What the fuck?
I swallow the dryness in my throat and briskly look around to make sure I don’t get stabbed again before descending the tight tube-like tunnel. The ladder is slick with blood and my hands tremble as I force them to keep moving.
Another explosion rolls through the ground from above andshakes me off the last few steps. I land on my ass, quickly forcing myself back to my feet and blinking past the dust that clings to my lashes.
Kayden lies motionless beside me. His eyes are dull and gazing up at the ceiling. A pool of blood halos him, already tacky from the debris mixing with it. His mouth is barely parted, crumbs spilling from the ceiling clinging to his lips.
My heart drops. “I’m so sorry we didn’t get here sooner,” I whisper as I press my forehead to his. Tears well in my eyes as grief floods me with emotions. A knot forms in my throat. As I look at Kayden, still and dead, my mind pushes another vision to my eyes. The young woman from the simulation, with a fierceness in her soul that warmed my own. A friend I’ve forgotten.
But as I brush my gloved hand against Kayden’s face once more before forcing myself up and pushing toward the opening ahead, a name whispers over my lips.Bree.The moment her name hits me is like a punch in the gut, and memories of her snarky attitude and kind smiles crash into me. My arms tense and a headache rolls through my head like a tidal wave. She saved me from falling off a cliff in the second trial. Then I remember Arnold dragging her lifeless body through the snow and leaving her behind like she was nothing.
Rage pulses through my veins and the urge to kill blinds me as I fester in those visions.
My tears dry as gunshots continue to roll through the underground cement maze.
I spot Lieutenant Erik about twenty yards away, sitting against a thick cement column, bleeding from the top of his head somewhere beneath his helmet. His neck has a gash in it, one that he’s trying to seal with his palm as he makes a call using his satellite phone to the main base, I’m assuming.
Mori covers the lieutenant’s side, firing at guards down thestraight hall to their right. His leg is bleeding and red starts to trickle around his feet. Mori’s blood is darker than Erik’s, poisoned with the pills just like mine.
My chest seizes like I’ve been struck with a sledgehammer. A sense of fear, anger, and worry consume me as I watch him fight valiantly. His eyes flick to me for a brief moment, green amidst all of the crimson like a leaf in blood. Anguish cascades through his eyes when he sees my weakened state too, blood dripping down my jacket on my back right side.
Who are you to me? Why do I long to be in your arms?
The thoughts empty as I lose myself to the roar of bullets striking the cement column.Kill them all.
It’s as if I’m taking a back seat in my body as my legs move on their own. The next thing I know, I’m sprinting down the opposite hall to get around the guards and sneak up on their backs.
My muscles are gradually weakening, but it doesn’t stop me.Just a little more, I tell myself, taking a knee at the edge of where the guards have made their final stand. I pull the pin of my grenade and toss it, covering my ears and bracing for the aftershocks.
The moment it goes off, I race through the hall, quickly shoving my blade deep into anyone’s throat who is still breathing. One guard is unscathed by the grenade entirely and tries to stab me in the stomach. I jump back just as his knife comes barreling down and jerk my arm up his front side, effectively gutting him. His eyes hollow and horror falls over his features before he collapses before me.
My breaths are labored and sweat drips down my spine, but it’s almost like my body is on autopilot. There’s an itch for more.
Mori’s voice springs into my headset. “Morphine, is the area cleared?” He’s direct. I must be imagining the concern in his tone, though.
“Affirmative,” I reply, aware of how winded I sound.
His headset is still feeding into mine, and I hear him take adeep, relieved breath. “Get back over here. We need to extract the moment we get hands on the drive.”
I walk back the way I came, moving significantly slower now that the adrenaline has worn off. The entire right side of my chest is wet beneath my vest and my lower back too.
Mori’s eyes widen the moment he sees me turn the corner. Now I’m certain that I heard the concern in his voice.
“Are you all right?” He takes a few long strides to close the distance between us, looking me over and clearly seeing that I’m not.
I lie. “Yeah, I’m fine. Where’s Mikah?”
Erik clicks the antenna down on the satellite phone and acknowledges me finally. “She’s hacking the safe. Should be any minute now.” His tone is terse. Then he speaks into his headset, “Volt, Power, what’s the ETA on the enemy reinforcements?”
The radio is silent for a few moments, then Thomas replies, sounding like he’s running through heavy underbrush. “Volt is holding the peak. I’m calling in the drone for air power. Hostile reinforcements are two klicks away and incoming fast. Two minutes max.”
Well, shit. That doesn’t sound good.
Erik grits his teeth. “How many are there?”
Gage replies this time, “There are eight vehicles, three of which are equipped with machine guns. Get out through the back and we’ll hold them off until you’ve cleared the building. Don’t try to engage. I repeat, donotengage. They outnumber you and are likely eager to take hostages.”
My leg bounces. Will we be able to get out in time?
