My teeth grind together, and I open my mouth to give him a snide response, but the sound that pierces the atmosphere has my hands flying to my ears as it deafens me. An alarm screeches through the entire building, the red lights now beating to match its pulse.
Malcolm’s voice barely comes through my ear. “I’m working on it!”
Rex’s lips mutter a curse, and he pulls me towards him to yell in my ear, “You head that way, I’ll go this way. Meet me in the middle and kill anyone you come in contact with, and for the love of God. Do not fucking die.” He taps my shoulder, nodding at me before raising his gun and disappearing into the darkness.
Fuck, it’s so damn loud in here, my ears feel like they’re bleeding. Either that or my eardrum has burst. I’ll never be able to hear anyone coming towards me.
I turn and stare down the corridor that’s being swallowed by a beating red blub, my sweaty hands gripping the gun as I stick to the walls.
This is not a research facility; it’s an asylum, one that practices unorthodox methods.
Each of the cell doors are unlocked as I test them, revealing rooms with no windows, a cot, and bare tiled walls.
Like Conrad’s basement.
A shudder rattles my body, and I flatten myself against the wall to steady my heart rate. I got out of there; I’ll fucking get out of here too, with him.
I make my way down, every cell vacant so far. I know Saint’s here; he has to be in one of them.
When I reach the edge of the octagon, I slap my back against the wall, holding my breath when something catches my eye in my peripheral vision. And when the alarm finally cuts, I’m left with a ringing in my ears that muffles my hearing, but I can tell open fire from anywhere.
It’s Rex.
I whip back to look down the direction he headed, and flickers of light flash against the walls as the guards open fire.
A bullet hits right above my head and severs the thought, causing me to duck down as the tiles crack and crumble all over me, but I don’t even get to slacken my knees when someone wraps their arm around my throat from behind.
“I’ve got one!” the man roars in my ear, and it ignites the once feared bloodlust in me.
My boot slams into his shin, forcing him to break his hold on me whilst screaming in my already sensitive ear. That just pisses me off even more, and now I’mreallymad.
Pivoting my body around to face him, I keep shooting at him until he collapses on the floor, and another barges through thecell next to me, grabbing my hair and tossing me down the corridor.
It’s at that exact moment Malcolm says something in my ear, and the guards step beneath the red light that’s not still.
I’m met with a gruff laugh that feels like razor blades along my skin, rubbing his hands together. “Fucking jackpot.” I stare up at him wide eyed as my breaths shallow, watching his gaze trail over me.
“You’re worth a whole five million dollars alive, sweetheart. Drop the gun and stand up.”
My mouth clamps shut, body deathly still as I stare up at him. Impatience wrinkles his skin when I don’t move or answer him. “You fucking deaf? I said—”
“I heard what you said,” I purr, watching the rise and fall of his shoulders increase, eyes narrowing on me.
“Then why the fuck aren’t you moving?” he bites back as spit flies from his mouth, swinging his strapped rifle behind his back as he goes to reach for me, but the devil-like smile on my face has him thinking twice.
A shot cracks through the air as I fire one at his leg with the gun from my holster. He was so focused on my other hand, he didn’t even notice me reaching for the other gun.
To be honest, that was a gamble. I’ve never shot with my left hand before.
I’ll take it.
His groan is like music to my ears as he drops to his knees, blood already pooling on the concrete floor as he clutches his shin. I pop the safety on my spare gun and grab the other as I rise to my feet, slowly walking towards him as the realisation washes over his features.
I’m certain I look as terrifying as I feel, like some demonic creature stalking towards him.
His increasing cries for me to stop end abruptly when I kick him so hard in the face, I hear the clack of his teeth snapping together, forcing him to slam backwards at an awkward angle.
If this was any other scenario, I’d stick my claws into his mind, play on his fear, and enjoy watching the tears well in his eyes when he realised this was it.
