AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Della swore under her breath but didn’t slow, running top speed toward the inferno.The mess hall. Of course, how had she not anticipated that? Blood surging with adrenaline, her legs pumped a brutal rhythm on the hard-packed ground. Heat blasted against her face every step closer, and the smoke and fumes singed her airways. Coughing, she pulled her shirt over her nose and ran toward the back of the building where a cellar door, half sunk into the earth, lived, thankfully away from the battle. Her hands closed around the handle, and she yanked, immediately feeling the wrenching strain on her shoulder when it didn’t move.
What the fuck?
A lock hung on the side, newly bolted in since the last time she’d had cause to visit the door. Probably installed in response to the missing food.Fuck!A crack of a skylight ripped through the air as it crashed and threw up a flurry of sparks. Every minute the situation became more desperate. Della whirled around, searching for something,anything,to break the lock, landing on the ring from the firepit.
Ignoring the Alpha battle, she tore across the distance, grabbing the biggest rock she could. Turning back, her ears filled with her own heartbeat and ragged breaths and the hissing rush of the fire, like a river of pure destruction. Skidding, she careened down the three steps, crashing against the locked metal door with a thud. Hefting the rock over her head with both hands, she slammed it into the lock. The dull clang of rock on lock rose above the fire as the force reverberated up her arms. She gritted her teeth and swung again, missing the lock completely with the unwieldy weapon, smashing her pinky finger between the door and the rock in the process.
Pain seared so fast and hot she almost dropped her weapon. “Fuck!Fuck!”
“Here.” A firm hand on her shoulder held her back from lining up another blow. A breathless Kess stood behind her, holding up a key on a tinkling keyring. “Here,” she panted, “it’s this one.”
Dropping the rock, Della snatched the key, hope blooming in her chest, and jammed it into the mechanism. With a decisive twist, it fell away, and Della swung the door wide.
“Cal!” Blinded by the transition between the fire-bright night and the darkened basement, Della stumbled down the steps into the darkness while Kess pressed against her back. She blinked rapidly, her head whipping this way and that, trying to scan her surroundings. Heat radiated down from the low ceiling, alongside the muffled crack and snap of burning wood, a menace from above that could collapse at any moment.
“Della?” A deep voice rasped from the corner. “What are you doing here?”
Metal on metal clinked, along with the sound of a shifting body. She made out the outline of Cal heaving himself to his feet without any of his usual grace. Across the room in an instant, she hurled herself at him without any regard for his possible injuries. He caught her with one arm, the other cradled against his stomach as the sound of more metallic jangles spiked worry into her brain. Despite the danger, their bond glowed bright and happy in her chest, expanding like a supernova now that she was back in his arms.
His lips pressed to her forehead, and he gently pushed her away. “You have to get out of here. This place is going to collapse.”
“Not without you.” She straightened enough to run her hands over him. “What’s going on? Are you hurt? Can you walk?”
“My shoulder’s dislocated, and I’m chained,” he explained, holding out his shackled ankle for proof. Her stomach plummeted at the sight. “I can’t go anywhere.”
“Kess!” Della said, panic flooding her gut. “The key?”
“It’s not there,” Cal said, his tone flat.
Kess ran back to the door to retrieve the keyring, tripping down the stairs while flipping through a half-dozen keys that all looked much older than the one that opened the door. “Let me try.”
“What’s this attached to?” Della dropped to her knees, grabbing the chain and following it to its anchoring point as Kess set upon the shackle, a key outstretched in her hand.
“An old water heater,” Cal explained. “It’s tied into the foundation, and I’m tied to it. Della.” He fisted the back of her shirt and physically lifted her off the ground, his eyes wide and terrified. “You have to go.” The floorboards above groaned; another crash shook the structure, and debris fell from the ceiling. “Now. Please.”
Kess stood, panic all over her face, her frantic gaze bouncing between Della and Cal. “None of these work.”
Della wrapped her hands around Kess’s shoulders and pushed her toward the door. “Then you need to leave.” Della’s voice was cool but committed, and the Omega stared at her, looking dumbstruck. “The settlement needs you. You have to go.”
“Della!” Cal roared. “You’re going too!”
Ignoring him, Della shoved Kess hard. “Throw some of that food outside if you can, but then you need to leave.” Della grabbed Kess’s hand and gave it a hard, final squeeze, “Thank you for trying. Take care of my friend.”
With that, Della spun, dashing into a neglected corner of the basement. If she remembered correctly, there was once a pegboard of old, rusted tools in here. Maybe she could find something to break the chain around Cal’s ankle. If so, they might have a chance.
Smoke billowed through the room, burning her eyes and making it harder to see. She rubbed at them as she stumbled around, her feet and knees kicking and bumping into things. But the pegboard was where she’d remembered, decorated with rusted pliers and broken clamps hanging like an apocalyptic art installation.
She alighted on the thin contour of a hacksaw and snatched it off the wall. Old and rusted and liable to fall apart at any moment, but it only had to work this one last time.
Oh, please, God, please let this work.
“Here,” she said, her lungs exploding in a hacking cough as she handed the tool off to Cal. “Let’s try this.”
“Holy shit,” he muttered, already in motion. “Here, hold the chain.”
Della fell to her knees and braced the chain with her hands. Cal used his good arm to line up the cut and saw a few passes along a link. Metal scraped on metal, the grating sound scraping across her eardrums. Della held her breath, praying to any god she could think of.
Please let this work, please. I can’t lose him. Not like this.
