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Wes nodded and took the lead with Matias bringing up the rear. I, of course, was sandwiched between Blondie and Harper.

We crouched low but moved fast, almost recklessly so. But we knew time was of the essence, and if we toddled too much, we’d end up facing way more soldiers than our little five-man team was prepared to handle. As we passed the doors on either side, I couldn’t help but notice their names…

Inmate Observation Deck B

Surgical Room 5

Kennel Lab 4

Inmate Observation Deck D

Kennel Lab 5

What the hell was all of this? It was like this entire floor was nothing but a medical unit combined with some sort of lab. The sickly feeling in my stomach grew worse and morbid curiosity got me. I slowed down in front of the last door that readKennel Lab 5. Just like the surveillance room, the door had a large rectangular window that allowed me to peek inside. And when I did, my heart sank.

“de la Puente,” Wes barked. “Get moving.”

But I ignored him. All I focused on were the rows and rows of kennels located inside this one room.

“What are you doing?” Blondie snapped.

My voice caught in my throat, but I forced it out, raspy and thin. “They’re hellhounds. The kennels are filled with hellhounds.”

Wes’s face shifted, looking grim as he came to stand next to me and looked through the window. “Fuck.”

“Those things arereal?” Jim asked, trying to scoot in to get a look.

“Yeah, they’re real all right,” Wes muttered as the memory of almost having my face ripped off filled my mind.

“Are they…are they just kept here? Or…?”

Or are they made here?That very same question was racking my brain, too. I knew Raúl had been working on the hellhound project for some time—a product of genetic engineering and selective breeding. And suddenly, I remembered an important detail.

“Wes,” I turned to face him. “These things…they’re used as part of the security here.”

Wes’s face grew stern. “We’ve got to get moving and get out of here before any of those fucking things are let out, or we’re all going to be dog food.” He didn’t waste another second. Whipping around, he motioned us to follow, but I took one last look through the window, noticing the numerous rows in the room. There were easily fifty kennels in there. And this was Kennel Lab 5. Did that mean there were four other kennels, each holding fifty of these things?

Jim nudged me. “Let’s go.” He didn’t have to tell me twice. I got myself moving, following the rest of the group. Because the last thing I wanted was to be sitting around here if those things ever got out.

***

We made it to Observation Deck F only a minute later. The door had a similar window as the other, but when I looked inside, all I saw was another room with two other doors. After scanning two keycards, we finally had luck with the third. The key fob blinked yellow twice and then blinked green as the lock slid back and the door opened. I felt my heart race, adrenaline pumping through my veins. I was so close to finally having my brother back after all these months.

We piled into the room, and the door closed behind us. This room was empty, white, and sterile, with fluorescent lighting just like the hallway. The only exception was that the hallway was dim, which wasn’t the case here. It was almost painfully bright. Two doors stood side by side, but blank. And unlike the other doors, these had no rectangular windows. The one on the left had no key fob, while the one on the right did. Wes walked up to the one on the left, braced his shoulder against it, giving us all a quick glance. We prepared ourselves, ready to fire, as he pushed on the handle and swung the door open.

But nothing happened.

The room was dark, with a faint glow coming from one side. Cautiously, we stepped into the space, ready for what might lurk within. The room had several chairs facing a window that looked into another room, and that room was brightly lit, casting the glow I had noticed before. I walked up to the window and there, on the other side of the glass, was my brother.

“Jacob,” his name slipped from my lips as I placed my hand on the glass. He was dressed in scrubs, strapped down to a table. IVs came off his body while monitors displayed numbers and an image of—

“That’s a brain,” Blondie said as she came to stand beside me.

Oh my god! What did they do to him?

“Is he…” Jim hesitated. “Dead?”

My heart dropped. Before I could think of what I was doing, I ran past Wes, snatching the keycard he had in his hand, and dashed out of the room. Someone called my name, but I didn’t care. I whipped around, flashed the card at the key fob, and gripped the handle, but the door didn’t budge. I flashed the keycard again. The device blinked yellow twice and then blinked red.