Shadowmarked, p.26
ShadowMarked, page 26
She nodded, and it was only then I noticed her silver eyes were a darker grey than I remembered. It looked as though something was swirling in the darkness. I didn’t know how long Vic had been here, but Jane had said it could take only a week for the injections they were giving us to work. I didn’t know what that meant, what it had done to Vic, but the pool of blood and dead guards was a good indication she’d been here much longer than a week. My throat closed, and panic swept through me.
My mouth opened to say something when I was suddenly pushed from the side, and Vic and I went slamming into the wall. Theo was still standing, fighting with someone in the shadow. I glanced up just as a gun went off.
SIENNA
Theo had the guard’s wrist pushed down, but the guard was strong, and the gun that had just fired was slowly moving back up towards Theo. I couldn’t tell if he was injured or if the bullet had missed.
“Stay down,” I ordered Vic and lunged at the guard, slamming into him, and the two of us toppled over each other. The gun went flying from his hands.
Theo grabbed it and let two bullets fly before I’d even rolled onto my side. The guard was dead. Theo dropped to a knee, and I ran to catch him.
“Are you hit?” I scanned him, but the hallway was so dark and the red flashing lights made everything look red.
“I’m okay,” Theo winced, pushing himself back up to his feet, but I noted he couldn’t put much weight on the one side.
I reached down and felt the warm sticky blood coating his pants. “You’re hit.”
Theo limped a step forward. “I’ll be fine. We have to get out of here.”
Vic’s eyes had gone darker again, and her face was angry when it had just looked so serene. She didn’t move towards us; she just stared down the hallway into the darkness. I tried to help Theo move, but he struggled and was so heavy.
“Stop!” a voice screamed from the darkened hallway.
My gaze settled on the people moving closer into the red flashing light. There had to be at least twenty guards standing at the end of the hallway we had been heading down. At the center was a face both familiar and foreign. It was Em’s sister—Leah. Her hands curled at her side, just as I’d seen Vic when we found her. I didn’t need much light to know her eyes were black as coal.
“Don’t take another step,” the guard behind her repeated.
Theo raised the gun in his hand. “Run,” he whispered. “I’ll cover you.”
“No,” I hissed. There was no cover around us, only a long hallway littered with identical doors, but not nearly enough time to sneak into one.
“Drop the gun,” someone shouted.
Theo didn’t.
I looked around, unsure what to do. Leah tilted her head towards us, like a predator, assessing. Her movements were just like Em’s, cold and precise, but her gait was too smooth and unnatural to be fully human. Instinctively, I took a step back.
“Don’t move or we’ll shoot!” a guard screamed and I froze mid-step.
I glanced up to Theo. His face was drawn and the gun in his hand had already lowered an inch. He was in too much pain to run, and there was nowhere to go. I rested my hand on his arm, pushing it down.
He glanced at me, and I shook my head. We wouldn’t make it, and I wouldn’t risk either of their lives.
I was about to surrender when Vic stepped in front of us.
“What are you doing?” I grabbed her shoulder. She glanced back at me, and my heart nearly stopped at the sight: her eyes were entirely black, and the smile she wore was terrifying.
I didn’t get another word out before she was sprinting, running as fast as she could towards Leah. The blood red lips on the blonde-haired devil spread into a wide smile, and she ran to meet her.
“Stand down,” a guard ordered his men. “If we injure her, Grayson will have our heads.” I wasn’t sure if they were talking about Leah or Vic, both moving with a grace and speed I’d never seen.
In two more steps, Vic launched herself, hands splayed towards Leah’s face, but she dodged out of the way just in time, and Vic skidded on her knees. She spun before she’d fully stopped and was already sprinting back as Leah swung her arm for Vic’s head. She ducked just in time, sliding to her right and kicking off the wall as she slammed into Leah. The two rolled together, a swirl of blonde and black hair, before Leah pushed herself back and stood once again.
Vic stayed low, inching herself back between us and Leah once again. I noted that Leah had both a gun and a knife strapped to her leg. A tight leather guard wrapped around her thick, muscled legs, but she didn’t reach for either weapon. Maybe she was ordered not to kill any of the genetic kids… or maybe she was just toying with Vic.
I snatched Theo’s gun away and let two bullets fly before anyone noticed what I was doing. Leah dodged the first, but the second grazed her arm. She narrowed her eyes at me and bared her teeth, letting out a low hiss.
The guards hesitated, unsure if they should fire back, but Leah gave a small gesture I guessed was for them to stand down. I kept my gun aimed at her head.
Vic pounced, her nails drawing blood across Leah’s face before the girl tossed her away. Vic nimbly landed on her feet. She was closer to us now, still between us and the guards.
“Vic, we have to go,” I said in a low voice.
The guards hadn’t fired a single shot, and Leah clearly wasn’t trying to kill us, just stop us, which meant we might have an upper hand if we could get out of here quick enough.
Vic’s shoulders were high and her muscles coiled. Theo leaned against the wall, and his eyes flickered as if they were too heavy to stay open. He was losing too much blood.
“Vic,” I repeated.
She finally glanced back at me. Her eyes were still black, but her brow narrowed as if she was struggling with what to do.
“Please.” I glanced back to Theo who had one knee braced on the ground, as he couldn’t stand.
Vic blinked and the black in her eyes swirled until I could see the silver again. They swirled with darkness, not quite the bright color I remembered, but she looked human once more.
Behind her Leah had taken another step closer, and I raised my gun. I was ready to fire when I heard a voice scream behind me.
“No!”
Leah stilled, her gaze sliding from me to the person moving closer behind us. I didn’t have to look over my shoulder to know Em was the one she was staring at.
CASPIAN
We would never have made it out of there alive if someone hadn’t set off that bomb. Whoever it was, we owed them our life. I’d split from the rest of the guards heading towards the explosion and found Em waiting near the control room where she and Jayla had met a few times. Em was already at work.
“How much time do we have?” I asked, panting as I caught my breath.
“None.” Em grimaced. “If they aren’t already waiting for us, then we’re sitting ducks. And from the sounds of that explosion, we don’t have much time before the place caves in on itself. Was it Theo?”
“Don’t think so,” I said. I’d given Theo orders to set the explosives I’d given him around the hallways once he had the kids secure. I reached into my pocket, pulling something out. “I didn’t give him the trigger.”
The entire mountain felt as though it had shifted, and there was still so much to do and no time to do it.
“Security cameras were disabled as soon as you all were called wherever you went. So I have no idea what’s going on out there.” Em glanced back at me over her shoulder. “Where’s Jayla?”
“Sorting things out,” I lied, trying to keep my voice steady. My heart was pounding too fast, and I wanted to run back to where they’d taken her, not caring that it was stupid and I’d likely never make it. She will be okay, I’ll get her back. Dread pooled in my stomach; what if I didn’t?
I knew better than to tell Em the truth, not now, not yet. We had to stay focused, and it was enough I was having trouble staying on task—we didn’t need her unfocused, too. My hands were shaking, and I couldn’t get my lungs to fill up full with air. I shook out my hands, turning away from Em to hide my face. She’ll be okay.
“Who the hell set off that explosion?” Em demanded again. “I can’t get into anything here. It’s all shut down, and power is being rerouted to the train system. If I could find where the person reversing all my work is, I can fix this.”
“We don’t have time for that,” I said. “And I have no idea who set off that explosion, but it’s drawn every guard in this place to them.”
Em sighed. “Well, I guess that’s one good thing.”
“What do we need to do?” I asked.
“The doors have been opened on all three levels to the genetic kids’ rooms. I’ve tracked Sienna and Theo to the third level and sent their coordinates to Gustov.”
“Good,” I said. “So what are we still doing here then?” I glanced behind us to the door, my palms sweating as urgency pulled at me. I had to go back for Jayla. Hold on, Jay.
“We were informed of something else in this place that I need to find,” Em said, still searching through data on the screen I didn’t understand.
“Informed by whom?”
“My sister.”
I whipped my head back to her. She ignored my questioning stare and waved a hand. “I’ll explain later, but for now I need to find that orb.”
The mountain shook again. “Em, we don’t have much time.”
“If we don’t find it, then we’re as good as dead anyways.”
“Em, we have to go,” I repeated. “What is this thing? Is it even something we can secure?”
“It’s the thing that’s controlling these kids,” Em hissed, her sharp-nailed fingers clicking furiously over the keyboard.
I glanced back at the door again, the sounds of footsteps closing in. “We’ve got company coming.”
Em nodded to the three guns she had lying on the desk beside her. “So take care of it.”
I grunted but picked up a gun and leaned around the door. The red lights flashed through the dark hallway and voices neared.
“The signal came from down here,” one of the guards said.
“This place is emp—”
My bullet silenced the second guard and quickly took out the first. Gunfire pushed back on us, and I slid back into cover behind the door. There were two more.
“There’s no way out but through us,” one of the guards shouted. “Just give up.”
I nearly rolled my eyes. These guys clearly didn’t know who they were up against. I aimed a bullet around the corner, and the hallway lit up with more gunfire. I waited for the pause of reload before I slid on my side out the door and into the hallway, aiming for the two guards creeping forward and hitting both in the head. They dropped with a thud.
I pushed myself back to my feet and ran back to Em. “That’s enough, let’s go.” I grabbed her shoulder.
She shrugged me off. “It’s right here,” Em said, pointing on the screen to a location I recognized.
“That’s Grayson’s office. We’re not going there.”
“We have to,” Em seethed. “It’s the only way.”
“Are you willing to sacrifice every life in this place for that thing?” I asked. “We have to get these kids out or this entire mission is pointless. It won’t matter that you got that thing if we all die.” I didn’t add that I still needed to get Jayla. A lump formed in my throat at the thought, and I pushed it away. Stay focused.
“You get the kids out, and I’ll find the orb.”
“No,” I said sharply, gripping Em’s arm. “You’re the only one who can get us out, and I’m not risking losing anyone else.”
Em’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, anyone else?”
I didn’t respond, my heart dropping into my stomach.
Em stood, pushing herself closer to me. “Where’s Jayla?”
“She’s doing her job, just as she expects us to do,” I said, keeping my chin high despite the fear clenching in my chest. My hands began to tremble again, and I wrapped them tightly around my gun. “We have to go.”
Em hesitated. She glanced back at the screen, knowing going after that orb was a suicide mission, but unwilling to let it go. Finally, she let out a breath. “Fine, let’s go.” She nodded her chin to the door, picking up the remaining two guns and tossing one to me before following.
“We’ll find a way to get that thing, but only if we live,” I said and led the way out.
We sprinted down the hallway, stepping over the dead guards and moving towards the curved wall curling in on itself like a spiral until the very center. Near the first stairwell was where we ran into trouble.
Guards were running towards us, either hailed by the guards I’d already taken care of or by some dumb luck. They headed straight for the stairwell that would lead them to where Sienna and Theo were spotted.
“Should we even bother to be subtle?” I asked, checking the bullets in my clip.
“Nope.” Em aimed for the first guard, dropping him with one bullet before she skidded across the stone floors on her knees to retrieve a second gun from the guard she’d just killed.
My bullets hit two more before the others realized what was going on, and both Em and I were forced to retreat behind the cover of the stairwell.
“There’s too many of them,” I said.
“Since when are you afraid of a few bullets?” Em smirked, aiming a few blind shots around the corner. “Jayla has made you soft.”
I rolled my eyes. “Jayla has made me want to live,” I countered.
“Pathetic,” Em drawled before she dove across the hallway to take up a position just outside a doorway. The edge of the stone wall just barely covered her from the barrage of bullets pinging off the stone.
I took out another two guards and moved to a spot across from Em.
At my feet, one of the dead guards had what looked like a flash bomb on his belt. I snatched it, narrowly missing getting my finger shot off in the process, and tossed it down the hallway. It lit up the dark corridor with a loud pop and flash of yellow and white before smoke filled the space. My ears were ringing, but both Em and I moved forward letting nearly every bullet in our clips fly.
By the time the smoke settled, the guards who’d been in our way were dead, but the sound of more footsteps marched towards us. We didn’t have time to waste. Get the kids out, then find Jayla. I recited it over and over until I believed it.
“Go,” Em said, nodding down the stairwell while keeping her two guns aimed at the hallway still clouded with smoke.
I crept down slowly, feeling Em behind me with each step, watching our back. When we reached the third level, we began hearing voices down the hallway and what sounded like a fight. We took our time, moving slowly and assessing the voices; one was familiar—Sienna.
Em had heard it, too. I peeked around the corner and found Theo kneeling on the ground, his one pant leg covered in blood, and Sienna aiming a gun down the hallway and Vic in position just in front of her.
Em reacted before I had a chance to realize whom Sienna was aiming at.
“No,” she screamed, and all eyes fell on us.
I kept my gun raised, even as Em dropped hers and took an unsteady step forward. Sienna glanced between the two girls, Em’s gaze fixed on her twin—an exact replica of her in every way but her eyes.
“Drop your gun, Sienna,” Em ordered.
“Do you think that’s wise?” I hissed.
“You too.” She flicked a quick glance at my gun before focusing back on her sister. The girl had frozen.
“Don’t take another step,” one of the guards yelled behind Em’s sister, but no one listened. “We don’t want to hurt you.”
The mountain around us let out a loud boom. Dust and rock fell from the roof.
“Em, we don’t have time for this,” I whispered.
“Do. Not. Shoot.” She stretched a cautious arm out to stop me. “Get behind Caspian,” she ordered the others.
Sienna hesitated before she dropped her gun and scrambled to Theo, helping him to his feet. He groaned and took labored steps behind me. Vic hadn’t moved; she stood in the middle of the two girls and glanced between them.
I noted the blood covering the front of her shirt and her hands.
“Vic.” I waved her over. “Come on.”
Her fingers curled for a moment, glancing back at Em’s sister.
“Please,” Em begged, her voice breaking.
It startled Vic just as much as it had me, and she reluctantly moved to stand beside me.
“Get them out of here, Caspian,” Em said over her shoulder. She had taken another step towards her sister. The two guns still were gripped in each of her hands but they hung loose.
“I’m not leaving without you, Em. I already told you that,” I replied.
“She won’t let you guys leave.” Em stared her sister down. Leah hadn’t reached for her own weapons at her side, but her fists clenched and her body was poised and coiled to attack. “She can’t disobey an order. Can you?”
Em’s sister shook her head.
“I don’t care. We leave together,” I said.
Another boom echoed through the Black Prison, and I knew we were running out of time.
“Get Jayla and get out of here,” Em hissed.
“I can’t,” I said, my voice broke as realization flooded through me. I can’t. I would never make it in time—I could feel it. The mountain was breaking, crumbling all around us, and we were in the basement level while Jayla could be anywhere. I’d promised to go back for her… but deep down I knew—I’d never make it. My chest tightened and a lump formed in my throat.
Em’s gaze slid sidelong to me, and the fury in her eyes was worse than the coal black ones of her sister. I shook my head, blinking away the tears forming in my eyes, and Em knew what that meant.
I swallowed, taking a step closer to her. “I need you alive to get her back, Em,” I said. “She needs you.”
Her sister was only a few feet away. If we had any chance of getting out of here, we had to act now. One of the guards across from us was shouting orders, but I didn’t hear him.
