17. Just Go!
SEVENTEEN
JUST GO!
Seven
E verything went black. A siren wail echoed through the room.
“Code Orange! Code Orange! All available agents to E Block!”
“Shit!” Baxter snapped outside. “Petersen, you stay here. Don’t let them leave that cell. Dean, follow me.”
The crackle of a radio. Then Baxter’s voice again, urgent, “All Blocks in lockdown. I repeat, all Blocks to begin lockdown protocol!”
Footsteps receded. Other hybrids shouted in the cells all around, calling out questions for agents who were gone. They were all locked in.
I was locked in. With him .
My eyes shifted, adjusted to the dark.
“Cover yourself,” he snapped, his voice low, rough.
I shivered. With shaking hands and claws that made it difficult, I rebuttoned the flap in my suit. My face burned, and I was thankful for the dark that kept my blush from him.
Or did it?
With my shifter eyes, I could see him easily in the dark. Could he see me? He certainly looked bigger. Broader. His eyes weren’t hazel anymore but … gold.
The door clicked open.
“It’s clear. You need to go!” Grace whispered insistently.
“Go … go fucking where?” he asked. Her face paled as she looked up at him.
“You both need to leave, now! You’ve got maybe five minutes before they realize.”
I got to my feet, snatching up my boots from the corner and shoving my feet into them.
“Leave … together?” His voice sounded horrified.
I shared the sentiment. But if it meant getting out of this place. I’d do it.
“Yes! But you have to run, now!”
“Where? I have no idea how to get out of here!” he hissed, although he’d already started for the door.
“Yes you do. Let it take over,” Grace murmured, holding the door wide. Even then, he had to stoop to get through. “Please, get her out of here. And … we kept this safe for you,” she added, pressing something white into his hands. A rectangle of paper. He glanced down, then back up at her, shock widening his eyes.
“How …”
“There’s no time. Just go!”
“What about you?” I asked the girl. “Won’t you get into trouble for letting us escape?”
Grace shook her head. “We have a plan. All you need to worry about is getting out before the lights come back on. GO!”
His gaze darted to me, golden … narrowed, and furious … and something else that scared me right down to my bones.
Something … possessive. Something purely animal.
“I know the way,” he said. But it wasn’t his voice. It rumbled deep from within him, so inhuman that for a second, I stilled.
Go—now! He knows the outside world. He can help you.
I set my jaw and pushed past him into the hallway, lit by dim red light. The alarms still wailed … hybrids still called out behind their locked doors.
Twelve. I could hear her broken sobs.
Where had they taken Nineteen?
You can’t help them yet, the whisper told me. Get out, with him. And then come back with a plan to decimate this place. He’ll help you.
“Come on then!” I snapped back at him as he stood there still, clenching that piece of paper in his hand, looking between it, and Grace and me. “You’ve only got one job—get us out of here!”
With a growl that I felt in every cell of my body, he shoved the paper into his pocket and strode off down the hallway, not looking back to see if I followed.
I chanced one last glance back at Grace, my eyes widening as claws erupted from her fingers, and she turned them on herself, slashing deep into her chest and stomach.
Blood bloomed on her clothes, and she dropped to her knees.
“Go!” she pleaded.
A rough hand grabbed my arm, hauling me down the corridor.