Page 99 of Finding Her
Mykie and Dia exchanged looks, two warrior women debating running instead of fighting. They seemed to reach the same conclusion and sprinted past us as Graysen released me. His waves of flame erupted across the tile, creating a wall of arson to cut off the crowd of guards flooding in. Fire stretched over the machinery, and my heart clenched until I swiftly realized the pods werefireproof.Of course they were; their contents were treasured investments. The building would burn to the ground, leaving those pods unharmed and covered in ashes. Gun shots rang through the air, whizzing past our heads, cracking the glass of nearby pods, and blowing sparks from the associated switchboards. Another guard was running in our direction from the exit, yelling at the opposing side to cease fire immediately to avoid further damage.
“Let’s go, Fae.” Graysen’s voice attempted to soften on my behalf.
My eyes fell back to the pods, impervious to fire, but still holding so many women, “They’re my sisters,” I whispered. “I can’t leave them.”
“You also can’t save them.” He ran a clawed thumb over my cheek. “You deserve to live. They will be rescued, I promise.”
Three guards burst through the flames, singed but still charging.
“Don’t look,” Graysen murmured softly into my hair, pulling my face into his shoulder. His tone contained the rage I knew was searing through him on my behalf.
I kept my eyes trained on the sterile ground, watching blinding orange light spill across the tile as screams erupted like the wails of banshees.
Cold fingers slipped between mine, and when I dared to look up Mykie was tugging me away from Graysen to guide me towards the exit. I looked back to the pods, finding them blocked by thrashing flames. There was nothing I could do to help those women. I was grateful for my friend’s touch and support as I stumbled into a sprint. Graysen’s hands were occupied, melting the flesh of every feral-formed foe in our way.
We burst through heavy double doors into a square room that resembled a small-grade airport security checkpoint. It even had a large scanning machine, with standard instructions to hold your arms above your head. The lights turned red as we dashed through, alerting the dying guard that a threat was near. Mykie wiped her blade clean on her sleeve and pulled the next door open.
I was prepared for more cold hallways and rooms reminiscent of corrupt science and medicine. Instead, we crashed through the next threshold to find what might as well have been a five-star hotel lobby. The stark difference in atmosphere made me queasy. There was a reception desk, luxurious couches, an espresso station, and an expensive crystal chandelier hanging from the high, arched ceiling. One would never know that just two rooms away, unmentionable atrocities were being committed againstso manywomen. The arrowed signs pointing down the side hallways reading “conference rooms”, “senior staff”, and “guest accommodations” mocked the barbarity of the facility.
I could easily imagine what the scenery looked like a few hours ago. The smell of coffee was still fresh in the air. A book was left open on a nearby glass table. I could picture the “guests” in suits, happily retiring to their temporary chambers for rest before heading to a conference room to discuss finances or personnel management. Did they know what happened just through the door behind reception? Did theycare?
When planning our escape, I had expected large metal gates like those in our holding room to release us into the wilderness. Instead, automatic glass doors guilelessly parted to allow our exit. The humid air of the forest coated my skin in a sticky layer of moisture almost immediately, but I was grateful for oxygen that didn’t taste like rubbing alcohol. The night was dark, the landscape unassuming. Colossal concrete walls as tall as the surrounding trees boxed in a looped driveway and a parking lot full of expensive vehicles, protecting visitors and staff from the fauna of the biome. Nothing could keep out the hungry growls and gurgles in the distance. A shiver ran down my spine.
“You’re safe,” Graysen assured me as we hurried towards the towering gates across the grassy courtyard. An imposing statue of a Thornian was situated in the center of its walkways.
The popping of gunfire cut through the sounds of the wilderness. Mykie hissed and tripped for a moment, quickly correcting herself. Graysen pulled me in front of him as we pressed on, approaching the intricate metalwork separating us from our freedom. We were cornered as more shots fired our direction from across the lawn. I wrapped a hand around the cylindrical poles of either door, pulling hard. They wouldn’t budge.
Mykie made quick work of pulling a box from her bag and holding it to a blinking light by the nearby hinges. Therewas a beep from the security system before the ornate twisting of the locks unentwined themselves from each side. Dia pushed the heavy iron with her shoulder, creating a gap we hurriedly squeezed through.
“We can’t be on the road,” Mykie called, passing us and breaking through the tree line.
“Come here.” Graysen yanked me still for a moment before scooping me into his arms. “You don’t have shoes.” His voice had turned smooth and low, lulling me into an inappropriate sense of safety for the situation.
Dia didn’t have shoes either, but she was matching Mykie’s pace. She launched herself through a low bush of thorns and jabbing branches, unfazed by their guaranteed sting. I closed my eyes and leaned my head into Graysen’s chest, hiding from the nightmares I could vaguely remember that occupied the woods. Everything would be alright. After all, I would rather die out here in the maw of a beast than waste away in the den of true monsters tailing us.
“Do I smell bad?” Graysen leaned his head into me and purred as he picked up speed to catch up with the others.
I was surprised to find a laugh escape my lips. “No, you smell wonderful.”
“The creatures of the forest seem to disagree.” He was grinning from ear to ear, I could hear it in his voice. “They’ve been avoiding me since an earlier run-in. I think I need a bath.”
“Why are you so happy?” Why were webothso happy?
“Because I found you. And now I’m going to keep you safely by my side forever.”
I wasn’t sure how he could promise that, given the enormous scale of the problem at hand, but I didn’t care. I believed him. He would keep me safe from now on, and wewould find a way to live together in peace. He hada lotof explaining to do. I had questions to ask and bitching to accomplish. It didn’t matter. What mattered to me was that after all of this, we could be raw together, facing whatever demons had been lurking in the shadows of our history as a team.
“Over here,” Mykie called out, taking a sharp turn to exit the treeline.
At first, I wasn’t sure what I was looking at; it was unnaturally dark under the canopy of trees. The glow of Graysen’s emblem barely illuminated the sickly branches descending towards the ground. However, when we shifted positions, I caught a shimmer of orange light reflecting on a smooth, glossy surface. Mykie disappeared behind the large object, and headlights flooded the nearby road. A car. Relief washed over me as I realized we had a way out of the forest.
Graysen brought me around to the trunk of the van, gently setting me down before closing the door behind the four of us. Mykie and Dia had already climbed their way to the front seats, leaving Graysen and I on the leather bench in the far back.
“Are you bleeding?” Dia asked, the colorful dashboard reflecting across her focused expression as she peered at Mykie.
“It’s just my shoulder, I took a bullet,” Mykie stated, reversing out of the coverage of the tree with sharp squeals of protest from the paint job.
“We have to move fast, Mykie,” Graysen urged.
