised his hand to halt her speech. “You’ve mentioned that already,” he spoke at last. “So, please, tell me who I am. Maybe I have forgotten.”

  She was unsure whether this was a trap or not, but didn’t hesitate. She moved towards him, suddenly not caring if she would live or die. “You have become a madman.” She swallowed, keeping the exit door in her line of sight at all times. She had no idea of what kind of reaction she could expect from him.

  The motionlessness of his body gave her strength. She prayed that he needed to hear what she had to say. “You weren’t always this kind of man; your eyes tell me you used to be different.” She looked into his face, hoping she could see the look she was speaking of.

  His face remained firm and blank. In reality, his face seemed that of a man who had been drawn to madness ages ago, probably before all this began. She didn’t dare mention the fact that he was possibly one of the scariest people she had ever met. She swallowed and continued. “You were once like me, normal. Deep down you must have had some sense of compassion.” Looking around, she thought of the man he had become.

  The room was in disarray and there was clear evidence of blood on the walls. “It isn’t too late to reclaim that humanity.” She tried to pull her gaze from the bloody spots, her heart hurting for whoever had suffered such torment. “Your past transgressions are things of the past. You can move forwards, and together we can find a way to help these people. They are more than just…” she hesitated. “Zombies.” She cringed as she said it. These people had become insane, but she had never thought they deserved to be called zombies. “They are people who deserve to be treated with the same respect that
you and I deserve.”

  Lena thought for a moment and realized that was how she had survived so long. She always respected those around her. “Together maybe we can help them.” The free man’s command of the others made her wondered if there was still hope in helping them.

  Here she stopped, her heart racing. She had no idea whether he was affected by her speech. His face was unchanged.

  He stood gracefully, regally, and walked towards her. His gaze raked down her body and she knew what he thought of her. Not only did he not see her as his equal, he saw her as little more than the creatures he called his followers. He approached slowly, menacingly, and Lena did the only thing she could think of.

  She ran towards the exit. Her head told her that there were several guards, and they would in all likelihood stop her, but she wasn’t ready to give up so easily.

  She grasped the door handle just before the free man’s hand landed roughly on her shoulder. She desperately tried to hold on to the handle, to do anything with the little power she had to get the attention of anyone outside who might have a semblance of sanity left.

  But his strength was far greater than her own. She was ripped from the door handle and pulled against his chest. He quickly grabbed the back of her neck and dragged her toward the door beside his throne.

  Her thoughts of all the possible tortures she might be subjected to could not prepare her for what she saw when he opened the door. The room was clearly the place that the free man took his women. It was a filthy room with blood splattered on the floor. Chains hung on the wall and she only prayed that this would not be the last place she saw on Earth. There were so many things she wanted to see and do before she died, and being raped and killed by such a monster was not something she had ever imagined.

  He dragged her towards a bed that had been set up in one corner. She was thrown onto it, cringing as she expected him to attack her instantly. When his body didn’t fall onto hers immediately, she opened her eyes.