I started to fire at the next person, but then ducked when I heard the sound of metallic rending coming from behind me. Whirling around, I saw that the door had been ripped outward this time. I squeezed the trigger to fire at the next woman as she came through, and my gun clicked empty. With a curse, I ejected the magazine and reached for the spare, stopping when I realized I had left it on the floor earlier.
Then she was on me, her hand configured into an openhanded tiger paw technique. I recognized it, although I had never tried it out. I dipped under her sweep and landed a stiff hit with the butt of my rifle to her ribcage on my follow-through, using her momentum to my advantage. She let out a sharp chuff of air as she flew by, and I danced back, my eyes sweeping the floor for the magazine.
I saw it sticking out from under Harry’s leg, and bent over to grab it. I straightened, slapping it in and turning to fire at her as she was getting back off the ground. Then I fired at the one rushing for Gregory, and at the next one coming through the first door. I expected yet another, but the areas beyond both doors appeared clear—although who knew for how long.
Then I moved over to Tim, kneeling next to him and putting my back to the console.
The air around the doors seemed still, but I didn’t trust it. “Status, and I need your rifle.”
Tim didn’t pause in his motions, didn’t even seem to acknowledge me as his fingers flew across the keyboard. “Almost there,” he whispered as he shifted his weight to one leg and nudged the rifle propped up against the console. I reached around him and pulled it over, dismayed that it wasn’t the same type as mine.
That meant our ammo wasn’t interchangeable. A shadow crossing the light from the door to the left caught my eye, and I swung my rifle around to shoot at it. Gunfire came from their side too, and then suddenly died as my bullets found their mark.
“Viggo!” I turned and saw Alejandro looking just past me back toward the right. Gregory lay on his stomach, his eyes wide open, glossy. I stared at the bullet hole in his head, my heart clenching. He had been right there fighting next to me. I had just been joking with him less than an hour ago.
“Alejandro,” I croaked. “You got that door covered?”
“I do. I got a rifle, too.” The old man’s voice was grim, angry, and hard. He knew what I knew—we were probably not coming out of this room alive. I tightened my grip on my gun and thought of Violet, hoping she wouldn’t be too angry with me for too long.
Tim didn’t falter beside me, the rapid click of buttons being pressed filling the room. I heard gunshots come through in the door I was looking at—the one that led to the other vat room—and noticed the still mostly intact door lying on Harry. In the chaos, I couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not, but I couldn’t risk helping him just yet.
Taking advantage of the lull in battle, I gripped the detached door and began to pull it toward Tim, intent on giving the young man as much cover as possible. Alejandro watched me in confusion, and then I saw the hard understanding come into his eyes as he realized I was trying to protect Tim until the bitter end.
I propped it up at an angle between the floor and the wall, and it covered most of his torso and one of his legs. His head was still very much in view, but it presented a small target that most people didn’t instinctively go for in a firefight. Hopefully it would buy him some time if I wasn’t able to cover him.
My heart throbbed hard in my chest as I squatted back down, and I had only reached up to wipe off my forehead when footsteps pounded up and three women burst into the room from my door, charging right in. I grabbed my gun, their unexpected appearance shaving seconds off my response time, and then suddenly I was hauled up, and my legs were dangling.
I didn’t bother to try to break the woman’s grip on my vest. Instead, I reached up with one hand and undid the fastener on the side, loosening it and slipping out of it. I went low as I landed, scooping up my gun from where I had dropped it and firing up even as I fell back.
That woman fell as I started to straighten, but another was there in her place, her hand reaching out, grabbing the muzzle of the rifle and giving it a squeeze. The metal compressed under her grip, and she yanked the gun from my fingers and then stepped forward, head-butting me.
I reeled back at the blow to my nose and felt blood dripping down my face. The woman before me let out a throaty scream of victory and then launched herself at me, her arms swinging for me faster than I would have believed possible. I avoided the first blow, but her second one caught me in the side. Luckily, the angle was wrong—her fist glanced off my ribcage, barely two knuckles connecting.
That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. The pain was immense and immediate, and I dropped down on my hands and knees. The warden’s foot lashed out, kicking me in the same spot, and whatever air I had been able to catch from the kick in the chest earlier was gone again. I gasped on the floor, seeing her foot draw back in my periphery, and I knew if she kicked me again, she would probably kill me.
Instinct made me ignore the pain for long enough to pick my knee off the floor and land a hard kick of my own directly to the joint of her knee, picturing a spot just behind it and aiming for it. I kicked her harder than I thought, and her knee compressed backward. She crumpled immediately with a howl and began rocking back and forth.
She came to a flopping stop as Alejandro pulled the trigger, his face squeezed tight in pain. “Behind you!” he shouted, and I rolled forward, not even bothering to look. A hand clamped down on my ankle and began to squeeze, and I heard Alejandro’s gun click empty. I lashed out with my other foot, trying to break free.
“Got it,” Tim shouted, and a deep, thrumming hum filled the air, followed by a metallic clunking sound. Then I saw the young man turn and shoot the woman who was holding me, using her own pistol. Her grip on my ankle relaxed, and Tim bent over to help me up.
I leaned on him, a little afraid to put any weight on my ankle—it was throbbing so hard.
I tried to straighten, freezing when I saw six more women step in, three from either side. Their eyes quested back and forth, their breath labored and angry, as though there was only one thought in their minds now—destroy the enemy. I sucked in another tight breath, still unable to breathe normally, and just… looked at them. Alejandro shouted a curse and threw his gun at one of the women, but she ducked easily. Tim nervously brandished his gun, his eyes darting around. I could see the calculation in his eyes: he had good reflexes, but even he couldn’t kill all six of them before they were on him.
I watched them approach, and then pressed my fingers together. “We initiated the purge, Ms. Dale. You can turn back. We’re not going to—”
Heavy gunfire tore through the control room, and I ducked as I heard the loud sound of a large-caliber rifle being fired at automatic speeds, pulling Tim along with me. It stopped seconds later, leaving nothing but bloody carnage on the floor.
I peeked my head out and saw Ms. Dale stepping into the room, the massive, blocky weight of a .50 caliber machine gun gripped firmly in both her hands, steam still piping from the front of it. She tossed it to the floor, giving me a stern look. “Of course we’re going to make it,” she said tiredly. “Because we just did. I’m sorry I couldn’t warn you sooner—my microphone got broken, and then things got crazy.”
I turned to look out at the treatment room through the door, and saw the water churning in the vat, the rushing sound growing even louder as the water rapidly drained out.
Lowering myself back to the floor, I rested my head against the console and resisted the urge to laugh in relief. Or sorrow. Or both.
Ms. Dale’s people started to press in and pass through the control room toward the other side of the plant. “Cruz is trying to find a way around,” I told her, and she nodded and began giving orders to her people, sending a couple of them to help.
I watched as she led a group of them out, and then climbed slowly to my feet. My entire side still burned as I tried to move, and I wound up walking slightly stooped over,
unable to fully right myself for fear of pulling the severely bruised muscles. If Cruz had our people coming in the other side, I was certain they could handle it. I had bigger concerns at the moment. I hobbled slowly over to Harry, fighting through the pain, and sank to a heavy knee next to him, putting my fingers to his neck. His pulse was still there, but it was weak. A quick check revealed purple splotches on his chest and stomach. I was certain that wasn’t a good sign, but there was nothing I could do for him at the moment.
Standing up slowly, keeping my slightly doubled-over posture, I moved over to Alejandro and Mags, listening to the gunshots filling the air suddenly double. Ms. Dale’s group must have joined the fray with Cruz. I pressed my fingers to Mags’ neck, and found her pulse beating strongly. Peeling back her eyelids, intent on checking her pupils, I found myself doubled over and gasping for breath as she suddenly lashed out with a small fist, not hard, but catching me in the same side the warden had.
I had to lie down, the pain was that bad. I slowly lowered myself as Mags leaned over me, her face fluttering in concern. “Viggo? I’m so sorry, did I hurt you?”
“I’m fine,” I wheezed hoarsely, trying not to breathe too deeply.
I was lying and we both knew it, but she ignored it, looking around at the bodies on the floor and the otherwise deserted room. “Did we do it?” she asked. “Did we win?”
I looked over to where Harry lay, Gregory just a few feet away from him. “I think so,” I said tiredly, the statement not fully expressing every feeling coursing through me in that moment. “We purged the plant,” I said to Mags. “The contaminated water is gone. There might be a little still in Patrus, but not enough to destroy the entire city.”
Mags’ eyes glittered with tears, but whether they were of happiness or sadness, I didn’t think even she knew. “We did it,” she said hoarsely. “We stopped ‘em.”
“Yes,” I said, although the triumph tasted weird in my mouth. “And now we need Dr. Tierney here. We got a lot of wounded.”
Mags nodded and began transmitting as I somehow managed to flop over onto my back, thinking of Violet. We’d made it through this; we’d survived the first hurdle. Desmond hadn’t appeared and stopped our attack on the plant—I hoped to God Violet had stopped her. I pushed all those thoughts away, imagining how much I was going to enjoy just… holding her tightly and going to sleep by her side. Soon. As soon as all this was cleaned up.
Once Mags was finished on the radio, she leaned heavily to one side, resting her weight on the wall behind her. “I wish we could say this was it,” she said. “But there is so much more to do. The city is in shambles; people are still killing each other… We may have saved them, but that doesn’t mean we can re-establish order.”
I groaned, and slowly worked myself into a sitting position, the fantasy of holding Violet popped by Mags’ cold dash of reality. “We need to reorganize and get our people medical attention, food, and rest first,” I said. “After that, we’ll start with the city. One block at a time if we have to. The biggest thing that will calm people down is restoring power, but some of the seedier elements will have to be dealt with. Luckily, I think having Maxen will be useful.”
Mags shot me a hard look. “Our agreement was—”
“The people can’t agree to kick him out right now. They aren’t even talking to each other. It would be chaos. Restore order—be one of the groups the people start to look up to—then decide who is going to lead. Baby steps.”
“And in the meantime, Elena is coming up with something else.” Mags glowered angrily, and I sighed. We had fires on all fronts, and they were raging. But I knew we couldn’t worry about the fire on the other side of the river at the moment. The people came first.
“We’ll deal with it,” I said, easing up against the wall a few inches, pushing past the agony that made up one side of my ribs. “You haven’t known us long enough yet, but we always do. And this time, we’ll end it.”
I hoped.
Ready for the GRAND FINALE of Violet and Viggo’s story?
Dear Reader,
Thank you for your loyalty to this series and for journeying through it with me to the end. I’m both sad and excited for the conclusion.
THE GENDER END, the thrilling final book, releases July 10th, 2017.
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I’ll see you back in Matrus and Patrus on July 10th 2017, one last time…
Until then,
Love,
Bella x
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Read More by Bella Forrest
THE GENDER GAME
The Gender Game (Book 1)
The Gender Secret (Book 2)
The Gender Lie (Book 3)
The Gender War (Book 4)
The Gender Fall (Book 5)
The Gender Plan (Book 6)
The Gender End (Book 7)
THE SECRET OF SPELLSHADOW MANOR
The Secret of Spellshadow Manor (Book 1)
The Breaker (Book 2)
The Chain (Book 3)
A SHADE OF VAMPIRE SERIES
Series 1: Derek & Sofia’s story
A Shade of Vampire (Book 1)
A Shade of Blood (Book 2)
A Castle of Sand (Book 3)
A Shadow of Light (Book 4)
A Blaze of Sun (Book 5)
A Gate of Night (Book 6)
A Break of Day (Book 7)
Series 2: Rose & Caleb’s story
A Shade of Novak (Book 8)
A Bond of Blood (Book 9)
A Spell of Time (Book 10)
A Chase of Prey (Book 11)
A Shade of Doubt (Book 12)
A Turn of Tides (Book 13)
A Dawn of Strength (Book 14)
A Fall of Secrets (Book 15)
An End of Night (Book 16)
Series 3: The Shade continues with a new hero…
A Wind of Change (Book 17)
A Trail of Echoes (Book 18)
A Soldier of Shadows (Book 19)
A Hero of Realms (Book 20)
A Vial of Life (Book 21)
A Fork of Paths (Book 22)
A Flight of Souls (Book 23)
A Bridge of Stars (Book 24)
Series 4: A Clan of Novaks
A Clan of Novaks (Book 25)
A World of New (Book 26)
A Web of Lies (Book 27)
A Touch of Truth (Book 28)
An Hour of Need (Book 29)
A Game of Risk (Book 30)
A Twist of Fates (Book 31)
A Day of Glory (Book 32)
Series 5: A Dawn of Guardians
A Dawn of Guardians (Book 33)
A Sword of Chance (Book 34)
A Race of Trials (Book 35)
A King of Shadow (Book 36)
An Empire of Stones (Book 37)
A Power of Old (Book 38)
A Rip of Realms (Book 39)
A Throne of Fire (Book 40)
A Tide of War (Book 41)
Series 6: A Gift of Three
A Gift of Three (Book 42)
A House of Mysteries (Book 43)
A Tangle of Hearts (Book 44)
A Meet of Tribes (Book 45)
A SHADE OF DRAGON TRILOGY
A Shade of Dragon 1
A
Shade of Dragon 2
A Shade of Dragon 3
A SHADE OF KIEV TRILOGY
A Shade of Kiev 1
A Shade of Kiev 2
A Shade of Kiev 3
BEAUTIFUL MONSTER DUOLOGY
Beautiful Monster 1
Beautiful Monster 2
DETECTIVE ERIN BOND (Adult thriller/mystery)
Lights, Camera, GONE
Write, Edit, KILL
For an updated list of Bella’s books, please visit her website: www.bellaforrest.net
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The Gender Plan Page 34