The moment defines us. We are/were/always and forever meant for each other.
Then a guard rolls into me, and his holstered gun is suddenly inches from my hand. I dive for it at the same time he does. Our eyes meet. He wrenches the weapon from my grasp and scrambles to his feet, aiming the gun barrel randomly at the floor between us as he gains his balance.
“Get away! Don’t move!”
Hands raised, I lean back against the desk, panting, despairing. What can we do? And Kail? Where is he? Thuds and swearing come from my left.
The other guards are still being wrestled with Kail. The sheriff hasn’t moved, but Clay is coming back to me, dusting off his hands, and smoothing down his hair. His forehead, nose, and mouth are bleeding.
“Come here, slut.” When he speaks, fury launches bloody spittle from his mouth. “I am so done with this crap. You’re all getting cited for disobeying instructions if you do not hold that monster in place!”
“There are eight witnesses!” Eight? Seven? I’ve lost count. “You cannot do this! You can’t cover this crime up, not forever.”
Arms akimbo he stands over me. “Watch me. You’re going to take my cock in every hole and then, bitch, I will be done with your living body. Your corpse, though, wait and see. You can be my test subject to see if frankenstructs can breed. Come to think of it… All these men are going to fuck you after I do. Hear that!” He glares around the room.
This man is evil incarnate.
Horrified, though I know it’s pointless, I struggle to rise. He sinks his fingers into my hair, grasps one of my arms, and pulls me to the floor, pins me down with his knees on my back.
“Give me a knife, you!” he yells at someone. “No, not to use onher. To cut off her fucking clothes.”
A guard mutters curses as he slides a knife across the floor. From the corner of my eye, I see Clay retrieve it.
“Move and I cut your throat.”
I gulp and shut my eyes as he starts to cut the waistband of my pants. A nearby footfall makes me open them. The sheriff has installed himself only a few feet away, and he is watching.The bastard.I clutch at the floor and try not to panic. I’m going to die soon anyway.
Maybe I should make one last try for that knife. When he begins to drag at my pants, he drops it near my hip.
Dare I? I clamp my legs together to make it harder for him to undress me.
Kail waits, eyes now bright, kneeling and surrounded by guards, but his arm muscles are bulging, flexing, relaxing. He nods at me, and I think he’s saying something, quietly.
It’s… I concentrate on his lips.
They’re coming.He jerks his chin toward the glass wall.
Which is when I hear the mutedthwop-thwopof chopperblades. What? That isn’t just one helicopter. I twist my head and through the gap in the desk I see them and am awed. Someone has brought a whole fleet. The dark silhouettes of five military choppers drift by, nose down and blades feathering, as if to land in front of the institute.
Is this it?
“What the hell? What are those doing here?” Clay ceases to assault me and rises to his feet.
The alarms have all stopped. Somewhere, outside this room, a speaker dings three times then a man speaks, delivering a message.
“Revenant has been declared under quarantine. All access routes are now controlled by military checkpoints. All residents will remain calm and stay under cover in the closest house or business. The Revenant Institute is under strict interdiction.” There is a click then a second message comes on in a new male voice. “All those in Clay Skinner’s office will immediately remove themselves from the room and wait in the corridor, excluding Clay Skinner, Cannon Edwards, Hailey Tarrant, and the person named Kail Stone. By order of Major Roderick Grant. Thank you.”
Yessss.Relief floods me, though fear remains with its skittery claws chipping away at my insides.
The room has fallen so quiet I can hear Clay’s breathing. I turn over and hitch up my pants. Clay is clearly unnerved. He wanders to the glass wall and stays there watching whatever is happening outside.
A quiet “Fuck,” comes from him before he gestures vaguely. “All of you, go. Fuck off before I heave you out the window.” He spins. “Leave the frankenstruct cuffed!”
The soldiers pinning down Kail climb off him and file out the door. I rise onto all fours then get to my feet and quietlyhead for where Kail has been left lying on his stomach. Cannon retreats to the rear wall and stands with an impassive face and his hands clasped at his front.
By the time I reach Kail, he has rolled over, jackknifed into a sitting position, and somehow jumped to his feet.
“God. I need you.” I wrap my hand about his forearm and lean into him, burying my face against him, trying to avoid any of his new wounds.
