AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Shep crouches at my side. “Shep to Doc,” he says into his comm. “We need you at the church. Scrap’s hurt. Hurry!”
Cora
We are onewith the darkness. Grim, Stealth, and I jog along the edge of a warehouse, completely invisible to any eyes that may be watching, whether they be living or digital. One more block and we’ll arrive at the old hospital. According to Doc, it’s a historic landmark that has been an asylum and tuberculosis ward, but I’m interested in the building because Bernard says we might find Jud there.
Shep’s words come back to me from a couple nights ago. “He says they drag men inside, kicking and screaming. And those who go in, they don’t come out again.” Hearing the pelican’s observation sent a chill down my spine then, and the chill is back as we round the warehouse and the dark, graffiti-riddled hospital comes into view.
The building is three stories tall and stretches left and right to the edges of the city block. Shutters hang crooked off their frames, and bullet holes make jagged dents in the façade. It looks completely abandoned.
“If they keep prisoners here, they don’t tend to them often,” Stealth says, voice quiet and close.
The thought of Jud possibly being locked up inside this forgotten ruin makes my stomach turn over. I’m torn between hoping he’s here because I’m desperate to find him and hoping he’s not here because it’s such an awful place.
Sarge let us out of the truck two blocks away, and while we made our way here, X-Ray scanned the warehouse district for us. The good news is we won’t have to dodge Raptor’s lackeys. The entire area is almost completely free of people. The bad news is there’s only a single person in the vicinity. X-Ray spotted one living person on a lower floor of the hospital with no one else in sight for several blocks. From his eye in the sky, that was all he could tell us before he flew off to help the others.
It would be nice if we had him back to help us pinpoint exactly where the person is inside the building, but I imagine he’s got his hands full helping the others round up and take out Raptor and his gang.
The three of us stand in shadow across the street from the hospital’s main entrance with its trash-littered steps and marble pillars covered in spray paint.
“Look,” I say, pointing to the roof. The moonlight is enough to reveal a whole flock of crows lined up along the edge. They sit there like gargoyles frowning down at the street.
Stealth says, “I guess in this neck of the woods, birds count as guards.”
“They can’t see us,” Grim says. “But can they hear us?”
“Nah,” Stealth says. “We’re good. My cloaking works on animals just as well as people.”
“Good,” Grim says. “Then, let’s go.” He leads the way across the street.
I follow, and Stealth creeps along close behind me. Our destination isn’t the main entrance but a shattered window on the ground floor.
“I’ll go first,” Grim says, and he uses his gloved hand to scrape the frame free of clinging shards. Stealth gives him a boost, touching only the bottom of Grim’s boot with his linked and gloved hands. Grim has one leg over the sill when an explosion makes the ground tremble.
“What was that?” I ask.
“The missile strike, probably,” Grim says. “They must’ve just hit the casino.”
“I’ll check the comms soon as we get inside,” Stealth says, and he lifts me over the sill and into Grim’s waiting arms.
The three of us opted to keep our earpieces out so we could be alert to our surroundings and to anyone approaching us. Once we’re all inside, Stealth inserts his earpiece. Immediately he frowns.
“Shit,” he says, finger on his ear. “The comms are going nuts. I think something’s wrong.” He glowers in concentration. “Everyone’s talking at once. Something about a…woman.” His eyes go wide.
“A woman?” Grim echoes.
That makes me stop in my tracks. “Really?”
“Affirmative.” Stealth herds me away from the open window then pauses to listen. “At the casino. And more of the enemy than they expected. Seems they’re underground or something.” He shakes his head, brow furrowed.
“What?” I ask, gripping Grim’s arm. “Oh, no!” More enemy means more chances for my guys to get hurt. Or worse.
“They called off the missile strike?” Stealth says it like a question. His expression tells me it’s hard to make out what’s being said. “That explosion—it sounds like…they think it was at the church.”
My heart lurches into my throat. “Aren’t Scrap and Shep at the church?”
Grim puts his hands on my shoulders. “Keep your focus in here,druzhyna.We must trust the others to handle what’s out there.”
Stealth pulls out his earpiece and stuffs it in a vest pocket. “It’s pure chaos right now. I can’t listen and stay on my game. Too much of a distraction.”
