The Beyond: Dystopian Survival Fiction (The Breeder Files Book 4) by Eliza Green (best ebook reader for surface pro TXT) 📕

been in the Region for a year, her memories of Jason and her parents were the most precious to her. And by gaining her other memories back, she would learn why she’d entered the Region in the first place, and what she and her family had left behind. That scared her.

She anchored her hands on the arm rests, ready to get up. Only ten minutes remained of the session and the therapist was repeating the same, tired material.

‘Can we end the session early?’

The therapist cocked her head a little. ‘I heard you spoke to your Copy medic, the one who helped you to escape the medical facility where you were kept prisoner.’

Anya sighed. Okay, they weren’t done.

‘I did.’

‘How did it go?’

‘She didn’t recognise me.’

The Copy formerly called 118-C had been wiped and implanted with a new personality. Gone were her hard edges, replaced with a softer, chattier version laden with apologies for whatever she’d done in the past. Trouble was she couldn’t remember it. Not her help and defiance against the city. Not her help getting Jacob, Charlie, Vanessa, Thomas and Carissa through to the Beyond.

But Anya had thanked her anyway, because doing so felt like concluding that traumatic part of her life.

‘Do you feel at peace with it—with your time in the medical facility?’

She did. ‘I’m ready to move on, to put that place behind me.’

The therapist eyed her. ‘Including the Region?’

Anya hesitated. Was she done with it? She smiled and nodded.

The therapist uncrossed her legs and stood up. ‘That concludes our sessions, Anya.’

She proffered a hand and Anya shook it slowly from her seat.

‘We’re done?’

She nodded. ‘I see no reason to keep you here.’

Anya stood. Had her agreement to turn her back on the Region ended her sessions? If only she’d known that ten days ago.

‘Thanks for your time,’ she said to the therapist.

‘Good luck with everything.’

A crash against the wall of the next room startled her, as if someone had thrown something. The therapist rushed to the door and opened it. Anya followed to see a smiling Sheila coming out of the next room. Her therapist, an older woman, was glaring at her.

‘You are the most frustrating...’ The older woman tugged on her hair. ‘I don’t want to see you back here again.’

‘Fine by me,’ said Sheila. She gave her a short wave. ‘Buh bye then.’

Anya’s therapist went to check on the older woman. Anya saw shattered glass on the floor. Sheila’s eyes crinkled when she saw Anya. She hooked arms with her and walked her out of the building fast.

‘Come on, before they haul my ass off to some lab.’

‘What the hell happened, Sheila?’

‘Oh that?’ She waved her hand in the air. ‘I may have tried reverse therapy on my therapist.’

Anya blinked. ‘What?’

‘When she asked me how I was coping with my parental loss and this place, I asked her why she was hiding her kinky fetish for dressing up like a school mistress and whipping her lovers.’

Anya pulled her to a stop outside. ‘You said what?’

Sheila squeaked. ‘How was I supposed to know I got it right?’

Imogen waited outside. Sheila unhooked her arm and went to her, planting a sweet kiss on her lips.

‘I see you’ve been up to no good again,’ said Imogen.

Sheila glanced back at the building. ‘I think my sessions might be over.’ She sighed. ‘I blame my psychologist parents for teaching me so well.’

‘Hey, Anya,’ said Imogen. ‘Do you and Dom want to come over for dinner tonight?’

Anya smiled. ‘Thanks for the offer, but we’ve got plans. Tomorrow, though?’

‘Yeah, let’s do it.’

Sheila added. ‘We should get everyone back together. You know, the whole gang. It’s been too long since I’ve seen everyone.’

After leaving the base, their group had been split up and sent to different accommodations in different parts of the city.

‘Yeah, I’d like that. I know Dom would, too.’

Sheila’s head turned. ‘Speaking of which... lover boy is here.’

Anya’s heart kicked up when she saw Dom approach. He was dressed in plain, black trousers and a plum-coloured shirt. His hair had been cut recently—by Charlie, she assumed—and he wore the sexiest smile.

‘Hey,’ he said, planting a soft kiss on her lips.

‘Hey back.’ A feeling stirred low in her belly. ‘Hungry?’

‘Sure. How did your session go?’

‘I’m done. You?’

‘Yeah. I guess I’m not certified crazy.’

‘So, I know a little place, just off Chinatown...’

‘Actually’—Dom held up a silver card—‘I got the keys to our new place.’

‘What?’ Agatha had promised them a new apartment, but the place had been occupied. ‘It’s ready?’

‘Yep. Wanna go see it?’

Ω

Dom opened the door with a brushed-silver card that reminded Anya of the ones used to operate the lift in Arcis. She wondered how much tech Quintus had borrowed and recreated in the Region.

He opened the door and her eyes widened.

‘Oh my God...’ She turned around in the space. ‘It’s huge!’

A large window covered one wall, offering them a view of the city and the darkness that was befalling it. Multicoloured lights twinkled softly in the distance. A large, white sofa sat with its back to the huge window. A bed was positioned in one corner of the space. There was no privacy. But with only the two of them living there, she didn’t mind.

‘What do you think?’

Dom’s brow held a crease. Anya realised it might be a permanent one that could never be erased.

She wandered away from him, running her hand over the smooth, metal counter in the kitchenette, seeing more than a little resemblance to the unit in Essention with its grey-and-white scheme. She shivered, then hugged herself.

‘You don’t like it?’

She turned. ‘No, I do. It’s just...’

He stepped closer to her. ‘Just what?’

‘I never expected