Page 16 of Hell's Fear

Hunter gathered Chey, Mina, and me up and stood in front of us as Ben yelled from the far end of the room. I gasped as I saw a mannequin ambushing him, too.

Mouse was also battling one on the opposite side of the room. All three assailants were armed, and Mouse dropped his attacker. The fighting was knocking mannequins down and sending them flying, adding to the chaos.

A gun appeared from under a sheet, and I screamed. Mouse kicked it away and then punched his adversary in the face. The guy stumbled over a fallen mannequin, tripping and falling.

Mouse wasted no time and stamped down hard.

I turned my head as Mouse crushed the intruder’s throat.

Rasping breaths filled the air, and Mouse stomped again. He bent and grabbed the gun and aimed at Ben’s attacker, who’d now also pulled a weapon after stabbing Ben with his knife.

“Ben!” I cried, and Mouse shot without hesitation.

Ben’s aggressor dropped like a stone, and a dark stain soaked into the sheet.

Meanwhile, Kele was fighting his fear and his assailant.

Mouse spun to fire, but a fourth Mannequin moved and pinned Mouse’s arms. Mouse shoved upwards and kicked backwards in an attempt to dislodge his captor.

Kele ripped an arm from a mannequin and smashed it into his opponent’s head.

I glimpsed a flash of silver and, without thinking, raced forward, swept the knife up, and stabbed it into the person attacking Kele. He spun on me and punched me in the face, but I’d firmly wedged the blade in.

Kele yanked it free, stepped up, and slit the asshole’s throat as I landed on my ass.

Mouse went limp in his attacker’s arms as Ben grabbed a dropped weapon and shot twice. Mouse’s attacker fell backwards, and he nodded thanks at Ben.

Silence fell, and we all stared at each other in shock. Chatter still hadn’t moved.

“What the fuck was that?” Ben finally rasped as he slid to sit on the floor. I rushed over to him and yanked his jacket away to see where he’d been stabbed in the shoulder.

I wore a tee under my sweater, and I quickly tore it off and pulled my tee off. As I shoved my sweater back on, I moved to grab a knife to shred my tee, and Ben stopped me.

“Fingerprints, Phoe,” he said.

“Okay,” I whispered as I began tearing my tee up.

“They’re Venomous Fangs!” Celt announced as he ripped a sheet off.

“What the fuck?” Ben exclaimed. “Nobody touch anything.” He got to his feet and moved forward to study the uncovered body.

“Uncover the remaining three bodies, but don’t touch them,” Ben instructed Celt, who complied.

“They’re all Fangs,” I gasped.

“They’ve infiltrated the Escape Rooms. It’s the only explanation,” Hunter said. He was keeping Mina and Chey firmly behind him to protect them from the horror in front of us.

Bile rose in my throat, and I began shaking.

“That means the other teams might be in trouble,” I cried.

“Keep it together, Phoe,” Kele ordered, approaching. His arm had been wrapped by Mouse, and I stared at the torn tee acting as a bandage.

“This is my fault. I should have known better,” I whispered. “I’m so damn selfish.”

“Hey, Phoe. This isn’t on you. Wanting life to continue as we’ve become accustomed isn’t a bad thing. You didn’t start this war. Fury did. You gotta remember that,” Mouse stated.

“But we know Fury’s on the move, and I insisted on celebrating. This is on me,” I berated myself. And it was. It didn’t matter what they said; they were here because of me.

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