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Augustus had been standing off to the side, watching the fight with a look of admiration and amazement on his face. He snapped out of it as soon as he heard Atticus’s voice, and without hesitation, he ran forward and started hitting one of them with his hammer. He brought it down hard with each swing, the metal ringing against bone as he ruthlessly pummeled his enemy until there was nothing left but a lifeless body lying at Augustus’s feet.
I aimed my gun at the last man once I had a clear shot and took him out. I wanted to fight more, but my wound was already hurting badly, and one wrong move would rip open the stitches. I was no use to them if they had to carry me out of here.
Atticus crossed to her with a feral smile and wrapped her in a passionate embrace. Her cheeks blushed at the suddenness of his touch, and I could feel my stomach flip. Despite the oppressive atmosphere that hung over us, Christine seemed oddly settled in his arms. They were both covered in blood, looking like harbingers of death clinging to one another. It was a brutal, gruesome, passionate sight.
“We don’t have time for this,” Augustus said, his tone shaky and tinged with fear. Atticus pulled back and planted one last fierce kiss on Christine’s lips before releasing her. “There’s always time for that later, Little Monster,” he said with a chuckle before turning his gaze to me.
“The tunnel entrance is this way,” I said and gestured down the hall. We moved quickly but cautiously through the shadows and avoided detection from the guards searching for us. We reached the entrance to the tunnel as the guards’ shouts reverberated around us.
“There’s no going back,” I said as we all stopped, our breath heavy in the silence that followed my words. The tunnel entrance was dark and covered by a warped wooden door that Atticus had pried open with his bloody hands. Cobwebs coated the walls.
“Let’s go,” Christine finally spoke up, and Atticus pulled her in for one last brutal kiss that left her cheeks flushed.
“I love you, Little Monster,” he said before we all turned and leapt into the abyss of darkness that was the tunnel ahead of us. Our footsteps echoed off the stone walls as we made our way through it, desperately trying to stay one step ahead of our pursuers. I knew that if we could just make it out alive, I’d make it up to Christine. I’d give her whatever her heart desired.
The tunnels were dark and ominous, and I knew we had to be careful. My eyelids dropped with fatigue as we ran, my muscles burning with fatigue. Christine’s eyes were wide and alert, her face turned up to survey the dark path.
Augustus was silent but his chest heaved with each breath, and I knew he was keeping pace with us. Atticus, however, barely looked tired at all. He was calm and collected, his hands clutching his gun with a menacing aura that told me he was prepared to fight. I was reminded again of how lethal he was, and it sent a cold chill through my body.
When the tunnel split in two, Augustus pointed to the left. “This way.”
“Are you sure?” Atticus asked.
“Positive.”
The only light was from the vents above, casting moonlight through iron bars. This place was a massive maze and Augustus was probably the only person that knew how to navigate it. We continued to run, the miles stretching, and we all were tired.
“Just a little farther,” Augustus grunted.
“Christine!” I heard Atticus shout, and my heart nearly stopped when I heard the sound of gunshots echoing down the tunnel.
“Get down!” Atticus bellowed, and I tackled Christine to the ground, dragging Augustus with us. I tried to cover my head as gunshots rang off the walls around us.
“Fuck!” Atticus shouted as more shots fired in quick succession. I saw Atticus crouched on the ground, his arms shielding his head. Christine’s body was tense, but she was still by my side.
“We need to get out of here, Atticus,” she said quietly, and I could hear the sound of exhaustion in her voice.
“We can’t go back the way we came. This is the only way out,” Augustus said.
“Well, then let’s go,” Atticus said, picking Christine up off the ground and pulling her along with him.
“No, wait,” Augustus said, his eyes wide as if he were weighing the options in his head. Suddenly a loud roar echoed down the tunnel, and I knew there was a pack of guards streaming down the hall we were previously in.
“Let’s split up!” one of them shouted, and half turned toward our tunnel.
They were gaining on us.
Christine’s eyes locked on mine for a moment, and she read the worry in my face before she shifted her attention to Atticus. A bullet pierced the air and we all ducked. Another one hit the concrete beside my head. “Give me your gun,” she said, and I watched as he pulled it from its holster. She cocked it and chambered a bullet before turning her attention to a guard running toward us.
She aimed and the bullet landed in his thigh. His legs folded and I heard his neck snap a moment later as he fell to the ground. Christine was stunning. She leapt into the air, and in a graceful arch, she planted a bullet in each of the other running guards’ foreheads, one after another, with such precision that I had trouble believing she could have aimed so quickly. It was a spectacular feat of athletic prowess and martial mastery that left me stunned and terrified.
She landed and let out a shaky breath. “Are you guys okay?” she asked, turning to face Augustus and me. Our eyes fell on the bloody massacre around us, and I could see the horror in Augustus’s face.
“That was incredible, Little Monster,” Atticus praised her.
“It’s time to go,” she said, her voice trembling.
We kept running down the tunnel as Augustus guided us down another split. We went left, then right, then left again until the sound of trees bending against the wind and bugs chirping filled our ears. Moonlight glowed at the mouth of the tunnel, and we all skidded to a halt once the cool, fresh air hit our cheeks. The tunnels led outside of the city, and it would take a while for guards to navigate the winding, confusing tunnels.
