Page 85 of Calico Descending

“Do you know what’s going on down there?”

He gives a frantic shake of his head, and I remove the fabric that’s stuffed inside his mouth, pointing toward what looks like an anthill on fire.

“An attack, maybe? W-w-we’ve had … word of attack. From the r-r-rebels.”

Taking the binoculars once more, I scan over the soldiers who appear to be gathering supplies, carrying guns and ammunition, as if what he’s said is true.

Relief pulses through me on a burst of laughter. “They’re nervous. Look at them. Scampering around. They’re afraid of something.” And if they are, they’ll undoubtedly use whatever means of protection they can. Including Valdys. “We have to get him out of there.”

“They’ll capture you and throw you in the cells, the moment you get close.” There’s a somber tone to Titus’s voice, as he stares off toward the unrest going on below. “It’s better to wait.”

“The longer we wait, the faster they throw him in those tunnels to die!” The urgency beating through my muscles fails to hide the tears I fought to hold back the entire trek here. “I won’t let him die down there alone. I won’t leave him.” A sob tugs at my throat, itching to break free, but I swallow it back. “I will die a thousand times.”

Titus lowers his gaze, remorse etched into his frown. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to--”

A siren that reminds me of the silver boxes opening, but louder, snaps my attention back toward the entrance of the hospital. From this distance, I can hear the robotic voice of the woman, blaring through the grounds below us, but I can’t make out what she’s saying.

“What’s happening?” I turn toward the soldier, who looks on without the binoculars, his face growing pale. “What’s going on?”

“My brother … my brother is in there.”

The look in his eyes, wide with horror, and the rapid rise and fall of this chest shoots a stab of dread through the pit of my stomach.

“What. Is. Happening?” My voice cracks, as my attention flits from his face to the commotion.

“Security breach. I have to … I have to go. I have to go help him.” He lurches forward, but Cadmus pushes him back.

“What does that mean? What’s happening?”

“The doors will be sealed shut. Nothing will get in, or out, when they do.”

“We can get in through another entrance. On the dock.”

His attention breaks, and when he stares back at me, his eyes are brimming with tears. “All doors will be sealed. It’s a security measure to keep the mutations from getting out.”

I swing my gaze back toward the hospital, and the moment I wordlessly scramble forward, I’m yanked back. “Let me go!” I kick out at Titus, who reaches for my other ankle. My foot makes contact, but to no avail.

The Alpha wrangles my leg and pulls me backward. “Calithea! Look!” he growls, handing me the binoculars, while holding me against the sand.

Hands trembling, I direct the binoculars toward the entrance, where mutations and Alphas pour out of the silver doors. The dark sky lights up with flashes of gunfire and whatever larger ammunition they’ve resorted to, as soldiers scramble to keep the creatures contained. The door begins to slide together, and panic rises to my throat, pounding inside my ears.

The soldier beside me screams, but it’s all muted for the view in front of me. The flames reflecting off the silver door. The chaos. The unsettling feeling that I may never look into those stormy gray eyes again. That I may never run my fingers over his warm, scarred skin. Or hear his heart beating in time to mine.

Sobs rip through my chest, as I watch two figures emerge, a man carrying a woman draped in his arms, but it’s not Valdys. The moment they step through the doors, it closes.

A foreign sound tears through my body, the kind of agonizing pitch I’ve never heard before, and Titus gathers me into his arms, holding me against him as I expel this wretched misery.

“Valdys!” I claw and punch at the Alpha, fighting to break free of him. “Let me go to him! Let me go!”

The moment he releases me, I run toward the chaos, the arid desert heat burning in my chest.

An explosion sends me crashing into the dirt, rattling the ground beneath me. Gusts of flames climb the darkness toward the sky, over the screams of the men below. Weak with defeat and anguish, I push to my knees and watch through tears, as my world burns down around me.

Off in the distance, the couple from below run through a minefield of explosions, with Ragers and Alphas on their heels.

Toward an awaiting truck.

The tarp flies back as they climb onto the bed of it, and I catch sight of familiar faces. Two of the girls from my barracks. And Kenny, Roz’s Kenny, escaping with them.

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