Chapter Twenty-Seven #3
Two of the thralls in fatigues scurried off to a cabinet on the wall. Reece followed Croft down to the end of the room, to
a small foyer with a door. “This is how you can get out,” Croft said.
“What’s the security situation?” Reece asked another man in fatigues.
“They’ll have unleashed the dogs by now.” The man cracked the door, and the wind howled past. “But if you cut straight across
this field, you can get back to your truck. Snow’s still coming down, though; we got ATVs and snowmobiles, but they’re on
the other side of the lab—”
A swirl of snowflakes came in through the open door. “No time to get them,” Reece said. “Every alarm here is going off. Someone
is going to be responding to this mess. We’ll get the truck.”
“Can you drive in this?” Grayson asked, catching up. There was still a slight slur in his hoarse voice as he tugged a long-sleeved thermal over his head, at least a size too small and not quite reaching the top of the camouflage pants he was now wearing, like a crop top.
Reece waved the question away. “All of you,” he snapped, raising his voice.
His thralls came running over eagerly.
“We’re escaping, and I need you to buy us time, understand?” Reece said to them. “Fuck this place up. And then burn it down.”
The thralls cheered. “Weapons locker is this way!” one of them shouted.
“Damn, Reece,” he heard Grayson mutter as the thralls scattered.
It took only a moment for Grayson to pull on the army boots and coat. And then they were plunging out into the snowstorm,
the wind making Reece’s eyes water as ice-cold droplets stung his face.
“You didn’t answer my question about whether you can drive in this,” Grayson shouted over the wind.
“Because nobody should drive in this weather,” Reece shouted back.
Behind them, the alarms were still blaring. A few steps forward and the flat area in front of the lab became an abrupt incline
that disappeared into darkness, forcing them to temper their speed to the steep ground as they fought their way through the
snow.
“I think I smell smoke,” Grayson said as they stumbled downhill. “And I definitely hear dogs.”
“And I can’t fucking thrall dogs.” Reece spotted an opening between the dark outlines of two trees. “Let’s try this path.”
“Reece, wait!”
But just as Reece had stepped forward, the snow gave way under his feet and he was falling, stomach plummeting as he went tumbling several feet down the mountainside.
He landed in a snowbank, and the shock of cold against his face was like a physical slap. Why hadn’t he grabbed a coat from the barracks—
The snow was suddenly brushed away at his side. “Are you all right?”
“I’m okay.” Reece distantly registered the lie. “Just fucking cold.”
“At least you missed the trees.” There was an insistent tug on his sweatshirt sleeve. “I got you,” said Grayson, his grip
strong enough to help Reece up. “Come on.”
Moments later, they were back on their feet, fighting their way through the snow but having to temper their walks to the steep
ground.
Up ahead through the trees, Reece could just make out a shiny black mass. “There she is!”
“Hallelujah.” Grayson followed him forward, still without his usual grace.
They got into the truck just as a loud boom echoed around the mountainside. Reece looked back at the lab just in time to see
flames erupt from a set of ground-floor windows, leaping red and orange illuminating the snow.
“Someone’s playing with chemicals,” he observed as he turned the key. The truck came to life with a beautiful roar. “I love
this thing,” Reece admitted, shivering hard enough to make his hand shaky as he went for the seat belt. “You’re never getting
her back. Put your damn seat belt on.”
“Reece—”
“This is going to be a bitch of a drive, and I promise nothing,” Reece said. “Seat belt. On.”
As slow as he could, he pulled the truck out into the snow and began to inch down the mountainside.
Grayson was going for the heat and seat warmers. “Where are we?”
“Olympic Mountains. Really fucking far from anything.” Reece swore again as the tires slipped and the truck slid several feet
down the mountainside. “Evan, trying to drive might be a bad decision.”
“Of course it is.” Grayson’s teeth were chattering. “But staying in that lab to await the cavalry would’ve been worse.”
The truck slid again, then got its grip. Reece tightened his hands on the steering wheel as he swerved around a cluster of
trees.
“How damp are your clothes?” Grayson asked.
“I’m soaked, but it doesn’t matter,” Reece said. “The heat’s on—”
A sudden crack split the air. A moment later, a giant branch smashed the windshield, and the truck spiraled out of his control,
sliding straight for another grouping of trees.
Reece had a split second to react: Continue the slide right and smash the passenger side; turn the wheel and collide on the
driver’s side.
But he knew in his bones that when it came to Evan, there was only one decision he was ever going to make.
He yanked the wheel to spin Grayson safely out of reach just as the truck impacted hard enough to rattle his teeth. There
was a loud crunch and a burst of white.
And then everything was black.