He had taken off his shoes and thrown them at the devil-dogs; his shoes were basically useless at this point as the acid had melted most of the rubber soles. The devil-dogs were momentarily distracted by the objects being chucked at their heads. However, the price for a few seconds of distraction was high. The guard had to be extra careful as to where his feet touched the ground—one step in a pool of devil-dog slobber and he was a goner.
Kristi squeaked and turned her attention back to the improvised torch she held. Her fingers were slightly singed.
“Come on,” she whispered partly to herself and partly to the smoke alarm. “Please let this work.”
There was little more than two inches of paper between the flames and her hand now. She would be forced to put out the fire soon if she didn’t want to burn herself.
THUD!
The sound of a heavy body hitting the ground made Kristi lurch in surprise.
“One down, one more to go,” the guard announced.
The dead body of the smaller devil-dog slid towards Kristi along the slippery floor. She stuck her foot out to stop the body from colliding into her. The devil-dog had been clubbed to death, from the looks of the wounds on its body.
The blank eyes of the animal stared unfocusedly back at Kristi and its large, slimy tongue drooped out from the corner of its mouth. Blood crusted its mouth along with bullet wounds. She shuddered and averted her gaze from the corpse.
THUD!
Kristi looked back towards the direction of the guard and the devil-dog, expecting to see a second dead devil-dog come sliding towards her. Instead, she saw the devil-dog slamming the guard into the ground.
The guard let out a bloodcurdling howl that was quickly cut off when the devil-dog killed him with a bite to the throat. The body of the guard lay in a limp and crooked position. The devil-dog sniffed over the guard to make sure its prey was dead then started trotting towards Kristi.
She dropped the torch and grinded out the fire with her boots (the torch wouldn’t have lasted another ten seconds anyways—there was less than half an inch of paper left to burn). Her chances of making it out of the building alive were growing slimmer by every second. She needed a miracle.
Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!
“Thank heavens!” she exclaimed.
The sprinklers sprang into action at last. Lifesaving water drizzled down onto the devil-dog. The devil-dog stopped in its steps, confused by the sudden change in the environment. Kristi prayed the devil-dog would retreat and leave her alone.
It didn’t.
Undeterred by the fact it was steaming water from its pelt, the devil-dog still stumbled towards Kristi, albeit its steps were shakier and slower. The nearest emergency exit was two hundred meters down the hall. There was no way she would be able to make it there before the devil-dog was on her.
Kristi fake lunged towards the left to evade the dog by dodging to the right. Too slow. The left paw of the devil-dog hooked around her legs and she tumbled to the ground.
Her head cracked against the marble floor and silvery stars exploded across her visions. I refuse for my life to end like this, Kristi thought. Oh yeah? Well, it sure seems like your life is about to end soon, a little voice whispered in the back of her mind. SHUT UP! She ignored the pessimistic voice and focused on getting her head together.
The devil-dog leaned closer, ready to tear through her throat. Her hands blindly swept the area round her. Her fingers wrapped around something small and slim. It was the tranquilizer the guard had threatened to use on Troop and her earlier. The small dart must’ve slipped out of his pockets.
The devil-dog’s teeth flashed dangerously close to Kristi’s face. With all her strength, she thrust the dart into its gaping maw. In its weakened state, the highly concentrated sedative knocked out the devil-dog within a few seconds. She barely had enough time to roll out of the way before the devil-dog dropped down cold onto the space where she had just been lying.
Kristi permitted herself a few seconds to catch her breath. Then she dusted some debris off of herself and took off running out of New Genes Lab without a second look back, leaving the pandemonium occurring in the South Wing far behind.
chapter forty-five
“Zala’s definitely going to actively pursue us now,” Chelsa said.
She hit the brakes of the Cleandows van as a stop sign loomed into view. Her driving skills were questionable when she was under pressure.
“Since Zala knows I’ve switched alliances, there’s no questioning that she’s not going to allow us off scot-free. She’ll be promoted to vice commander of the United Regions Homeland Security if she’s able to turn in the four Naturals to the current president of the Homeland Security.”
“Since when did you find out about this?” Troop asked.
“Rosa’s electro-slate,” Chelsa said. “I picked it up after she dropped it and read over some of the instafications they exchanged.”
The van lurched back into motion.
“Do you still have the slate?”
“No. I ditched it after reading through her messages. I didn’t want to risk bringing her slate with us in case it had a tracker in it.
“Do you think the release of the devil-dogs was Finn’s doing?” Kristi asked.
“If it was, he has a lot of questions to answer,” Chelsa said. “He could’ve killed us all.”
“But he didn’t,” Troop pointed out. “As Machiavelli would say, ‘The end justifies the means’.”
“Whatever.”
Kristi didn’t say anything.
“You feeling alright?” he asked.
Kristi nodded, but Troop could tell she was lying. He placed himself in Kristi’s shoes and tried to work out what was upsetting her.
“You couldn’t have helped them,” he said. “You barely got out alive by yourself. If you had tried to save an Accident, neither of you would’ve made it.”
“What type of person am I?” Kristi said, her words low and shaky. “How can I be so self-centered that I didn’t even think about saving the Accidents until after I escaped the lab?”
“You’re a brave, smart and honest girl. Kristi, whether you like it or not, you can’t save everyone,” Troop said. “If this helps, think of it this way: you’re ultimately preventing more deaths by escaping New Genes Lab today.”
“How?”
“The video footage you captured with the contact-cams is solid proof of where the Accidents are ending up.”
“So? How does that help?” Kristi asked.
“If we can broadcast the footage to the Perfects, then they’ll know the truth about what the government has been doing to the Accidents. Then the government will have to stop abducting Accidents or else they’ll have to face a rebellion from the citizens.”
“But what if the Perfects don’t care?” Kristi countered. “What if the Perfects felt that the price of better genetics is worth it? You know how most of the population is obsessed with receiving the latest surgeries in search of perfection.”
Troop creased his forehead.
“Sorry for raining on your parade,” Kristi mumbled. “I know I’m being such a downer.”
He shrugged it off. “Reality sucks.”
“We’re here,” Chelsa announced from the driver’s seat.
She parked the van and they jumped out. Troop shed his Cleandows uniform and went to the storage shed where they had hid the three Cleandows employees earlier. There was no one inside, so he assumed they had woken up and left.
“Ready to go?” he asked when he returned back to the others.
“Yep. Let’s head back to the Filches,” Chelsa said.