Page 13 of Alpha Ruined

Holding her breath, she tries it.

To her surprise, the door pulls open slowly with acreak.

Mouth hanging open, she steps inside Green Woods Facility.

Before she shuts the door behind her, she reaches for the light switch, which turns on.

The building still has power.

It’s much nicer inside than she expected. Despite the dreary outside, the interior resembles more of a sophisticated corporate office instead of a prison.

They really should turn this into a library, she thinks to herself.

She knows she should leave. Someone obviously forgot to lock the doors—she’s trespassing, and the anxiety of getting caught mixes with her need to explore.

She glances at the time on her phone.

She’ll just give herself five minutes to look around, and that’s all.

She hurries past the lobby and through another set of double doors, leading to a vast hallway.

The fluorescent lights flicker above her ominously.

She has the option of turning to the left and following the overhead signs that lead to the Beta ward or continuing straight down the hallway and toward the Alpha ward.

Bree retraces Ellie Winters' steps as she descends to a lower part of the building while the lights struggle to stay on.

But she finally makes it with a good two minutes to spare.

She stands outside a holding cell, taking in the worn cot and concrete floor.

A shiver rolls down her spine as the air turns colder.

Something happened here, something beyond what the news reported.

Bree just knows it in her gut.

How often was Ellie alone with Erik? Were they ever alone down here together?

Did he care about her? Was he in lo?—

Footsteps interrupt her train of thought. They’re slow and languid, as if the person walking toward her has all the time in the world.

There’s no plausible reason for her to be down here. Any excuse she could have dies on her tongue as she stands outside the cell, looking toward the hallway in horror.

There’s no talking her way out of this. She is far too deep in the facility to have any logical explanation to why she’s standing outside an abandoned cell.

She’s about to be arrested for trespassing.

Carl’s going to be so mad that he has to bail her out of jail.

Shit.

But when the owner of those footsteps comes into view, her eyes widen in surprise.

“I didn’t know this place was still in operation,” he says, his voice low and amused.

Her blood runs cold.

---