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“Do you think something happened to her?” Beau piped up. His voice was raspy from years of silence, but his eyes were sharp. Protectiveness and possessiveness emanated from every pore in his body. The two Ps of a relationship.
“In a place this fucked up?” Tanner blew out some smoke. “Yeah.”
Beau’s hands curled into fists.
“We need to get her the fuck out of here,” he said resolutely. Tanner lazily cast his eyes toward the tall man.
“Or maybe she was telling the truth. Maybe there is a monster here,” he drawled. When we all stared at him with varying expressions of disbelief, he shrugged. “What? We all already know this school isn’t normal.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that.
“No sense worrying about it anymore. We’re leaving in a few days, and I’ll kidnap the damn girl if I have to. I couldn’t save my sister, but I’ll be damned if something happens to Bianaca.” Aiden’s voice was fierce, once more proving why he was the leader of our merry band of friends.
Seeming to come to a general consensus, we grabbed our gear off the floor and headed down the staircase.
The tunnel always gave me the creeps. Why was it there?
How did the professors, who seemed to know about everything, fail to realize there was a whole set of fucking tunnels that snaked beneath the wall?
Would we even escape, or would we end up right back where we started?
And who had tried to escape before us? What happened to them?
Questions bombarded me as I began the tireless task of hammering down the wall. I couldn’t quite concentrate on any one thing. Senseless chatter from the other three men floated through one ear and out the other. Questions. Questions. And more questions.
And now, the biggest one: what the hell had Bianaca seen? Did that asshole Dylan have something to do with the terror in her eyes, the whitening of her face, the clenching of her hands?
Distantly, I was aware of someone screaming my name. Rough hands grabbed me, yanking me backward, just as the wall collapsed.
Dirt and rocks flew everywhere, and I lifted my hands to cover my face. Smoky sand infiltrated my nostrils, and I coughed violently, turning my face away.
“Motherfucking…” Aiden cursed.
“Shit,” Tanner agreed, eyes wide with awe and voice almost reverent.
I turned, shocked to see it was Beau of all people who had pulled me away. He was staring intensely at the now demolished wall.
Because behind the wall were more tunnels. Dozens of them. Branching in numerous directions. One tunnel led to two and another led to three. From there, they branched off even farther. It was a never ending labyrinth of grit, rocky walls, and dirt.
“We did it!” Aiden jumped to his feet, eyes bright with excitement. That light had only come into his eyes two times before: with his sister, Josie, and now with Bianaca.
Only I doubted he felt brotherly affection toward the petite, voluptuous blond.
As one, the men burst into celebratory cheer. The usual slaps-on-the-back, shouts, and promises of alcohol. My eyes, however, remained fixed on the dark passageway. The light from my flashlight barely chased away the shadows directly in front of me. Everything was doused in a black sheen.
Tentatively, I ambled back to my feet and brushed dirt off my pants. Each step felt monumental as I walked away from my brothers and into the darkness. My light caught on the wooden boards making up the ceiling and proving that this tunnel was definitely man-made.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
My heart hammered, and something akin to fear bubbled up inside of me. I was a damn kettle sitting on a stove, hissing and wheezing until it eventually erupted.
Four steps.
Five steps.
