#NoEscape (Volume 3) (#MurderTrending)

by Gretchen McNeil

  Which she couldn’t. Stretching as far as she dared without losing her balance, she was still a foot or two away from the immobile Shaun.

  “Perse!” Kevin yelled over the roar of the furnace. “We’re almost out of time.”

  She glanced at the countdown clock. Three minutes. What happened at the end of three minutes? Did the rest of the room collapse into the flames? Persey sure the hell didn’t want to find out.

  “I can’t reach him,” she called over her shoulder.

  “Why isn’t he taking your hand?” Neela’s voice sounded frantic. “Why aren’t you taking her hand?”

  Persey had few options. She could jump to his platform. There wasn’t much room for the two of them, and even if she could manage to do it without toppling him over, she had no idea if it would hold both of their weights. Or if she’d even be able to get him to move.

  Still, she couldn’t let Shaun die. She was so close. “Shaun, I can’t reach you,” she pleaded. “You’ve got to try.”

  “Didn’t. Know.” Shaun’s lips could move a little bit more. Was the paralysis wearing off?

  “Grab my hand!” she cried, trying one last time to stretch toward him. “You can do it.”

  “Didn’t. Know.” More emphatic this time. He was trying to tell her something.

  Persey couldn’t imagine what was so important that he needed to tell her right at this moment, when his very life was on the line. “Didn’t know what?”

  “Killed. Rye. Rouns.”

  “Rye rounds?”

  “Rouns!” he screamed. “The rouns!”

  “Brownes,” Persey said, realizing what he meant. She stared at him, impotent. “The Brownes who used to own Escape-Capades? But they’re dead.”

  “Rownes!” Tears poured out from the corners of both eyes. “Killed. Cuz—”

  Another rumble interrupted his confession, and Persey could only watch in dumb horror as Shaun’s platform gave way and he disappeared into the sea of orange flames.

  PERSEY WASN’T SURE WHICH WAS MORE DISTURBING: THE stifled, paralytic screams as Shaun was burned alive in the giant furnace or the stench of charred flesh that wafted up from its depths. One thing she did know for sure—both made her sick. She felt her abdominals convulse as the remains of her airplane pretzels finally came rocketing up the back of her throat and were added to Shaun’s remains deep in the cavern below.

  Heat seared her cheeks, bringing her to her senses. As her cheeks ballooned like a chipmunk’s holding the rest of her own puke in, she was able to stumble backward from the edge of the platform, just barely maintaining her balance.

  Another person had died, this time even more horrifically than Arlo’s decapitation or the bludgeoning of their boy band guide. Shaun’s dying shrieks would haunt Persey’s dreams for the rest of her days, and she would always blame herself for his death.

  This is beyond you. There’s nothing you could have done.

  “There’s nothing you could have done!”

  It was Kevin’s voice, bellowing above the roar of the furnace. Persey turned toward the altar, where he, Neela, and Riot were frantically calling her name and waving their hands above their heads. How long had they been trying to get her attention? How long had she been standing out there since Shaun’s death?

  “Listen to me!” Kevin cried. His voice sounded closer, as if he was moving toward her. “There is nothing you could have done to save him, okay? Nothing.”

  I’m nothing.

  “Kev!” Mackenzie shouted, sounding more annoyed than alarmed. “What are you doing? It’s not safe!”

  “Persey, please!” It was Neela, her voice nearly hysterical. They’d barely known each other a day, and yet Neela was already more concerned about Persey’s well-being than almost anyone else on the planet. Which was both sweet and really, really sad.

  “Two minutes.”

  Right, the clock was ticking down. What would happen then? Would the whole altar collapse into the furnace? Leah wouldn’t let them all die. The game would be over.

  Maybe that was how Persey could shut this down? By just refusing to play along. Could she call the bluff?

  “Persey, come on.” She felt Kevin’s hand on her arm, spinning her around. His face was pink and slick with perspiration, but other than a physical reaction to the heat, he looked completely and utterly calm, like he wasn’t precariously balanced on a thin wooden platform poised to fall at any moment into a raging inferno. “We have to keep going.”

  “Do we?”

  Kevin sighed. “You don’t know what’s going to happen if that clock runs out. Maybe we all die.”

  The coolness in his voice made her stomach clench up again. Maybe we all die. She saw Neela over Kevin’s shoulder, frantically waving her arms. Persey might have been willing to risk her own life, but she certainly wasn’t going to put Neela’s on the line if she could help it.

  She took Kevin’s outstretched hand without a word and allowed him to escort her back the way they came. The platforms didn’t block their path, and the bridge of marble held steady until just after Persey set foot back on the dais. Almost instantly the section that had anchored the marble over the fire pit dropped away, taking the bridge with it.

  “I guess we know which way we’re supposed to go,” Riot said, watching the marble tumble down into the flames.

  “One minute.”

  “Let’s get this over with.” Wes climbed up to the open chute, and before anyone else could protest, he’d swung both of his legs over the side, crossed his hands over his chest, and disappeared into the darkness.

  Mackenzie followed with uncharacteristic silence. Her bow lips were pressed together as she climbed over the altar, her brows knitted low over her eyes. She did not like the fact that Kevin had come to Persey’s rescue.

  Riot and Neela went next, leaving just Persey and Kevin as the clock ticked dangerously low. He still held her hand, refusing to let go.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked.

  Kevin’s smile was grim. “Can’t be worse than in here, right?”

  Persey felt her face go cold as the image of Shaun’s paralyzed body dropping into the flames flashed through her mind. “No. No, it can’t.”

  “You’re going to be okay,” Kevin said, giving her hand a squeeze. “I promise.”

  Persey seriously doubted it.

  Persey had expected the slide to feel warm as it passed through or at least near the raging furnace below them, but as she zoomed down the smooth, curved surface, the metal beneath her felt cool to the touch. She could no longer hear the roar of the flames or smell the acrid smoke that had filled the Cavethedral, but though her sense of direction was all turned around in the total darkness, she was pretty sure she’d made a sharp right about ten feet down, so perhaps the chute was actually carrying them away from the furnace altogether.

  The end of the slide came abruptly. One moment the exit was a dot of light in the distance, and then, suddenly, it was a gaping hole Persey was shot through like a bullet leaving the muzzle of a gun.

  She felt herself free-fall, arms flailing as she attempted to find something to grab on to. She half expected to have her fall broken by a concrete floor, which would have busted her arm, shattered her leg, or cracked open her skull, depending on which way she fell, but instead, after just a second or two airborne, her body collapsed onto a soft, cushiony surface.

  Persey felt the layers of airy fabric closing in around her as they absorbed the impact of her fall, and she had just processed the fact that she’d landed on some kind of giant pillow, when she heard a voice cry out above her.

  “Cowabunga!”

  Kevin. Who was about to land right on her head.

  She curled up into a ball, thrusting her arms over her face to protect herself, and felt the impact of Kevin’s weight just inches from her left ear. The pillowy cushion pushed up beneath her, like a water bed shifting its mass when someone else sat down on it, and as she was propelled upward on the swel
l, she tumbled backward and landed right on him.

  “Oof,” Kevin grunted as her knee accidentally impacted with his chest.

  She rolled away as walls of the cushion rose up around them, and Persey finally realized that they’d landed on a giant air mattress, the kind used by stuntpeople when they jumped off buildings. The thick vinyl fabric roiled beneath her on a cushion of air as she scooted forward on her butt, trying to find the edge. Suddenly her legs fell out from beneath her, and Persey pitched forward preparing to face-plant on the floor, but with a swoosh of black curly hair, Neela grabbed her arm and helped haul Persey to her feet.

  “You made it!” Neela cried, sounding somewhat surprised. “I…I kinda thought maybe you were going to stay up there.”

  It’s not like I had a choice.

  Riot wrapped his arms around her from behind, a gesture that felt both comforting and presumptively intimate. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

  She indulged in his embrace for half a heartbeat, then wiggled free. “If I’m going to die, getting burned alive seemed like the worst possible option.”

  “Careful what you say.” Riot pointed at the sky as if indicating a god. “You have no idea what else they have planned for us.”

  “Are you hurt?” Mackenzie rushed toward them, and Persey was momentarily dumbstruck at the fleeting thought that Mackenzie was actually concerned about her well-being, a confusion that was remedied two seconds later when Mackenzie launched herself into Kevin’s arms. So much for being pissed off at him.

  “Nope.” His smile shifted to Persey. “You?”

  Kevin’s eyes reflected genuine concern, and when coupled with the closeness of Riot’s hug, Persey almost allowed herself to give in. It might have been nice to lean on someone. To trust again.

  Stop. It.

  “I’m fine.” She shook herself, hardly able to look him in the eyes. “Just short of breath.”

  He smiled, unaffected by her brush-off, and rubbed the spot on his chest where she drop-kicked him. “I know how you feel.”

  She seriously doubted it.

  They’d landed in a narrow slit of a room, designed to look like the interior of a warehouse. Behind the crash pad, a blank wall of corrugated steel stretched to the roof, while the wall opposite was a third the height, a temporary division meant to separate this antechamber from what lay beyond. The roof soared above their heads with just a few stark lightbulbs hanging from the rafters to illuminate the room below, and the floor beneath Persey’s feet was cold, sterile concrete. The air felt dank. In fact, the whole space smelled like a swimming pool at the end of summer, and the only way out was a single door, set into the low wall, at once welcoming and menacing.

  “Anyone try the door yet?” Persey asked, not even sure she wanted to know what was behind it.

  “Really?” Mackenzie asked, her upper lip curling into a snarl of disgust. “That’s your first question?”

  Persey’s patience was pretty much gone. “I have so many questions, I don’t even know where to start, but since I doubt anyone here can answer them, I thought I’d start with something we might some have control over.”

  “The door’s locked,” Riot said. Unlike Kevin, his calmness had an edge to it. Less terrified, more pissed off. “And it appears to be the only way out.”

  Great.

  “You want to tell us what happened out there with Shaun?” Wes said, eying her suspiciously. He thinks I had something to do with Shaun’s death.

  The question had been meant for Persey, but Mackenzie took the opportunity to answer. “His screams…the stench…” She was all terrified victim again as she clawed at Kevin’s chest, still trying to wrestle back his attention. Right, because that was the important thing right now.

  “Still think this is all faked?” Persey asked, unable to stop herself.

  “I don’t…I mean, it can’t…” Tears overflowed Mackenzie’s eyes, streaking her once-perfectly-pristine makeup as they trailed down her face. She looked confused and terrified all at the same time. It was a combination of emotions that Persey could relate to.

  “What did Shaun say?” Neela asked. “Why didn’t he move?”

  “He couldn’t.” Best just to lay it all out for them.

  “Fear-inducing paralysis.” Wes nodded. “Just like I said.”

  Persey was really starting to loathe his cockiness. “It was definitely paralysis, but fear had nothing to do with it.”

  Wes arched an eyebrow. “You think he had a stroke or something? Pretty sure that’s not how it works.”

  “Shaun had been drugged.”

  “Here we go again.” Wes’s head rolled forward, his hair hanging down over his face. “Do we really have to sit through more of your conspiracy crap?” He jabbed his thumb toward Riot. “You’re sounding more like your crazy-pants boyfriend every minute.”

  “Why would somebody want to kill the Shaun-bot?” Riot asked, thankfully ignoring the “boyfriend” mention. “Why would they want any of us dead? What the fuck did we do?”

  “Shaun said something to you, didn’t he?” Kevin asked.

  “Yes.” The screams…

  He stepped closer, his hand resting gently on Persey’s shoulder. It was possessive, and before Persey could shake him off, Riot’s eyes had zeroed in on Kevin’s grip. “What was it?”

  “Uh…”

  “She’ll tell us when she’s ready,” Riot said. Persey was so unused to people defending her, she didn’t even know how to respond.

  “Persey?” Neela’s voice quivered in the face of Persey’s silence. “What’s going on?”

  Persey’s eyes drifted past the others’ faces, which all stared at her wide-eyed. They were scared now, finally. Already scared and they don’t even know the truth.

  Should she tell them? Should Persey be the one to take them from scared to terrified? From “Will I accidentally be killed next?” to “Someone is trying to murder us!” Shaun’s final words would do just that.

  Her eyes scanned the roof, looking for the ever-present camera. By explaining her theory, would she set the killer off in the process? Wouldn’t that just be a green light to get rid of all of them? Then their deaths really would be my fault.

  But withholding the truth might be just as bad.

  She felt Kevin’s fingers twitch against her shoulder. He was tense, though trying to hide it, and as Persey took a slow breath, she felt his hand fall away. They deserved to know. Whatever the consequences.

  “Shaun was murdered,” Persey said. “Just like B.J. and Arlo. And I think it has something to do with the murders of Derrick and Melinda Browne.”

  WES WAS THE FIRST TO VOICE THE QUESTION PERSEY KNEW they all had on the tips of their tongues. “The owners of Escape-Capades?”

  “Former owners,” Kevin corrected him. “Kinda hard to run a company when you’re dead.”

  “Um, Persey?” Neela asked, raising her hand like a schoolkid. “You said ‘murder’ not ‘deaths.’ I thought the Brownes died by suicide, and while I suppose since it was a murder-suicide that is still technically a murder, in the context that you presented it, I rather believed or at the very least inferred that their deaths were the result of an unlawful, premeditated act by a third party.”

  Persey wasn’t going to quibble about her use of the word “murder.” “I think what’s happening to us is related to the Brownes. And so did Shaun.”

  “That’s fucking ridiculous,” Wes said. Always charming. “You might as well claim that aliens have abducted us, and this is one big rat-maze experiment to test our survival abilities.”

  “That’s not as fucking ridiculous as you think,” Riot said, his body instantly relaxing as he talked about a favorite subject. “The Hill case aside, evidence in both the Shaver mystery and the Ariel School encounter in Zimbabwe was pretty compelling in support of extraterrestrial intelligences mandated to assess the human instinct to survive.”

  “Nobody asked you, freak show.”

  Riot laughed. “That’s exa
ctly the kind of witty put-down I’d expect from a spoiled Deerfield asshole.”

  Wes went rigid, neck so taut Persey could see the individual tendons articulated through his skin. “How did you know I went to Deerfield?”

  “The same way that Mackenzie knew you went to boarding school,” Persey said, not waiting for him to answer. “Or that Riot knew about Shaun’s code-breaking skills. Or that Neela is a power user at Geektacle. Don’t you see? He knows where you went to school because you’re all connected.”

  Instead of contradicting her, Riot, Mackenzie, and even Wes fell silent. Deep down they all knew it was true.

  “That’s the first time all day the three of you have kept your goddamn mouths shut,” Kevin said, annoyance creeping into his tone. “So I’m going to take it that you’ve already come to the same conclusion.”

  More silence. At least they’re not lying about it.

  Satisfied with their non-answers, Kevin turned to Persey. “Why do you think this has to do with the Brownes?”

  “Before Shaun died, he was trying to tell me something, but he’d been—”

  “Paralyzed,” Wes laughed, his silent acquiescence forgotten. “You told us. Hate to break the news, but I’m pretty sure that’s not even possible.”

  “He couldn’t move,” Persey said through clenched teeth. She much preferred stoned Wes to mouthy-asshole Wes.

  “Fear paralysis?” Riot suggested. “Not that I want to agree with our resident dickhead, but it is a real thing.”

  Wes shrugged. “I’ve been called worse.”

  I’m sure you have. “I don’t think so.” Yes, Shaun had looked utterly terrified, but Persey had the impression that he was scared because of the paralysis, not the other way around.

  “I believe you,” Kevin said, looking directly at Wes as he said it. Any opportunity to contradict. “The question is, why would someone want to drug the Shaun-bot?”