Making a beeline for the desk, I quickly sorted through the devices scattered across the matte black surface.
I was looking for averyspecific NeuroExtractor. I needed it to finish the last phase of this plan, and it was the only reason I’d come back to this hellhole in the first place.
It took longer than I would have liked, as it seemed the good doctor must have had someone else screwing around in my place once I’d escaped, but finally I found it.
I’d scratched a small ‘<3’ into the casing of the one I needed—back in the early days when I’d still had some semblanceof hope left.
Resisting the urge to literally punch the air in triumph, I stuffed it into one of the pockets in my tactical pants that had a zipper, so I had no chance of losing it if I needed to fight my way out of here.
Finally, I was able to turn my attention to Milo, who was pale and shaking like a leaf.
NOVA’s evacuation notice was still blaring, and I had a feeling we didn’t have much time to get out of here before I would need to start shooting my way out.
“You wanna see your mom?” I asked, turning my entire head to face him so he would understand I was looking at him, even with the mask.
He nodded, his brown eyes wide and almost comically large behind those big glasses of his.
I held out a gloved hand to him, and like a tiny trusting woodland creature, he came to me.
He slipped his fingers into mine, and even through the leather, I felt a shock of comfort, knowing that I was touching him and that he was safe.
“Then try to keep up. Things are going to move very quickly. No matter what happens, stay close. You stick with me, and you live. Understood?”
He stared at me, quivering slightly in terror, and as much as I wished I had time to be patient with him, I fucking didn’t.
“Milo!” I barked, and he jumped. “Is that understood?” I repeated, slipping one of several handguns I had on me out of a holster on my harness.
Milo stared at the gun and swallowed, but to my relief, he finally nodded and managed to get out a shaky,
“Y-yes, I understand.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
NOVA play: Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes
Ithought I was ready… I wasn’t ready.
The Forgotten led me out of The Cave and through that depressing, but now deserted, research floor.
It wasn’t until we were out the front door of NeuroWell that I understood the magnitude of what was happening.
It. Was. Chaos.
I think I read in the handbook thatthousandsof people lived on this campus, and right now, every single one of them was sprinting toward the exit.
NOVA’s evacuation notice was still blaring from all the speakers, and if it weren’t for The Forgotten gripping my hand so tightly in his, I might have been swept away in the massive crowd of rushing bodies.
The Forgotten was not heading for the exit like I expected. He was moving upstream, for lack of a better word, and there were a few times where I’d been jostled so hard I was sure he might let me go.
To my horror, every time that happened, he wordlesslyshotwhoever had run into me, and the sound of the gunshots seemed to be an effectivedeterrent for several minutes at a time as we continued to move against the flow of the crowd.
“You can’t justshootpeople!” I screamed, struggling to be heard over the blaring alarm, but The Forgotten just snarled.
“I can and I fuckingwill. This isn’t a game, Milo. If it’s them or us, it’s going to be fuckingus.”
Jiminy Christmas! This man was a freaking psychopath!
Finally, after what felt like an hour but was likely only a few minutes, The Forgotten jogged off the main road and down a street I’d never been on before.
