The door clicked, signaling it was open, and the scent of death that wafted from the hall caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand up.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Donaghy
As I waited for Dragon to get the door open, my heart raced the way it had before stepping into the ring. I had no clue how many cells were in this hall, but I had no doubt that Star had spent the last twenty-four hours making even more of his deadly pets. It might also account for why there had been so few guards outside the building. The asshole would do anything to make sure he came out of this victorious, even if it meant turning his own guards into these creatures.
A growl reached us before the door was even open, and my pulse raced faster as my body prepared for the fight. This would be easier than the others, or at least that’s what I told myself, because this time I had a weapon and people who had my back, while all the times I’d gone up against the zombies before I’d been alone and unarmed.
“Let me up there,” Angus pushed past Meg and me, moving to the front of the group.
“What are you doing?” Jada asked.
He shot her a look that said she was an idiot. “They get a bite outta me and I’ll be fine. Can you say the same?”
That shut her up, and it suddenly occurred to me that I should be up there too. I wasn’t immune like Angus, but I was already dying. Everyone else here had a chance, and it wasn’t fair for me stand back and let them go first. Not even the crazy robed guys the High Priestess had sent with us.
“I’m coming with you,” I said.
I didn’t look at Meg before pushing past the people in front of me because I was pretty sure it would change my mind.
“Donaghy, don’t.” Her protest made my steps falter, but I forced myself to move.
Angus’s gaze met mine and I said, “I’m dead anyway.”
“There ain’t nothin’ in this life that’s a sure thing, you know that don’t you?”
“I know that the people behind me aren’t going to drop dead tomorrow if they make it out of here,” I replied.
Angus nodded. “Fair ‘nough.”
Meg said my name again, but it was barely audible over the growls from the hall. Now that I was right outside the cracked door, the smell made my eyes water. I adjusted my grip on my gun, wishing that my palms weren’t so moist, but there was nothing I could do about it because at that exact moment Angus ripped the door open.
The hall looked nothing like it had the last time we were here, because now it was crowded with the dead. It took one look around to see that the doors to the cells had been thrown open to let them out, but just like I’d thought, there were more zombies than there were rooms. Dozens more, and many of them were still wearing their uniforms.
I lifted my gun as the dead moved our way and nodded past them to the end of the hall. “He’s got to be in the last cell.”
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Star had locked himself in the room furthest from us. That’s why he’d allowed the dead to leave their cells. He’d created a gauntlet of zombies that anyone looking for him would be forced to run.
“Let’s move,” Angus growled just before he squeezed the trigger.
The crack of gunfire made my ears ring, but the head of the nearest zombie exploding made it worthwhile. I took aim and fired too, and yet another body dropped to the ground. Angus and I moved forward side by side as the dead advanced. Most were newer strains that changed the person faster, which meant they were also quick and more calculating than the zombies who’d been infected by the older strains of the virus. It blew my mind how quickly these creatures were able to change their tactics. How they zigzagged through the hall like they were trying to make it more difficult for us to take aim, how they moved lower like they were trying to avoid the bullets, and how insanely fast they were.
More people stepped into the hall behind us, but I was too focused on firing to see who it was. Bursts of gunfire joined ours, and the dead fell, but more came. They seemed to pour out of the open cells at the back of the hall, one after the other after the other in a never-ending procession. Either Star had pulled people from the city yesterday and injected them, or he’d had his guards collect the injured and zombies from the streets before he’d infected them as well. Whatever had happened, there had to be nearly fifty zombies in front of us.
“Too many,” Jim said from my right.
I fired faster as I stepped forward, trying to make room for the rest of our group even though every nerve in my body begged me to shut the door so Meg couldn’t step in. Somehow, even without looking, I could sense it when she’d walked in behind me, and it made my pulse race faster, made me fire more rapidly, made beads of sweat break out across my body.
The zombies dropped steadily, none of them getting close enough to make it within five feet of us. The growing number of motionless bodies littering the floor helped slow them as well, but even that obstacle wasn’t enough to stop one of them. I caught a flash of him as he dodged behind others, using his less intelligent brethren as shields so he could weave his way through the hall to us. I stepped forward and knelt and shifted, trying to get better aim, knowing that he was a hybrid just like the one I’d fought in the ring. Knowing how strong and agile and intelligent he was.
No matter how I angled my body, I couldn’t get a good shot, and then he was there, swooping around the handful of zombies separating us and charging right for me. The shriek he let out seemed louder than the gunfire, and even when a bullet hit him in the arm, he didn’t slow.
I only had a moment to register that it was Meg’s crewmember, Matt, before he slammed into me. My gun went flying, skittering across the floor, and I crashed to the ground. My already injured ribs throbbed, but I’d been here before. Head to head with a creature that had no business living, hurt and unarmed, desperate to fight so I could live to see another day.
He was on top of me, snapping his teeth as he fought to get closer. I let out a sound that was halfway between a growl and a shout as I held him off, putting every ounce of energy into it and throwing him back. The zombie hit the wall, but he was up in a second and headed back my way. Only I was ready, and before he could take me down I rammed my shoulder into his stomach and slammed him back against the wall a second time.
The hybrid shrieked again and fought, but I pressed him back, using all my strength to hold him in place as I grabbled for the knife at my waist.
He was too strong though, and I found my grip slipping, found that my ribs were throbbing more than they had been before, found that the tingle I’d been feeling all day now made my legs shaky and my arms feel weak and nearly useless.
One more shove and he had me on my back, and I knew even as I tried to shove him off that I wouldn’t be able to succeed this time. That the injuries I’d sustained at Jackson’s hands were too much and the bacteria that was in the process of eating my brain had taken too much out of me. This creature was going to win.
A shot rang out and the zombie’s head jerked back as blood sprayed across the wall behind him. He dropped to the floor and I twisted around so I could see who had taken the shot. Meg stood over me, her gun still pointed at the creature even as her gaze scanned me for injuries.
“Are you okay?” she asked, kneeling at my side.
I swallowed so I could find my voice and then said, “I’m okay.”
I tried to get up, but I found that my legs were wobbly and weak. Meg frowned as she tucked her gun away and moved to help me, and I hated that I needed it, but I did.
The shots had died down, and when I was back on my feet I saw that only three zombies were left standing. Jim and Jada fired almost simultaneously and two more went down, leaving only one. Angus was already moving toward the thing, already putting his gun away as he did. He pulled a knife when he was still two feet away and the thing growled. It was an older zombie, decayed and slow, and it took almost no effort on Angus’s part to sink his blade into the thing’s brain.
The air
in the room was thick with the smell of death and gunpowder, and the floor was littered with bodies, but we’d succeeded. I looked around, surveying the people who had come with our group, and found the daughter of the High Priestess on the floor with one of her men. The sleeve of his robe was ripped open and blood pooled on his skin, as dark as the fabric draped over his body.
Dragon knelt at his side. “If we move now, there still may be time to get you the vaccine.”
The man shook his head and pushed himself to his feet, forcing Dragon to stand too. The priestess’s daughter did as well, her gaze moving over the room to Angus.
“If he is meant to live, Angus will save him,” she said.
“You were given the vaccine when you were bitten,” Meg pointed out. “Why deny someone else?”
The woman’s gaze moved to Meg. “That was before the resurrection. Now that our savior is back, we must not be dependent on the drugs of man. If he has enough faith, God will heal him.”
Angus, who had been in the middle of picking his way down the hall, paused so he could look over his shoulder. But I didn’t get a chance to see his expression, because all of the sudden my legs wobbled and my heart sped up, and before I knew it I was going down.
Chapter Thirty
Meg
Donaghy went down so suddenly that it took me a second to register it. I dropped to my knees at his side, reaching for him as if I would be able to change his fate even though there was nothing I could do for him. There was nothing anyone could do for him, not anymore.
“What is it?” I gasped.
He shook his head as if to tell me there was nothing wrong, but the beads of sweat on his forehead told a different story. “Just my ribs. They were bad after Jackson got ahold of me and I think that bastard made them worse.”
Donaghy nodded to the hairless zombie I had just shot, the one that had at one time been Matt, but the way he avoided my gaze told me he was lying. Or at least not telling the whole truth. It was the bacteria.
Behind me, the others were moving down the hall, following my uncle who was already past the piles of bodies and had stopped in front of the last cell. I looked from him to Donaghy, feeling torn about what to do. He was hurt, but I wanted to be there when Star died, I wanted to see it with my own eyes so I could sleep at night and never have to wonder whether or not he’d really taken his last breath.
“Go,” Donaghy said. “I’ll be okay.”
I slipped my hand into his for a moment, ignoring how clammy it was, and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’ll be back. Hang in there.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he grunted out.
I ignored the twist in my gut that reminded me that wasn’t true and got to my feet. The beep of the keypad told me that Angus was already typing in the code and I wanted to run so I could be there, so I could see Star, but the bodies littering the floor made it impossible to move too quickly. It was like an obstacle course, and I had to hop over them or take wide steps so I didn’t trip.
By the time I’d reached the others, Angus had the door open and was already inside. No one else had moved, and I pushed past Jim and Jada so I could see what was happening. Al and Parv stood closest to the glass, but Dragon was there as well and I could tell that he was itching to get his hands on Star too. Not that he would steal this moment from Angus. We all knew my uncle deserved to be the one to take Star out.
I looked into the room to find Star standing in the middle of the floor, a gun in his shaky hand. It was pointed at Angus, but that didn’t stop my uncle from stepping closer. I almost called out, almost told him to stop, but I knew it was no use because nothing could stop him now. Plus, I also knew—just as well as my uncle did—that Star would hesitate before killing his favorite test subject.
“Stop,” Star yelled, his voice so shaky that it didn’t sound the least bit like him.
“You ain’t gonna shoot me,” Angus said, his calm tone contrasting with the terror that dripped from the other man’s. “You and I both know that, so why pretend?”
Star shifted his aim so the barrel was pointed past my uncle, but he must not have been able to see any of us through the barely cracked door, because it was only seconds before he was once again aiming at Angus.
“Why not?” he said, “I’m dead anyway.”
Angus took a step closer to him. “You’re right ‘bout that.”
Star squeezed the trigger without warning and the crack of the gunshot was so loud that it made my body jerk. His aim was wide though, and the bullet hit Angus in the arm, ripping across the tattoo on his bicep in a burst of red. He grunted in pain even as he lunged at Star, and the smaller man barely had time to look surprised before my uncle had slammed into him and he was on the ground. He ripped the gun from Star’s hand and threw it aside. It clattered across the floor, sliding under a chair and out of sight.
Angus James sat on top of the once confident scientist, staring down at the man who had destroyed not only our family and the entire world, but who had held him prisoner for twenty years, who had tortured him, tortured his daughter, and killed the woman he loved. Until now I’d never thought of myself as a twisted person, but standing there at that moment, watching through the glass, I felt an overwhelming need to know that Angus was going to make Star suffer. To witness it, to hear his screams, to listen to him beg for mercy, to see his blood pool on the floor as the life drained out of him.
“I been dreamin’ ‘bout this moment for twenty years,” Angus said, his gaze trained on Star. “Thinkin’ ‘bout what I’d do if I got my hands on you. Not just you, but your son too.” He paused and the corner of his mouth turned up. “I didn’t get the pleasure of rippin’ his throat out, but I gotta tell ya, seein’ his blood on the floor felt damn good.” He leaned closer and lowered his voice. “But not as good as hearin’ his screams did.”
Star squirmed and his face grew red, but he pressed his lips together as if trying to stop the words from coming out of him.
Angus lifted his eyebrows. “I know what you’re thinkin’ right now. You’re thinkin’ you ain’t gonna give me the satisfaction of listenin’ to you beg for your life. I know because I know you. I been watchin’ you come and go for twenty years, seen what you’ve done to people. How you’ve tortured ‘em, killed ‘em, used ‘em. You think that just ‘cause I was locked in a cell I wasn’t really a part of it, but I was. More than you know.” Angus paused and held Star’s gaze. “See, I’m the reason your most trusted scientist turned against you. Jane wasn’t just tryin’ to save our daughter that day. She was tryin’ to save me too. She loved me—” My uncle’s voice broke and he had to swallow before he could go on, but once he did his words came out steady and clear. “Which is why she told me all ‘bout the failsafe, why she betrayed you, and why she made it look like our daughter was dead even though she ain’t.”
Star’s eyes went wide. “She’s alive?”
Angus gave the man a little grin as he nodded. “She is, and I’m gonna make sure she stays that way.”
His smile faded as he slid his hands around the other man’s neck. Star bucked and scratched at the fingers trying to squeeze the life out of him, but Angus’s grip was too tight, too strong. There was no way he could get free. I moved closer to the glass, my gaze focused on Star’s panicked face. It grew red and his eyes doubled in size as terror set in, and then the color slowly morphed until his skin had a slightly blue tint to it. His mouth opened and closed, his nails dug into Angus’s flesh until they drew blood. His feet skittered against the floor like he was trying to flee, but my uncle never eased up, never blinked, and never took his eyes off Star’s face.
When Star finally stopped moving and his hands went slack, it felt like everyone around me let out a collective sigh of relief. Angus’s grip loosened, and he slid off the body of the man who’d tortured him for twenty years, but he didn’t look away or make a move to leave. No one else did either, and even though there was a definite feeling of relief inside me, there was something else
as well. Confusion and disappointment, and a sense that we had all been robbed. This wasn’t how I’d thought it would end. I had anticipated blood, pain, screams, but not this. Not this quiet death. Star had deserved more than this for all the sins he’d committed, all the people he’d killed and plotted to kill, he had deserved to suffer.
Parv was the first to move, and when she walked into the room and knelt at my uncle’s side, I expected her to yell at him or hit him, to tell him that he’d robbed us all of our chance for revenge. Only that wasn’t what happened. Instead, she hugged him.
“It’s over,” I heard her say. Her words were so soft that I could have convinced myself I’d been mistaken if it wasn’t for the next thing out of her mouth. “We did it.”
How? Of all the people, of all the pain, my aunt had been the one to hold onto her hatred harder than even Angus. She’d had a family stolen from her, a baby and the chance to ever have another one, and then her husband as well. How could she think this was justice?
I moved before I could think better of it, pushing past Al and stumbling into the room, suddenly so blinded by my own rage that I felt like the whole place had been dipped in red.
“Why didn’t you make him suffer more?” I asked, surprised by the way the words shook when they came out of me but unable to stop. “You made it too easy. After everything he’s done, how could you let it end like this?”
My aunt pulled away from Angus, but her hand was still resting on his shoulder when they turned to look at me. The emotion in their eyes nearly took my breath away, because it wasn’t just pain anymore. It was a sense of deep relief that I couldn’t understand because I couldn’t feel the same way. Not after this.
Twisted World Series Box Set | Books 1-3 & Novella Page 96