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AUSTIN

Rosi hit below the belt.I should have never opened my mouth, and I understood the whole she “didn’t want to be a damsel in distress thing,” but this was an actual fucking monster and she was an actual fucking damsel. In distress. We were all in distress. Why did she have to bring Sara in to this? Why throw that in my face when I’d trusted her with something I’d never trusted another soul with?

I brushed the tears from my face, scrubbing it to make myself stop crying before I entered the medcenter. But as I reached for the door, the truth hit me like an avalanche. She was right. I’d told her exactly the same thing. I blamed myself for not letting Sara take the lead. Still, I was the professional here, not Rosi.

Was I the professional? I’d never come across a live monster or a spirit wind face before. But Rosi had come across one of the two. Hell, she’d been searching for them and studying them for as long as I’d been training my mind and body. I wasn’t a professional—I was a fucking idiot.

I strode forward and the doors opened. Nicole and Yang sprung forward, blades drawn, but stopped short at the sight of me. The room was a shambles with the furniture and medical tools strewn about and mixed with the bloodstains on the walls. Jackson and another man lay supine with white sheets pulled up to their chins.

“What happened to Jackson?” I asked.

Nicole tucked her blade to her side. “He hit his head when the earthquake struck. Passed out. We put him in the bed thinking it was safest.”

“Get your exterior gear on. Both of you,” I said, moving toward the unconscious men. “I’ll get these hovercot shields up so you can walk them outside with you.”

Nicole’s dubious look came nowhere near the emotional impact of Rosi’s insistence on staying, so I forged ahead, explaining the situation as I worked while Yang ran to find some gear.

“I’d stay, but I won’t leave Jackson alone,” Nicole said when I finished. She locked her gaze on him, and her expression softened. “Do not let this resort go down, Austin, please. If you can save this place, I promise to sponsor whatever stunts you want for the next decade.”

“I’ll do my best,” I said, biting my tongue instead of commenting on the people’s lives still at stake.

As though she heard my thoughts, she gave me a half-smile. “And save those people too. I can’t afford to lose a worker or a guest.” She winked as Yang returned out of breath, her arms full of padded layers.

“Get going, Austin, and good luck.” Nicole practically shoved me out the door.

I hesitated in the hallway, unsure which path to take. I could find Rosi and Ila and we could search together, or I could go on my own and cover more ground.

Stubbornly, I didn’t want to face Rosi after what she’d said, so I decided on the latter. What I needed was bait. But what kind of bait? It hadn’t attacked since being scared off by the gun.

What was this monster about? I thought back to the story I’d heard in the museum. He was a pedophile that prayed on young girls. Well, we didn’t have any of those left here, thank goodness. But it also seemed to like to instill fear in its victims. It had taunted Rosi. It ran from the gun when those it attacked showed they’d fight back. It was a coward and a bully, and it was time to turn the tables.