“I couldn’t leave you behind,” I said.
Her palm touched her chin before sweeping downward in a gesture of thanks. We turned to the two men who watched us, and surprise rippled through me.
“You’re still here? I thought you would have run for safety while she preoccupied herself with me.” As the words left my mouth, I realized how crass and demeaning I sounded. “Sorry. It’s just…it would have been the smart thing to do.”
Mal shrugged as Destry shook his head. “I don’t know what I planned to do to save you, but I like her way better.”
Jaxx’s shoulders shook as she laughed at Destry’s response. It provided much-needed levity before we turned to make our way to the large building. I felt awful leaving Lee’s corpse out in the open, but I comforted myself with the knowledge they’d lay him to rest eventually. Later. When the geds were no longer a threat.
Once more, we hugged buildings as best we could, relying on them to provide cover and protect us at least from one side. This time, Sensee’s coo didn’t alert the others. It never would again. I found myself wondering how her loss changed the communication dynamics in the pack. Did it give us an edge now that their biggest translator lay in a heap with a bullet in her brain?
I shuddered as images of Lee overlapped Sensee. With the remaining geds’ many talents, I doubted their loss hampered them much more than losing Lee hampered us. Like Jaxx, they’d find a way to make things work.
People stood in groups, tidy and less terrified than when I left. They’d shoved most of the cafeteria tables against the walls to clear the center of the room. Lily waded through the middle of it all, conducting herself admirably in the middle of a crisis as she allayed fears and directed groups on what to do next. When we entered the room, all heads whipped around to check who—or what—came in, and the murmurs rose up again once they categorized the four humans walking into the door as not a threat.
I approached Lily, ready to take on a new assignment. Already, the shakiness began to dissipate as I replaced it with dogged determination to pull through. If my girlfriend could intercept and mow down a ged to save me, the least I could do was keep my cool under pressure. Several people sat at the edges of the room, head in their hands as they sobbed, and I felt for them so badly. Maybe someone could lead them down and stash them in bunks now?
“How many keys are there for the emergency bunkers?” I asked.
Lily paused her activities to answer me. “Four. Me, Roger Carborton, the lead geneticist Becky, and…” Her face paled as she stared past me. “Oh my God! Phillip?”
I turned toward where she looked. A form stood on the other side of the door. The facial features certainly reminded me of Evans, but something looked off. The way his lips pulled back from his teeth in a strange Joker grin. The deep shadows that blackened his skin. Or perhaps he suffered burns from the crash. I stepped toward the door, but Jaxx caught me by the elbow.
She didn’t have to sign. I knew she told me to wait. Something felt off to her too. Lily, however, ran toward the door, her flat dress shoes click-clacking like a tap dancer in the silence as everyone keyed in on her surge of emotion.
When she threw the door open to let him in, several people were already pulling away, backing toward the walls and other exits. Everyone except Lily picked up on the oddness of Phillip Evans.
He walked into the doorway, movements jerky and that wide, wide smile still creating a slash across his blackened face. His whole body appeared bigger. Much wider and taller than I remember the man being. After a moment, he fell forward onto all fours and emitted a scream that sent goosebumps racing down my arms.
Lily backed away, her survival instincts finally kicking in and nudging her to flee. Phillip’s hand swiped out at her, clipping the back of her calf as she ran, but she managed to stay on her feet and keep moving. The low, guttural growl that cut through the air at her escape conveyed nothing but hate.
Two things hit me at the same time: Evans wore no clothes, and black and red mottling covered his entire body.
Chapter Twenty-Three
As his skin split in wet tears that reminded me of predators ripping into a fresh kill, people scattered in all directions, knocking over tables and each other. None of them ran toward any particular place so much as the nearest away they could locate. Jaxx stepped forward, gun at the ready, but people pushed and darted around her, leaving her unable to take a shot without risk of harming a person.
“Run!” O’Malley tugged on me, urging me to go with the crowd.
“I won’t leave her!” I yelled back at him over my shoulder.
An awful, moaning grunt issued from the doorway, and I returned my attention in time to watch Radia squeeze her hefty frame through the door. She stood over the writhing Evans, baring her teeth. Calmly, as if the world didn’t exist in chaos around her, she stepped past him and lifted her head to issue the most bloodcurling, garbled howl I’d ever heard.
Jasmyne looked at me, eyes wide and with a quick jerk of her hand, signed, “Go!”
I knew she’d be right behind me, but I still waited until her fingers threaded through mine before I moved. We ran, and I let her take the lead. Years of quick thinking kept her alive in the military. I trusted her instincts now more than anyone’s to keep us alive.
We sprinted through the swinging door that led into the kitchen, then Jasmyne pulled me into a pantry. For one brief second, I considered protesting, but she turned a corner around a shelf and threw open a door I didn’t see until she’d yanked me halfway through it. A stairwell led upward, much tighter than the previous one I walked up with Wulphgang. We climbed it with hurried steps, and I looked back to see Destry close at my heels. His form blocked my ability to see who else came with us.
When we reached the top after several flights that never opened up to another floor, Jaxx swung the door open, gun pointed at the ceiling as she scanned the tiny hall in front of us. A solid metal door sat at the other end, and she approached the keypad guarding it with confidence. When it blinked green and the lock clicked, she eased it open, then motioned us forward.
We came on silent, quick feet, eager to obey our savior. Once we entered the room, she closed the door firmly behind us and I took count. Mal, Destry, Wulphgang, and Lily. With myself and Jasmyne, that made six.
“No one else followed?” I asked, struggling with the knowledge we left so many downstairs with those monsters.
“The people behind me said we were cornering ourselves. They didn’t listen when I tried to explain there’s a servant's staircase at the back of the kitchen,” Lily said, her palms rubbing up and down her upper arms. “What the fuck was that? What the fuck was that!” Her voice raised in pitch until she nearly shrieked at the end.
Wulph wrapped his arms around her to quiet her. “That was genetics being toyed with and backfiring.”
“What happened to Phil?” She turned and rested her forehead against his chest. “What’d they do to him?”
“Negative.” The electronic voice of Jasmyne’s command prompt jarred us all into silence. She motioned at me to speak for her and I nodded my understanding.
“That was not Phillip. He is dead. I found his body in the trees. That is Daxel.”
Destry sat down on the floor with a heavy thud. “What? How?” He trailed off, staring at us with eyes that begged all of us to make sense of this for him.
“The base DNA…” I glanced at Wulph and he shrugged. “I think he’s found a way to manipulate his form at will, and the base of the geds’ DNA is human stem cells.”
“How do you know that?” Mal asked, his face betraying his shock. “They never let me analyze it that much.”
“I sent it to her.” Lily swiped at her face as she pulled away from Wulph’s comfort. “I gave her access to Phil’s personal files. After listening to the way Wulph and Phil talked about her and the things she was upset about, she seemed to be the only person who cared about the geds’ best interest. I did too, before I realized the monst
ers they are.”
“The monsters they were shaped into through abuse and neglect,” I said, tone snippy as I corrected her. “I had no idea it was you. I never would have thought…”
“That I had a heart?” she asked with a sad smile. “Yeah. Even lawyers can have hearts. I was trying to do the right thing. I’d hoped if you understood everything about them, you could make progress with them and convince Roger to stop the experiments on them. Or at least, the abuse.”
“Where are we?” Mal interrupted, looking around.
I followed his gaze to take in the fancy surroundings. While the rooms we stayed in provided for our needs well enough, this place compared to an apartment. An expensively furnished one. A cushy couch, a large television, a glass-topped coffee table, and trendy art decorated the room.
“Phil’s suite,” Lily said as she sat down on the couch. “Top floor. There’s another entrance through the kitchen.”
“Seems a little reversed,” Mal pointed out as he started walking toward the doorway that I could see a bed through.
“Last-minute addition,” Destry explained.
I followed Mal into the bedroom, wanting to get a feel for our options. I noticed Jasmyne veered off to check the second door through the kitchen. Evans’ room sat in the kind of disarray a man who left in a hurry would create. I ran my fingers over the crumpled sheets, puzzled once more by his departure. He’d been a horrible liar, an incredible PR face, and never had I pegged him for a coward. I’d watched him meet Daxel’s gaze with unwavering boldness as the ged killed a man in front of his eyes.
Why leave now?
“So, what now?” Mal asked. “I assume this isn’t the brilliant bunker we originally were meant to relocate to.”
“No. But it probably has a better view.” I pulled the curtain back so I could get a feel for what side of the building we were on and how high up. The building rose three or four stories, and maybe we could find a fire escape ladder. Something.
As the curtain slid back, my breath hitched in my throat. Enough sunlight remained in the sky for me to see what drove Evans to leave. With precise, deep lines, the words, fuck you glared back at me.
“Mal…could you get Jaxx, please?” I asked as I traced my fingers along the letters.
“Uh, sure.”
When Jasmyne’s gentle fingers landed on my arm, letting me know she’d come, I tapped the window.
“Look at it. They tracked his room and left him basically a death threat. But Jasmyne, the letters. Whichever one of them did it wrote it taking into account that it would be flipped on the other side. That belies an intelligence that’s unfathomable.”
When I met her gaze, a sadness filled them. “I know. They are very smart, but I will need you to set aside your desire to preserve them so we can save lives. Can you do that?”
“I didn’t stop you from killing Sensee,” I pointed out. “Though, I still don’t understand why she tried to attack me. She was the meekest one.”
In answer, Jasmyne handed me her walkie talkie. When I took it, she pointed at it. “Help me contact my team. I can’t take on the geds alone. I need backup. Help me rendezvous with them.”
I sighed and glanced at the letters. “Well, we obviously can’t stay here like I’d thought. The geds know this room exists.” I pushed the button and spoke slowly and clearly. “Security team, this is Poole. I have Jaxx with me. Do you copy?”
We waited one heartbeat. Two. As I prepared to repeat the message, static crackled before David’s voice came through.
“This is David. I’m holed up with civilians in the indoor ged pen.”
Jasmyne gave a nod of approval over her teammate’s location and priorities. Seconds later, Kat spoke in a harried whisper.
“In the exterior pen. Radia in view pacing perimeter of mess hall. Advise?”
I watched Jaxx sign hurriedly and my fear rose the longer she spoke. When she stopped, she lifted her chin, daring me to question her logic. I couldn’t. As much as it scared the shit out of me, she was right.
“Hold position. Jaxx and I will be creating a diversion to lead the geds away from the mess hall. You are to liaison with Miss Preston who has the keys for a set of underground bunkers. Evacuate all civilians to the bunkers following Preston’s lead, then protect them with her as priority.”
They confirmed, and I handed her back the walkie talkie. “Great. So we just have to lead the geds away without dying in two seconds. Got any bright ideas how?”
“I do,” O’Malley said from the doorway. “I have the perfect idea.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Are you sure this is gonna work?” I hissed as we crept through the kitchen.
O’Malley waved a hand dismissively at me over his shoulder before we paused to peek out into the cafeteria. Blood spattered across a few walls, and a single red handprint sat as a stark reminder on the door to the stairwell. No bodies littered the floor, which I found quite eerie considering the amount of blood.
“They’re playing with us. Tormenting people the way they were tormented,” I murmured.
Jaxx squeezed my shoulder to let me know she heard me, then she eased open the door and her head swept side to side as she took in the large room. Capsized cafeteria tables presented blank spots, but Radia at least would jut above them. After a moment, she waved for us to follow as she strode across the room, zigzagging around tables or a couple of spills from food hitting the floor.
When we reached the door to the outside, she peered out the window then ducked immediately. We crouched beside her and she signed at me.
“Radia passing now,” I whispered to Wulph.
He nodded without speaking.
Surprisingly, her heavy footsteps resounded through the door. Jaxx’s eyes widened and she motioned us to scoot away and toward the wall as she backed up as well. We scurried to obey, remaining as quiet as possible. When the cold cement touched my shoulder, I closed my eyes, concentrating on listening.
The ged’s footsteps paused at the door, and she snuffled with a heavy huffing noise at the crack. We waited as silence reigned, and I imagined her on the other side, head tilted as she attempted to listen for any sounds of survivors. A long, low moaning sound echoed through the gap before her steady, rhythmic trod thumped along once more.
When it faded, Jasmyne checked the window again, then brought her gun at the ready as she pulled the door open and checked. A quick flick of her hand told us the coast remained clear, and we hurried to follow her across the open ground. We swung left, following the base of the outdoor pen before she guided us into the entrance and out of direct sight of the main building.
We hunkered, and my heart pounded in my chest as we waited. Within minutes, Radia’s hulking form rounded the corner of the building. She trudged along, patrolling the perimeter, and I could see why Carborton thought the geds would make a good fit for military purposes. Her single-minded laps proved that once she set her mind on a course, she stuck with it whether it provided results or not. As she sniffed the doorframe again before plodding along with another frustrated moan, I realized something.
Radia couldn’t think for herself very well.
When she disappeared, I caught Jasmyne’s attention. “She should have been able to smell and track us,” I whispered. “Even a dog without enhancements should have smelled fresh tracks where we just walked out.”
“Let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth,” O’Malley said.
“I’m more worried there’s a bigger game afoot here with the geds. Where’s Daxel and what’s he doing? Radia is obviously a deterrent while he works on something else.”
“Focus on the plan. Even if he is somewhere else, this should draw him,” Jaxx signed at me.
“Okay. You’re right.” I turned to Wulph. “Without Sensee, how do you expect them to hear it, though? Besides, the power’s still out.”
He pointed at the guest house. “I connect my bluetooth speaker and set the laptop in the pen. I think that’s wh
at kept drawing them to break into my room. They could hear my laptop and thought another ged existed. Hopefully, we can manually close the door on them.”
“Radia can get out through the top,” I pointed out.
“True, but it will take her time to navigate that. Time for us to get people to safety,” he responded.
I nodded, conceding his point. “Let’s get your stuff, then.”
We waited for Radia to reappear and disappear again before crossing the gap to the guest house. I tried not to look at Sensee laying in a heap, or the mangled remains of Lee in front of the next house over. My skin crawled just being this near to them, especially when I remembered the black and red mottled skin on pseudo-Evans’ body.
The interior of our guest house remained dark in the fading sunlight. I waited in the living space while Jaxx escorted Wulph to his room. I knew now would be a good time to grab my own things, but I couldn’t think of a single thing worth weighing myself down with.
When they returned, we watched for Radia, then snuck our way back to the pen. The closer we drew to the interior, the more a sickly-sweet odor filled the air. I wrinkled my nose, recognizing the scent of carrion immediately. The buzz of flies grew louder until we walked through the wide-open door and into the center of the pen.
A hand, reaching for the exit even in death, lay on the barren ground. The white bone protruding from the wrist suggested a vicious break as it was severed from the body. I turned, letting my gaze travel across the organs, blood spatter, and various body parts.
“Oh my God, Cindy.” I covered my mouth at the decapitated head that rested nearby, tongue lolling in an exaggerated scream.
“The geds killed the team of maintenance workers sent in to close the hole up there.” Jaxx pointed. “They ambushed them. Evans called off any further attempts to fix it and told everyone to quarantine until he stopped them, but the geds didn’t respond to the shutdown command. My team and I were told to hunt to kill.”
“What was the shutdown command? Sit?” I asked with an edge to my voice.
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