Page 74
Cali
Having met up with Kenny and Titus along the way, we reach the specimen room where we locked away the faceless Ragers earlier. The door to the chamber lies in a mangled state on the floor, telling us the creatures somehow managed to blow it off the hinges, but there’s no sign of them anywhere.
“Let’s get down there before they decide to come back.” I skirt around Valdys and carefully lift the vent to the air shaft, angling my flashlight down inside to find it empty. “One of the Alphas should go first.”
“I’ll go.” Atticus hobbles forward, limping toward the vent, and I shoot a glance back at Valdys. Although he’s already moving around easier than before, likely due to his ability to heal faster, I’m not sure he’s the best candidate to go first.
“If they’re lurking up here, they might smell the blood on me, which would put you more at risk in your escape,” he adds, making a valid point.
Valdys gives a nod, and I hold the swinging vent open for him. Grimacing in pain, he hoists his leg up through the vent and grunts as he climbs down inside of it. Using mostly his upper body, he descends quicker than I would’ve, even without an injury. In only a couple of minutes, he’s at the bottom, and I see him give a thumbs up where he stands in the halo of my flashlight.
Kenny approaches next and climbs down inside the shaft, followed by Brandon and Titus.
As I hook my leg over the vent to climb down, the dog growls, and I turn to see one of the faceless creatures somehow watching us from the corner ceiling. A screech skates down my spine. The second Rager joins the first, scampering along the ceiling, its nose prodding the air as it sniffs.
“Go, Cali!” Valdys stands in front of me, and I hustle down into the shaft.
Just as I begin my climb, I see the Ragers scuttle like oversized insects toward us, and the two Alphas charge, along with the dog. With shaky arms clinging to the ladder inside the shaft, I stand paralyzed, watching them fight through the slits in the vent. These Ragers are heartier than the ones out in the Deadlands. Quicker and smarter, as they seem to elude the Alphas’ attack, until Cadmus manages to snatch one by its legs and yank it down from the ceiling. Valdys goes after the other, while Cadmus and the dog wrangle the first to the floor.
I lose sight of the creature on the ceiling and lean into the grates of the vent, staring into the room.
A hiss sends me flying back, and I snap my attention forward to see the blank face of the creature pressed into the grates on the other side of the vent. A scream flies out of me, and I slip from the ladder, sliding down the tunnel, but catch myself three rungs down. Pain throbs in my arms where metal has smacked against my bones, and I flinch, pulling myself back up.
The vent above me flips open, and I look up to see Valdys staring down at me. “You’re all right?”
“Yes. Sorry, I lost my footing.”
He gives a nod and turns away from me, jerking his head.
Cadmus climbs into the vent after me, covered in what I hope is only Rager blood, and I continue my descent, anxious for Valdys. Nervous.
He climbs inside and holds the vent open, whistling. The beastly dog peeks its head in, its face coated in thick blood. Valdys releases the vent and hoists the massive creature over his shoulder. That thing must weigh nearly two hundred pounds, and I wonder if the rungs are strong enough to hold all of us. A thought that prompts me to descend faster.
I reach the end of the shaft where my feet dangle, reminding me of earlier, when those creatures swung out for me. I let go of the rung and fall to the ground below, landing on my feet.
Cadmus lands after me, followed by Valdys, who lets go of the dog before he hits the ground. Once everyone is out, I slide my hand in Valdys’s, ready to get the hell out of here.
A growl and snarl from behind sends knots twisting in my stomach, and I turn to see the dog, hunched forward in the opposite direction, as if something lurks in the shadows there.
My impatience with this escape has reached its max, and I shake my head, refusing to let another obstacle get in the way. “Let’s go!”
The group of us race through the tunnels back toward the hatch. Fire burns in my lungs as I push toward the finish line, freedom so close I can practically touch it. Angling my flashlight, I catch sight of Rhys and Jed ahead of us. The other two are nowhere.
Frowning, I slow my pace, focusing my attention beyond them at where a group of mutations has gathered on the other side of the gate.
Jed backs away from Rhys, stirring my confusion. The older man leaps into the air for something above him, missing it once. He leaps again, and a second gate falls from the ceiling.
Rhys spins around as the metal barrier lowers, and it narrowly misses the Alpha when it slams against the concrete floor.
We stand separated from Jed, who’s safely encased inside a cage, sequestered from us on one side, and the mutations on the other. A beam of light from overhead shines down on him, where he smiles back at us.
He lifts a walkie-talkie to his mouth. “I’ve got it. The samples are secured.” No response follows, as if the update has been anticipated.
He betrayed us. All of us.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Rhys grips the bars, as we all approach from behind. “’The fuck did you do?”
“I’m very sorry. But if you think I’m going to stand by and let a bunch of savages steal my life’s work, you’re wrong. Decades, I’ve waited for the opportunity to retrieve these samples. To make a name for myself again. There isn’t a chance in hell I’m about to hand it over to the likes of you.” He swipes up his pack from the ground and lifts a small case from inside, holding it up. “This is going to buy me a lot of luxury back in Szolen. And the respect I’ve been denied.”
