Chapter 22
Penn cried out, mouth gaping open in surprise. When he hit the ground, the gun went sliding away, and Rue rushed to grab it.
Ryker was too busy tilting his head, staring at the dagger protruding from Penn’s back. “I was getting through to him.”
“Doubtful,” Ellery snorted, ambling from the top of the stairs where he and his cousin had just appeared.
They joined them.
Uriel, who had been the one to throw the blade, checked his handy work, then reached down and callously pulled the weapon free.
Penn made another sound of pain, then started to twitch as blood flowed from the wound.
Rue gave Uriel a displeased look.
“What? You hated him anyway. He was always picking on you,” Uriel reminded.
“He was?” Ryker’s expression darkened.
“How do you know that?” Rue asked.
“I told him,” Ellery said. “He wanted to know what we’d been up to while he was hooked up to a machine.”
“It’s sounds like you got kind of pathetic in my absence,” Uriel told Rue. “No offense.”
“Offense totally taken.”
“Ew.” Ellery was staring at the creature’s skull. The smoke had stopped coming out of it. “What in Light’s name is this?”
“A monstrosity,” Uriel helpfully inputted before turning to Ryker for the actual answer.
“You spent the last three years living in a video game.” Ryk bent down and snatched the manual up, handing it over to his friend. “No wonder this whole thing felt familiar to you.”
Uriel took it, brow winging up.
“What is it?” Ellery abandoned the creature.
“Exactly what we thought,” Uriel told his cousin.
“What do you mean?” Rue frowned.
With a sigh, Uriel looked at the two of them. “We’ve got to show you something.”
“Bet you were wondering why we didn’t take this shit out.” Ellery kicked at the back leg of the dead creature. “We found an underground network beneath the building. The entrance is on the first floor.”
“Like…tunnels?” Rue’s confusion only grew.
“We explored all night, then came to get you,” Ellery continued. “There’s some stuff down there you’re going to want to see.”
“A control room,” Uriel elaborated. “With some blueprints that looked a lot like gaming ones.”
“Whoever has been doing all this, that’s been their hidey hole.”
“My dad?” Ryker asked, but they shook their heads.
“We spent most of the time going through the first few rooms and figuring out the controls in the main one. Uriel is pretty sure he can shut this fog off, but we wanted to get you two first and come up with an official game plan.”
“There are a couple of paths that we should follow,” Uriel told them. “Maybe we’ll find your dad hiding down one of them. Maybe not.”
“You think it was him?” Ellery thought it over. “Makes sense. This sort of operation takes major coin.”
“And a serious lack of empathy,” his cousin drawled.
None of them disagreed with his assessment.
“Lead the way.” Ryker took Rue’s hands, linking their fingers once more.
“What about—” Rue turned to Penn, but the guy had died sometime during their discussion.
“Rue!” Bowie was suddenly at the end of the hall. He was smiling wide and running toward them with no signs of injury. “Oh, thank Light! I heard all of the gun shots, but debated whether or not it was safe to come out and check. Glad I did.”
“Where’ve you been?” Ellery questioned.
“Hiding,” Bowie said. “You?”
“Hunting.”
“Did a good job of it I see.” Bowie stared at the monster, then turned back to Rue. When he reached to touch him, however, Rue was yanked back.
“Check his neck,” Ryker told his friends.
“What? Why?” Bowie gave them glares but didn’t struggle, allowing Uriel to inspect his neck.
“There’s a patch that causes people to get violent,” Rue explained. “We’re pretty sure it’s put on the nape.”
“Nothing here,” Uriel said.
“Pretty sure?” Ellery frowned. “What if it isn’t? Couldn’t it be placed anywhere, so long as it’s making direct contact with a person’s skin?”
Bowie’s expression turned suspicious.
“Don’t give me that look,” Ell said. “That’s pretty much how drugs work, genius.”
“He’s right,” Uriel agreed.
“I’ve been alone since sundown,” Bowie told them. “I haven’t been near anyone who could have put anything on me.”
“When was the last time you saw Hollis?” Ryker asked him.
“When we were all running. I was with you guys after, remember? And then I was alone.”
He’d left them and tried to make Rue leave without Ryker.
Now wasn’t the time to discuss that though, and fortunately, the Black Hart seemed to agree and wasn’t in the mood to hold it against him.
Ryker considered it and then sighed. “He should be fine. Hollis attacked us twenty minutes ago. If Bowie had been drugged before everyone dispersed, it should have gone into effect by now.”
Rue gave his best friend a reassuring smile. “Stick together from now on, okay?”
“Yeah, sounds good.” Bowie seemed like he wanted to say something, but wasn’t quite sure how to. He ended up not getting the chance, because in the next instant, Ryker was pulling Rue away.
Ellery and Uriel moved ahead, and they all set off to get answers.
* * *
“Who the hell built this place?” Bowie searched the main room they’d entered a few minutes ago, bewildered.
The ceilings were low, but there was plenty of space for them to move around without having to worry about their heads skimming it. Which was good, because there were cobwebs everywhere.
“How did you find the entrance?” Ryker asked his friends as they led him toward a cluttered desk.
“Went to the kitchen to find something to eat,” Ellery explained. “Uriel felt the draft while we were checking the pantry.”
“Lots of hidden nooks and crannies in video games,” Uriel said absently, taking the single chair in front of the desk. There was a computer on it, and he clicked a few buttons and brought the screen to life.
It wasn’t the only item that required electricity that was on. The secret passages must be connected to the same power source as the pool house, which would explain why it was still functioning when the rest of the building had been cut off.
Light fixtures set into the walls provided a dim orange glow, and a glance around didn’t provide any switches where they could adjust the setting, not that anyone else seemed bothered by it. Rue listened to them talk as he wandered the perimeter of the medium sized room, taking in the odd machines.
One of the wall panels in the pantry upstairs had shifted inward, exposing a narrow stairwell that led straight down into darkness.
Of course the Black Harts had taken that as a challenge and gone exploring, instead of doing what any other person currently running from a potential murderer and monster would do.
At the foot of the stairs, there was a sharp right into the room they were currently, but the hallway itself stretched forward.
According to Ell and Uriel, they’d walked down some of it, returning when they realized how often it branched out. They hadn’t wanted to risk losing their way without first getting Ryker and Rue.
They’d said that specifically.
That they’d come back for the both of them.
This so wasn’t the time, but Rue couldn’t help but feel a sweep of warmth at the offhanded statement. Ever since he’d fled the planet, he’d felt listless, like there was nowhere he belonged anymore. With that single passing comment, they’d made him feel…home.
Bowie was the only one who seemed to have noticed Rue’s reaction. He was uncomfortable by it, for whatever reason, but Rue didn’t bother asking him about it.
“It’s not even password protected?” Ryker scowled when the computer came on.
“We’re thinking it was, but whoever has been dicking around with us turned that function off when they arrived,” Ellery said.
“If you look around, you’ll find proof that they stored things here ahead of time.
Most likely to ensure they weren’t caught with any of it when they traveled with us to the lodge. ”
They’d all shared the same bus, so that made sense.
“There isn’t a ton on here, but it’s enough,” Uriel told them. “Blueprints of the lodge and the outer buildings, as well as schematics for the tech they integrated into the bears.”
“Why the antlers?” Ryker crossed his arms.
“Seems like not all of them got that upgrade.” He clicked a few buttons and pulled up a page showing information on several bears. There were photo attachments and notes in a messy handwriting as well.
Rue grimaced at an unconscious bear on a metal table. There was a drill positioned between its eyes, and he was grateful it was an image and not a video. “This is sick.”
“Out of the eight bears, only three were altered,” Uriel said.
“Only.” That didn’t make it better. At all.
“Those three were tagged with devices that seemingly helped control their migration,” Ellery picked up the conversation, moving to perch on the end of the desk so he could face them all.
“Sort of like a remote control. We can’t find where it is though, it’s just referenced in some of the notes.
For the other animals, the fog is also scented with pheromones we can’t smell. But they can.”
“It’s mating season for bears,” Ryker divulged.
“Coincidental?” Ell chuckled, letting them know he was joking.
“Anything else?”
“Notes on where the fog machines are placed on the outskirts of the property,” Uriel said. “And a program that should allow me to control them from here.”
“You don’t think that’s a ton?” Bowie questioned, referencing his earlier statement with a shake of his head.
“There’s nothing like this,” Ellery held up the game manual he’d kept and then tossed it onto the desk. “Nothing with anyone’s name on it that could implicate them.”
“Whatever device used to block service is missing as well,” Uriel added. “Either it’s down here somewhere and we’ve just yet to find it, or it’s hidden somewhere else. Without it, we won’t be able to get our multi-slates working, or call for help.”
Ellery grunted and clapped his cousin on the shoulder. “We don’t need help. We’ve got this. Right, RykRue?”
They both scowled at him.
“What did you just call us?” Ryker asked.
“It’s your ship name,” Ell said. “Duh.”