Chapter 43
For a few moments she was stunned into silence. The agent that had been stabbed had since gone still in a pool of his own blood, the red liquid expanding outwards. The girl turned back towards her, droplets of scarlet scattered across her cheekbones. Her face was not a familiar one, for she would have recognized her if it was. She had very memorable features, from the sharp nose to the saucer brown eyes. Not exactly pretty, but far from ugly. She had a rough, determined look to her, one not easily forgotten. Shay would have remembered this girl.
"Th…thank you." She stammered out. The girl nodded and extended a bloody hand her way. She took it, thankful for the assistance of getting back on her feet. "Why did you save me?" She made eye contact with her, taking note of the rings inside her chocolate irises. She's one of us.
"We're both Carriers- that makes us allies." The girl said flatly. She nodded, wiping away the blood from her nose and mouth with the back of her hand. "I'm Jess, by the way."
" I'm S-"
"I know who you are, Shay." The girl cut her off. "And I know why you're here. He's alive. I was locked up in the same room as him less than ten minutes ago."
Hope sprang into her chest upon hearing Jess's words- Carson was alive! She had her confirmation now. She bent down and grabbed her gun, ready to finish what she'd came for. A fresh wave of energy had been shot into her core, rejuvenating the fire that burned inside. Time for the grand finale, bitches.
"Where?" She asked sharply, her dark eyes connecting with the other girl's.
"I, I don't know."
Jess's words felt like a punch to the gut. She made a sharp intake of air, struggling to mask the shock.
"What do you mean you don't know? You just escaped, for shit's sake!" She shouted, taking a few steps towards her. Jess held out her switchblade in a defensive manner, the blood glistening in the stark lighting. She halted, eyeing the weapon with apprehension.
"I didn't look back! They were shooting at me and you were on the screen, they were about to kill you and Carson was screaming for me to save you! I ran out and didn't look back!"
"Surely you know which door you came out of!"
"I don't!"
Shay was silent for a few moments, panic beginning to overwhelm her. They were watching. If Yancey knew his agents had failed to kill her, would he proceed to kill Carson? She looked at Jess for a few moments then shifted her gaze to Axel, an idea popping into her brain. She limped over to him, struggling to ignore the pain that throbbed throughout her entire body, worse in her arm and head.
She crouched down by him, eyeing the wound again. The bleeding had slowed a considerable amount since she'd checked it last, even if the pain he was feeling probably hadn't. Jess was beside her a few seconds later, her puppy eyes looking him over.
Jess was twiddling the bloody switchblade between her fingers, smearing the blood away with her shirt. Axel caught sight of the weapon and his eyes went wide. He started scooting away, stopping when he jerked his leg the wrong way.
"Easy there, I'm not going to hurt you," Jess told him, holding out her free hand. "Any enemy of the pigs is a friend of mine."
"I like her already," Axel grinned, turning to look at her. She raised an eyebrow at him. He caught the hint, his cheeks quickly flushing. "In a platonic way!" Jess grinned.
"It's cool. I'm not stupid." She smirked back, a glimmer in her eyes. Shay cleared her throat, eager to break apart the flirting. He confessed his feelings for Marena five hours ago; whatever he was trying to pull now wasn't right. Such a polite way to remember her, Axel, she thought bitterly. Players never change, apparently.
"Jess, I need you to do me a favor." She said, locking eyes with her. "I need you to take Axel and get him back out in the lobby. Find Yancey's kid and help them both to the truck, Axel will tell you where it is. They're both wounded and it's not safe for them here- if Yancey's all that's left I can take him."
"Don't listen to her!" Axel cried, moving in protest towards her. "You don't know that Yancey's all there is! I'm not leaving you alone to fight another wave of agents, Shay."
She pursed her lips, highly appreciative of his loyalty yet disapproving of his stubbornness. If things were to go wrong she didn't want him, or Jess for the matter, to be there. Someone had to meet up with Katrina and the others, even if she wasn't amongst them. Katrina and Axel had the capability to fill her shoes. Would they do it? She couldn't know. Both of them behaved in such erratic ways it was impossible to tell. She could only pray that, in the case of her demise, one of them would.
"This isn't negotiable, Axel. You're wounded and I don't want to drag you along with me any further."
"Are you saying I'd slow you down?"
"No!" she snapped. "You can hardly walk, yet alone run, with that leg. If we needed to get away fast there's no way you'd be able to. I don't want to see you die."
"This isn't really my place, but she's right," Jess added. Usually, Shay would have made some snide remark about her including herself in the conversation, but the girl provided the necessary backup to an argument she was losing.
Axel sighed and his body relaxed, signaling he'd given up.
"You're so damn stubborn, Shay. It's admirable, but sometimes you need to compromise."
"Not this time, Axel. I'll be fine."
He rolled his eyes but complied, knowing there was no point in arguing with her. Jess hooked her arm around his waist and helped him to his feet, cringing when his arm brushed her bullet wound. She carried on nonetheless, assisting him in his limp down the hallway. She's tough. She might be a good addition to the group, if I can get everyone to embrace her. We need someone with Marena's mindset. She'll never replace her, but she'll be more than valuable to us.
She stood up and twisted the knob on the door closest to them. She went in gun first, prepared to shoot anything that came her way. She found nothing but a totally empty room.
She moved to the door across the hallway, finding the room exactly like the other.
"Are you kidding me?" She snarled, slamming the door behind her. Two down, four to go. She moved through the next two, finding large offices in each. Every personal object had been cleared from the room, leaving empty file cabinets and tarnished desks. This place had been cleared long before they'd arrived.
The next door was locked. She raised her gun and fired a few rounds at the handle, shooting it off. She proceeded to deliver a hard kick to the door, knocking it open with a thud. The door flew backwards, slamming into the wall. She rushed into the room, freezing moments after she stepped foot inside.
Bodies littered the floor. The one closest to her was the body of a girl no more than thirteen, her big brown eyes lifeless and wide. She could make out the rings around the pupils, a crude contrast with the darkness of her irises. A round hole grinned up at Shay from the young girl's forehead.
She swerved and turned back around, utterly disgusted. She'd counted eleven. Eleven people, presumably Carriers, all dead. There was no sweet aroma of death, just a strong sterile scent that burned her nostrils. No blood pooled on the floor or painted the walls. She'd discovered Yancey's dumping ground.
She stumbled back out of the room, her hand still clasped over her mouth. There was only one door left now and she wasn't sure she wanted to see what was inside. Would she just find another dumping ground, Carson's body in the center? She took a deep breath, struggling to calm herself down. Don't get your heart in your throat, Shay. Go in there and stomp some ass.
She shook her head and crossed the hallway, picking her way over the body of an agent. She tried the knob on the door, not surprised when it too was locked. This time there was a screen nailed to the wall beside the door, asking for handprint identification.
"Goddammit," she muttered, bending down to grab the agent's corpse by his shoulders. The man was much heavier than her and she struggled to life his weight, the muscles in her arms bulging with effort. She forced the body up against a wall, supporting it with her butt while g
rabbing his arm and slamming his hand against the screen. The scanner came to life, green line moving up and down across the curve of his palm. The screen released a series of beeps before the door came unlocked with a click.
Shay let the body fall and flung open the door, gun at the ready. She didn't take time to assess the surroundings, as a single agent was reaching for his gun. She fired a few rounds into him and he slumped over in the chair, blood leaking down his shirtfront.
The room was dark, the overhead lights turned off. The only source of light came from several security camera feeds, their glow turning her skin an eerie blue. She stood in the center of the room for a few moments, wanting to be sick. This was the last room. Carson wasn't here.
She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry out in frustration. She'd been shot, beaten, insulted and mocked to get here and it had all been in vain. Instead she remained quiet, slamming her weapon down on the metal desk and yanking the ponytail out of her hair. She felt it fall over her shoulders and down her back as she ran her fingers through it, struggling to keep herself together. No, no, no, this isn't happening! He has to be here, he has to be. There's no other place he could be, unless Yancey's run off with him. I checked every room, goddammit!
"Carson!" She screamed out, hoping somehow he'd hear her. Maybe Yancey had tucked him away, hidden him in a bunker or another concealed area. She was desperate now, not even bothering to look over the security feeds. She was convinced all hope was lost. I fought so damn hard for nothing. I'm sorry I couldn't save you, Carson.
She turned her eyes to the security feeds, just now realizing they might hold the solutions to her troubles. Her eyes skimmed over every one, looking for signs of life. All the officers were empty. The hallway remained littered with bodies of dead and unconscious agents. The main room was filled with familiar faces, Jess busy helping Selena to her feet while Axel kept guard, narrow back propped up against a wall. There was nothing else to see. Carson and Yancey were gone.
Someone cleared their throat. Alertness shot back into her bones, momentarily stomping out the distress from her mind. She reclaimed her assault rifle from the desk and twirled on her heels, scanning every corner for another person. She found the room just as empty as before, her only company shadows.
"There are feeds on the bottom as well."
Shay's body went rigid. She was unsettled now- she knew for a fact she was alone. Is that agent actually dead? She hurried over to the man's body and squatted beside him and checked for a pulse. She felt nothing thrum beneath the pads of her fingers.
"Miss Claire? Miss Claire, I know you can hear me."
I've lost my fucking mind, she thought as she stood up, biting back her nervousness. She followed the voice back to the screens, this time sweeping her eyes across the bottom rows. Most of them showed similar images- empty rooms and the carnage of the hallway, but there was one that broadcasted what she'd been searching for all along- Carson, and he wasn't alone.
Her eyes had found his face first. It was a natural reaction. The large, dark eyes and high cheekbones registered in her mind right away. She could know the face she was staring at from a mile away. Only when the hope had swelled in her chest did she realize there was someone else in his presence, a man looking to be in his mid-forties. He was hovering behind the chair Carson was sitting in, his arms crossed as he seemed to be staring directly at her.
The hope instantly became replaced with a hollow shock that went to the deepest of her being, butterflies in her stomach that just wouldn't settle. She'd never seen this man before, yet somehow she knew who she was looking at. She could tell by the slight smirk on his lips and the way he tapped his gun against his folded arm. Yancey.
"Can you hear me?" She said softly, loathing how soft her voice sounded.
"We can hear you just fine, Miss Claire." Yancey responded, his voice cool and collected.
"Then let him go!" She shouted, once again finding the power in her voice. "It's me you want, not him!"
"That's not true and you know it, Miss Claire. We want all of you."
"So I suppose both sides want to kill the other," she sneered. "But if you let him go I'll let you live. It's a fair trade, Yancey." Too bad I'm a liar.
"You can't get in here- look around, there's no door. I have you exactly where I want you. You'll be helpless to watch as I kill prettyboy here," he said with a smirk, wrapping his arm around Carson's neck and forcing his head against the muzzle of his gun. Carson threw himself backwards, the back of his head colliding against Yancey's nose with a smack. He returned with a quick butt of the gun to his temple, stilling Carson's struggle immediately. He let his head drop, a thin trickle of blood trickling down from busted skin.
"You won't do it. If you really wanted to kill him you would have already."
"Don't tempt me, Claire."
She slammed her fists down on the desktop, her knuckles white. "I'll give you one last warning, Yancey. You better let him go."
"He's not going to listen Shay, don't waste your breath!" Carson cried, only to be silenced directly after by another blow from the gun. She was forced to watch, helpless, as his willpower was slowly drained away. With every passing second she could see him getting weaker, see the slump in his shoulders, see the pain in his eyes. She was breathing rapidly now, the anger rising to drown out her distress. She would not just stand around and watch him suffer. I'm getting in there if it's the last goddamn thing I do.
Suddenly drowned by fury and frustration, she released a battle cry and unloaded several bullets into the walls and dashboard around her, not even caring about the damage she caused. If she was able to find a way into the room then it would be a stroke of luck she'd be overly thankful for- if not, well, no harm done. For all she knew she'd have the nerve to torch the place after.
"I've already told you, you're not getting in. M16 bullets can't break down a wall."
"Thanks for telling me where you are, dumbass."
"Shay, get back!"
She whipped her head around to find Jess, Axel and Selena in the doorway, a grenade in Axel's hand. Her eyes widened and she snapped her gaze back to the screen, horrified to discover Yancey had his gun jammed against Carson's temple. She sprinted back towards the doorway and threw herself onto the floor, too desperate to be furious at them for disobeying her orders.
"Axel, blow the wall out!"
He nodded and pulled the pin, throwing it into the room before Jess helped both of them to the floor. The four of them huddled together as the floor shook with the force of the blast, flame and debris shooting out from the open doorway. Somewhere to her right Selena screamed.
Shay wasted no time in sprinting back inside the room, gun at the ready. The front wall had been blown out, leaving a gaping, shattered archway into another room. Yancey was still standing behind Carson's chair, his eyes glued to the tattered remnants of the wall. She rushed forwards without hesitating, jumping up on the warped remnants of a desk and down into the next room.
"Drop your fucking gun!" she ordered, her aim honed in directly on Yancey's forehead. He didn't budge. "You heard me, Yancey! Drop your fucking gun! You have five seconds!"
He still didn't move. She readjusted her grip on her gun, eyes narrowed. They were staring each other down, taunting the other to make the first move. Come on; try to pull something you bastard. Give me an excuse.
"Five. Four. Three. Two. O-"
"Wait!" Yancey cried, suddenly throwing his hands in the air and dropping his weapon. She raised an eyebrow, suspicion rising. "You wouldn't want to kill me without knowing the truth behind the Blue Plague, would you? I'm the only one who can tell you why you're really a Carrier, Miss Claire."
She almost dropped her gun.
Chapter 44
Shay didn't speak for a few moments. Her tongue, usually so sharp and quick, was now heavy and useless. She had suddenly grown numb, her jaw gone slack and eyes wide. Carson's face mirrored hers, a similar look of numbness pressed into his features. Marena was r
ight. There was more to it than we knew.
"Bullshit." She spat, her jaw clenched.
"Don't be in denial, Miss Claire. You look like even more of a fool." said Yancey coolly, the slightest smirk present on his lips. He's toying with me. He's going to get my guard down and right when I think he's about to tell me the truth he'll kill Carson. I can't act stupid now. Yancey might be more fucked up than me, but we think alike. I would do the exact same thing. Kill him.
"I'm not in denial. There… There's no secret behind it." She stammered out, hating how unsteady she sounded. A man like Yancey could detect her doubts from miles away. If you don't even believe your own words he won't either.
"Your stuttering suggests you believe differently, and the look on your face only confirms it."
Her grip on her gun tightened. "Cut the shit, Yancey." She might be denying it, but her suspicions had only been confirmed. Genocide is organized, Shay. Marena's words were echoing in her mind, biting with a certain sharpness that stung her heart. She'd been right and she'd refused to believe her. She would never have the chance to apologize.
"That's where you're wrong, girl. I'm well aware of the depth of your knowledge about the Blue Plague, and I can promise you that, on the grand scheme of things, you know next to nothing. I can tell you, but if you shoot me now you'll never know."
He's manipulating you. Don't buy it. Conflicted, she honed in on his head, ready to pull the trigger and end it. It would end most of her problems by taking him out, but it would leave several questions unanswered. But don't you want to know the truth? Maybe he knows about a cure. You might be able to escape this. We might be able to be cured.
"Fine. I'll give you as much time as you need to tell us but once you're done if you so even reach for your gun I'll turn you into a fucking slice of Swiss cheese." Shay barked, never lowering her weapon. She didn't put it past him to pull something- she'd need to be ready for when it happened.
A victorious grin formed on Yancey's lips. She eyed him watchfully, waiting for his next move.
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