“Anyone moves and I’ll detonate the bomb!” I screamed.
The two guards backed off and then bolted through the door, leaving me alone with Green-eyes and the old man. The old man was backed up against the wall like he was about ready to piss in his tropical shorts. Green-eyes didn’t look so sure. He was wary, but a dangerous gleam still lingered in his eyes.
“I mean it,” I said. “Back off.”
“I don’t believe that’s a detonator,” he said.
“Go ahead and try me, then.”
I crouched down and grabbed the pill sheet, still holding the lipstick up as I edged toward the door. Blood had run down my forehead into the corner of one eye, and I wiped it with the back of my hand.
He took a step toward me, causing the old man to shout in a high-pitched voice, “Just let it go! Wait until it gets outside, then shoot it there!”
I bolted for the exit. My shoulder struck the green door’s lever hard and I slipped through as it opened. A hand brushed my back as I ran, stumbling down onto the skewed tile floor before I managed to get back on my feet.
“She’s bluffing!” Green-eyes yelled from behind me. “Stop her, goddamn it!”
The hallway ahead ended at a corner and I banked, pushing off the wall. I headed down another hall that had been fractured halfway down its length. The floor rose toward the break and then sloped down on the other side, where the air grew hotter and more humid. Up ahead I could see light flickering through a big open doorway. With every step I took toward it, the hiss of steam grew louder and the smell of meat grew stronger. A few steps later I heard what sounded like a child’s scream, the high voice cutting through the rumble of machines.
Cooler air gripped my skin as I passed by a corridor branch. My body, seeming to act on its own, jerked to a stop so suddenly that I almost twisted my ankle.
That’s the way out.
I looked back and saw the men were hot on my heels. Down the branch to my right, I could hear the moan of wind and feel the current of cool air that was free from smoke, steam, and sweat. There was no time to think it through. It was either right, toward possible freedom, or straight on toward the sound of sizzling and screaming.
It was the thought of Vamp that made me move again. He’d be in with the rest, and I knew I couldn’t leave him no matter how scared I was. I took a step toward what I hoped would be him. My brain screamed not to do it, but if he was there and I left him, then I knew what would happen. He’d watch the other captives get slaughtered and cut up, until it was finally his turn. I took another step and picked up speed as I moved toward the light.
The air turned so thick it got hard to breathe, and the miasma of it covered my bare skin. In my mind, I heard the rattling of a chain and collar, my collar, as I dug at it with raw, bloody fingers with the little strength I had left. I remembered how fear had turned to terror, then terror into near disconnect as I had seen the others who arrived there before me hauled away to be strung up. Next would come the high-pitched shriek and gurgle. No matter how big the man was, it came out sounding like a girl until it stopped and the chopping began.
I couldn’t breathe. My legs were pumping on automatic pilot now, threatening to seize at each step.
You can do this. I said it to myself over and over, trying to make it be heard over the sound of the jingling chain and gurgling screams. My mind seemed to separate from my body, until I felt like I was floating forward.
You can do this. What if Dragan had left you?
I’d have been dead for sure. My number had finally come up when he stormed in. I remembered how strong he looked, how fearless as he marched across the factory floor. He’d looked over and seen me just before the men entered. He looked right in my eyes and then turned on them.
By the time he was done, the concrete floor was slick with blood. No arrests, no trials, only just deserts. I had lain back against the concrete wall, the collar’s chain digging into one cheek, while I listened to the shots, regular, rhythmic, and final.
Dragan…
I felt the impact at the same time I heard the pop. It slammed into my right shoulder blade and sent me pitching forward as pain drilled down my spine.
My momentum carried me, and when I came down on my left heel, it slipped out from under me. I felt a brief, weightless sensation as I flew through the doorway, and then an abrupt, bone-rattling impact as I crashed down onto the rusted metal deck.
Chapter Twenty
04:03:12 BC
“Sam, get up!”
The voice came from somewhere up above me, I was facedown on a filthy, damp floor, surrounded by the sounds of bubbling hot liquid and churning machinery. Pain throbbed from my skinned palms, and I felt a tight knot in the muscle behind my right shoulder. I reached back, my muscles stiff and sluggish, and felt something sticking out there.
“I got her!” a voice echoed through the halls. “She’s down!”
I winced as I pulled the object loose and it clattered onto the floor. It was some kind of little black dart, with a tuft of red fluff at the back end.
“Sam! Get up! Quick!”
My head felt like it was full of wet concrete as I lifted it up off the deck. A little ways away I saw the lipstick tube, the end squished flat, and the crumpled sheet of blue crystal. A few meters past them, a naked boy stared at me from behind the mesh of a wire cage, tears streaked down his soot-covered face.
There were more cages on either side of his, some empty and some occupied by other kids or teenagers. Some lay on their sides with their backs to me; others were awake now and staring at me.
I looked up and saw more cages stacked on top of each other, eight layers high. They went all the way up to the factory ceiling, where foam tiles had broken loose and exposed a maze of ductwork. A set of scaffolding had been built in front of the wall of cages, two stories connected by ramps to allow access to the upper levels. It all looked like it had been there a long time.
“Up here!”
The tower of cages swayed above me. At least, I thought they did. I couldn’t focus, and pins and needles pricked at my fingers and toes as I squinted to find the source of the voice. Way up, on the second-level platform, I saw fingers laced through one of the cage doors. They shook it as a familiar face looked down at me.
“Vamp?” The word squeaked out. I didn’t think he heard me.
“They’re coming. Move it!” he called down.
I looked back at the little dart. They’d drugged me, and it had really started to kick in. I didn’t have long before I’d be out, and then it would be all over.
I lunged and grabbed the pill sheet, then rolled over onto my back. Using my legs, I pushed myself back behind a big piece of machinery just as the men entered the room.
“Where the fuck did she go?” one of them asked.
It wouldn’t take them long to figure it out. I moved the pill sheet close to my face. Black spots bloomed in front of my eyes, and my fingers felt cold as I pushed the blue pill into my bloody palm. I popped it into my mouth and crunched down on it until the intense bitterness filled my nose and throat.
“Back here!” someone shouted.
The shard kicked in fast. In seconds the drug cut through the haze, and the approaching black cloud scattered. Energy pulsed through me, and as I sprang back to my feet I saw little white sparks flash in the air in front of me.
I had no idea how long it would last, but I knew I had to make it count. I bolted for the ramp that led to the first platform just as two figures emerged from the steam from that direction, and shoved the closest one away as I passed.
“There!” a voice shouted.