Page 91 of Stay Scared

Owen directs his utility light toward the other end.

“The isolation box is ahead. If we reach it, I can lock the panels manually.”

Cade enters first. Ash catches the back strap of his vest before he clears the threshold.

“Wait. I remember this section.”

Cade looks over his shoulder.

“And he knows you remember it.”

Cade pulls once against Ash’s hand, enough to make the point.

“Stay with her.”

Ash glances toward me. Cade uses the distraction to slip the strap from his grip and enters the corridor.

Ash swears under his breath. I move past him. He falls in beside me, and Owen enters last. The door remains open behind us as our footsteps carry along the concrete.

Cade reaches the midpoint. A speaker activates overhead. Rook’s voice comes through without distortion.

“Four people in one corridor. You still think staying together makes you safer.”

Cade looks toward the ceiling.

“You sounded scarier with the filter.”

“I sound familiar.”

Ash misses one step. The reaction is tiny. I catch it anyway.

Then the door behind Owen slams shut. Red light floods the corridor. Metal grinds beneath the floor.

Rook did not open the control-room door because he lost control. He opened it because he knew exactly where we would go.

“Move now,” Ash says.

The first wall segment narrows around Cade. He runs toward us.

Owen turns toward the sealed entrance while still moving.

“The local controls are dead.”

A panel slides toward my injured shoulder. Ash catches me around the waist and yanks me across the seam before it closes. My back hits his chest. His arm stays locked low around my middle while the wall passes inches from us. He releases me as soon as I have my balance.

“Keep moving.”

A gap splits across the floor ahead. Cade clears it first and turns.

“Come on, Salem.”

I run. The edge disappears beneath my next step. I jump.

Cade catches me around the waist hard enough that the landing drives me into him and sends him back half a step. His arms lock around my body before my boots find concrete. His vest bites through my clothes. One buckle catches beneath my ribs, and blood and sweat cling to him beneath the cold basement air. His face is close enough that the heat of his breathing moves across my temple.

Neither of us lets go immediately. The corridor groans behind me.

Cade’s grip shifts, one hand spreading across my lower back while the other stays locked around my waist where he caught me.