Page 21 of Consume
She palmed the glass opposite to where I held my hand, the glass the only thing between us now instead of lightyears. A weak smile formed on her face, and it must’ve sapped her energy to put it there, because she teetered on her feet. I lunged toward her as if to catch her, my panicked gasp lodging in my throat until she’d steadied herself again.
Oh Feozva, this was bad. Would Mase be in the same condition? What if they were both too weak to get out of here quickly?
I tapped the glass with my claws toward the bed so she’d sit. She shuffled over and did, her gaze never leaving mine as though she were afraid I’d disappear. She knew me even though I didn’t know myself. I held up one finger to signal for her to wait, but I was pretty sure it would take me longer than one finger to figure out how to free her with a key but no lock.
While scouring the outside of her cell, my gaze caught on something at the end of the aisle from the direction I’d come. Something that hadn’t been there seconds ago. An enormous wheel, like that on a steamroller. What in Feozva’s hell was that doing here? It was at least twelve feet high, every bit of it imposing.
“Ellison?” I whispered, even though I wasn’t so sure she could hear me through the glass.
She shook her head, her worry lines deepening as she glanced from it to me.
What was it doing here, just...waiting? Waiting for me?
I backed away from Ellison’s cell one slow step. Then another.
Nothing. Not a single movement from the wheel, which didn’t make me feel any better.
Sweat slicked my palms. My pulse clattered inside my head as I pivoted away from the wheel, away from Ellison, and lifted my foot for a third step. As soon as I set it down, I realized I’d gone too far.
The wheel blazed toward me, silent as a coma. Ellison flung herself against the glass wall, her mouth open in a noiseless scream.
I was already sprinting up the aisle. But where could I go? Not through the only exit I knew of to meet the guards that were surely coming for me. Not without Ellison. I had to free her. Somehow.
Behind me, death was gaining. Teeth gritted, my arms pumping, my legs stretching as far as they would go, I banked right around a corner of more cells.
Movement flashed from my left. Another massive wheel barreled toward me at top speed. It wasn’t until I threw myself around another corner, just in time, that I realized where the wheels came from. The walls weren’t curved; they were all made up of these...thingsthat could grind me into dust. I had to stay away from the walls, then. And get the fuck out of here.
I turned my head and nearly leaped out of my bones at how close the wheel was, so close I could hear the gears whirring faintly within. I took a hard left, then a right. It turned with ease as though it were only a ghost, and it plowed down the aisle after me.
The glass cells blurred past on either side. Ahead on the opposite side of the room, a door stood closed. Should I take my chances? Spend precious seconds to test if it was unlocked, to try to key it open if it was locked, and hope that whatever lay on the other side wouldn’t try to kill me?
I had no other options.
The wheel’s shadow swallowed me up from behind and spread its threat faster and faster over the floor in front of me. I only had seconds before the wheel snagged my heel, splintered my spine, crushed the life from me and my baby.
But I neededmore time. Another couple feet and I would be at the door. I cried out as I poured on more speed, my legs eating up the distance. My muscles ached. My lungs seared with the effort. I swiped at the knob and barely caught it with sweaty fingertips.
The wheel touched my heel, then shoved against my ass, throwing me off balance. The door was unlocked. I sprawled into the next room on my hands and knees.
Panic seized my body. Cold-hot adrenaline crashed hard through my veins as I waited. Waited for death to come rolling over me.
Seconds passed, and nothing happened. More passed, and I was still alive. Somehow. Trembling, I dared a look back through the doorway, and the wheel must’ve already pivoted and whisked away. Maybe the wheel could’ve fit through the doorway. Maybe not, but even if it hadn’t, I had a funny feeling that wouldn’t stop it.
It was programmed to patrol that room where the prisoners were, I guessed, and in this small room where I crouched, the cinder-block walls appeared normal and flat and unmoving. I would never trust walls again though.
I rose on shaky legs, all my senses perked. Across the room, a lit panel below a window beckoned. It looked like the cockpit of a ship with various buttons and levers and warning labels. A control panel. Kicking the door closed behind me, I crossed toward the panel, my throat drying. There were key slots, but they were much too small for the one the old woman gave me, so I pushed and pulled buttons and levers at random. Finally, with a great sigh that penetrated the window, the glass cells outside lifted as one.
A stroke of luck or divine intervention if there ever was one. Thank you, Feozva.
I flew toward the door and flung it open. Already, the walls had come to life. Every single one of them. Darkness swarmed where the wheels had once been, a ten-foot pit of emptiness. The regular walls hung suspended above that ten-foot mark, and the illusion made the whole room appear to be sinking into hell.
A wheel hurled past in the direction of Ellison’s cell. It whisked by within inches of my nose, fluttering my white hair across my face. I sucked in, curled my toes inside my boots, thought skinny thoughts. Another followed close behind and pivoted into a silent, corkscrew turn down an aisle.
As soon as it passed by, I sprinted after it.
BioWaves, the crossbar at the top read. Because they roll in. Really fucking clever. Of course the Byrians had both the BioHound and BioWaves because they could afford anything.
In the aisles I passed, more BioWaves were headed in the opposite direction toward—
