“Right here.” He jerks my head to the side, and I see Malachi.
My heart stops.
Malachi.
The screen shows him surrounded, outnumbered, fighting desperately against impossible odds.
“Your precious team is falling apart, little parasite. And you’re going to watch every second of it.”
This wasn’t a fair fight. Even with our Avidian, they have too many guards. Worse, all the security personnel areabnormally strong, like they’ve been injecting themselves with whatever substance they’re using to alter the Avids.
Did Viktor know he was sending us into a trap? Did Alex warn them before we even arrived? The questions spiral through my mind as I watch Malachi struggle against impossible odds.
But I’m not giving up. I refuse to accept defeat, not when we’ve come this far. We can still get out of this and expose what’s happening down here. The Avids we freed, most of them ran toward what had to be the exit. They must have found their way out by now. Someone will know. Someone will tell the world what Marco is doing.
I have to survive long enough to make sure that happens.
My eyes dart across the other monitors, searching for any sign of hope, any advantage I can use. There has to be some way to turn this around.
They wear Malachi down until they finally have him restrained, a dozen guards holding him in place. Marco appears on screen, walking across the laboratory floor in his pristine suit like he’s strolling through a boardroom instead of a chamber of horrors.
“Here, let’s turn this one up a bit.” Orin leans forward with sick anticipation, pressing buttons on the console.
Marco’s voice crackles through the speakers. “This is what happens when you challenge the natural order, demon. This is what your rebellion costs.” He turns and looks up right at the camera.
He knows I’m watching.
A guard drags in Bash and Dante, shoving them down to their knees next to Malachi. All three of them have their arms bound behind their backs, helpless and defeated.
I can’t breathe and start to feel dizzy and nauseous. I can’ttell if it’s me losing focus or reality itself starting to fracture around me.
I blink hard, desperately trying to will the screens to steady as one of the white-coated workers enters the frame. He approaches Bash with a dark syringe and jabs it into his neck without ceremony.
“This one will be useful to us, once he’s malleable,” Marco says. His cold gaze shifts to Dante. “He is nothing.”
Gary walks up and hauls Dante away toward an unseen fate.
“No!” I thrash against Orin’s iron grip, fighting with everything I have left to break free. But his hold is unbreakable, and all I can do is watch my friends disappear one by one.
The screens blur through my tears, but I force myself to keep watching.
“Why don’t you bring my pet down here for a closer seat at the party,” Marco says without even looking back at the camera.
Orin kicks the door open and drags me out, his grip brutal as he shoves me down the flight of stairs. I stumble and nearly fall, but he keeps me upright through sheer force.
“Let her go,” Malachi roars raw with desperation. “She only came here because I made her. You have all these Avids already. Let her go.”
My heart sinks like a stone. I’ve never heard him plead like this before, never heard that note of defeat in his voice. Is he losing hope? Does he think we won’t survive this?
Orin stops me directly in front of Malachi, close enough to see the bruises forming on his face, close enough to hear his labored breathing. Marco turns to face me fully, his expression a mask of false disappointment.
“Do you see what you’re making me do?” He throws his arms up theatrically.
I spit directly in his face.
He freezes, that calm composure cracking as something darker flashes across his features. He pulls a pristine handkerchief from his pocket and wipes away my contempt with deliberate precision.
“I’m not making you do any of this,” I snarl. “That’s your son. If only your wife and daughter were still alive. They’re disgusted by what you’ve become. They wanted me to come here and stop you.” It’s a lie, but he doesn’t know that.
