Chapter 44
Maximum Entropy
Zoe
“What are you talking about?” Jessica asks, stepping closer into the armory to box me in. “The team hasn’t sent any sort of SOS; the guys are fine.”
I roll my eyes and prepare my stance, getting ready to fight her on this if I have to. “Because you don’t think it’s possible the Cambions have taken down all of the men? Be realistic, Jessica. We have no clue how big their organization truly goes. The Karma’s could have easily been taken over.”
Jessica holds her hands up, as if she’s asking me to calm down. “Did someone contact you?” She asks.
“Brandon said he needs me.” I charge towards her, I catch her by surprise and knock her off her feet and straight to her back.
The wind is clearly knocked out of her as she tries to talk but no words are coming out.
I round the corner, and my booted feet are pounding against the ground as I rush for the garage.
“Drake!” Jessica’s voice calls out as I swing into the garage.
Drake is too late as I hop into Max’s Porsche 911, slamming on the gas and peeling from the garage.
I fumble with my phone as I try to pull up the location Brandon sent me, dropping it in my lap three times. “Fuck!” I pound my fist into the steering wheel as I pass a few cars on the highway.
I’m weaving in and out of traffic as fast as I can. There’s an opening on the shoulder that I think I can just barely squeeze through, and I take the risk anyway. I’m not exactly a skilled driver, but my little knowledge will have to suffice for the time being.
The passenger side of the car scrapes and drags against the barricade, but I don’t think Max will mind. I mean, he will, but he’ll totally get over it considering the situation. Maybe.
I finally break free from the congested traffic and fly into the open highway. The navigation says I’m less than three minutes away as I take the needed exit. I pull off to a random alleyway, so the car doesn’t draw any unwanted attention. I place the car in park and step out as calmly as possible.
I check the notifications on my phone and the pit in my stomach doubles in size when I see there is still no response from any of them.
It’s quiet on these backstreets, a type of quiet that almost feels too loud. I can vaguely recognize my surroundings, but it’s like my legs know where to go before my brain does.
I enter one of the buildings in my memory using a side door. I think this building was a speakeasy back in the day, and it’s the perfect place to start when going through these tunnels. I should have known they’d get rushed by the Cambions tonight. They seem to always be ten steps ahead.
I walk to the back of the building and before I open one of the doors, I take my sparrow mask from my back pocket and slide it in place.
My men need me, and I’m terrified of what horrible things are keeping them from me at this moment. But I don’t have time to get emotional, I need to disconnect. I need to be numb. I need to be The Sparrow.
I’m not sure what the Cambions could have done to them. But I do know that many lives will be lost tonight.
I move like a machine that has been hardwired to have one purpose: To Kill.
My steps are silent, but quick. I keep my form tucked away and tight against the wall as I slowly find myself in the labyrinth of tunnels underneath the city. I reach for my phone again, but curse under my breath when I realize I left it on the roof of the car. No worries, I’m already here.
I keep my eyes and ears peeled for any sort of movement but the deeper and deeper I go the more confused I am. Nobody is here, and I haven’t crossed any paths with anyone for over two miles.
It’s getting harder and harder to keep the numb in place when all I can think of is my men. I didn’t say goodbye to any of them. I never told any of them what I felt, they have no clue just how deeply I love them. How I am broken and shattered just to fit in pieces of them.
I never told Teddy how much I appreciate him for letting me drink his chocolate milk, or that I feel at home in his dark and twisty heart.
I never told Dean that it’s okay to trust me, I never told him how much I trust him with everything I am.
I never told Brandon that I actually find his flirting endearing, and that he is the sunshine that brightens my dark mind.
I never told Max that it's okay to lose control, and that I love to see the human side of him. That I love him.
I never told any of them that I love them. It’s not fair to live in a world where you don’t think you’re loved.
At least they love each other, and they know of that love. So, if they’re dead, at least they died knowing they had each other.
And I will die as expected, completely and utterly alone.
“Stop.” I tell myself, forgetting that I need to be silent.
I don’t know that they are dead, and it’s highly unlikely.
They were also trained the same way I was.
To be machines, human weapons. They can hold their own, they’ve been doing it for years.
They are probably just more than a little occupied right now and can’t check their phones— right?
I stop in my tracks when a small light comes into view a few years away. It’s like a beacon in a tunnel that is shadowed in complete darkness.
I try to remain calm, but my pace naturally quickens towards it. However, the closer I get, the more I realize that it isn’t a normal light. It’s a phone.
Before I grab it, I scope my surroundings to make sure there still isn’t anyone nearby. But it’s not just any phone, it’s Brandon’s phone.
A wave of nausea roils through my stomach, and I can feel bile creep up the back of my throat. The acid taste washes over me, but I choke it down, refusing to let this affect me before I even know the whole situation.
Slowly I lean over, and I pick it up and I see that it's open on the notes app with a message already typed out.
CAUGHT YA
Before I have a chance to react to the world around me, a puff of dust surrounds me, and I don’t hold my breath in time. When I gasp, I take in a lung full of the powder.
And like Alice in Wonderland, I can feel myself fall down, down, down, down.
My eyelids flutter shut, and then, nothing.