“Let’s go this way.” With her arm linked through mine, we went down the only hall we hadn’t ventured yet, passing a bathroom and an open broom closet full of cleaning supplies.
At the end of the hall was a large shutter that was lifted up, revealing a chain link gate.On the other side of the gate was a room full of neatly organized crap. To the far left was a wall and tables lined with boxes like the one I had gotten my first shirt from, and straight ahead were shelves of canned goods, boxed foods, and condiments.
Two deep freezers were running in the back, and to our right was another gate that led to what appeared to be a garage.
“Where did they get all of this from?” Arlen asked in awe.
The feeling was mutual. I hadn’t seen anything like this…ever, not even when I lived with The Order. Romero had a connection, a good one from the looks of it. Tito had a connection too, but the most overstocked item we had were tampons; everything else was the bare minimum basics needed to live semi comfortably.
“Well we were clearly meant to find this room so we could go through em,” Arlen commented, nudging me in the direction of the boxes. She took one side and I took another.
“I never got a chance to thank you for taking up for me.” I spoke softly in an effort to keep or conversation as quiet as possible.
“Are you serious? You saved my ass when someone else would have only worried about themselves.”
She had a point there. I could have made a run for it as soon as cannibal Bill hit the ground. Finding a pair of denim shorts that would fit me, I kicked my boots off and pulled them on beneath my long shirt.
“I was looking for my sister,” she added after a beat, turning around and beginning to dig in the boxes behind her.
Slipping back into my shoes, I rose and continued searching through another box. I started to respond but glanced around, and for the first time, I noticed the suitcases piled beneath the table and some of the more expensive clothing in certain boxes.
Finding a wallet in a pair of jeans, I flipped it open and stared at the identification card still inside.James Wallace. He was an official from Centriole.
“That’s not good,” Arlen whispered.
“Understatement of the year.”
There was only one possible explanation I could come up with. Romero was not finding random people to torture; he was making people disappear—many people, by the looks of it. Whole families, if the few diaper bags meant anything.
The wallet had to have been left by mistake. None of the other boxes contained belongings that were indicative of where they came from or who they belonged to.
I was struck with the cold reality that though we were connected on a level only we understood, that connection didn’t give me the magical ability to read his mind and know all his secrets.
What the hell was this man up to?
“So you never told me…is he good in bed?” she suddenly asked me, a wide grin on her face.
I was about to respond but saw the warning in her eyes and dropped the wallet. She quickly kicked it beneath the table.
“She never told me either,” Romero said from behind me, sliding his arms around my waist.
Locking the newfound information in my head, I spun around and wrapped my arms around his neck, accepting his hungry kiss. His skin was warm; wherever he’d gone, it was outside.
“Are you ready?” he asked, pulling away.
“Am I ready for what?”
“We’re going to play.”
This was insane. Period.
I looked at the large church and shook my head for the hundredth time.
“So, do we have a plan?”
“Yeah, kill everyone, make sure they’re dead, and go home,” Grimm tossed out.
“Gabe isn’t a loner like Azel; there’s going to be lots of other people in there.”
