“I’m going with him.” I turn to him. “I’m not going to let you risk your life alone. You’ll need protection.”
“Absolutely not,” my mother says, which almost makes me laugh. “It’s too dangerous.”
“I don’t know why you think you can still tell me what to do,” I say, more harshly than I intend to. Her face tightens. The pain is still fresh from Baby’s rejection of me, so I know how she feels. “I’ll be fine,” I say, more kindly. “I can take care of myself.”
“I’ll go too,” Kay offers. “It’s time to bring that bastard down.”
“There’s a problem,” Dr. Samuel tells us. “I don’t know the combination to Dr. Reynolds’s safe . . . and I know of only one other person who might.”
My mother nods. “Richard.”
Rice. We were trying to keep him out of danger, but there’s no way now. We need him. If Dr. Reynolds is out of the way, Baby will be safe.
“Call him,” I tell my mother.
She puts her hand to her ear, “Richard, will you please meet me in conference room 1B? I have some data I need to share with you.” She listens. “Okay, see you in five.” She drops her hand. “He’s on his way.”
“Good.” Finally all the pieces are falling in to place. I’m actually doing something.
My mother moves to me, puts an arm around my shoulders, and I let her. The anger I felt toward her has deflated. I know she was in a horrible situation. At least now she’s trying to make it right. I know she was trying to make up for what I had to go through.
When Rice steps through the door, he looks from me to my mother and back again. “I should have known you’d be up to something,” he says with a slight smile. He takes off his glasses and cleans them, then puts them back on. His blue eyes shine at me through them.
“Well?” he asks. “How can I help?”
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CHAPTER FORTY
Kay and I trail Rice down the hall. My hands are sweating inside the fabric of my synth-suit, even as its quick-drying fabric sweeps the moisture away. I’m rubbing them together nervously when Kay tilts her head toward me, and even though her face is covered, I can tell she is giving me a look. I drop my hands to my sides and do my best to walk with confidence and look like a badass member of the Elite Eight.
It wasn’t hard to convince Rice to join us in our campaign to overthrow Dr. Reynolds. After hearing our plan, he agreed without hesitation. Still, I can tell by the pinched expression on his face when he glances back at me in the hall that he’s unhappy we waited so long to include him.
It was harder to convince Dr. Samuels that he was no longer necessary. Rice had the Level One clearance we required, as well as the combination to Dr. Reynolds’s safe. Eventually he relented when Kay flat-out told him that he would slow us down. Blunt, but effective. Meanwhile, my mother is back at her office, organizing information, trying to decide the best way to present it all to the people of New Hope.
Rice gets us into the general lab area with no problem. No one questions Rice as we move through, as everyone knows he’s the assistant director and Dr. Reynolds’s pet. I’m beginning to think things will all fall our way when a familiar voice from the far side of the floor calls, “Richard . . . why are those Guardians in here?”
We freeze. Heads turn toward us all across the lab as an older woman with blonde-gray hair pulled tightly in a bun moves quickly toward us. My stomach turns. It’s Dr. Thorpe, my doctor from the Ward. Though she didn’t agree with his diagnosis of my psychosis and Dr. Reynolds’s heavy-handed use of sedatives and experimental treatments, that didn’t stop her from helping Dr. Reynolds torture me.
“Miranda,” Rice calls to her as though delighted to see her. Smiling too widely, he explains that Dr. Reynolds requested him to lead the Guardians through a routine examination of security measures.
Dr. Thorpe narrows her eyes and looks me and Kay up and down. “Marcus is responsible for security checks,” she says.
“Marcus was called away,” Rice tells her. “He had to check on the situation in Fort Black.”
“I see,” says Dr. Thorpe, nodding. “It’s interesting that you’re taking such an active role in security, Richard.”
“I needed to step away from my research,” Rice says. “Clear my head. Though what I really need is a night’s sleep.”
“Yes, don’t we all?” Thorpe says. “Well, just let me check in with Dr. Reynolds about this change. If you’d please just stay put until I come back?”
“Certainly,” Rice says calmly.
But as Dr. Thorpe steps through the door into her office, Rice slips in after her and, out of sight of the large lab, snatches her hand away from her ear before she can make the call.
“That won’t be necessary,” he says. His voice is calm, but his fingers bite into the flesh of Dr. Thorpe’s arm.
Dr. Thorpe’s eyes widen. “Release me at once, Richard.” Her eyes dart to me and Kay, now standing in the doorway. “What is this about?”
Before Rice can answer, I step forward. I remember Dr. Thorpe’s concern while discussing my medications with Dr. Reynolds. She pushed back against him, but in the end she relented, too scared to cross him. We need her as an ally. Careful to position my body away from the security cameras in the lab behind me, I pull up my hood and flash my face at her. Her hand flies to her mouth, her skin draining of color. She takes a step back, speechless. I pull my hood back down.
Rice loosens his grip on her arm slightly but still keeps her in his grasp. “Miranda, I know you don’t agree with all that you’ve witnessed here, everything we’ve been forced to become a part of.”
But Dr. Thorpe is looking past him at me. “Dr. Reynolds said you’d be back,” she says. “I thought he was just being paranoid. He’s been so . . . unpredictable lately.”
“He’s more than just unpredictable,” I say, “and you know it. That’s why you have to help us stop him.” Her eyes flash away to Rice, then behind her as though Reynolds might be lurking there. “I know you’re scared of him,” I say, “of what he can do to you, but he has to be stopped.”
Dr. Thorpe shakes her head. “Stop him? What are you thinking?” she hisses. “You can’t imagine he’ll step aside willingly.”
“Not willingly, no,” Rice tells her. “But maybe without bloodshed.”
Dr. Thorpe’s eyes widen.
“It can be done,” Rice says.
“Why are we wasting time trying to convince her?” Kay asks, pulling me inside the office with her and pressing the door closed with her back. “We need to figure out something to do with her before someone else comes along.”
“Do with me?” Dr. Thorpe shrinks back.
“He’s right.” I wanted Dr. Thorpe on our side. I thought I had seen something in her when I was in the Ward, but maybe I was wrong.
“Do with me?” Dr. Thorpe says again, then turns to Rice. “Oh, Richard, they’re not going to—”
“No,” Rice assures her. “We won’t hurt you.”
A quick rapping on the door turns Kay and me around. A researcher stands on the other side of the glass, an armful of folders clutched to his chest. He’s not even looking at us as he waits for the door to be opened; his attention is fastened on the chart he’s holding. There’s nothing to do but let Dr. Thorpe pull away from Rice and answer the door.
“Yes?” she asks.
The researcher hands her the chart and finally does take the rest of us in as Dr. Thorpe studies it. Like all the researchers, he looks like he hasn’t slept in a week. His bloodshot eyes move over each of us in turn but give no sign of actually registering what he sees, or the way Dr. Thorpe’s hands tremble as she makes a note on the chart and hands it back to him. “See to it that Dr. Reynolds gets that when he finishes with his psyche-evals.”
“Of course,” he responds, seemingly annoyed that she fe
els the need to tell him his job.
Dr. Thorpe takes a step after him as he trudges off the way he came, but Rice steps past us and takes her elbow gently, stopping her. Giving her arm a squeeze, he says, “Thank you, Miranda.”
She doesn’t look back at us, just responds with a curt nod. “I don’t wish to be a part of this. I’ll continue on my way and forget I ever saw you.”
“I don’t think we can just let her—”Kay says, but Rice cuts him off with surprising force.
“Miranda is free to go.”
“Thank you, Richard.” Dr. Thorpe takes a hesitant step and then another. She catches her stride and continues into the lab without a backward glance.
“That was a mistake,” Kay whispers as we continue on our way through a black door.
Rice leads us down a long corridor that loops back around the main lab, with window views inside. There’s no sign of Dr. Thorpe, though we just left her moments before. In fact, the room is now surprisingly empty; it looks like my high school chemistry lab.
Finally we reach our destination, a smaller lab that has little equipment but is lined wall to wall with books, mostly medical journals. Rice motions us inside and shuts the door behind him.
“This is where Dr. Reynolds designs his experiments,” he tells us. He moves some of the books off a shelf, revealing a wall safe. Rice punches in the combination, but the safe only beeps. He glances at us and tries again. “I don’t understand. I know the combination. I retrieved notes only yesterday—”
An earsplitting screech nearly brings me to my knees, and I clap my hands over my ears. Everyone else is affected too; I see Rice slump against the wall for support. The high-pitched shriek continues, and I realize that it’s coming through my earpiece. Before I can remove it, the noise stops.
A voice takes its place. A voice I know all too well. A voice filled with arrogance and hatred.
Dr. Reynolds.
“Just moments ago, Dr. Thorpe came to me with some very interesting information. I contacted all the researchers to evacuate the labs. . . . Not everyone followed my instructions, or at least they didn’t do so quickly enough, but I suppose that can’t be helped. Those left behind will be of use, certainly. More data is always useful.”
“What is he talking about?” I ask Rice, but he just raises a finger as if he’s telling me to wait and listen with him.
“I have decided to take a page out of a colleague’s book,” Dr. Reynolds goes on. “A coarse little fellow in Fort Black—I believe he preferred to be called simply Doc. I’ve started the clock, to measure how long this takes. The results will be very informative, in case of a future breach.”
“What—?” I begin to ask, but stop myself when I see the horror on Rice’s face.
Again Dr. Reynolds’s voice is in my ear. “I expected more from you, Richard,” he continues. “You were like a son to me.”
Rice’s hand goes to his communicator. “Dr. Reynolds . . . I . . . Dr. Reynolds?” He looks at me, seemingly frozen in fear.
Suddenly there is another high-pitched noise, though this time it’s not in my earpiece; it bounces throughout the lab and is accompanied by flashing lights.
“That’s the Florae alarm!” Kay screams over the noise. “A Florae has escaped.”
Rice shakes his head. “Not escaped. He let it out.”
“We won’t be able to leave the lab!” Kay shouts. “Emergency protocol shuts down all exits. We’re trapped here, five floors underground.”
I pull out my gun. I may have to play Dr. Reynolds’s game, but I’m not going to lose without a fight.
“How many Floraes are down here?” I ask Kay over the wail of the alarm.
“I don’t know exactly,” she screams back. “Ten . . . twelve . . .”
“Twenty-seven!” shouts Rice, and I can’t help but give him a look of pure horror.
I turn to the door. “Will it hold?” I shout.
“Yes, it’s Florae-proof,” he yells. “They can’t get through.”
His last two shouted words echo through sudden silence.
The alarm has turned off, and with it, the lights.
For a moment there is complete darkness, and then the backup lights flood the room with a soft glow, the yellow-green light turning our skin the color of a Florae. In the quiet I can just make out a scratching at the door. With an agonizing pop the door opens a few inches, and a green claw reaches through, scraping the wall with its knifelike fingernails.
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CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Rice looks from the Florae’s claw to me. “The doors are electric,” he whispers, his quiet voice shaky. “They won’t lock while the power is off.”
I drop into my firing stance. “Stay behind me,” I tell Rice. He has no weapon and no training. He’ll be useless against the Floraes.
Kay throws herself against the door, trying to ram it closed, but it’s pointless: She’s knocked back across the room as the creature blasts the door open wide.
It stands there just inside the doorway, snarling, yellow teeth gnashing—and listening. Kay stays motionless in the heap she fell into. I can feel Rice’s breath hot on the back of my neck. Another silent moment, and the creature might withdraw. But then Rice exhales behind me, releasing a tiny rattle of fear deep in his throat as he does so.
The small noise is enough to catch the creature’s attention. It rolls its milky eyes in my direction and then bolts forward, mouth wide in anticipation, its blue-black tongue tasting the air.
I drop it with one shot, and the next one that muscles through the door after it. There are more, clawing one another as they fight their way in. Somehow three of them break through at once and all of them speed at me. I manage to take down the first two, but I hit the third in the neck instead of the head and then it’s upon me, knocking me to the side and twisting down to finish me—and then it simply falls to the floor, lifeless. I look up at Kay, who nods once and trains her gun on the empty door.
“Did you get them all?” Rice’s terrified whisper comes from the back of the room.
I shake my head as I get to my feet. There are only five dead. The other twenty-two are still on the prowl.
Rice recovers and moves to my side, stunned but recovering. “When the electricity goes out,” he whispers, “the backup generator is supposed to power all Level One areas.”
“But this is a Level One area, right?”
He nods. “Reynolds must have diverted the power supply to specifically put us in harm’s way.”
“It doesn’t matter. I have to go get Baby,” I say, turning toward the door. “If the power is out in her area, she’ll be in danger. She doesn’t remember how to be quiet anymore. They’ve made her a sitting duck.”
Rice grabs my arm. “Dr. Reynolds knows that’s where you’ll go. And even if you make it, he won’t just let you walk out of here with her.”
That’s all true, but he and Kay can tell I’m still going.
“It’ll be easier for me to go on my own,” I tell them, giving them an out. “I’ll be able to avoid the Floraes.”
Rice shakes his head. “No one knows these labs better than me. I can guide you.” I grimace under my synth-suit hood. Rice is still shaking slightly. He may use Floraes in his experiments, but he isn’t used to being hunted by Them, isn’t used to the fear they create, a fear I’ve learned to push down over the years. But he’s still trying, dealing with his fear remarkably well.
“Hell, we’ve come this far,” Kay says from the door. “And besides, I’m a Guardian,” she adds. “This is my idea of a good time, sunshine.”
“Okay. I’ll take lead. Rice in the middle. Kay will cover our backs. Let’s go.”
We start working our way down the hall, Rice making so much noise, I’m expecting a Florae to run at us at any moment. I’m so on edge I almost shoot a researcher cowerin
g in the shadows. Rice puts his arm around her shoulders and coaxes her to stand, then guides her with us down the hall. He seems better, now that he’s helping someone else.
“I thought it was just a drill,” the researcher says, her voice echoing off the walls. “I didn’t want to leave my work for a false alarm.”
Rice shushes her and we continue our slow progress. When we reach a hall lined with open doors, I halt. Any one of those rooms could contain a Florae, waiting to pounce. The researcher is still sniveling, and although Rice is trying to help, he makes just as much noise trying to quiet her.
Frustration wells up inside and along with it, guilt. I place my mouth close to Rice’s ear and whisper, “Look for a safe place.” I motion over my shoulder at the researcher. There’s no choice: I need to find a place to stash her so I can go get Baby.
Rice nods and scans the hall, pointing out a door at the far end that remains closed. A film of light leaks out beneath it. That room, whatever it is, has electricity. Maybe it has its own generator. If the door locks, the researcher will be safe there.
I move ahead to check out the open rooms one by one before allowing the group to move forward. It’s slow going, and in each lab there are too many places a creature can hide.
We are almost to the locked door when the researcher screams. There’s a Florae hurtling toward her from the end of the hall. I must have missed it in one of the rooms. Kay grabs her and tries to pull her along, dragging her down the hall. With her free arm, she shoots the Florae, missing its head by inches, but catching it in the neck. She pushes the researcher toward me and returns to dispatch of the Florae.
The researcher breaks free and is halfway down the hall when another Florae appears before her at its far end. It reaches her before I can get a shot off, and it latches onto her shoulder, biting her neck. Kay separates the Florae’s head from its shoulders in a single move and then is down the hall to the new Florae, focused on feasting on the researcher, and shoots it in the head. Green-black blood splatters all over the wall and the creature collapses. Kay puts a shot in the head of the now-still researcher before she can change into a monster.
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