Page 67 of Captured Immune

“What are you doing?” she shouts over the siren.

I tug her with me back toward the bedroom. Then I point a finger at the one shot of perrizo sticking out of the wall. It flies toward me and stops a breath away from my nose. The tiny cylinder is still full of green liquid.Perfect!I pluck it from the air and shove it into my pocket. I’m gonna need every dose I can get.

Hand in hand, we run again. I pull one of the perrizo guns out of my jeans and throw it into the air. It hovers in front of us while I pull out the other gun and hold it up. We’re about to turn the corner when I get an idea. Arella’s body slams into mine as I stop.

“Ow!” She rubs her forehead.

“Sorry.” Never letting go of her hand, I kneel and slide a gun down the hall. The weapon skates across the floor past a few closed bedroom doors before coming to a halt. I snatch the weapon hovering in the air and slide it down the hallway too. Then I pin my back against the wall and close my eyes.

The crowd of people darting toward us is turning the corner.

Now they’re halfway down the hall. Suddenly, the lead person stops.

“Where’d these guns come from?” a woman asks.

I peek one eye around the corner and lift my hand. The guns swoop into the air. As I pull an imaginary trigger with my finger, the guns goSsspt! Ssspt! Ssspt!

One by one, the agents’ lightning balls fizzle out and the flames in their hands turn into smoke. The agents grip their necks and shout profanities.

“It’s a perrizo gun!”

“Who’s controlling it?”

A man punches the air behind the gun. “Not a Vanisher.”

A woman toward the back points at me. “There! It’s him! The spy!”

Fuck.I keep pulling the imaginary trigger. The lead woman goes down first. Then the guy behind her. Then the guy behind him. One after another, they fall with thuds, until everyone’s lying on the floor.

I feel bad. It’s likely that half these people are the good guys. I don’t have time to dwell on it, though, because more people ready to kill me are on their way.

I tug on Arella’s arm. “Come on!”

We rush over the sea of limp bodies, trying our hardest not to step on anyone. There’s between twelve to fifteen of them, which means I don’t have many perrizo shots left.

“Are they dead?” Arella asks.

“No, just sedated.” It amazes me how she can be so concerned about these people after what’s happened to her.

I wave a hand at the floating guns. They fly ahead of us as I scan the walls for any shots that missed.One, two, three.I point at each spot of green sticking out of the wall. They flutter down the hall, after the guns. I pluck the dose out of my pocket and toss it into the air. With azip!it goes flying too.

Arella and I freeze mid-step when a man dashes around the corner. He aims a rock ball at us and releases. I aim one of my floating doses of perrizo at him.

Ssspt!

Halfway to me, the rock ball explodes, and the debris falls to the floor. The man plucks the tiny green cylinder off his arm.

Ssspt!He collapses to his knees.

One of the bedroom doors opens. A young woman in pajamas comes stumbling out. The red lights flash across her sleepy features. “What’s with all the noise?”

You shoulda stayed in bed, lady.I point at two floating doses, then point at her.Ssspt! Ssspt!She collapses too.

From around the corner, a fireball rockets toward my face. The floating guns clank against the floor as I grab Arella and drag her down with me, covering her with my body. The fireball whizzes over my head. Heat singes the top of my hair, and I pat my head to put out the sparks.

Another burst of red-hot flames shoot at us. I open my palm. A fireball appears in it, and I toss it at the one threatening to burn us. The flames collide in the air with a blistering explosion. Arella screams as I cover her with my body again. The sparks land all over my jacket, and some on the back of my neck.

“Ow.” I rub the speckles of pain away, then hoist Arella onto her feet. “You okay?”

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