Page 10 of Expose Me

I was out of weapons. A zap came sailing past my head, aiming for Zey. It missed us both.

A guard took off after him, but there was nothing I could do about it because another lunged for me in the same moment. I ducked out of his way, and he went for his gun. It would be useless against the others but definitely not against me.

I punched him in the throat, mentally chanting “sorry” but realistically I knew I was probably saving his ass. He was better off being unconscious for a few hours. As he spluttered and wheezed, I kicked him in the stomach—away from me and towards the building. Then I came after him and used the momentum to knock his head against the brick wall. He fell in a heap.

I was turning before he even hit the ground.

Zey was nearly at the end of the street. The tram was coming to a stop. The guard that had gone after him was as incapacitated as the one I’d had to deal with. I prayed to all the known and unknown deities that he wasn’t dead.

The one remaining naked pursuer was busy fending off three other guards, but a few others were stirring.

Taking advantage of everyone’s distraction, I ran. Zey was nowhere to be seen, so I was pretty sure he’d made it onto the tram. I pumped my legs as hard as I could and jumped over the guard lying in the street. The doors started closing. I pushed harder, my lungs burning.

There was no time to slow down; I collided with the half-closed doors and only just managed to shove my arm through the gap, stopping them from closing. The safety mechanism kicked in, and they opened. The other people on the tram grumbled and swore at me—some of them scared of the situation on the street, others just pissed that I was delaying the tram.

I didn’t care. I scrambled aboard and jabbed the button to close the doors as I looked back to check on our pursuers.

“Shit,” I swore and jabbed it some more. All the guards were lying around unconscious or dead, and two of Zey’s buddies were running right for me. They’d dropped the human forms, sailing towards the open tram doors as their black, faceless selves.

The people on the tram scrambled to the other side, alarmed.

The doors started to close—so painfully slow.

They were closing in—too damn fast.

During the chaos, a thought had started niggling in the back of my mind—a memory from a visit to a museum. A few years ago, during some rare time off, my bestie Lowell and I had visited a museum dedicated to policing before the portals had changed everything and the Houses took over. One of the displays allowed visitors to fire a Taser—something commonly used by police back then.

With little more than the memory of the bulky weapon in my grip, I sent my power out urgently. I released an almost maniacal laugh when a Taser appeared in my hand. I had no idea where it had come from, how old it was, or if it would even work.

Taking a step back so my arms wouldn’t block the door, I raised it and fired.

Chapter4

It hit the closest faceless thing right in the chest, mere feet away from the tram.

Its whole body spasmed, and it fell to the ground, spasming some more. The other one stopped in its tracks, then backed up a step, taking in its buddy and following the wires of the Taser back to me.

The doors closed just as I threw the trigger end of the Taser through them. The tram took off.

I sagged against the railing, catching my breath for a moment. The other passengers stared but avoided me.

I stood up straight, gave them all a polite smile like nothing was amiss, and took the nearest seat. Where the hell was Zey? A glance around the tram had me frowning. I’d seen him jump on moments before I did. Did he get back out through another door? I looked around again, checking each person, but the gangly young man with the long brown hair was nowhere to be seen.

An older woman with short blonde hair streaked with silver sat down next to me.

“That was close,” she said, her blue eyes staring at me like she knew what the hell that clusterfuck was all about.

“Uh, yeah, it was ...” I took in the sweatpants, the too-big hoodie, the bare feet. I leaned in, our noses nearly touching. “Zey?” I whispered.

The corner of her mouth twitched, amusement sparking in her eyes.

I leaned away, my body tensing once more.

The older woman frowned. “Relax. Yes, it’s me.”

“How do I know you’re not one of them?” I mentally ran through everything I had in my storage facility. Surely there was something I could use against these bastards.

“Oh, that.” She waved an elegant hand dismissively. “None of them have my charming personality.”

---