Emery high-fives him as she slips by, and I nudge him encouragingly with my elbow.
Holy shit, I’ve never felt more alive.
36
EMERY
Killingmy father’s henchmen feels cathartic in a way. I don’t have the same guilt that I did when I was forced to kill other cadets in the Under Trials.
I don’t have remorse for these people, and certainly not for my father. I hope he’s shitting his pants right now and is having a crisis meeting with Reed.
How poetic it is that his own right-hand man, who he practically took into his own home, should betray him like this.
Wraith takes the left hallway and gives us a short nod. His face is covered with blood and his smile is haunting at best. He’s having the time of his life out here. I’m actually glad he ended up being put with Fury.
Cameron stays tight to my side and stops abruptly when we reach a four-way junction in the hall. “Volt, are you and Red Turtle together and inbound to the target?” His voice is heavy with his excitement. I feel it too, the adrenaline is so strong that it feels like my heart will leap right out of my chest. It’s a little fucked upthat the death pills make it feel this amazing, but I’m not going to complain.
Damian is the one who responds. “Mori, we are in a bit of a situation, not engaging yet, but we are trapped between two rotating patrols on the fourth floor. We need you guys to clear them out.”
“Copy that,” he says quickly before dashing those sage eyes in my direction. He inspects me briefly.
I know I was hit a few times back there, but I don’t feel any hindrance yet and am too worked up to even begin to know where they are, so I just nod at him. “I’m fine.” He hesitates, but accepts it.
We move through the building a lot slower than we did outside. The walls create a maze of stone. The structures were likely built in the 1950s so the original stairs have long since crumbled. Newer iron stairs have been installed and are loud beneath our combat boots. The grip on the soles keeps catching the ribbed edges of the metal steps and makes me uncomfortable to be this noticeable.
I keep my back to Cameron’s as we ascend the stairs. He holds his rifle pointed forward while I watch our backs.
Wraith’s loud machine gun roars to life and echoes through the halls. The ceiling crumbles a bit, small chunks of debris falling to the floor below and dusting us in what I believe is dry clay.
“Cool it, Herc,” I snap into my mic.
Wraith’s laugh is feral. “I’ll stop when there aren’t so many of them!”
“Jesus,” Cameron mumbles to me. “Has your father always had this many men at his disposal in foreign territory?” He glances back at me before continuing up the next flight of stairs to the third level.
“No, he must’ve requested that the other families send in help.”
God knows the Mavestelli Family has an arsenal of “IOUs.” Greg’s been collecting them for years. Foresight was always his strong suit. He knew his shady shit would catch up to him eventually.
Cameron moves like a lion, every motion and step is calculated and trained into him. He narrows his eyes as we reach the fourth floor. The moment we reach the landing a grenade rolls to our feet.
My mind falters as I stare down at it, heart in my throat.
“Move!”
Cameron tackles me back, and together we tumble down a flight of stairs. He holds me tightly against his chest as our bodies collide multiple times with the iron steps. The air is sucked from my lungs as my ribs smack against the railing.
The explosion rocks the entire stairwell and blows down the clay walls on the fourth floor’s entrance. We’re pelted by the debris, but before I can assess the damage to my body, Cameron is already lifting me to my feet and urging me back up the stairs. He tears off his tattered mask and tosses it.
“We have to keep going!” He grinds the words out through his clenched jaw. Horror rips through me at the sight of him. His jaw is drenched in blood, thick with dust mixing on his skin. He blinks and meets my gaze. The same mortified expression that I feel on my face crosses his and makes my heart give out.
Blood fills his scarred eye, taking me back to the trials, reminding me that no matter how much we don’t feel, we’re only human.
We’re only lovely monsters made of flesh and bone.
Another explosion erupts, this time from below somewhere on the first level. Dust and smoke rise through the stairwell and spurs us back into motion. We climb over the rubble and make it onto the fourth level. Cameron nods to a dark room with the door cracked open and I quickly move for it. He sweeps the room quickly before turning his attention solely to me.
“Where are you hurt?” he says in a rushed, worried tone that melts my resolve. His hands are trembling, covered in red and brown stains. Some of his fingers look bent the wrong way, but he’s only focused on me and where I’m injured.
