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“I’m fine. It just scratched me.”
“Looks like it needs stitches.”
“Well, we’re not doing that right now.”
He tears away a piece of his shirt that’s spattered in blood, and wraps it tight around my arm. “I recall having to do this once before.”
“And I recall the kiss that followed.” Smiling, I wait for him to finish tying the knot, and he hooks his finger under my chin.
Lips pressed to mine, he steals the opportunity to kiss me again, and if not for the audience, I’d lengthen this one for as long as I could go without needing a breath.
“I’m glad to see you haven’t improved in some things,” Cadmus says from behind. “Still shit at kissing a woman.”
Valdys exhales a forced breath through his nose, and when he pulls away, his jaw is tight. “I see you’re still a prick.” The corner of his lips kick up in a smile, as he turns around to help his friend to his feet, where he sits slumped against the wall.
“You been practicing with this one, right?” Cadmus points toward Atticus and gives a wink. “Bet he was looking pretty, all those months.”
Atticus shoots him a glare that says if he wasn’t injured, Cadmus would probably have a foot square up his ass.
“Hey, are you there?” Kenny’s voice has officially become my least favorite sound, an omen of bad news, and the bleak tone of his voice rattles my nerves.
“Yeah,” Cadmus answers. “What now?”
“I can’t get the entrance open. There is no way to override the system. It’s stuck in an error and will probably take hours to fix.”
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Lowering the walkie-talkie from his face, Cadmus looks like he’s about to throw the damn thing, as he rubs a hand over his skull. “So, what’s the plan, man?”
There’s a pause, followed by the sound of Kenny huffing through the speaker, exacerbating my already-simmering anxiety. “We have to go back the way we came. Through the tunnels.”
My chest tightens, and I step toward him, shaking my head. “Those mutations are in the tunnels. Are you crazy?”
“Unless you’ve got a better idea, that’s the only way we’re getting out of here.” Even in the thick of disaster, the bitterness weighs heavy on Kenny’s tone.
“We have no idea how many are down there, though.” The only thought racing through my head is the one I had while dangling from Cadmus’s grasp in the ventilation shaft, as he pulled me away from their swiping claws—that I was grateful I wouldn’t have to see those damn tunnels again. “At least here, we can see them on camera! Down there, we could be trapped against hundreds. And they’re more violent than the ones here.”
“We came through there once. We can do it again.” Cadmus reaches out, as if to comfort me, but slides his gaze toward Valdys and lowers his hand. Eyes on me, he lifts the walkie-talkie to his face, instead. “Rhys and the others. Where are they?”
“In the tunnels now,” Kenny answers. “I’ve told them to sit tight. That we’re on our way.”
Lips pressed to a hard line, Cadmus rubs his hand over his jaw, the anxiety creeping its way into the expression on his face. “Do you have a visual of the tunnels?”
“No. All I have is their communications by walkie-talkie.”
Wincing as if the news just pierced his ear, Cadmus lowers the walkie-talkie as his shoulders sag. “All right. So, we’ll meet in the specimen room where we came in?”
“Yes, but be careful. Those faceless things we locked up? Looks like they broke out.” Yet another of Kenny’s horrific premonitions.
“Fucking brilliant.” Cadmus clips the walkietalkie to his belt and gives a jerk of his head. “Let’s get out of here before that bastard tells us something else is wrong.”
Chapter 28
Wren
“I’m going to make us some lunch.” Gregor pushes up from the chair beside me and, grabbing the pitcher, pours the last of the water into my glass.
“I’m not hungry, thank you.”
“You haven’t eaten, at all. Which means, neither has your growing baby. Do it for the kid.”
