Page 27 of M.A.Y.A (After the End #4)

“But is his life worth yours?” He looped his hands behind his back.

“I’ve made twenty-two automatons in this lab.

Twelve have died over the course of the expeditions that we’ve completed.

Three have died in combat, including the one you destroyed.

The rest have been dispersed across the world to aid the Coalition for Political Peace.

Despite your defect, you’re still an investment.

Do you honestly think that we could let an investment in technology go to waste?

Even if I cut you up for used parts, you’re still of value to us. ”

“My value is not for you to decide anymore, Darwin.” Just as the words were out of her mouth, the entire building rocked with an explosion. Everyone stumbled except for Maya and Sonya, who had braced for it.

“Phase one complete,” Cindy said, her words coming through crystal clear in their earpieces.

“Did you really think I’d willingly come back to you with the intention of staying?” Maya shouted over the crumbling rubble overhead. Her captor’s eyes went wide as Sonya slapped her favorite knife in Maya’s hand and began to shift.

Sonya’s bones bent, her muscle grew, and her clothes tore as she morphed into a white wolf. Maya took advantage of the soldiers’ distraction and sliced the necks of the guards standing closest to her. Then she rushed forward, leaving the rest to Sonya.

There was a vicious snarl, some snapping, and the sound of screams. Maya didn’t look. Her sole focus was the heinous war criminal, her imprisoner that stood in front of her.

She watched the panic flash in Darwin’s eyes as she used her robotic arm to thrust a fist in his gut. She felt his breath leave his body as he launched backwards and slammed into the steel doors.

“Guards!” he called out, his breath barely audible. He stumbled to regain his footing, but he wasn’t quick enough. Maya lifted the man by his collar and held him off the ground. “You’ll never be able to create another automaton again,” she said.

His mouth gaped like a fish, and he gripped her arm plate, the same one that he’d installed, programmed, and measured for data. His eyes were round and filled with fear as she pushed up back against the door and pressed her forearm against his throat.

“Wait!” he choked as his feet dangled. She was barely able to understand him as he spoke.

“I’ll share where your parents are located.

I’ll tell you how to disarm your robotic parts and protect your heart and your head from injury.

Do you really have the strength to let all that knowledge go?

” His pathetic voice choked and cracked.

“My parents are safe,” she said. She’d said goodbye to them within the first year of her captivity. “And I’ll take my chances.”

“Unit 13!”

“It’s Maya,” she snapped, and held him higher, reveling in the way he choked. “And I may not live long without your help in understanding the metal in my heart, but at least I’ll get the chance to live.”

With that, she broke his neck in one quick move that had him falling to the concrete floor. He slumped in a heap of oddly bent limbs. He was a shadow of his former self with vacant eyes frozen in fear.

She immediately felt a rush of adrenaline course through her bloodstream. She was free of this place and of all of the horrible memories that had trapped her. Now all she had to do was make sure no one else could become the next Darwin.

Maya turned to Sonya and found her tossing the last soldier aside like a rag doll. Before she could ask if the wolf was okay, a howl ripped through the bunker. The sound was so melodic and powerful that a sob tore from Maya’s throat.

It was the battle cry of an Alpha.

I’m coming, baby. I’m coming to save you.

Sonya’s wolf lifted her head and with eyes closed, howled in response until there was an echo of wolves calling to each other.

“Let’s go,” she shouted.

Maya ran through the bunker towards her former prison, toward her mate. She was stopped twice by guards that charged in her direction, and she’d used her knife and fists, evading attack both times with Sonya supporting as her second.

When she entered the open room that served as the lab, as her prison, she saw Isaiah’s wolf. Her beautiful shifter stood on all fours next to a shattered pile of glass and what was left of her box. Around him were littered bodies of guards that must have come from the second level.

Maya ran at full speed toward him. Isaiah lowered his head so that she could wrap her arms around his neck. She sunk her hands into his fur and felt his low, warm growl.

As much as her fear suffocated her when she thought about returning to the place that had nearly killed her, she felt stronger knowing Isaiah was here, and that she’d never be alone again.

Isaiah’s wolf nuzzled her one last time before nudging her toward an opening against the far wall. It was the same opening she’d escaped through when she ran away a few weeks ago. They didn’t have time to discuss how he knew where to go, but she planned on asking Isaiah about it later.

Right now, they had to evacuate quickly. As she moved through the exit, Maya looked over her shoulder to make sure Sonya didn’t get left behind. The familiar white wolf was right on their heels.

They ran down a wide hallway until they reached an intersection.

Maya was surprised when Isaiah took the lead and turned left, as if he was the one who had already used the path to escape.

He motioned to the stairwell with a sign that read “Service Exit,” another familiar marker, and ushered her through.

“Two minutes.” Drayden’s voice came clear through her earpiece.

Two minutes until the rest of the bombs went off.

“Two minutes!” she repeated so Sonya and Isaiah knew how quickly they had to move. She froze halfway up the first flight of stairs when she realized the wolves wouldn’t fit in such a narrow passageway.

That’s when she saw both Isaiah and Sonya naked in their human forms, sweaty with tangled hair and blooming bruises on their bodies, racing after her.

“Move, baby,” he called, and then they were taking the steps two at a time until they reached a nondescript opening which led them to the street. The plunged into the darkness and onto the cement sidewalk.

“We need to get away from the lab,” she called out. “You should shift back so we can run—”

“Oh, my goodness!” The voice had Maya ready to swing to defend her mate, when she recognized the woman standing in front of her.

“Margaret?”

Margaret’s eyes were wide in shock as she clutched the tablet in her hand. “Thirteen!”

“We’re taking her with us,” Isaiah said to Maya as he reached her side. “It’s a debt we owe to Margaret for helping you, for helping us.”

“Yes, of course,” Maya replied. Margaret was the only person she trusted in the lab, and she hated that the woman hadn’t been able to escape with her. “But Margaret, if you hurt my mate or my pack in any way, I’ll kill you just the way I killed your boss.”

Green eyes blinked owlishly behind glasses. “Yes, of course.”

“No time to chat,” Sonya called out. “We got to move!”

Isaiah and Sonya shifted back into their wolf forms, and Doctor Sullivan screamed at the sight. She stumbled back, but Maya grabbed her arm to hold her steady. “Panic later. Right now, let’s go.”

She made the quick decision to toss Margaret over Sonya’s back before she started running. Isaiah stayed by her side at Sonya’s heels even though Maya knew he could outpace her as Alpha in wolf form.

They reached the Empire State Building just as the bombs went off over the lab bunker. The ground shook under them, and a cloud of cement smoke licked at their backs as the building collapsed onto what was once her hell. In the dark, she could see the first flicker of fire.

Maya heard Margaret sob, and she desperately wanted to cry too. It was over. Her torture was finally over, and she was free. The weight that rested heavily on her heart slipped away.

She only had one last step to complete her mission.

“We have to hurry,” she said as she led her mate and pack members through the lobby.

Before they reached the stairwell, Isaiah and Sonya shifted again.

As humans, they navigated the narrow walkways through the sub-basement to the chamber that encased the bunker portal entrance.

When Margaret fell behind, Sonya ignored her cries, leaned forward and tossed her over her shoulder.

It took them another two minutes to reach the steel-enforced door that closed off the bunker portal’s entrance. When they walked inside, Drayden stood at the edge of the bunker portal, gripping the handrail and leaning over the hole.

“Let’s move!” Drayden shouted. “Everyone else is already through.”

“I’ll go last,” Isaiah said, pointing at Drayden.

“I have to set the explosives,” he replied.

“Then you and me together.”

“I’m not leaving you both,” Maya cried.

Sonya nudged them aside. “Make it quick because this plan will be a waste if any of us die.” She then jumped in the portal with the doctor in her arms.

“Set the timer, Drayden,” Maya said. Her gaze was locked on Isaiah’s, her fingers linked with his. “Let’s do this.”

Drayden used his phone to quickly tap three buttons, then jumped in the hole. His words echoed after him in a hollow warning. “Fifteen seconds!”

Isaiah wrapped his arms around Maya. “You’ll never have to come back here again.”

Maya gripped the edge of the door and closed it behind them as they descended into darkness. No, she thought. She wasn’t going back.

They didn’t hear the explosion or the collapse of the Empire State Building as it crumbled on top of the portal to her new world.