Chapter 1 #2
“Stand up, turn around and link your hands behind your neck. Next one who says a single fucking word gets a bullet in the head.” Hayes stalked down the aisle between the two rows of cells, gun raised and aimed at the other hounds.
I jolted when a thunderous BOOM came from somewhere outside, so close that it shook dust from the ceiling and vibrated the concrete floor beneath my bare feet.
“Hayes, get going!” Hunter shouted, picking up the chain Hayes had dropped and tossing one end down to his brother. “We don’t have time for—”
The world exploded in a violent burst, a powerful blast tearing through the outer walls of the cells across from me.
The force of it sent me flying back until I slammed into something solid and the breath was knocked from my lungs.
For a long, long moment, all I could hear was the pounding of my heart and a shrill ringing in my ears.
Someone screamed, and then a nearby pop pop pop pulled me out of my daze. I inhaled but there wasn’t any oxygen anymore, just dust. I coughed and dragged my shirt up to cover my face. My eyes watered as I looked around at the damage.
There was dust all around me; gray concrete, metal bars, everything was in pieces.
The whole row of cells across from me had been blown open on the exterior side, bodies everywhere, mangled, squished, crushed.
Only the cells at the far ends were untouched by the damage, and the hounds in those cells were all screaming.
This couldn’t be real.
Movement drew my attention to the right, where a few hounds were scrambling over debris to get to the opening, not even glancing twice at the dead hounds they stepped on to get there. Most of the block had been destroyed; they had a clear shot out of this place.
No.
They were leaving.
It’s not fair.
They were escaping.
No, it wasn’t fair, I—
The hound that had been climbing out of the hole in the wall suddenly stumbled back, hands raised in the air. A man dressed all in black appeared and pushed the muzzle of his gun into the hound’s chest.
“Get back. Get back!”
Another man came up behind him, clad entirely in black like the first. They had something written on the front of their clothes, but the letters were just meaningless shapes to me. It was English, that much I could tell.
The second man darted out from behind the first when the hound turned and tried to run. He grabbed the hound’s arms, wrenched them behind his back, and tied them together with something and then—
The hound threw his head back and screamed, falling to his knees. One of the men in black shoved his boot into the hound’s back, pushing him down onto the floor.
I stepped back, keeping my eyes trained on the men.
All the fine hairs on the nape of my neck stood on end as I watched him lean over the hound, yank his head back at an angle that looked excruciatingly painful, and shove something in his mouth with his gloved fingers.
He held his jaw closed and pinched his nose.
I looked over at Two’s cell and gasped. A giant slab of concrete had gone clear through the front of his cell and squished him against the wall. All that was left of him was red.
That could’ve been me.
Nausea roiled in my stomach and I gritted my teeth, glancing over at the men in black.
One had his gun raised and was sweeping it around the room while the other one shoved the incapacitated hound through the opening in the wall. There was another man outside, waiting to grab him.
How many were there?
It didn’t matter. I needed to leave before they saw me, before they did to me what they’d done to that hound.
There was a small opening at the front of my cell where something had hit the bars. They were bent inward, warped to the point that it looked like there was a small gap—one I might be able to fit through.
I slowly crept toward the bars, eyeing the tiny opening.
Making sure the chain attached to my collar wouldn’t get caught on anything, I wrapped it around my neck and tucked the end into the coil. Thank fucking god they hadn’t connected our chains to the wall this time or I’d be stuck in here.
The familiar crack of a rifle made my heart jolt, and I dropped to my knees and threw my hands over my head. When I realized I hadn’t been shot, my gaze flew to the right, and there was Hunter, sitting with his back to the metal door, gun raised at the men in black.
I’d forgotten about him and Hayes.
His face was covered in blood and dirt, dust clinging to his clothes. “Hayes!” he shouted, sliding the barrel to the left and pulling the trigger. “Hayes! Where the fuck are you?”
Bodies began piling at the opening, but Hunter didn’t have endless ammunition.
When I was sure Hunter hadn’t seen me, I crept closer to the bars and curled my fingers around the ones that were bent inward. The gap was low to the ground, so I squeezed my upper body through first, then my legs, and then—
I was out of my cell.
My heart slammed against my chest, racing faster and faster with every passing second.
I kept low to the ground and ignored the unintelligible yells of hounds that were still alive and still locked up. Those yells had intensified as soon as I’d gotten out. I wanted them to stop, to be quiet, because if Hunter heard them—if he—
“Hayes!” Hunter screamed. “Answer me!”
I shrank even lower.
I had no clue how I was supposed to escape when both exits were blocked. Maybe there was another way out? Maybe—
Hunter shoved to his feet and sprinted toward the hole from the explosion. He dropped his rifle, grabbed one of the guns off a dead man in black, and started shooting into the yard beyond—leaving a clear path to the metal door.
This was it. This was my chance.
I sucked in a breath.
Go.
Go now!
I shot down the corridor and sprinted toward the door, my bare feet flying over bits of concrete. Something sharp bit into my heel, and I stumbled but kept pushing forward.
“—think you can just come here and fuck shit up? Huh? I’ll show you—”
Pop pop pop pop pop pop pop
Hunter’s voice faded in and out as I ran past the decimated portion of the wall.
“Hey! Three!”
I skidded into the door, my shoulder taking the brunt of the force as Six screamed my name. Oh, god, he was going to get me caught, he was going to—
“Three! Get me out of here, man!”
No. I couldn’t stop.
I didn’t look back, grabbed the handle of the door, and pulled hard. The heavy metal groaned, but it was barely audible past the gunfire.
I ran into the darkness beyond. Six’s screams cut off as soon as the door slammed shut.
All the chaos outside was muted in here. The slapping of my feet on concrete ricocheted around me.
Another explosion rumbled through the walls, and I fell to my knees, covering my head with my hands.
Nothing happened. No hole was blown in the wall, no men in black rushed in.
I pushed to my feet, my legs almost giving out beneath me they were shaking so hard.
I just needed to get to the end—
The door behind me burst open, an angry shout reverberating around me.
“Three! You little fucker, get back here!”
Dread ripped through me. I burst into a sprint, my pulse roaring in my ears.
Hayes fired a shot into the darkness, the bullet so close I felt it whizz past me.
He fired another shot, then another and another, but I was already at the end of the hall, yanking the door open and flying out into the yard.
All those muffled sounds became unbearably loud, but whatever fight was happening was on the other side of the building. But Hayes—
He’d see me if I just ran straight out into the yard. The distance to the fence was too far to cross in time, so I ran along the side of the building and pressed myself into the concrete, stepping deeper into the shadows.
The door slammed open and Hayes swept his rifle left and right across the yard. Looking for me.
I sucked in a breath. Held it. Crept toward the corner of the building. Maybe I could—
Three of the intruders melted out of the shadows just beyond the building, their guns aimed at me.
One of them held a hand up, and they all stopped and lowered their guns.
“Easy. We’re not gonna hurt you.”
The crack of a rifle came a split second before the man flew back into the other two.
I dropped to the ground when they started shooting at Hayes, caught in between two evils.
The other men in black went down in less than five seconds.
I needed to move.
“Fuck, what a rush!” Hayes’s wild laughter was drowned out by nearby gunfire.
I curled my hands into fists, ripping up grass, then pushed to my feet.
A shot rang out. The bullet embedded itself in the dirt right next to my foot.
“You stay right there. Don’t make me fuckin’ chase you, Three.” Hayes approached me slowly. “That’s right, just stay there. Be the good little dog you are—”
The glint of metal caught my eye, and I looked down at the gun lying near me.
“Don’t you fucking dare. Don’t you do it. You leave that there.”
And let him take me? Kill me? No, I wasn’t dying without a fight.
I dove for it, snatching it up and taking a few steps back while aiming it at him.
He focused his rifle on me, pulled the trigger—
Click.
Nothing happened.
Click click.
“Fuck!” he shouted, throwing the rifle down and raking a hand through his greasy hair. “Fuck. Okay.” His nervous laugh and his hands raised in surrender had a twisted satisfaction curling through me.
I put my finger over the trigger.
“Okay, let’s not do anything rash. Let’s talk this out. I’ll take the muzzle off. Is that what you want? I can do that. I can do whatever you want, Three. Give you whatever you want. Just don’t—”
Hayes lunged at me and the gun went off as I stumbled back, my heel bumping into one of the bodies behind me. The loud pop rippled through my entire body, the butt of the gun smashing into my shoulder so hard it sent me falling backward.