No, scratch that.
Worsethan animals.
“No one’s guarding here,” Nero said, surprise in his voice, and I get why.
It was almost as if they’d been abandoned.
But I couldn’t seem to fucking care, my feet already on the move to go to the nearest cage I could reach. The injustice of it all, the sheer cruelty, fueled a rage that drowned out any logical thought.
“Dex, give me the fucking finger.”
I sound crazed. IknowI looked crazed.
I didn’t even feel the need to throw up anymore when Dex placed the guy’s cut-up finger on my palm because my mind was on a mission.
I heaved the cage door open after the lock beeped, the sound echoing through the warehouse, a promise of freedom. I was eager to get to the next one, driven by a need to break these people free.
I couldn’t hear anything else aside from the guys instructing and guiding the people to go out the back door—apparently, there’s a back door—and find the bus, while I was unlocking cage after cage.
How could Eli’s family be so cruel?
How could the men working for them stomach being a part of this business?
I got to the last cage when I stopped and allowed myself to breathe, seeing scratched-up marks on the floor.
They kept Callista here.
I had to remind myself not to crush the finger in my palm from how hard I was clenching my fists.
A loud alarm blaring, a shrill sound, forced me to snap out of my thoughts, cutting through the relative quiet. It was similar to when we got the main door open.
I felt a wrist wrapped around me, fragile and weak, unlike my guys’, and as I looked up, I saw that it was a woman with hollowed out cheeks.
“They’re back. From port. New shipment,” she said in broken gasps, and panic crawled up my throat.
I turned to look at the guys, not knowing if they’re even around me, the alarm amplifying the chaos. Nero was the nearest to me, and I had to really focus, getting out of my autopilot mode to understand what he’s telling me from a hundred feet away.
“C! Get them out of here through the back!”
Thankfully, he didn’t have to tell me twice.
I snapped out of my anxious headspace, holding the door open for the people holed up in the last cage to get out. I helped one woman who was holding a baby, tripping over her own feet, probably from the lack of movement she’s had since she’s been here.
After the last person exited, I followed them to the back door as they fled, their exhausted bodies moving with a desperate urgency.
“Guys, come on!” I shouted to the three, but they had their guns up, aiming at the door that was slowly opening, the light from the white room seeping through more and more.
I was feeling panicked, my throat closing up because I couldn’t hold the door open, not when I had the baby in my arms.
“Get them to the bus, Cosette!” Siege shouted.
Then there were gunshots. As the back door fully closed.
Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.
Fuck!
I wanted to push the door open, but I couldn’t find a handle.
