Free Betrothed Episode One by Odette C. Bell Page B

suspicious, and
calculating.
    I had to
get out of here, and I had to get to safety.
    I pushed away, trying to make myself a small target as I
hunched my shoulders in and huddled my arms around my middle, but I
couldn’t control my thoughts.
    One
question kept impressing itself upon my mind. Was this the right
thing to do?
    Out of everyone in this entire universe, Mark Havelock was my
only friend.
    And he’d
kept asking me to trust him.
    Yet I’d
just run away.
    Was this
the right thing to do?
    I
couldn’t answer that. I had no idea what Mark was doing and no idea
what was happening to me. I had no idea why he was pretending I was
someone else.
    But
there was one thing I knew: I couldn’t go back down
there.
    I had to
get some place safe. Though the compulsion was gone, that fact rang
true in my mind, louder and larger than any other
thought.
    Now I no
longer had my implant, I couldn’t use the few universal credits to
my name. If I’d had access to money, I could have ducked into any
number of shops and synthesized myself some new clothes and
shoes.
    I had to find something else to wear; I was sticking out.
Everyone kept staring from my rumpled tunic to my bare feet, then
back to my face with suspicion. I probably look like I’d broken
out of the
hospital ... because I had.
    I didn’t
have anything to trade, and I doubted anyone around these parts
would help me for free.
    I just
had to get out of here. So I tucked my head down, and I
walked.
    ...
    Anna Carter
    It
didn't take long until I reached the familiar clean streets of the
diplomatic district.
    By that
time I was a wreck. It was also becoming impossible to stop the
stares. I was still dressed in my overly large white hospital
tunic, and by now my expression was haunted, my cheeks a sickly
white.
    If
someone hadn't called the security forces, they would
soon.
    I didn't
know where I was going, or at least my conscious mind
didn't.
    My body
kept pushing me forward, until finally I ran right into the back of
someone.
    They
were rock hard, and I bounced off their back, promptly falling on
my ass.
    Captain
Fargo turned. At first he looked concerned, but then his expression
quickly contorted with alarm. “You.”
    “ You’ve got to help me.” I latched a hand on his sleeve and
looked pleadingly into his eyes.
    He
looked shocked.
    “ I just ... I escaped from the clinic where they were holding
me. If you could call it a clinic. I ... I don’t know what’s going
on,” I stumbled over my words.
    He
pressed his lips into a frown and checked something on his wrist
device. “Escaped from your clinic? According to records, you were
discharged and sent to the nearest newfound institute.”
    “ ... That’s impossible. It wasn’t an institute – it was a
cell. They ... They kept running tests on me. And I ....” I
shivered as I locked my arms around my middle.
    “ You are confused. I will take you somewhere and get you the
help you need.”
    “ No, the only thing I need right now is for someone to start
listening to me,” I snapped, voice teetering on the edge of
hysteria.
    “ Why is that every time I see you, you’re harassing the people
who are trying to help you?” Someone said from behind
me.
    Fargo’s
expression slackened, his eyes drawing wide.
    I knew
who it was before I turned, knotted hair tumbling over my
shoulder.
    Hart.
    He
locked me in the same disdainful look I’d become used to. Though,
just for a second it crumpled with something close to concern as he
took in my disheveled appearance.
    “ I am sorry for disturbing you, your grace.” Fargo nodded his
head low. Then he took a step in front of me, as if trying to hide
my appearance from view.
    “ First it was your betrothal, and now it is the police.
Newfound one, you are granted a certain period upon waking to
adjust to this universe. But you do not mistake that as an
allowance to attack and belittle the people who are trying to help
you.”
    I felt
sick. But that wasn’t all: the pain