Page 61 of Calico Descending

“Where’s Cadmus?” I ask, stepping inside his room.

“Never came back after they dragged him off,” Titus says over his shoulder.

A roar sounds the charge, and Alphas rush toward Titus and Valdys. All of them after Roz and me. Arms swipe out at us, and one Alpha attempts to dive through Valdys’s legs, but never reaches us, before his spine is stomped on and Valdys snaps his neck.

Smaller than the two Alphas, the others can’t seem to breach the wall of power and muscle holding them away, and I’m grateful. I can’t begin to think what they’d do, if Titus and Valdys weren’t here right now. Through bloody punches and a couple of broken necks, Valdys and Titus fight their way through, leaving a wake of bodies. By the time they’re halfway down the corridor, all the Alphas lay strewn about the hallway.

“Come on.” A beat of urgency in Valdys’s voice goads us forward, and we carefully step over fallen Alphas.

An arm reaches out and snaps up Roz by the leg, yanking her to the floor. Her scream echoes down the hallway, and I twist, reaching out for her hand, as the Alpha drags her back toward him, scrambling up her body like a starving Rager.

One swift kick to his face throws him backward, and his spine cracks against the wall. Titus reaches down, helping her to her feet.

Another Alpha clambers to his feet.

“Run!” Valdys commands, letting Roz and I pass him on the way toward the elevator. I slam my finger on the button as Valdys and Titus hold off the Alphas, fighting them back each time they charge toward us. When the door opens, we stumble inside, propping it open. Titus slams his boot into an Alpha’s chest.

“Go!” Valdys commands, as Titus leaves him to join us. One violent twist of another Alpha’s neck, and Valdys strides toward us, covered in blood.

The doors close before another Alpha can breach the barrier, and the elevator sets into motion.

“Where’s Cadmus? Did he return from the tunnels?”

“He was taken to isolation. Heard one of the guards say it.” Titus wipes a glob of blood from his arm, where an Alpha must’ve bitten him.

The door opens on the first floor, where we need to exit the building, past the guards to get to the trucks, but I shake my head and slam my finger against the button for the third floor. “Neela’s on that floor, too. I’m not leaving her behind.”

Valdys groans, throwing his helmet to the floor. “The more we take with us, the better our chances of being killed.”

“We can’t leave them. Cadmus can help. If something happens.”

A frown dances across Valdys’s face, and I’m certain he knows something has changed between Cadmus and me, but I ignore it for now. Even if I wanted to, I can’t explain it, not in words. And not in a way that won’t make Valdys jealous. It’s not sexual, by any means, but something shifted when they tried to drag him off. Something told me if they’d hurt me bad enough, he would’ve killed for me.

“You and Titus go after Cadmus. Roz and I will get Neela.”

“And the cameras?”

“They power off on the experimental wings to conserve energy,” Roz answers for me, looking small between Titus and Valdys. “Most of the subjects there are sedated, or placed in isolation.”

The elevator doors open again on the quiet wing of the third floor, and we step out onto the cold tiles. “We meet back here,” I say, and tug Valdys to my lips. “Don’t be late.”

His nostrils flare with frustration, before the two of them stride off in the direction of the isolation rooms.

As Roz and I head for the observation unit, I glance back, wondering if I’ll regret not running off with Valdys alone.

The guard’s flashlight sweeps across the corridor, and the moment the light fades, I push through the door of the observatory, with Roz at my heels. Keeping low and out of sight, I round the curtain that surrounds Neela’s bed, and go to work on her binds.

Beside me, Roz stares down at her, not moving. “What the hell happened to her? Is she pregnant?”

“No.” Neela’s stomach has shrunken considerably since a few days ago, but a small bump is still visible through the sheets. “This is what happens when we go through estrus.”

“’The hell is estrus?” she asks, loosening the strap of Neela’s ankle.

“It’s like being in heat. A mating thing.”

“Jeez. I thought menstrual cycles were bad enough.”

“You have no idea.”

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