by Elodie Colt
Cassie came to my aid and landed a blow on his neck with her staff, followed by a rough shove that made his head kiss the wall with a sickening crunch. After he’d landed on the ground, Cassie placed a foot under his ribs and rolled him on his back. We quickly patted both guards down, searching for anything useful.
“Guns,” I exclaimed in surprise as we both fished out a pistol.
“Yeah, but without additional ammunition,” Cassie uttered after checking the number of bullets in her weapon. I stared at mine, dumbfounded, having no clue how to handle that thing. Cassie took it from me examining it. “Forget this one. This looks like it has never been cleaned before… rusty through and through.” She tossed it carelessly over her shoulder. “This one might be useful, though,” she added, showing me the switchblade she’d found.
The guard I’d dealt with had a package of cigarettes along with a lighter with him. I took both.
“You smoke?” Cassie asked in surprise.
“No, but I might think about starting,” I muttered. Who knew how long we would be out there wandering through the wilderness? I’d prefer a bottle of booze as company or maybe even a joint from Scott, but my options were rather limited.
Shouts rang out coming from the stairs, and we knew our escape wasn’t a secret any longer.
“Hurry,” Cassie urged me on. She didn’t need to tell me twice.
We bolted through the door leading into a dark, narrow tunnel, forcing us to run in a single line. The only light came from the end, and my heart sped up at seeing daylight streaming in from above.
We reached a rusted metal ladder and climbed up fast, hearing the guards coming closer. On top was a heavy trap door, and I prayed to God our door to freedom wasn’t locked. It gave way under my push, but the damn thing was too heavy, and it slammed back down.
“Hang on,” Cassie said, and I looked down to see Cassie lifting her staff.
Climbing up a few more rungs, she now stood on the one under mine. I made myself as flat as possible, pressing against the ladder to give her room. Holding on one hand, she stemmed the staff against the trap door and pushed with all her strength. I pressed my hands against it, and with united forces, we managed to open it wide enough for me to climb higher and use my shoulders as additional leverage.
I cried out as it finally swung to the other side and landed with a metallic gong on hard stone. Light so bright it was blinding fell on us, and I stumbled the rest of the way out with squinting eyes.
Lending Cassie a hand, I took her forearm and pulled her out until she rolled to the ground next to me. We both heaved the heavy trap door up again and made sure it slammed shut.
I took a second to bask in the sunshine warming me and inhaled deeply. The air was pure and rich, and I immediately felt my spirits lifting and my power strengthening.
“Whoa,” Cassie exclaimed, and I turned to see her skidding to an abrupt halt. Coming up next to her, I peeked down a precipice plunging in a thousand foot drop. I could barely glimpse the bottom. “This is a canyon,” Cassie uttered.
Spinning around, I took in the vast space expanding in front of us. Rocks, stones, and dead plant life were all I saw. I shielded my eyes against the bright sunlight, spotting a dark line on the horizon. A forest, maybe? Gabby had said there were woods somewhere nearby.
Distinct shouts neared us, alerting us to the guards who were close on our heels, and I quickly picked up the staff, stuffing it through two holes on the trap door to create a makeshift lock. A normal person would struggle to get past it, but a trained Fighter could break it in a second. This would only buy us a few minutes.
With a motivating nod toward each other, Cassie and I dashed off running for our lives.
“Mind hitting the pedal a little harder?” I complained through gritted teeth at noticing the speed with which Scott drove. After the last time I’d sat behind the steering wheel, Chris had insisted I stayed put in the passenger seat. “At this pace, we won’t be there until nightfall.”
“Yeah, I can race faster than you drive, man,” Cole exclaimed from the backseat.
“This street is overrun with police. Do you really want to deal with them now? Chill, guys.”
I growled. “No need. You’re chilling for all of us. How many joints did you smoke this morning, dude? Your eyes are bleary red.”
“Just two, man. Relax. You know it heightens my Tracer abilities. Which reminds me…” he added, sniffing the air with a scrunched nose. “You could do with getting laid, Cole. Your hormones are driving me nuts.” Despite my diminishing patience, I chuckled, though Cole didn’t share my amusement.
“Very funny, Scott. Just wait until I…”
Right then, an electric blue sports car revved its engine and shot by us at a high speed, the driver flipping Scott the bird before cutting into the lane in front of us. A second later, a police car with blaring horns swerved in from a side alley, immediately stopping the driver.
Scott grinned, satisfied. “See?”
We all remained silent. I wouldn’t have been able to come up with the patience necessary to deal with the police right now, which would probably have ended in me starting a nasty fight.
After about two hours, the GPS led us away from the streets and into rockier terrain. The outside temperature increased, letting us know we were in another climate zone here in Philadelphia. The pathways ended after some time, giving way to a vast space of land, and soon, the navigation system lost its connection. Yep, we were truly in the middle of nowhere.
This became more apparent the farther we drove. We all bounced in our seats as Scott maneuvered the SUV over sharp rocks, kicking up sand and dirt from under the wheels. The area curved up a hill, and Scott hit the pedal harder to force the car up.
“Are you sure we’re still on the right track?” Scott asked skeptically, struggling to keep the steering wheel stable.
“Just keep going,” I said through gritted teeth.
I was sure we’d get a clearer view of the area as soon as we reached the top. It didn’t turn out as planned, though, because the slope became so steep, the motor started to howl in protest until the car wouldn’t go any further.
“No, no, no,” Scott muttered in frustration. “Come on, baby.” He switched gears and hit the pedal again, but other than kicking up more dirt and making the engine howl, the car didn’t budge. “Shit, we’re stuck.”
“Fuck!” I cursed, pushing open the door and nearly unhinging it. We all stepped out to assess the situation. Several sharp rocks buried the car’s wheels. “Let’s get rid of these,” I announced.
Chris, Cole, and I heaved the heavy stones away as fast as we could, clearing a path up to the top. The car was still stuck, so it took a little Fighter strength from Chris and me until it finally moved again.
Getting back inside, we prayed we’d make it to the top this time. We groaned in relief as the car flipped horizontally again, leaving the hellish terrain behind us.
“Can you detect anything?” I asked Lisa as Scott continued to cross the clearing with no certain destination in mind.
“Hard to tell as long as we’re still moving. Stop the car.”
“This is a dead end, anyway,” Scott commented, nodding to the front. The area ended, apparently dropping down into a cliff. Scott hit the brakes, bringing the vehicle to a halt at the edge. Leaving the car, we checked our surroundings.
“Yes, there are people below us,” Lisa confirmed after honing in on her ability.
“How do we get in there? I don’t see an entrance,” Chris chimed in.
“There has to be one, at least.”
“Yeah, but we don’t have time to explore.”
Lifting my hand to shield my eyes from the sun, I let my gaze swerve over the vast space. A black object that didn’t seem to belong here caught my attention, and I jogged in its direction to have a better look. The others followed.
“A staff,” Chris observed as I retrieved it.
“Let me,” Scott said, stretching
out his hand. I handed him the staff, and he put it to his nose, sniffing the length of it. “I can’t be sure, but this reeks of Cassie.”
“Cassie’s favorite weapon,” Chris commented. “What’s this?”
We all turned to where Chris pointed and walked over to a wooden plate poorly nailed into the ground. Chunks of metal littered the surrounding surface.
“Looks as if these are the remains of what was once the original trapdoor,” I mused with a nod to the junk, quickly connecting the dots. “Cassie managed to escape through this exit, using the staff to lock the hatch. The guards came after her, broke it open, and nailed it up again later.”
“Well, I don’t see a dead body anywhere nearby, so I assume our compound bitch got away,” Scott commented dryly.
“Come on, let’s open that thing.”
Hooking our fingers under the plate, Chris and I pulled until the nails popped out, and we glanced down to see a metal ladder leading into a hole of darkness.
“This looks like an entrance. Stick together, we can’t afford to lose each other. I’ll go first. Lisa, you stay in the middle. Cole, you’re last.” They all obeyed and followed me down the ladder, Scott lending Lisa a hand to get her down safely.
“Wait,” Lisa exclaimed when her feet touched the ground. “Guards. A Catcher and a Watcher. The Catcher probably heard us already,” she whispered at the same time a door at the other end banged open and shouts neared us. I sprang into action, my Fighter blood buzzing in anticipation as I braced myself for throwing some punches.
The two Roes were no match for me. They came at us with raised staffs, one trailing behind the other as the tunnel was too narrow to go side by side. I kicked out as the first came into reach, propelling him back into the other one. He tumbled to the ground, landing on top of the second one. Grabbing the head of the one on top, I slammed it back down right into the nose of the guy buried underneath him. They were out cold within a second.
Sidestepping them, we proceeded down the tunnel, but Cole made sure to walk straight over the corpses. If the sick popping sounds were anything to go by, he’d just crushed one guy’s windpipe with a deliberate step on his throat. Lisa whimpered, probably feeling their vibes fading away.
“Any sign of Haylie?” I asked her in a low voice as we came out into an empty hallway.
“No, but I can’t be sure. There are too many people down here.”
“Roes?”
“Not all of them.” Typical. The Hunters wanted all non-Roes erased, but they seemed to be good enough to do their dirty work.
The next staircase led us to another corridor, which was clearly busier than the last one, with people shuffling from one room to the next. No one paid us any attention, and it gave us the perfect opportunity to blend in.
Glancing left and right, I took in our surroundings. It didn’t look as if any prisoners were kept here. All the rooms were simple offices stuffed with drawers, desks, and monitors. My hopes of finding Haylie here thinned.
A name tag on one of the doors caught my eye, causing me to halt. Dorian Laslow, CEO. My hand went to the gun holstered under my belt at the same time I stretched out the other, reaching for the door handle, but an unfamiliar voice from behind us made me spin around.
“Dorian will be in the lab the whole afternoon,” a pretty brunette informed us, probably assuming we were employees. The Flare told me she was a Roe, and she added in a lower voice, “He’s working on the samples from the Natural. He doesn’t want to be interrupted, so I suggest you leave a note.”
My blood pressure seemed to shoot up over two hundred at hearing this, as if Haylie wasn’t more than a number in a mass of test subjects. Funny that, not long ago, she’d also been just a girl with jaylior eyes to me. That had come to change pretty quickly, though.
“Thank you. We’ll do just that,” Cole said in his usual flirty tone, stepping in front of me. The girl nodded and left. Cole waited until she was out of sight. “Seems like we’re on the wrong floor, and obviously, we can only go down.”
We watched a bunch of people exiting an elevator and strode over to get in. As soon as the doors shut, I pressed the button marked ‘Lab’ in bold letters for the fourth-floor basement. Scott must have picked up something because he started to sniff exaggeratingly.
“What’s the matter?”
“We seem to be on the right track. I can smell Haylie. I would recognize her scent anywhere.” I took a breath through my nose, simply by reflex. I probably imagined it, but it was as if a whiff of her sweet scent tickled my nose.
When the elevator doors banged open, an entirely different scent hit us. It was so bad, I fought the urge to put my T-shirt over my nose to prevent the pungent aroma from invading my senses.
Decay. Blood. Perished flesh.
It smelled like death, and as we rounded the corner, we saw why. Dozens of sacks, most likely full of rotten corpses, were piled as high as the ceiling in an alcove to our right. There was no wall separating the alcove from the hallway.
“Oh God, what’s that horrible smell?” Lisa complained. She was the only one who couldn’t see the mountain of human waste.
“What. The. Hell,” Scott uttered in a garbled tone, quickly lifting a hand to hold his nose. He staggered, but Cole shot out his hand to steady him. I didn’t want to switch places with Scott now. My heart fluttered in panic as my eyes roamed over the horrid scene in front of me, praying to God that I wouldn’t glimpse a strand of brown hair or a pair of dulled, jaylior eyes.
“Don’t,” Chris muttered from behind me, knowing what I was thinking. “She’s alive.”
“God, I hope so…”
“Someone’s approaching us,” Lisa whispered, and we all whipped around raising our weapons. Four guards came into view chatting idly but abruptly stopping when they spotted us.
“What are you doing down here?” one of them yelled, eyeing us suspiciously. “No one’s allowed to enter the fourth floor except for doctors and scientists.”
“We’re looking for Dorian,” Chris explained, which was clearly the wrong thing to say because the guard—apparently a Racer—was suddenly an inch away from Chris’ face.
“Listen, boy…” he started, but Chris wouldn’t let him end the sentence.
And then everything was a blur of flying fists, kicking feet, and furious outcries as we fought five against four. I rushed to Chris’ side to help him with the Racer, but an arm snaked around my throat cutting off my air supply and dragging me backward. Gathering from the strength used, my attacker was a Fighter, and it took some serious effort on my part to get out of his grip.
I allowed myself a glance to the side to see Cole helping Scott with one charging him. The remaining guard came for Lisa, and for a second, I was torn between fighting my opponent and rushing to her side to help her, but she must have sensed the guy and ducked in time as his fist punched air where her head had been a second ago.
The distraction cost me, and a hard fist connected with my abdomen making me double over. I managed to block the next punch and spun around. Jumping high, I drove my elbow into the guy’s neck from behind, making him go down. Lisa still held her ground against her opponent—not fighting but skillfully sidestepping his attacks before shoving him toward Chris who took care of him with a set of kicks.
The guy I fought was already back on his feet, swinging a leg to swipe it under mine, but I sidestepped his attempt, grabbed his foot, and twisted until his body followed suit. He lost balance and fell, catching his weight with his hands on the ground. I used the moment to pull out my gun and cock it, but a booming voice stopped me from firing.
“Stop, or I’ll blow her brains out!”
The commotion abruptly died down, and I whirled around to see Lisa struggling in the arms of the Racer who’d charged Chris first, a gun pressed against her temple. Cole had one guy in a chokehold and didn’t look as if he had any intention of releasing him. My gun hovered in the air as I contemplated aiming at the Racer and shooting him without h
itting Lisa, but being faster than a Racer was beyond my power. He’d kill her before I even had the chance to pull the trigger.
“Drop the guns,” he ordered in a low but authoritative voice. “Now,” he added as none of us moved.
Four pairs of eyes flickered in my direction, a silent question as to how I wanted to proceed. I nodded tentatively, knowing we were trapped. After seeing the sepulture earlier, I didn’t doubt they’d do what was necessary to make us compliant.
I dropped my weapon first, and it was only then that Cole loosened his grip on his opponent. Scott lay on the floor, a deep cut on his eyebrow oozing blood. Chris had retrieved his gun and lowered it, too. The guy threatening Lisa wasn’t satisfied and gave a short nod toward the weapons scattered on the floor. We took the hint and kicked them forward, making them slide out of reach. The guards patted us down, stripping us of every gun and knife until we were weaponless.
A wave of rage washed over me. I didn’t like feeling helpless. Right now, I wasn’t any closer to saving Haylie than before.
“Dylan, no,” Lisa pleaded softly, sensing my angry vibes that must have come at her like shockwaves. It took all my strength to get my body under control. If I lost it now, I’d put everyone in danger.
“Shackle them and put them in a cell,” the guard ordered his minions. The one next to me pulled out a pair of manacles, but just as he was about to put them on me, the other shouted, “Not with those, you moron! They are Fighters. Use tape.”
The guy looked dumbfounded for a second, then walked over to a cabinet to retrieve some tape. He wound it tightly around our wrists with as many wraps necessary to keep us from tearing them apart.
Next, we were escorted to the elevator and a cell on the third-floor basement. It consisted of two cots, and I immediately noticed two things.
One, the opposite wall was smeared with blood from top to bottom. Gathering from the bleached-out color, someone had tried to rub it off without success. Two, there was a hole about three feet in diameter in the ground. What the fuck had happened here?