Page 54 of Absentia Mori

Mordecai sucks in a deep breath as he flips his knife and throws it just as another orderly crosses through our doorway. The blade hits right between his eyes, killing the man instantly. Mordecai stalks over and yanks his knife out of the guy’s head with one quick swoop. “All right. Let’s hunt them all down.”

The three of us have been here for almost a year. In that time, we’ve been able to map this place like the back of our hands. We know all the guard’s schedules. Every single thing inside these walls has been noted by us.

“The only one who gets to leave here alive is Cook. He hasn’t done shit to any of us. You cool with that, Lib?” I ask, realizing her experience with him might be vastly different than ours.

She nods. “I have no issues with him. But Dr. Hall is mine.”

Mordecai cups her face. He looks longingly into her eyes. “I’ll give you anything you fucking want.Anything.”

She presses her bloody lips to his and kisses him hard. I watch as their tongues swirl, starving for each other. Fuck, I can’t wait to get her between all three of us. My cock twitches at the thought of all four of us playing with each other.

Fabien smirks at me. “We’ll have our fun soon enough.”

I nod and will my erection back down. First things first. “This way.” I motion for them to follow me down the east corridor. “There are a bunch of them posted up ahead.” This wing is the most heavily guarded. It’s where they keep the supplies.

We’re met with a force of five orderlies carrying batons and syringes. Fuck. “Don’t let them stick you with those,” I warn.

“We need poison,” Libra whispers.

Mordecai nods at Fabien. They exchange a knowing look before Fabien slithers off on a mission. “Good boy. Go fetch,” Mordecai hums under his breath.

The stand-off is tense as we keep distance between us and them. They yell obscenities at us while we stay silent, calculating our next move. Libra readies the knife in her hand. She’s fierce and fearless, ready to murder all of them. My stomach flips as I watch her with pride and awe.

A massive orderly darts forward, making a direct line for Libra. Mordecai and I shove her back, meeting him halfway. I punch him in the chest but it barely affects him. This motherfucker is huge. He growls and lunges for her again.

Mordecai flashes his grill like a psycho and roars in his face. He ducks down to his feet and spins around the oaf, slicing the tendons in both his ankles. It staggers him, but this fucker still doesn’t go down.

A second, much smaller, orderly bum rushes us, but I knock him out with one clean hit to his jaw. Libra drives her knife into his throat as soon as he hits the floor.

“Thatta girl,” I praise.

The other three close in while Mordecai dances around the big guy. We’re strong as fuck, but they are wearing us down, primed with sedative-filled syringes, waiting for us to let our guards down. If even one of us gets drugged, it’s going to be nearly impossible to get away. And I ain’t leaving anyone behind.

Another one lunges at Libra, thinking she’s the easy target. She laughs and kicks him in the chest. “Ten years of Pilates, bitch.”

He stumbles back, his eyes wide. “You stupid cunt.”

Oh, you wanna go again?

Libra doesn’t wait for him to recover before she charges him, knocking the syringe out of his hand. I dive for it and toss it to her. Just as the grimy little weasel rears back his fist to punch her, she leaps at him and thrusts the syringe into his neck. He blinks a few times before his limbs fail him, and he goes crashing to the floor.

She yanks his head up and drags her knife across his throat, slitting it open. “My cunt isperfect,” she snarls.

Fucking hell. This woman is fire. I want to fuck her from behind while she’s on all fours in a pool of their warm sticky blood.

Two down, three to go. For now.

I hear footsteps galloping toward us. Relief washes over me when I see Fabien sprinting down the hall, holding as many vials of poison as his hands can carry.

Thank fuck.

Not many people are immune to poison the way we are. Libra grew up with it. It’s her family’s legacy. And for us, working in the fields, we didn’t have a choice but to build up immunity. In here, these idiots dabbled in it. Just a few drops would make them feel a high, unlike any they’ve ever known.

For people like us, it makes us stronger, faster, and our senses heightened. It’s more than a drug. It’s our life blood.

“Bottoms up.” Fabien grins as he puts a vial into each of our hands.

The orderlies watch in horror as we down the whole thing in one gulp—an act that would surely kill one of them in seconds.

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