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The group files in after us until we’re trapped inside what appears to be some kind of large examination room, with steel countertops, surgical-looking tools I remember from my many visits to the operating room, and gurneys lying tipped and broken.

Striding toward the back, Valdys swings back a large steel door on where a man built like an Alpha sits against the wall with a bloodied piece of fabric tied to his leg. The pointed end of a broomstick that looks to have been carved into a spear remains trained on us, a good indication we startled him, until he huffs a breath and lowers his weapon.

“’The hell was the noise?” the stranger asks in a gruff voice, wincing when he pushes up, as if to stand. “And where’d you find the fresh pulses?”

I’m guessing fresh pulses refers to us.

“The place is blowing to shit. These are my friends. We’re getting the hell out of here.”

The room is small, and filled with blankets and cans of food. Bottles of sterile water, presumably what they’ve scavenged from the labs, lie discarded, and some sit stacked.

Wrapping my arms across my body, I shiver against a sudden chill. “What is this place?”

“Place they store bodies, I’m guessing. Pretty sure this is a morgue.” Valdys crouches down, allowing his friend to wrap an arm around him, and he lifts him up to his feet.

The Alpha flinches, but doesn’t moan, or protest, with the movement, as if he’s had to do this a number of times already. His eyes fall on me once he’s upright, and if I weren’t already accustomed to an Alpha’s curious stare, the weight and intensity of his gaze might’ve had me shrinking into myself.

In diverting my own stare, I notice his bloodstained bandage again, and a lump sticking up that, for my stomach’s sake, I hope isn’t bone. “What happened?”

“Supply run. Mutations cornered us in one of the rooms and attacked. Tore a nice chunk of his leg, which’s been slow to heal. The dogs held them off while we escaped, but we lost one.”

“Two now,” Cadmus says. “That was before I knew they were your pets.”

“They’ve kept us alive, and in turn, we make sure they’re fed. They’ve been loyal and protective, so far, but I’m not foolish enough to think that we won’t be next on the menu, when the food runs out.”

“So, um. When was the last time you fed them?” Brandon asks, wringing his shirt as he stares off at one of the dogs, who licks its chops as it stares back at him.

“This morning. Found some carcasses up on the sixth floor.”

“You know there’s a buffet on the first floor,” I add, glancing around at all of the tools they’ve gathered inside the small space--saws and scalpels they’ve armed themselves with.

“We’ve avoided first floor. Been hearing some shit through the vents of this place. Seeing things we shouldn’t be seeing.”

“Like what?”

Exchanging a quick glance with Cadmus, Valdys frowns and shakes his head. “Things that can’t possibly be there.”

“Well, you’re shit out of luck, because that’s where the front entrance is, and that’s where we’re headed.” Cadmus lifts a can of beans from the floor, grimacing before tossing it back onto the pile.

I don’t think any of us miss our daily meal of watered down soup with beans.

“You guys all right?” Kenny’s voice interrupts through the walkie-talkie.

“Yeah,” Cadmus answers, glancing around the room. “We’re in some kind of morgue at the end of the hallway. How the fuck do we get out of here without suffocating to death?”

“There’s a dumbwaiter elevator in that room. Looks like the tanks blew through the ceiling into the upper levels, so you should be good to take it down to the second floor. Once there, take the stairwell back to the first. I’m working on the code to open the entrance.”

“Working on the code?” I ask, frowning.

“Yeah, so, there really wasn’t a way to open them once they sealed. Kinda defeats the purpose of sealing the doors, you know?”

Huffing a breath, I shake my head, resigning myself to one calamity at a time. “Okay, to the dumbwaiter elevator. Let’s go.”

“One thing. The elevator can only hold two, max. You guys will have to go two at a time.”

Cadmus drags his hand down his face and groans. “For fuck’s sake, any other disaster you can throw at us? How about an oncoming horde?”

“Um. Well, it seems the explosion has drawn some activity. I’m catching movement on the floors above and below, so be careful and quiet.”