The Sanctuary

by Sara Elizabeth Santana

  She continued. “There was no way I was going to let you storm into this place by yourself. I wasn’t going to let that happen. So I don’t know what exactly is going on but we found you and we found the others so let’s take this stupid place down,” she said, her voice rising.

  Silence fell between us as her words sunk in. Her eyes fell on my handcuffs, and to my surprise, her face lit up. She turned to Bert, who had stayed quiet during the entire exchange – not that this was unexpected. She smiled widely. “See, I told you that axe would come in handy.”

  I took a couple steps back as Bert raised a large axe in his hands. It was red and I recognized it as one that would have been kept in those glass cases with a fire extinguisher. “I think that sounds like a really bad idea?”

  “You don’t trust me, Zoey?” Bert asked, a gleam in his eyes.

  I looked back and forth between the thick silver chain that was keeping my hands locked together and the axe in Bert’s hands. “I always trust you,” I said, swallowing hard. The two of them laughed and dragged me over to an empty table. Within moments, and after I had squeezed my eyes tightly shut, my hands were separated. My wrists were still encased in silver circles but it didn’t matter to me at the moment. My hands were free and I wanted a weapon.

  I wanted to kill Razi Cylon.

  “We found almost everyone else,” Kaya explained, handing over a gun that she’d tucked in the back of her waistband. It was a small handgun, just like the one I had stolen from Sanctuary.

  “Do you have anything else besides a gun?” I asked, anxiously. I didn’t always trust myself with a gun. Even after years of training back in New York, even after the training I’d received at Sanctuary, I didn’t feel confident enough unless I was able to kick or punch something.

  She patted herself down, before reaching for a large knife tucked in her vest. She looked so prepared compared to me. She had the appropriate Sanctuary soldier uniform on, and she carried several weapons. This was how someone was supposed to storm the castle. I sighed, reaching for the knife.

  “Anyway, we found the others. We were looking for you, and we sort of stumbled on everyone else. Luckily we found Liam first or we would have never thought to release the others. But we haven’t found Ash and Astrid.”

  The loss flushed through me. Impossible as it seemed, I kept forgetting. My hands folded into tight fists. “Razi took Astrid. I assume she’s alive, probably close to the doctor herself. She’s not letting her go.” I swallowed hard and looked away. “Ash is…Ash is…”

  I couldn’t bring myself to say the words out loud. I hadn’t said it out loud yet. It wouldn’t…it couldn’t be real until I said it.

  Kaya strode forward and wrapped me into a hug. Her tears were dripping onto my clothes but her cries were silent and when she pulled away, she still had the look of determination of her face. “He would never forgive me if I didn’t get you out alive. So I’m getting you out of here.”

  When we left the room and entered the hallway, I was surprised at the amount of people there. I was also surprised at the utter chaos that was taking place. There was a loud shrilling noise filling the hallway, as alarms went off. People in Sekhmet uniforms and Sanctuary uniforms were engaging each other and the three of us dashed across the slick linoleum floor to the adjacent hallway.

  Someone hard and tall collided with me and I nearly fell from the surprise. I felt arms wrap around me and I nearly collapsed with relief. I would recognize these hugs anywhere. “You’re safe,” I said, my voice low.

  “Zoey, I’m sorry,” Liam whispered back.

  I took a step back, releasing him. I didn’t want to talk about Ash. Not now. Not ever. “What’s the plan?”

  Kaya was reloading the gun that she had strapped to her waist. She looked up. “Our plan was simple: Get you the hell out of here and maybe take out a few of these assholes while we were it. But Tommy here says you have a plan to take the entire Awakened system out.”

  I made eye contact with Tommy. He, like the rest of us, looked terrible. Compared to Kaya and Bert, who were clad in clean, crisp Sanctuary uniforms, we looked like a ragtag group of misfits that had gotten lost and somehow ended up here. “We do. But we need to get into Razi’s office to do it.”

  “So we’ve heard,” Bert cut in, his deep rumble easily heard over the chaos behind us. “We’re going to tackle that while the rest of the force keeps the Awakened and the guards occupied.”

  I took the ammunition he handed me and tucked it in my back pocket. “How many of the Sanctuary soldiers are here?”

  She sighed. “Despite what Octavia thought, there were a lot more people at Sanctuary that were willing to fight. Most of them were people who had lived out here before everything had happened. They’re pissed. It’s not a full force. But it’ll be enough. We’ll take this system down and then we’ll make sure Sekhmet is gone for good.”

  She looked up at us and despite the soldier that had taken over, you could still see the Kaya I knew well underneath. She looked a little embarrassed as she continued. “Of course, all of this is unauthorized. She’ll be pretty pissed once we return…”

  Liam looked at her, his brow furrowed. “Damn, Kaya,” he whistled, sounding impressed. “But how the hell do you plan on making that happen?”

  She smiled devilishly up at him. “Trust me, we have a plan.”

  Kaya did a quick scan of all of us, making sure we were all armed and ready to go. Since we were all at least standing, I figured she approved. She nodded at Tommy and the two of them started leading the way down the blaring hallway. The alarms were distracting, loud and flashing and I winced with each shrill call.

  I couldn’t help but stare at Kaya as she and Tommy led us down the corridors and around corners, and through the minimal amount of guards left in the area of Sekhmet that we were in. She was so different from the girl I had met six months ago. She was sure of herself. She was confident. She was a leader. I would have laughed at the idea of going into battle with her months ago. Now I followed her without hesitation.

  We moved quickly. The corridors we made our way through were empty, except for the occasional guard. We knocked them unconscious and moved on. It seemed most of the fight was away from this section, which made me nervous. I was unafraid of what we would find when we reached Razi’s office.

  “Do you still have the key card?” I asked Tommy as we continued to make our way deeper into Sekhmet. Even though we were underground and there was no way of telling, I still felt the descent. It felt colder and more terrifying. I felt it in my bones.

  Tommy shook his head. “They took it as soon as they took us away.” He sent a sideways glance my way. “Zoey…”

  The hairs on my arms stood at end at the mere mention of my name and I shot him a dark look, trying to keep my emotions at bay. I couldn’t cry now. Not now. “No.”

  He looked like he was ready to proceed anyway so I continued. “I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t…” The sob caught in my throat and I swallowed it, feeling its descent all the way into stomach, where it sat like a rock. “I can’t. We have to finish this. I can’t think about anything else.” Tears were forming at the corners of my eyes and I swiped at them angrily.

  A hand enclosed mine and I found myself looking into Liam’s deep blue eyes. They were so full of emotions that it was hard to pick out just one. Hurt. Concern. Worry. Exhaustion. Determination. I loved this boy so much. I had lost everyone, but I had gained a new family and he was such an important part of it. “Let’s take this bitch down.”

  I nodded, feeling the rage and grief boiling beneath the surface of my skin. I felt like I was burning, like at any moment, I could burst into flame and take out everyone in this place.

  “Let’s go kill the bitch.”

  THE MAIN FLOOR was absolute chaos. We entered confidently and drew back almost immediately. The entire place was crawling with Awakened and Sanctuary soldiers. The fight had made its way onto Razi’s floor. My eyes zeroed in on the d
oor at the end of the seemingly endless hallway. I recognized it right away. I had been in that office. I had seen the true expanse of what this place was about from the woman herself, right in the place where she had created it.

  Now I was ready to go in there and take it all down.

  There was just the small matter of taking out the never-ending army of Awakened that were blocking our path.

  “We might have to split up,” Liam yelled over the noise. “Some of us should take these assholes out while the rest sneak into Razi’s office. “

  No one spoke up to disagree.

  “I need to get into that office,” Tommy pointed out. “I’m the only one that can take it down.”

  “I’m going with you,” I demanded, immediately. Several mouths opened and I put my hand up to stop them. “No. I’m going. I deserve it.”

  No one answered. Kris and Erik looked as though they wanted to argue with me but they must have seen the defiant look on my face, because eventually they nodded in agreement. We split the group up just as the Awakened in the hallway began to notice that we were standing there.

  Liam grabbed my arm before we split up. “Be careful. Come back to me, okay?”

  I nodded, afraid to use my voice. I wasn’t sure what would come out if I tried. And I couldn’t make promises that I wasn’t confident I could keep.

  It was going to be hard work to make our way down the hallway to Razi’s office. The Awakened were everywhere, their raspy voices shouting over the blaring alarms. They were coming out of the walls, the floor and the ceiling. There was absolutely no way we were going to make it through without having to fight.

  I was tired. I couldn’t remember the last time I had slept normally. I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten. I couldn’t remember the last time I hadn’t felt worried or anxious or scared and I was so sick and tired of it.

  I was so tired of living my life afraid. I wasn’t going to do it anymore. I was done.

  I dove into the fight. I forgot all about the gun strapped to my waist. All that mattered was my strength. All that mattered was the knife clutched tightly in my hands and the anger coursing through my veins. Each and every single one of these bloodthirsty creatures had been a person. They had been mothers and fathers and daughters and sisters and brothers. They had been people. They had taken my best friend, my mother and father, everything I had known.

  But it wasn’t their fault. They were exactly what that bitch at the end of the hallway had created. They were programmed this way. I didn’t believe for a second that they didn’t deserve to die but they deserved to die because they were better than this. They were better than the monsters they’d be turned into, just to serve one woman’s purpose.

  This was what was coursing through my mind as I weaved my way in between opponents, taking out as many as I could. I could feel their fingernails sinking into my skin. I could feel their teeth biting into my flesh. I wasn’t invincible. But I wasn’t going to stop. I was going to keep going. My body was a constant blur of motion as I fought my way through. Every once in a while, I would catch a glance of one of my friends and feel a sense of relief before I threw myself at my next opponent.

  Our progress felt slow and impossible. With each batch of Awakened defeated, a new one appeared. They were endless. When you turned a third of the population into an army of incredibly fast and intelligent monsters, you ended up with an army that was never ending. Razi Cylon had known what she was doing.

  We had to shut down the program. We could never hope to defeat them all. We had to shut it down. It was the only way to end this.

  I slammed my fist into the stomach of an opponent and she stumbled away from me. My knife sunk into her forehead before she even had the chance to recover. I wiped the blood splatter out of my eyes but it was pointless. I was covered in blood, my hands and arms, all over my clothes. Fresh blood covered old blood and I knew some of it was my own.

  There was no one around me. I had lost Tommy somewhere in the fight; I’d sworn he had been right behind me. I spun around to find a group of Awakened blocking my path to Razi’s office. They regarded me carefully. There was a tall, thin man in the front. He looked like he could fall over with just a breath of air but I knew better. Appearances meant nothing when it came to the Awakened. They were strong, period.

  “Get out of my way!” I cried, angrily.

  Laughter rumbled its way through the group. Not one of them broke their eye contact with me and I felt unnerved with so many of those blank eyes on me. There was nothing natural about those pure black eyes.

  “Now, why would we do that?” the thin Awakened asked me, casually. We might as well have been talking over a cup of coffee.

  “Because I will take out every last one of you if you don’t.”

  He laughed, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention. This was not a sound I ever wished to hear again. “You’re planning on doing that anyway, sweetie.”

  “True,” I said, shrugging, faking a confidence that I most definitely didn’t feel. Instead, the panic was rising in the back of my throat. There were way too many of them and I had lost my friends in the pack behind me. “But trust me, the way I planned is much less painful than the way I’ll be forced to if you don’t let me pass.”

  There was a long silence as they took in my words. I didn’t dare breathe or move as I waited for them to do something.

  Finally, one of them spoke. They were hidden in the back and I could barely hear their voice over the battle going on behind me, but I heard them.

  “I don’t believe you, Zoey Valentine.”

  My heart stuttered in my chest and I stumbled backward at the familiarity of the voice. No. There was no way. It couldn’t be…

  The Awakened that had spoken pushed his way through the group, until he was at the front. He smirked at me and tears flowed down my cheeks. I felt an ache throughout my entire body at just the sight of that smirk.

  “You won’t do it. You’re a scared little girl. You’ll always be a scared little girl.”

  The blue eyes I had once known so well were gone. Staring back at me were a pair of endless black orbs. Gone was the reassurance. Gone was the comfort. Gone was the love.

  There was no way that this could possibly be happening. I had to be dreaming. This was a nightmare. I was still in my room, locked up, waiting for Razi to come and impregnate me. This couldn’t be real. I refused to believe it. My eyes closed briefly but when I opened them again, the scene in front of me hadn’t changed. He was still there. He was still so very real.

  The grin on Ash Matthews’ face grew larger and he took a few steps closer to me, his pale blue skin glowing under the florescent lights. “Are you ready to run, Zoey?”

  I was going to kill Razi Cylon. She had killed my boyfriend.

  And she had turned him into a damn Awakened.

  Ash bent over in a crouch, like a cat ready to pounce. My heart pounded harder in my chest and I started staggering backward. His tongue darted out between his lips and he licked them, his expression hungry and dangerous. The look on his face was nothing less than pure, unadulterated desire. But this desire was different than anything I’d seen on his face before. He was going to kill me. He was going to tear me to pieces.

  I didn’t think I could stop him.

  “Run, Zoey,” he cooed at me. “Run, baby.”

  I didn’t hesitate. I turned and ran.

  ***

  MY SIDES WERE burning as I ran but I couldn’t stop. If I stopped, he would catch up to me. If I stopped, he would be on top of me and what would happen then?

  My running wasn’t graceful. I was soaked in blood and I slipped, colliding into walls and falling a few times. I could hear the hard falls of Ash’s feet behind me. I knew he could catch me easily. The Awakened were so much faster than a normal human and I wasn’t at my best right now. He should have been on top of me already. He should have me already.

  He was playing a game with me. He was he cat and I was
the mouse. I was a toy to play with before being devoured.

  “Run, little Z. Run, run, run!” Ash’s voice sang its way after me. This was not the boy I knew. This was not the boy I loved. Everything was telling me that I had to stop him, that he wasn’t Ash Matthews.

  But he looks just like him. It is him, I thought as I glanced over my shoulder and caught a glimpse of him. He was practically skipping down the hallway after me, looking unconcerned and unhurried. My lungs burned but I picked up the pace, taking a sharp right.

  This level was an endless maze of twists and turns. The rights and lefts were impossible to navigate. I had no idea where I was going and it would be so easy for him to cut me off.

  “Are you lost, Zoey? Can’t find your way out?” His voice was coming from all directions and I whirled around, unsure of where he had disappeared. “You know I’ll catch up to you eventually.”

  “Shut up, shut up, shut up!” I screamed, covering my ears with my hands.

  Ash’s laughter filled the air around me and it sent shivers through my body. It sounded so much like him but it wasn’t. His laugh was cruel and harsh, and that wasn’t Ash. Not at all. He had been a bully at times but he had never been cruel.

  He had also never been a bloodthirsty zombie before either, I reminded myself.

  I had to stop talking to myself. I was losing my grip.

  I’d idled for too long. A finger traced the line of my shoulder blade and I froze. Ash’s cool breath washed over the back of my neck. I had never been afraid of Ash, but at that moment, I was terrified.

  “I see your weapons, sweetie,” Ash whispered in my ears. His fingers left my skin and found their way to the knife clutched uselessly in my hand and the gun tucked into my waistband. I waited for him to take them away from me but instead he just brushed his fingertips over them. “Why don’t you fight me? You were always my little fighter. My little survivor.”

  There was a lump in my throat and I swallowed hard. The blood in my veins had turned to ice and I didn’t think I could move even if I wanted to. “I don’t want to hurt you,” I whispered, my voice shaking.