54. Like Dropping A Watermelon
FIFTY-FOUR
LIKE DROPPING A WATERMELON
Jack
N eed to get out. I need to get out!
Let me out! the monster raged. Let me kill them!
But I couldn’t. I was too weak. My blood still flowed into the bag … and into Baxter. And I was chained to this fucking chair.
My head swam. My vision was blurry.
But I needed to get out.
Seven was in there. Seven was stuck in there, naked, covered in the blood of the three men she’d just killed. Seven was in there, pleading with her friend. The only friend she’d ever had in this fucking shithole.
The friend who was stalking her like Seven’s death was a foregone fucking conclusion.
We need to get out! the monster roared.
I fucking know!
The building rumbled and shook. Again.
What the fuck is going on?
I tried to focus on Seven. She’d slipped in the blood of one of the giant fuckers she’d taken out. Her friend—Two—was almost on top of her. Advancing slowly, like she was enjoying playing with Seven before she struck.
Fucking let me out!
I tried. I tried so hard to shift. I pictured something small, something that could slip out of these stupid restraints. A mouse. Just a little fucking mouse. That wasn’t too much to ask!
Nothing.
I was too weak … I was also pretty sure that they’d given me a drug that would stop me shifting.
Fuck!
Another shudder. The glass separating us from the two Shifters trembled violently. Something banged behind me, but I couldn’t turn to see what was going on.
“Baxter, we need to evacuate!” a voice said urgently behind us. Fucking Mercer.
“She’s almost done,” Baxter retorted, gesturing through the glass. To where Two had her hands around Seven’s throat. Squeezing.
“No!” I roared, a surge of adrenaline pulsing through me. I struggled against the fucking restraints. All I managed to do was rip the fucking cannula out of my arm. Blood sprayed, but my vein closed faster than it ever had before.
“Baxter!” Mercer snapped. “Taiga has fallen to a handful of these freaks while you’ve been in here playing mind games with these two! It’s being torn apart from the inside. Most of the agents are either dead or have made a run for it. We need to go!”
“I’m not finished with him!” Baxter growled, throwing a hand in my direction and blocking my view of Seven.
“Seven!” I screamed. “Seven!”
She couldn’t hear me. Only when the intercom was on would she hear me.
She’s fucking dying out there! the monster thundered.
“We can take him with us, I can complete the transfusion over weeks, the way we’re supposed to,” Mercer said.“If you stay, you’ll die. You’re already dangerously oversupplied with blood. We need to siphon.”
The floor shook again, bits of the ceiling falling.
“I’ll drug him, and we can move him. Leave those two to sort themselves out. They’re a waste of space anyway. We can recreate Two … we could use Jack to recreate her!”
“Fuck off!” I spat.
“Don’t drug him!” Baxter seethed. Fuck, his face looked like it was an overripe tomato about to explode. “I don’t want his blood filled with that shit when we continue.”
A huge chunk of roof fell in the cavernous space beyond the glass, smashing violently on the ground. Right where Seven and Two had been grappling.
Fuck!
“Seven!” I roared. “Don’t you dare fucking die on me, Seven!”
“You want me to release him in this state?” Mercer asked, incredulous.
Yes! the monster crowed. Yes, let us free!
“He’s too weak from blood loss anyway. He’s only nineteen. He’s not close enough to the transition to be able to replenish his blood fast enough to be a real threat. But … take him into the back. I’m staying to make sure she’s dead.”
“Fuck you!” I bellowed. My face was hot and wet, and a sob ripped from me. “I hope she lives and kills that abomination you made … and she makes you pay a thousand fucking times over!”
“Take him away!” Baxter snarled, turning back to the glass. Mercer started wheeling the chair I was strapped to out the door behind us just as the huge slab of concrete that had fallen started to move.
“Seven!” I screamed. But the door closed before I got a chance to see if either of them had made it out of the rubble.
“He’s insane,” Mercer muttered as she unbolted my neck first. “We need to move fast, Jack. If you want to live through this, you cooperate with me. If you try anything stupid, you know I’ll have a syringe in your neck faster than you can blink. You remember how fast I can be, don’t you?” she had the fucking gall to throw a wobbly smirk at me.
I believed her.
I just didn’t fucking care.
But I nodded, letting her think I was playing her game. She backed away, not fully trusting me.
“I’m going to remotely unlock the other ones. Behave yourself!” she commanded, and with a tap on some handheld thing, my wrist and ankle cuffs sprang open.
Fucking perfect! the monster sighed. Now we kill her.
Energy I didn’t know I had erupted in the center of me. Fury burned in my veins.
I blinked. Red filled my vision.
I lunged for the stupid fucking bitch.
She brought up her syringe, but I backhanded her wrist, knocking her drugs aside, her bones cracking. She screamed, but it was cut off when my fingers wrapped around her throat.
“I think you discounted how fucking fast I can be, bitch!” I hissed, pulling her close, lifting her off her toes so I was eye to eye with her. Her face was purple, her terrified eyes bulging as I cut off her air.
“A quick death is too fucking good for you, you fucking piece of shit!”
A garbled groan was all she could manage in reply.
I slammed her head back into the wall. Her skull exploded against the concrete.
Like dropping a watermelon , the monster cackled. Splat!
Her eyes went lifeless, her body limp.
I dropped her to the ground.
“Fortunately for you, your insane boss has something that’s Mine, so I don’t have time to play with you.”
I turned for the door just as an almighty explosion rocked the world, and the ceiling collapsed on me.