14. 14
Elias yanked me to my feet by my clothing.
“Freezer. Now.” He leapt over the table and did the same thing to Misha, but Misha didn’t react as passively as I did, and he tried to shrug Elias off.
“Grab the axe and move.” Elias shoved Misha from behind to spur him into action.
I spun on my heels and ran toward the freezer, praying that Novikov couldn’t hear my shoes slapping the linoleum.
I wasn’t sure what turning the inner ear into steel would do.
Elias ran to the opposite side of the room before he joined us, opening the door, hoping to convince Novikov that we had left.
The tough soles of my boots had me stopping so suddenly when I rounded the corner to the kitchen I almost toppled over. I regained my balance, ducking as I heard Novikov’s heavy footsteps from the hallway. It was clear that he was moving slowly based on the sound, but he was close. Very close.
I opened the freezer door but Elias wasn’t there, he hadn’t made it yet.
Hesitating, I turned around, and moved as quickly as I could while hunched over.
Misha moved past me, following instructions, but I pressed on.
I made it to the doorway of the kitchen when Elias barreled into me, knocking me to the ground.
“What were you thinking?” he asked, his voice a whisper.
He knocked the air out of me as I fell back, and he could tell I wasn’t going to get up fast enough.
Grabbing the collar of my shirt and jacket, he dragged me across the floor and into the freezer.
Elias didn’t let the freezer door shut. He set a can against it, and it hung open, just a crack. Enough to listen.
We had just reached the far corner of the freezer when I heard Novikov’s footsteps stop.
“I don’t blame you for this, Dr. Hayes,” he said. “I know it was your bodyguard.”
I covered my mouth, afraid I might scream.
The light seeping through the crack in the door wasn’t enough to illuminate the small space, and the darkness smothered me, stealing the air from my lungs.
Growing up, I’d never felt afraid of the dark.
I found it peaceful. This was a new fear, one I’d discovered the first night I slept alone after the incident at Baker and Pryor.
I slept with the bedroom locked and the bathroom light on until Elias was home.
An arm wrapped around my midriff and pulled me backward until I was in his lap. I flinched, even though I knew who it was.
“I’ve got you.” Elias’s lips were at my ear, his voice almost inaudible. “Calm your breathing.”
Focusing on my breath was all that I could do, stuck in this room. Elias kept his chin on my shoulder, and I felt the gun in his hand resting on my thigh. His scent was familiar and I held onto that, breathing him in.
In and out.
“It was rather awful of you to shoot my wife, Mr. Elias. She could have been studied.”
If we weren’t convinced of Novikov’s misdeeds, this practically proved it. At last, he was letting us peek behind the curtain to see who he really was. He walked closer to us, kicking in the kitchen door. It swung around and hit the wall.
“Cassia?” He called.
Every muscle in my body tensed as Elias pulled me tighter against him.
We’d be cornered if he found us here. From what I saw through the window, the virus had progressed far enough that he might be impervious to bullets, and that was all we had aside from Misha’s axe.
I couldn’t imagine Misha saving the day while Elias stayed back, staving off my panic attack.
Elias would rush in, and get himself hurt in the process, just like he’d done seven months prior. Only in this scenario, there was no fix for him. He would die, then I’d let Novikov take me out, too.
Tears spilled from my eyes, and they pooled where my hand met my mouth. My nose began to run from the cold, but I didn’t dare sniffle. One mistake and it would all be over. Giving up was always an option that floated around in my mind. It would be easier.
I wouldn’t. . . or couldn’t. I wasn’t sure.
But I considered it.
Novikov’s footsteps retreated. It wasn’t until the mess hall door slammed shut that I removed my hand from my mouth. I wiped my nose on my sleeve and allowed myself to breathe freely. I leaned forward, Elias’s grip on me loosening. I panted, grasping at my chest.
It wasn’t fair to Elias to be so weak, leaving him to be strong for the both of us. Three of us, if I considered Misha, but I wasn’t sure how he was faring.
“I’m sorry,” I gasped.
“You’re okay.” Elias rubbed my arm, trying to keep me in the present. It wouldn’t be hard to hide here in the freezer. I could hide until help came. If I kept the door cracked, warm air could sneak in and help me maintain a reasonable body temperature.
“I can’t be as calm as you are.”
“I’m not,” he said. “At all. Misha, how are you doing?”
“Better than her. Worse than you.”
Elias chuckled softly. “I’ll take it. Cassie, I’m going to reach into your pocket so I can reload, okay?”
I nodded, still sniveling.
Elias did exactly as he said he would do, and I listened to the sound of metal on metal as he added ammunition. He had taken a third bullet, and he chambered a round so he had an extra shot.
“We need to move so we don’t freeze,” he pointed out. “I’ll help you up.”
“No.”
He stood anyway, pulling me to my feet like I was a ragdoll. I stumbled around as he forced me out of the freezer and into the light. Getting out of the darkness helped. Marginally.
My hands met my knees, and I sucked in the warm air of the kitchen.
Elias kept his voice low, undetectable through the closed doors separating us and the hallway where Novikov lurked. “Misha, I need you to listen to me.”
“I am listening.”
“If we get cornered, and you need to swing that axe, you need to be careful where you’re swinging it. Dr. Novikov’s skin is transforming into metal. You need to hit him where he still has soft tissue, okay? Otherwise you’re just going to hurt yourself.”
Misha was laser-focused on Elias, taking in every word. “I understand.”
“Do you trust that I can keep you alive?”
“Definitely.”
Misha spoke with more conviction than I’d ever heard. Elias was impressive, no doubt, but he hadn’t seen a fraction of what he was capable of. Hiding from a mad scientist and preventing my meltdown didn’t begin to cover it, but it was enough to get Misha on board.
“Then please listen to whatever I tell you to do. I’ll stop ordering you around as soon as we get some back up.
” Elias patted Misha on the shoulder a few times.
With the height difference between them it was almost patronizing.
“But we need to move on. I want to get into the computers in the locked wing.”
I shot up. “You can’t be serious.” I could understand his innate need to see his mission through, but with Novikov searching for us our objective should be to stay alive, not to play spy.
Elias was only a few feet away, but when he turned to speak to me, he got so close that we were almost touching. “I’m very serious.”
“Don’t you think we’re safer in the dark?” I asked. If we kept the flashlight off, and kept to interior hallways, it would be difficult to see us. I would prefer to hunker down, but if he was incessant on moving, then turning on the power would only be a hindrance.
I could feel his breath on my face as he whispered.
“I can keep the lights turned off. I just want access to the computers. There’s information there that I know is going to make your job easier.
” He had a point; as soon as we got back I’d be stuck in the lab until I cracked the code on NT02. But we needed to survive, first.
“Elias, I don’t think we should be wandering around while he’s out there.”
Elias rolled his eyes. “If you think he’s not going to come back here and look more closely, like check inside the freezer, you’re delusional.”
I crossed my arms. “Don’t call me delusional.”
“I didn’t call you delusional,” he said, doing his best to be uncivil. “I said you would be delusional if you thought we were safe here.”
Misha cut in. “You bicker like my parents.”
Elias and I looked at Misha and spoke at the same time.
“Be quiet–”
“Shut up–”
Elias and I smiled at each other. I wanted to be angry, to fight instead of feeling powerless. Arguing with Elias felt safer than leaving this room and taking on horrors I couldn’t win against.
“I’m sorry that we are in this position again, but we have to keep moving.” He got impossibly closer, speaking quietly enough that Misha could not hear him. “Do you need to be distracted? Do you want me to whisper naughty promises in your ear? Whatever you need to get your feet moving.”
I swallowed. “No, you don’t need to do that.”
“We could pretend we need to talk in the freezer and fuck instead, would that help?”
“Oh yeah, that’s a good idea,” I whispered, thick with sarcasm.
He kissed my cheek. “Come on, I’ll bend you over the mixed vegetables.”
“You win, let’s go.” He could always turn my mood around by saying the most preposterous shit at the most inappropriate time. I smiled to myself as I imagined him trying the same tactic with Misha.
“Good girl.” He backed away. “Follow me, and keep your steps light. Don’t speak until I do.”
Misha and I followed Elias, forced into a single file line to fit through the doorway.
His gun was held at his side, and I had an inkling to reach for mine.
I fumbled with the holster for a moment, but my hands weren’t steady enough to bother.
Deciding that I would grab it only if I needed it, I left it at my hip.
The interior hallways were almost pitch black, but nearly every door had a small window in it, and light pouring into their respective rooms trickled through into the hallway. Elias didn’t bother with his flashlight.
It was all too reminiscent of Baker and Pryor. Fucked up doctors and running around trying not to die. Elias teasing me, his persistence in talking about his manhood when I was heartbeats away from losing my mind.