We head towards the one we’re searching for, making sure the coast is clear before she lobs a small ember that way, igniting the oil that catches and spreads like wildfire. The smoke is nearly instantaneous, starting to fill the tunnel as well as the central room.
Footsteps thunder and there are shouts. Not long after, doors start to open in our hallway as people investigate, and one man looks to us for answers.
“What’s going on?”
“Fire, in the main chamber,” Cai replies easily.
The man curses, and leaves the door open as he turns back to the room he just left. We’re able to see a woman strapped to a chair similar as Ezra was, but this one doesn’t appear completely dead; only her eyes do. She looks haunted, yet resigned, as if this will forever be her life. The man flips the lid on the cooler and marches out, leaving the girl restrained.
“You’re not going to toss her back with the others?”
I try to keep the venom out of my voice, but I’m not sure I accomplish it.
He gives me a dry look. “If the place burns, I need to make sure my data is secure, or years of research will be lost for nothing. I can’t waste my time corralling the animals. I can get more test subjects, but I can’t lose those files.”
He disappears with a sneer and I have to fight not to beat the shit out of him. Instead, I dart in, loosen the human’s restraints, and gesture for her to follow us. She doesn’t move, just stares off vacantly at nothing.
“Come on,” I hiss, “you need to go.”
She finally turns to look at me, blinking a few times as if just realizing that we’re here. “Where do you want me?” she answers robotically, without a hint of emotion and I’m not sure if I’d rather rage or vomit.
“You need to run, come on.”
But still she doesn’t get up. “There is no escape, sir, I know better than to attempt it.” She goes back to starting at the wall, not even showing a hint of emotion.
I want to cry. I want to drag her out of here with the rest of them and help, want to destroy this place and all of the monsters in it. But I know what Cai’s going to say before he even starts to open his mouth, hating that he’s right.
“Come on, Yri, we can’t waste any more time,” he mutters softly, hating it as much as I do.
I look at the woman one more time, feeling broken and with no idea how to fix it. “We’ll leave the door open. Please, if you don’t want to leave, at least go back to the other women.”Maybe they can help her, there’s strength and safety in numbers. Maybe if they start to leave, she will too.“We’re burning the place down and I don’t want you trapped inside when we do. Please, help us help you.”
She doesn’t answer me and a little more of my soul breaks off, staying behind with this woman as we’re forced to start jogging towards the cells.
They have to run. They can’t stay here to die. Please run, I don’t want your blood on my hands too.
We pass by dozens of men, but their focus is on the smoke starting to fill our tunnel. We hear a curse and a groan as a few put their hands to their stomachs and I fight a grin, knowing it isn’t the time, but thrilled that Ezra’s idea worked. We may not be able to sabotage everything or save everyone, but between some being stuck in the bathrooms and others dealing with the fire, it helps even the odds a bit.
We get to the cells and start cursing, finding all of them empty. None of us want to voice what we’re all secretly thinking.
There was no guarantee they’d ever take them prisoner, they might have killed them on sight.
Ezra shakes out of it before us, searching each cell. “What are you looking for?” Soren asks, joining her while Cai and I stay in the hallway to make sure they don’t get locked in.
“They were here at least a day and Elias is a nervous doodler,” she says, suppressing her panic. “If they had nothing to do but wait, he’d be scratching into the walls.”
When the first three cells don’t turn up anything, I know she’s fighting a wave of panic. Cai stands guard so I can help, since we’re spending far more time than any of us planned already.
“Ez!” She comes running over as I point to the busted lock on a cell door. “May not be a doodle, but three pissed off blacksmiths were sure to find their way past an iron door, don’t you think?”
She sags in relief. “Think like Kaiden, think like Kaiden,” she mutters under her breath. “Bust out, where would you go? Straight for the exit?”
Soren shakes his head. “No, they’d continue to look for you.”
She nods. “Smoke means they’ll know I’m here too, so they will still be inside searching.”
Cai taps his finger on his thigh, slow and steady, and I wonder if it will be a new compulsion he starts to rely on to keep calm.
“I have an absolutely terrible plan,” I suggest nervously, hating myself for bringing it up and looking at Ezra.
