After I spit into Connor’s face, the look in his eyes sends chills through my whole body. He glares down with those icy blue eyes. Then he strikes me hard on the cheek with his fist. My vision flashes white, and my ears ring. A hot pain shoots out from where his fist landed.
He’s coming back for another hit when the sound of an explosion comes from my left. Vibrations rock the room, and bits of dust kick up from the ground. Everyone looks up, surprised. I crack a smile. It’s got to be Aiden.
Another explosion, but this one is closer. Tiny bits of concrete fall off the walls and ceiling, covering everything in a cloud of fine dust.
Connor points to Wayne and then to me. “You. Watch him. The rest of you are with me.” He runs off toward the explosions with the other two in tow.
Wayne stares at me with a sadistic grin on his face. “Well, well, well. Isn’t this interesting?” He walks toward me. My constraints bind tightly as I try desperately to get free.
As he approaches, he clenches his fists. “What’s the matter? You don’t have anything to say now that it’s just you and me, smart ass?”
I fight against the plastic ties. Digging deep, I use all the force buried inside me, trying to break free. But it’s useless. The binds are too strong.
Wayne puts his face right up to mine, then plants his tongue on my cheek. “You taste good.” His breath is stale with whiskey and chewing tobacco.
Good god. This can’t be happening. With his head next to mine, I lurch forward and smack my skull hard against his. He staggers back with a look of shock covering his face.
“Oh, you’re gonna pay for that, you little shit!” He comes racing at me, a pistol in his raised hand, ready to strike. I reel back, waiting for the impact. It’s going to hurt like a sonofabitch. He’s inches away before his gun flies out of his hand, clattering harmlessly on the ground. A hand reaches around, covering his mouth as an arm travels around his neck. Eyes wide, Wayne flails his arms and legs. His face goes purple as he fights for air, then collapses in a heap on the floor.
Aiden stands behind him. Conflicting emotions consume me. I’ve never been so happy and furious at the same time. He’s a bastard. But the bastard came to rescue me.
“Aiden, thank god,” I squeak, overcome with relief.
Aiden runs up and cups his hands against my cheeks. “Are you hurt?”
“A little banged up, but I’ll live.”
“I’m so glad I found you. Let’s get you out of this chair.” He cuts my bonds with a knife, and relief follows, but also pain. The zip tie around my left leg cut a deep gash into my skin, and I’m bleeding from it.
As soon as I’m free, I punch Aiden hard in the shoulder, and he yelps.
“That’s for leaving me.”
And then I hug him like I never want to let him go. “And this is for saving me,” I whisper in his ear.
“I’m so sorry, Zach. I have a lot more apologizing to do. But for now, we have to go.”
We end our embrace, and Aiden runs for the exit opposite the explosions. “C’mon, we gotta run.”
My left leg howls with pain, but I try to ignore it and hobble along behind him. The note Aiden wrote me sits on the ground, dropped by Connor. Part of me wants to leave it behind and forget this dark moment. But I grab it anyway and stash it in my pocket. Some things are too significant to forget.
“Connor and the others went that way, right?” Aiden points to the far side of the room, and I nod.
“Good.” He continues in the other direction. “Follow me.”
We run to a metal door at the right side of the turbine room. As we get to it, the door on the far side opens, and Connor comes in with the others. Connor looks up, and his face twists with rage.
“Stop them!”
Aiden pauses for a moment to glance back. The expression on his face is complex, to say the least. Anger mixed with sorrow. “Let’s go,” he says quietly.
Tyra and the man with the gray goatee head toward us, drawing their guns. The moment they do, we run out the door and slam it behind us. The brutal impact of bullets against the door sends concussive blasts through the stairwell.
We sprint up the stairs, three steps at a time. As we open the door at the top, the downstairs door opens. Aiden grabs the last grenade off his belt, pulls the pin, and sends it clattering down the metal stairway.
“Fire in the hole,” Aiden yells. It says so much about Aiden that he warns the very people trying to kill us. He trained to survive in this terrible world but still has a gentle heart.
“Go back!” voices from below yell as the door shuts.
