Chapter 12 #2
I get into the Traverse without a second glance, and she just follows, not even having to be told.
She's obedient, even when she shouldn't be, and her silence only makes me feel worse.
Her eyes don't wander as I back out, and they still don't survey the area as we leave the front gate. I remember feeling caged like that, how I would do whatever I knew either my parents or Cooper wanted me to do before they even said it, just so there wasn’t a chance they would hurt me.
“You really weren't lying…were you?” I ask hesitantly.
“No…but it doesn't really matter.”
“Maybe it does.” I focus back on the road, driving with one hand on my stomach.
“You’re such a softie,” Carter chimes in through the coms again.
“Shut up, Carter,” I mutter. That's when Victoria looks over at me with wide eyes, like she really thinks I'm crazy. “Ear com.” I point to it, and I hate how I almost laugh at the relief on her face.
“Oh, that makes a lot more sense.” She relaxes into the seat a little more, and we quickly make our way down the mountain.
It still makes me sick knowing that we were this close to him the entire time—that we could’ve saved him from so much pain if we figured it out sooner.
I know there’s nothing I can do to change it, but the ‘what ifs’ continue to haunt me.
As we drive by the spot where he wrecked, a part of me dies inside.
I’ve dreamt of him lying on the side of the road in pain ever since we found out he crashed.
Even after over a month, he still feels the pain from the collision in his back.
Zeke said that from the footage he found, it looked pretty nasty.
I couldn’t ask for details. What I imagine is horrible enough—the true images would only make it worse.
We turn down the road at the bottom of the mountain, the one we should’ve turned down weeks ago, and the trees surrounding the small trail come alive.
They’re whispering their secrets in the breeze, telling me the pain that lives in the abandoned building up ahead.
If it wasn’t for the headlights, I wouldn’t be able to see anything at all, but now I’m afraid something paranormal is going to pop out from the trees with how spooky this place is.
Victoria lets out a shaky breath, clearly just as affected.
I can see her balled-up fists in my peripheral, and she’s obviously trying to hold herself together.
A part of me feels bad that she’s so scared, but that’s only a small portion compared to how much I still can’t stand her.
I’m being extremely selfish right now, and that’s something I’ll need to work on later, because she will show me what I need—and she’s going to help me burn this place to the ground.
The headlights illuminate the ajar front doors, and only then do I park.
I want to keep the car as close to the front doors as possible, in case we need to make our way out in a hurry.
Before I can even get my seatbelt undone, Victoria is throwing hers off and stepping out onto the ground, so I follow suit and meet up with her by the hood.
She takes another deep breath, like she’s getting herself ready, but I don’t give her a second to dwell on it.
I know what that kind of anticipation does to someone’s mind, and we don’t have time for her to get lost in her feelings.
“The drone is in place. I’ll have eyes on the outside,” Carter announces as we cross the threshold, and we don’t take three steps inside before I gag.
This old place reeks of death and decay, plus probably some mold and only God knows what else.
It's pitch black, with not even the moonlight to guide us through the boarded-up windows.
Once the headlights from the car cut off, my own anxiety starts to grow.
“Here.” I pull the flashlight from one of my pockets and hand it to Victoria, then immediately pull out my phone. “I can use this.”
“Thanks.” Her tone sounds genuine as she immediately turns the light on. “We should check the generator first. That way, we can know for sure if anyone's been back here.”
I nod and gesture with my phone, silently telling her to lead the way.
She does so without hesitation, and thankfully, we don’t have to go too far.
We walk down the hallway and into a room on the right, immediately finding the power supply.
I touch the cold, dead top while Victoria shines her light on the side tank.
“It's completely dry. No one has used it.”
“That's a good sign, right?” I ask. When she turns around and shines her light on the far wall, her assumption proves correct when she reveals multiple gas cans.
“Yeah, it is. That means those are still full, and you have the accelerant you need.”
“Perfect. Where were they keeping his…samples?” I ask her, not wanting to say the exact contents.
“Samples?” Carter cuts in. “Oh, fuck, Ash—"
“Carter, if I have to tell you to shut up one more time, I'm going to scream,” I warn. Victoria looks at me with a brow raised, and then her face droops.
“You didn’t tell them?”
“Of course, I didn’t—especially not Damien.
You said he didn’t know, and I wasn’t about to make things worse,” I admit.
Her head moves in tight little nods, understanding my reasoning, and she moves without much more persuasion.
I grab one of the gas cans before catching up with her, knowing I’ll need it.
We walk out of the room and further down the hall, passing by every room with short glances.
Most of them look like cages or prison cells with solid metal doors and blocked windows.
It’s hard to tell what was used recently and what was actually a part of the hospital during its operation, but either way, it doesn’t resemble acceptable living conditions for anyone.
Towards the end of the hall, there are two rooms across from one another that were clearly modified for Saconne and DeLuca themselves.
One even has a large bed draped with expensive looking sheets, and the thought almost makes me sick.
“Which room was yours?” I ask her, wondering what she’ll tell me. She just points behind us and doesn’t bother turning around.
“The one next to DeLuca’s.”
I look back to assess it briefly, but there’s not much to see.
The room she’s referring to only has a single, old hospital bed and a small suitcase that I’m assuming was for clothing.
I don’t bother saying anything else. There isn’t much to say, anyways.
Now isn’t the time to sort through my feelings on the matter, and nothing I could say would change what happened to her.
We turn right into a different hallway, then enter the first room on the left.
This area must have been used for a medical wing at some point, because it’s set up like any normal examination room—well, almost normal.
Beside the table lies chains and bolts, clearly to hold someone down, and there’s a large, industrial refrigerator by the far wall.
“They’re in there.” She points over to it. “If the power has been off this whole time, they wouldn’t be able to use it anyway.”
“I know that.” My tone is short-clipped as I drop the can, storm over to the fridge, and yank the doors open.
I almost gag again, but not from disgust. A thousand emotions assault me as I wonder how much worse this could’ve been.
If they had actually delivered these things, Damien’s blood and cum, there would be much more to haunt him than what was done to him.
“How do we know that it’s all still here? ”
Victoria walks over to the wall and pulls a clipboard away before carefully reading it over.
“For the blood, I only saw them take two pints, but this says there should be three. As for his—” she hesitates “—semen…I only saw them extract it four times, but this says there should be seven containers.”
My palms sting as my nails dig into my skin.
The rage I feel is begging to be released, knowing what this could have meant…
I remember what Victoria said…they wanted her to breed with him.
God, I almost fucking puke… I feel like I could rip these doors off and throw them in her direction, or lunge and snap her neck without exerting myself.
My breath feels hot as I inhale the cold, stale air, and I have to force myself to breathe it back out as I count the containers.
“They’re all here.” I clench my jaw, feeling the fury burn inside me, and then my resolve snaps.
All of the work I’ve put into keeping myself together the past couple of weeks is gone in a flash, and before I realize it, I’m throwing the bags and bottles onto the floor shattering them.
Once I’ve thrown them all and still have the urge to lash out, I storm back up to the gas can.
Fire is the only thing that’s blaring in my mind, but when I reach for it, Victoria’s hand snatches it first. “What the fuck, Victoria?!”
“You don’t need to be breathing in the fumes!” she yells back at me, and I narrow my eyes at her. Her face relaxes as she looks around the room with the flashlight, seemingly going over the damage. “I’ll pour it. You go out into the hallway and keep a few feet back.”
“How do I know this is all of it?” I accuse her. She hands me the clipboard, not with a lack of attitude, and I read over the same numbers she read off. “Did they ever take any out of here?”
“Not that I saw.”
“That’s not very reassuring.” I seethe. She looks around again, and then her flashlight stops in the far corner of the room.
“The cameras. We can grab the hard drive before we leave and go over the footage.”
“Where is it?”