“Who?”
“The guards!”He grinned.“They fragged each other just like you planned.It’s brilliant!”
“Please tell me we have eyes up top keeping watch.”
“Oh, fuck yeah,” the Prime said.“We got several.We’re still clear, and ahead of schedule.”
“Excellent.”Despite their apparent success, Peyton’s stomach felt like a painfully twisted iron knot as their team swept through the lab with no further resistance from the personnel.He kept an eye on the time and joined up with Aisling, who was grimly supervising another euthanasia.The person looked even worse than the first one Peyton saw.
Aisling looked up at Peyton after administering another shot of ketamine.“Said his name was Malachi Benson, a fox from Germany.”She tipped her head toward another Prime, Bob, who looked like he was about to puke.“The man couldn’t speak, but when Bob touched the man, he begged for death.We got his family’s name and took a DNA sample.”
“Fuck,” Peyton muttered.“How many does this make that we’ve lost?”
“Twelve,” she said.“And every single damned one of ’em who are this bad, or worse, and who still had enough of a mind left to communicate with us, begged us for death even though we tried to reason with them.”
“Goddammit.”
“I know.”She looked down at the man, who was no longer breathing, and reached out to touch Peyton’s arm, tipping her head toward the other Prime.“Send him up top.Now.Have him help stand watch and carry people to the trucks.He’s about to lose his mind.”
“Bob,” Peyton said, stepping over to the guy.“Go upstairs and help with transfers and securing the rescued in the vehicles.Stand watch.Okay?”
He gulped a deep breath.“I was assigned down here to?—”
“I know,” Peyton said, trying to shove away the image that flashed into his mind of all those years ago, of discovering their parents’ bodies in their living room.“We need you up there, though.Okay?”
The guy swallowed hard, nodded and turned, practically running from the area.
“Thanks,” Aisling said aloud, pushing past Peyton.“Let’s see what other fresh hells await us.”
Aisling
Fuuuck me.
Had she thought she’d seen some shite in her life?
Hooo boy.
Things she’d previously categorized as “horrors” paled in comparison to what she discovered in that lab.She’d unrealistically hoped they’d be able to save all, if not most of the people.
It was the next woman who nearly cracked her grim reserve.Unlike the worst of them, she could still speak, although her body had been horribly mutilated.When Aisling and the tech opened her cell, she was sobbing and begging for them to kill her.
“Shh, we got ye,” Aisling tried to comfort her.“We’re here to rescue ye.”
“No,” she sobbed, and Aisling realized that, unlike most of them, this woman was securely strapped down.“Please kill me.They killed my mate and my children.Tortured us.Just kill me, please.”
That’s when Aisling spotted the long, ugly scars along both her lower arms and on her throat, where she’d obviously tried to kill herself by clawing at her flesh with her own nails.
“We’re here to get ye out of here,” Aisling calmly said as she tried to free her.“We’ll help ye.”
One of the Primes stepped into the cell with Aisling and touched the woman’s shoulder, his face going blank for a moment before he jerked his hand free and threw himself back, against the wall, horror filling his gaze.
He met Aisling’s gaze and shook his head, hard, his eyes still wide.Do it, he silently mouthed.
Fuck me.
She pulled out another syringe of ketamine, a large one, likely lethal for someone of the woman’s size.“What’s yer name, love?”Aisling gently asked.“Where ye from?”
“Alexia Monaghan.We were living in South Africa.Wolves.Please, just do it!I beg you!”
