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Oh, God. Red Lotus.

“Stop it! Stop!” I dart behind Grant’s capsule and throw the lever that lowers the water level, then do the same for my mother’s capsule. “Stop this! I’ll do it! I’ll go with you! Please! Just stop this!”

“I’m afraid it’s too late. The lethal dose of the poison is very small. But no worries. I’ll honor your wishes, and we’ll return to Szolen.”

Ignoring his taunts, I unlatch the door to the capsule, and as I open it, a wave of fluid pours out, pooling at my feet. Grant falls like deadweight into my arms, and when I remove his mask, blood trickles from his mouth.

I jump to my feet and unlatch my mother’s capsule. Just like Grant, she collapses into my arms, still twitching. When I remove her mask, her eyelids flip open to show bloodshot whites, and she lifts a trembling hand to my face, cupping my cheek. Her chest rises and falls in panting breaths, and I cradle her head in my lap, gently pushing the hair from her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Momma. I’m so sorry. For everything.” Through a shield of tears, I stroke the top of her head and plant a kiss to her forehead. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“Proud.” Her voice is a tight rasp, and with the laxness of her muscles, I pull away to find her eyes are closed, a drop of blood trickling down her temple like a red tear.

“Momma?” I give a light shake, but her body only jostles with the movement. “Momma, wake up!” Panic curls in my stomach as I set her down and scramble on hands and knees toward my brother. “Grant? Grant!” Giving a shake of his arm, I stare down at the white pallor of his skin, the blue hue of his lips, the telling signs of his death. “No! No!” Falling forward, I bury my face into his cold neck and drag him onto my lap, as a long, agonized cry breaks from my chest. A shiver of disbelief spirals through me, my chest turning cold, as the room spins too fast in my periphery. Rocking back and forth, I hold my brother’s lifeless body in my arms and bend forward to kiss his wet hair. “Look out for Momma, okay?”

Icy tendrils climb the back of my neck, and I lift my head to find one of the mutations crouched over my mother’s body. Strings of drool dangle from its mouth, where sharp teeth peek through. It turns its gaze from me to her, and lifts her head up off the floor.

Every muscle in my body locks up in fear, watching it tip its head, as if studying her.

Not a breath later, it twists her neck, popping her head from her body in one snap.

A scream tears from my throat, and I drop Grant, kicking myself away from it, eyes glued on my mother’s severed head.

The creature lurches toward me, and I dare a glance over my shoulder, toward the control room, where Jack smiles down at me.

“I was going to offer you safe passage, but I’m afraid I can’t risk that thing following in after you now.”

“Open the door, Jack.” My jaw is so stiff, I can barely push the words past the hard clench of my teeth. “Please.”

“I’m sorry. Truly. Your death will be my greatest tragedy.”

The door to the supply room, with the hatch to Doctor Levin’s lab, is blocked by the beast, so no chance of escaping there. Even if I could get to it, I’m sure the mutation would swipe me up before I hit the ground level.

Three more mutations crawl out from behind capsules they’ve broken open, and it’s right then I notice where they’ve fed on the bodies inside. One of the mutations drops the man whose throat he chewed to shreds of meat, and the naked human twitches on the floor, bleeding out.

“Jack!” I twist to find him staring down at me, eyes lit with morbid fascination, and yet unwitting to the massive figure stalking toward him from the shadows.

Titus.

He grabs Jack by the throat at the same time that one of the mutations lunges toward me.

I roll to the side, just missing the swipe of its claw, and scramble toward the other wall. “Titus!”

The echo of gunfire steels my muscles, but I don’t dare look back.

The mutation’s claws scrape over the polished floor as it charges a second time, and I manage to slide beneath a bench adjacent to the door, before it lunges again. The crashing overhead rattles my nerves, and I let out a scream, crawling on hands and knees toward the opposite side of the long bench. A hard thud behind me is the mutation leaping off the table onto the floor. I back myself to the corner, watching the creature prowl toward me.

There’s nowhere to go. Nowhere left to hide.

It bounds for me, and a blood curdling scream rips from my chest.

The door to the control room flies open, and Titus dives forward, taking hold of the creature’s hind claw, as it scratches at the floor toward me.

“Get inside! Now!”

I skirt the mutation that’s tethered in Titus’s grasp. It swipes out at me as I pass, and even though it misses, my feet fly out from beneath me as a streak of fire zips up my leg.

Hard tiles crash into my breasts, and I flip around to find the other mutation tugging me toward it.