Barrel

3

A guard walked over as Barrel slammed a particularly stubborn chunk of wood. It split into small dusty splinters, flying in every direction like individual arrows.

“Whoa, pal,” the guard said. “Take it easy there for a minute.”

Barrel was holding the ax in his massive hand, frozen in place in an intimidating launch position. He slid his hazel eyes toward the guard, who had his fingers hooked into his belt loops with a s**t-eating grin on his face.

“What do you want?” Barrel grunted.

Barrel barely spoke inside the prison, so he sounded hoarse and darkly emotionless when he did. Every word he said was expressed for a reason, and if he spoke, you were either f****d or incredibly lucky.

With his head, the guard motioned behind Barrel, beyond the shattered logs and the chain-link fence.

“You’ve got some visitors,” he said, still grinning.

Barrel turned to the building where there were showers and a change for the forestry workers. While still holding the ax high in the air, he spotted a familiar silhouette along with two others he wasn’t so sure of.

A man who was taller than him stepped out into the hot sun. He wore a dark green T-shirt that strained over his arms, and slicked-back hair glistened beneath the rays. He walked with the confidence that Barrel had longed for, for a long time.

Trailing behind him were two women. One stirred Barrel’s blood like lava … General Nydia Anderson, the woman who ran the shifter prison, and came up with the concept of the implants that inhibited shifting.

It was Sergie’s fault that Barrel was in here in the first place. But it made some sense to hold even a little resentment toward the woman who kept shifters in inhumane conditions, right?

They approached him with caution, the second woman unfamiliar to Barrel. Cannon walked up without a care, holding out his smooth hand.

“I think you know who I am, Barrel O’Connor,” Cannon Dez said.

Barrel let the ax swing down below his waist and swing back and forth like a pendulum. He was looking at Nydia with a cold stare, his upper lip trembling.

Cannon looked back but continued to hold out his hand.

“I know what you’re feeling,” Cannon said. “I’ve felt it myself. But try to keep an open mind for a second.”

Barrel’s indifferent look slid toward Cannon’s. His eyes were as bright as was the whisper of a smile on his face. He knew that Cannon was the leader of the Elite Force that Nydia had created out of shifters looking to make a name for themselves outside of the prison. It was as tempting as a cold glass of lemonade.

Barrel raised his hand to Cannon’s and shook it slowly. Cannon was enthusiastic, squeezing hard and shaking like his hand was a slippery fish.

“So you probably already know what we’re going to say,” Nydia said, stepping forward.

She was wearing military-style jeans and a similarly shaded T-shirt like Cannon’s, always standing with her hands behind her back. She was attractive and fit with the look of a stern and dedicated woman.

Barrel gripped the ax in his hands tightly. For a moment, he felt a flash of launching the ax in her direction, chopping the General’s skull in half from her forehead to her bottom lip. But he would need to find a way to get rid of the implant if he broke free. He heard the legend of the one shifter who had tried and suffered life-threatening seizures because of it.

He nodded, spinning the handle of the ax in his hands.

The other woman looked more out of place but had a similar stern look that Nydia had. Nydia guided her forward, a look of anxiety washing over her face.

“This is Nora, my sister,” Nydia said. “Her daughter, my niece Eva, has disappeared off the coast of Okar. We know that you know the area well.”

The sound of his homeland being spoken aloud made his eyes twitch. But he nodded along, trying to listen closely.

“It would be purely a mission of recovery,” Cannon said, folding his arms. “I know you have a lot of experience in combat and such in the military.”

Barrel nodded.

Nora was watching him, her fingers fiddling together like flicking sticks. She suddenly took a step forward from Nydia, and Barrel was struck by her gall.

“Please,” Nora said. “She isn’t used to being in places far from her home. I’m worried she won’t survive there.”

Barrel turned away, letting out a subtle grunt. He didn’t give a s**t about some woman who was related to the General. It had nothing to do with him. But he also knew that Cannon and his team had been prisoners just like him and were released after completing their mission.

He turned back to face her. He had been hardened since losing his family, the only people who mattered to him, but he wasn’t made of stone. Her eyes were glossed over with tears, a pain he could easily relate to.

Barrel shifted his eyes back to Cannon, then to Nydia, who held out her hands to him.

“The answer is either a yes or a no,” Nydia said. “We will remove your implant, and once the mission is complete, you are free to go.”

He flicked his eyes toward Cannon, who had raised his eyebrows.

“It’s a great deal, man,” he said, bringing his hand to his heart. “Trust me.”

Barrel didn’t trust anyone, but that didn’t matter. He had to act for himself for the rest of his life to make up for the role he had played in his family’s death.

He had to find Sergie.

Barrel breathed in deeply and then brought his hand to his head to wipe away layers of sweat. He clenched his teeth, hating what he was about to do, but at the same time, thrilled to have a chance to leave the horrendous place.

“I will find your daughter,” Barrel said.

He dropped the ax to the ground and then proceeded to stomp past them. Cannon yelled from behind him, his voice sanguine and slightly irritating.

“We are thankful for you,” he called out. “We are thankful for what you are willing to give!”

Something felt cryptic about his statement, but Barrel ignored it, stripping off his soaking clothes and getting into the shower.