Chapter 27
Alejandro
Alex jolted forward with a groan as Luci slammed her foot on the brake. His body slammed against the seatbelt before he caught himself. His ribs screamed, but the pain was nothing compared to the sight in front of him.
The grey minivan skidded to a stop just ahead of them, then reversed with far more grace than Luci’s desperate halt.
For a moment, Alex was certain his mind had finally broken. It had to be a cruel hallucination stitched together by exhaustion. Myra was sitting behind the wheel like she hadn’t died back at the school. Like she hadn’t been swallowed whole by all the infected and gunfire.
It felt impossible and yet there she was, alive and with Cipher of all people.
“What the hell…” Alex whispered under his breath as his head spun.
“What are you guys waiting for?” Myra leaned across Cipher’s lap, her words cutting through his disbelief. “Get in!”
Luci’s wide eyes darted to him, waiting for reassurance that it was okay. Alex swallowed hard and forced himself to nod. “It’s fine,” he said quietly. “It’s Myra, we can trust her.”
Luci’s shoulders loosened slightly before she pushed the door open, letting the cool night air flow inside. “Cipher, help me get him into the van.”
He slipped out of the passenger seat and hurried to the passenger side door. Alex grit his teeth as Cipher moved to help him up, bracing himself for the sting of bruised ribs. Luci hurried ahead to the van parked just beside them and yanked the side door open while Cipher helped Alex walk.
The sight that greeted them made both of them freeze.
A boy sat there, staring back at them with wide eyes.
Jace.
For a second, Alex forgot how to breathe.
“Hurry!” Myra ordered, pulling them back into the moment. “Cipher still needs to disable your trackers.”
Alex didn’t waste a second, he turned to Luci, caught her stunned expression and urged her forward. She nodded and scrambled inside. Alex followed, gripping the door frame hard as
Cipher shifted past him to reclaim the passenger seat.
It all happened in a blur. Luna climbed in after them, and then Alex reached to close the door. The instant they were all inside, Myra floored it away from AZ-7 and into the unknown.
From behind the wheel, she glanced at them in the rearview mirror. “Wild night, eh?”
Luci leaned forward in her seat, her eyes locked on the woman who shouldn’t have been alive. “Myra, I thought you were dead.”
“I’m not that easy to kill,” Myra responded with that slight sense of confidence she always carried.
Luci didn’t press any further before her gaze shifted to the boy next to them. “Jace, are you okay?” she asked, turning back to Myra before he could respond. “Did you take him from the hospital? He can’t be out here. He’s sick Myra, this isn’t some game.”
Alex stayed quiet, taking in every word because he needed answers too.
“You think I don’t know that?” Myra snapped back.
Cipher leaned toward her. “Myra, breathe.”
Her grip on the wheel loosened just enough for her to exhale through her nose. “Jace was taken off the transplant list,” she said at last.
Luci’s head snapped toward her. “What?”
“What the hell do you mean?” Alex echoed before he could stop himself.
“I know,” Myra said, her jaw tightening as if the words soured her mouth.
“It didn’t make any sense to me either.” She kept her eyes on the road, but the muscle along her jaw went taut.
“So I confronted Doc myself. He said there was nothing he could do, and then he told me to take Jace, find you guys, and get everyone across the border. There’s a safe place waiting in Sonora. ”
The car fell silent.
“I’m here for backup,” Cipher chimed in, breaking the silence.
“And me too!” Jace said with a boyish grin. “And I feel fine — I promise, Dr. Luci.”
The boy’s words softened the tension in the air, and Alex noticed the way Luci blinked like she was caught off guard. “Good. That’s good Jace,” she said.
She turned back to Cipher. “Do you have any medical supplies?”
He nodded quickly. “Yeah, there’s some in my bag. Just gauze, antibiotics, and a couple of pain killers. Nothing fancy, but it’s something.”
“I’ve been giving Jace his meds,” Myra cut in. “He’s fine.”
Luci shook her head. “They’re for Alex. You did a good job Myra, I’m not saying otherwise, I promise.”
Cipher passed the kit to Luci, who started cleaning the worst of the cuts at Alex’s side.
The sting of alcohol made him groan through his teeth, but he forced himself to stay still so Luci could work.
“Sonora,” he said, trying to distract himself. “What’s there exactly?”
Cipher adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose. “It’s an old facility that Prometheus abandoned years ago.” He paused. “But it’s safe from what I can tell. They have encrypted comms and everything.”
Alex’s gaze shifted to Myra in the mirror. “And the people? Who runs it?”
“Defectors and survivors who slipped through Prometheus’s cracks. It’s messy but it’s safe. Or at least safer than anywhere else we could go.”
Alex let the words settle as Luci taped down fresh gauze over his ribs.
Safe.
That word felt foreign. Dangerous and too fragile to trust.
“It better be worth the risk,” he said finally. “Because after what Prometheus just tried to do to Luci, I’m not letting her step into another cage.”
Neither Myra nor Cipher argued.
“If Doc told Myra to take us there, then it will be,” Luci reassured. “He’s probably the only person I could trust outside of everyone here.” She peeled off the gloves she’d slipped on to patch Alex up and slipped beneath his arm, curling against him so he could hold her.
Alex let out a slow breath and gave a faint nod.
He was too tired and battered to untangle the chaos spinning in his mind.
Instead, he lowered his lips to press a soft kiss against the crown of her head and allowed himself just one moment where it didn’t matter that the last twenty four hours had nearly taken her from him.
“Eww,” said Jace beside them, followed by a theatrical groan. “Why is everyone kissing everyone all of a sudden?”
The corners of Alex’s mouth pulled into a smile despite himself, and when his gaze moved to Cipher, he caught the look he and Myra shared. It hit Alex then that whatever had been going on between Cipher and Myra, was more serious than he’d first assumed.
The laugh that broke from him was soft but real. Luci’s quiet chuckle joined his.
“Since when are you two together?” Luci asked playfully.
Cipher twisted around immediately, eager to answer. “Officially? I’m not sure. Unofficially, maybe a year. It’s kinda — ”
“Stop it,” Myra interrupted before he could ramble on. “That’s none of their business.” Her glare lasted only a second before it softened, pulling another ripple of laughter out of all of them.
“Everyone just get some sleep. We’ve got a long drive ahead of us,” Myra ordered, and for once Alex didn’t feel the urge to argue.
For the first time in days, he let himself relax. He leaned back, tightened his grip around Luci, and held her close. The chaos, blood, and fear all blurred as he let himself believe they were safe. Then, he finally allowed his eyes to slip shut, and he surrendered to sleep.