Kings of Carrion

by Keri Lake

Chapter 29

  Cali

  Having met up with Kenny and Titus along the way, we reach the specimen room where we locked away the faceless Ragers earlier. The door to the chamber lies in a mangled state on the floor, telling us the creatures somehow managed to blow it off the hinges, but there’s no sign of them anywhere.

  “Let’s get down there before they decide to come back.” I skirt around Valdys and carefully lift the vent to the air shaft, angling my flashlight down inside to find it empty. “One of the Alphas should go first.”

  “I’ll go.” Atticus hobbles forward, limping toward the vent, and I shoot a glance back at Valdys. Although he’s already moving around easier than before, likely due to his ability to heal faster, I’m not sure he’s the best candidate to go first.

  “If they’re lurking up here, they might smell the blood on me, which would put you more at risk in your escape,” he adds, making a valid point.

  Valdys gives a nod, and I hold the swinging vent open for him. Grimacing in pain, he hoists his leg up through the vent and grunts as he climbs down inside of it. Using mostly his upper body, he descends quicker than I would’ve, even without an injury. In only a couple of minutes, he’s at the bottom, and I see him give a thumbs up where he stands in the halo of my flashlight.

  Kenny approaches next and climbs down inside the shaft, followed by Brandon and Titus.

  As I hook my leg over the vent to climb down, the dog growls, and I turn to see one of the faceless creatures somehow watching us from the corner ceiling. A screech skates down my spine. The second Rager joins the first, scampering along the ceiling, its nose prodding the air as it sniffs.

  “Go, Cali!” Valdys stands in front of me, and I hustle down into the shaft.

  Just as I begin my climb, I see the Ragers scuttle like oversized insects toward us, and the two Alphas charge, along with the dog. With shaky arms clinging to the ladder inside the shaft, I stand paralyzed, watching them fight through the slits in the vent. These Ragers are heartier than the ones out in the Deadlands. Quicker and smarter, as they seem to elude the Alphas’ attack, until Cadmus manages to snatch one by its legs and yank it down from the ceiling. Valdys goes after the other, while Cadmus and the dog wrangle the first to the floor.

  I lose sight of the creature on the ceiling and lean into the grates of the vent, staring into the room.

  A hiss sends me flying back, and I snap my attention forward to see the blank face of the creature pressed into the grates on the other side of the vent. A scream flies out of me, and I slip from the ladder, sliding down the tunnel, but catch myself three rungs down. Pain throbs in my arms where metal has smacked against my bones, and I flinch, pulling myself back up.

  The vent above me flips open, and I look up to see Valdys staring down at me. “You’re all right?”

  “Yes. Sorry, I lost my footing.”

  He gives a nod and turns away from me, jerking his head.

  Cadmus climbs into the vent after me, covered in what I hope is only Rager blood, and I continue my descent, anxious for Valdys. Nervous.

  He climbs inside and holds the vent open, whistling. The beastly dog peeks its head in, its face coated in thick blood. Valdys releases the vent and hoists the massive creature over his shoulder. That thing must weigh nearly two hundred pounds, and I wonder if the rungs are strong enough to hold all of us. A thought that prompts me to descend faster.

  I reach the end of the shaft where my feet dangle, reminding me of earlier, when those creatures swung out for me. I let go of the rung and fall to the ground below, landing on my feet.

  Cadmus lands after me, followed by Valdys, who lets go of the dog before he hits the ground. Once everyone is out, I slide my hand in Valdys’s, ready to get the hell out of here.

  A growl and snarl from behind sends knots twisting in my stomach, and I turn to see the dog, hunched forward in the opposite direction, as if something lurks in the shadows there.

  My impatience with this escape has reached its max, and I shake my head, refusing to let another obstacle get in the way. “Let’s go!”

  The group of us race through the tunnels back toward the hatch. Fire burns in my lungs as I push toward the finish line, freedom so close I can practically touch it. Angling my flashlight, I catch sight of Rhys and Jed ahead of us. The other two are nowhere.

  Frowning, I slow my pace, focusing my attention beyond them at where a group of mutations has gathered on the other side of the gate.

  Jed backs away from Rhys, stirring my confusion. The older man leaps into the air for something above him, missing it once. He leaps again, and a second gate falls from the ceiling.

  Rhys spins around as the metal barrier lowers, and it narrowly misses the Alpha when it slams against the concrete floor.

  We stand separated from Jed, who’s safely encased inside a cage, sequestered from us on one side, and the mutations on the other. A beam of light from overhead shines down on him, where he smiles back at us.

  He lifts a walkie-talkie to his mouth. “I’ve got it. The samples are secured.” No response follows, as if the update has been anticipated.

  He betrayed us. All of us.

  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Rhys grips the bars, as we all approach from behind. “’The fuck did you do?”

  “I’m very sorry. But if you think I’m going to stand by and let a bunch of savages steal my life’s work, you’re wrong. Decades, I’ve waited for the opportunity to retrieve these samples. To make a name for myself again. There isn’t a chance in hell I’m about to hand it over to the likes of you.” He swipes up his pack from the ground and lifts a small case from inside, holding it up. “This is going to buy me a lot of luxury back in Szolen. And the respect I’ve been denied.”

  “You fucking prick!” Cadmus slams his hands into the cage, and I’m certain, if there was a way inside, every Alpha would tear this asshole apart, just like the mutations.

  “I’d wish you a good life, but I’m afraid yours has come to an end.” He shoves the case back into his pack and slides it over his shoulder. The moment he spins around, reaching up for the rung above him, an object flies through the bars of the cage and lodges itself into his exposed flank. A look of shock colors his face as he stumbles backward, staring down at the hilt of the blade sticking out of him.

  I turn to see Titus flicking his fingers for Cadmus’s blade.

  He tosses the second knife, and it sinks into the man’s stomach, throwing him backward.

  Into the bars of the cage behind him.

  Mangled hands reach out, digging fingers into his flesh, and his bellows reverberate through the tunnel. From below, his foot is yanked backwards into the small gap beneath the cage, and eyes wide, he screams.

  I grimace at the unnatural bending of his foot, slapping a hand over my mouth to contain the sickness stirring inside of me.

  Jed falls forward to his knees, and reaches toward the pack with one hand, while the mutations hold the other. His fingertips disappear inside, and as he pulls out a pill bottle, his arm is tugged through the bars, the cracking and splintering of bone forcing me to slap my hands over my ears. The pill bottle falls out of reach, while his body is yanked backward, flat against the bars once more. One arm is torn away. A hand punches through his ribcage, bloodied and claws flexing. I turn away from the gore, until the screaming dies down, and Jed is hanging limp from the cage, already half-consumed.

  Beside us, the dog stands hunched and growling toward the opposite direction again.

  Chapter 30

  Wren

  I prop the blade I packed from Papa’s house beneath Gregor’s throat, grinding my teeth to keep me from slicing it across his windpipe.

  “I … swear to you, Wren. I had nothing to do with this. He betrayed me, too.”

  “And I’m supposed to believe you? They’re going to die in there!” My eyes are brimming with tears that I blink away for the rage seething through my blood. “You tell me how I can get them out. And you tell
me now, or I’ll take pleasure in watching you bleed all over this desk.”

  “The only way they are opening that gate is if they can somehow reach that lever. It doesn’t matter how strong they are, that lever is the only thing that moves the gate up and down.”

  Keeping the knife to his throat, I push the button on the keyboard. “Six! Can you hear me?”

  “Hey, Little Bird.” His voice is somber, defeated. A sound that tears at my heart, springing more tears to my eyes.

  “You have to find a way to pull that lever on the other side. It’s the only way to open that gate.”

  “It’s out of reach, Wren.”

  “You have to loop something around it. Maybe one of the straps on your packs?”

  “The strap isn’t long enough. It won’t reach.”

  “Then, make it long enough! Tie every fucking strap together, if you have to, Six. But don’t you dare give up. Not now.” A pause follows, my body shaking with adrenaline, as I mentally push away the visuals of those faceless Ragers finding them, just like in my nightmares.

  “I’m not giving up.” He lifts his pack, and I see him tear away both sides where the strap is sewn, giving about twelve inches of fabric. “Tear off your straps. We’re going to tie them together.”

  They shrug out of their packs and tear away the straps as instructed, handing them to Six, who ties them together in one long strand and forms a lasso at the end of it.

  Holding the long rope through the bars of the cage, Six readies the lasso, letting it hang loose at his fingers.

  I release Gregor, keeping my blade pointed at him, as I take a seat in front of the computer. “Do you remember when I taught you how to use the slingshot?” Through tears, I chuckle at the memory of that day, watching him wind up the rock, and nail every target as if he’d done it a hundred times before.

  “I do.”

  “Let’s see some of that magic.”

  Arms through the bars, he swings the lasso back and forth, building up a small bit of momentum, and tosses it upward.

  I hold my breath when it just misses the end of the lever. “Again. Try again.”

  He gathers the rope back up into his hands, and swings the lasso back and forth, as before.

  It misses a second time. And a third. A fourth.

  “Fuck!” His frustration rides heavy on his words, and though I know what he’s feeling right now, I force calm into my voice.

  “Six, relax. Remember the rock swinging in the pouch, how you visualize it hitting that target before you even throw it? Visualize it.”

  For the fifth time, he gathers the rope and tosses it upward.

  It catches.

  My God, it catches!

  With one hard tug, he engages the lever, and the cage slides upward.

  It stalls about a foot off the ground.

  “Six? What’s wrong?”

  “It’s off track,” Gregor says beside me. “It’s happened before.”

  “How do we fix it?”

  “With tools they don’t currently have at their disposal.”

  Six gives another yank of the lever, and the cage slams back to the concrete.

  A scream erupts and the commotion of the group swings Six’s attention to where a body lies half sticking out the bottom of it. He abandons the rope to investigate, the camera zeroing in on the gore, the sight of which flips my stomach over.

  “He tried to slide beneath it!” Cali says, holding a trembling hand at her mouth, as if she might throw up. “Oh, my God!”

  Blood and bits of scattered bone lay everywhere. The crushed head looks like a busted watermelon, and I have to breathe hard through my nose to keep my lunch down.

  “Who was it?” I ask.

  “Kenny.”

  Chapter 31

  Cali

  The cage rises again, this time slightly higher than before, revealing the full horror of Kenny’s failed attempt to reach the other side.

  I have to turn away from it, and when I do, I catch sight of Cadmus tugging the rope, the muscles in his arms twitching with the toil.

  “I’ll hold it up,” he says, teeth gritting with his effort. “Hurry up!”

  I don’t think anyone wants to chance it at this point, but we don’t have a choice. The alternative is being torn apart by the faceless Ragers that lurk somewhere behind us.

  Taking three deep breaths, Titus rolls beneath it to the other side.

  Brandon follows suit, rolling safely after him.

  “Head toward the hatch! I don’t know who he alerted, but Legion could arrive any minute, so everyone needs to get out.” Valdys gives me a nudge and takes his place alongside Cadmus, who visibly struggles with trembling muscles to grip the rope. “Hurry, Cali. You’re next.”

  Taking hold of one of the many knots in the rope, Valdys tugs behind Cadmus, offering the Alpha some relief.

  I drop to my knees and roll beneath, stealing a breath when I make it to the other side of the barrier. The mutations across from us rattle the cage bars, some climbing up the metal rungs, as if excited by my presence, and a thrum of terror shoots up my spine as I stare down at what’s left of Jed. The pieces they couldn’t pull through the bars. Forcing myself to ignore them, I focus my attention on the men who have yet to make it to this side.

  Rhys follows after and gathers up the satchel Jed dropped, before kicking the remains of his arm and shoulder beneath the gap, where the collective growls signal the mutations’ appreciation for the food. “Everybody get to the surface!” he commands. “I don’t trust those pricks not to lock us all down here.”

  Atticus pulls himself along beneath the cage, and once he’s on this other side I turn to see him and Brandon make their ascent up the ladder to the hatch, with Titus on their heels.

  Valdys whistles for the dog, but the animal remains on guard, staring off toward the opposite side of the tunnel. “C’mon!”

  “Valdys!” I call out, feeling too impatient with him and Cadmus still on the wrong side of the bars. Every nerve ending is like a livewire that won’t settle until they’re safely on this side.

  He turns toward Cadmus and jerks his head. “Go!”

  Shaking his head, Cadmus wraps the rope around his hand and braces his legs. “I got this, old man. You go first.”

  Perhaps not wanting to waste time arguing, Valdys nods. “I’ll hold the lever for you on the other side.”

  Still straining to hold up the gate, Cadmus clenches his teeth, his arms visibly shaking. “Just go!”

  Screeching from down the hall sends waves of dread through me. “Both of you! Hurry up!”

  Valdys slides beneath, and once cleared, Cadmus releases the rope, slamming the gate shut once again. He shakes out his arm, winding it around and flinching with the movement, as if he’s in immense pain.

  The dog growls behind him, keeping my nerves on edge, as Valdys scrambles to his feet and pulls the lever once more.

  The cage doesn’t budge.

  “’The fuck?” Valdys pulls it down a second time, holding it, just as Cadmus had done before.

  It doesn’t lift.

  “It must’ve busted the crank when he released it, and it slammed closed again.” The voice is Gregor’s through the camera Rhys removed from his mask and clipped to some kind of harness at his chest. He twists one of the buttons on the camera that seems to adjust the volume.

  “How do we open it again?” Rhys asks, his brows knitting to a frown.

  There’s a long pause and an exasperated exhale. “I don’t think you can.”

  Rubbing his skull, Cadmus paces on the other side. “Ah, fuck. Fuck!”

  Panic explodes inside my chest, and I leap toward the bars, tugging them upward like I have the power to lift it. “No! We have to get him out!”

  Beside me, Valdys squats down and takes hold of the bars, muscles flexing, straining, as he tries to lift it. Titus, who must’ve climbed back down the ladder, attempts to lift it on the other side of me. Rhys joins in, too, but the cage doesn’
t move, at all. Not even with the power and strength of all three Alphas behind it. The kind of power I imagine could lift a tank.

  “There’s a locking mechanism. You can’t open it.” Gregor’s voice is like the harbinger of death, and I wish I could set fire to the air and burn his words that linger as a discouraging reality.

  “No. No!” I slam at the gate, anger and frustration tensing my muscles so tight, it’s as if they might snap.

  Screeching from behind Cadmus is louder, and the dog lurches forward, his growls turning to a warning bark.

  “Get him out. Get him out. Please!”

  Valdys rattles the bars, as though looking for a weak spot, but there isn’t one. This cage was designed to keep the most violent creations from escaping.

  Cadmus glances over his shoulder, and when he turns around, gaze lowered from mine, there’s a gleaming sadness in his eyes. He stands thoughtful, quiet, in spite of the growling and the constant hum from the mutations behind me. Glancing back over his shoulder again, he scratches the wounds on his forearm. “I could save her this time, you know.”

  “No. Don’t do this. Not now. I need you to think. Think of what we can do. How we can get you out. You know these tunnels better than anyone.”

  The dog’s barking is fervent, excited, and I’m certain whatever approaches is close now. As he lurches in that direction, I grab Cadmus’s arm through the bars. “Wait! What are you doing? You can’t save her. She was never there, Cadmus! It’s in your head.”

  “She was never just in my head, Cali.”

  “She was. A hallucination the doctors made up to play with your mind.”

  Eyes shining, he lifts his gaze to mine and shakes his head. “I’m not talking about the girl from my nightmares. I’m talking about you. Now. I was able to save you this time.” He gives a solemn smile, taking my hand in his, and I can hardly see his face through the irritating blur of tears in my eyes. “Verisimilitude.”

  “No. Don’t. Don’t do this.” My words give way to the frenzy inside of me, the tremble in my chest that threatens to crack me open at any moment. The heartbreak that waits to destroy me. “Tell me how to help you.”