Page 58 of The Hollowed
The guards flanked him and Luna as they ushered him toward a stairwell door. One swiped a badge and waited for the door to click before pushing him inside.
“Don’t worry, man,” one of them said, his tone thick with mockery. “We’ll takegoodcare of her.”
Alex froze on the steps, his hands curling into fists at his side. Slowly, he turned his head just enough to catch their smirks. “Say that again.”
The guard chuckled and tapped his rifle against Alex’s shoulder. “I said keep moving.”
Alex ground his teeth as he took a few more steps down the hall and forced his shoulders to relax. Let them think he was swallowing the insult, that he was just another docile prisoner.
He continued moving forward until suddenly, before either man could give another order, Alex whipped around and drovehis elbow hard into the ribs of the guard closest to him. The man wheezed and staggered while Luna lunged at the second. Her teeth dug into his arm, and the man let out a scream that echoed through the stairwell.
Alex didn’t hesitate.
He wrenched the first guard’s sidearm free and shot right through his throat before he fired into the second guard. Blood spattered across the walls. Luna snarled as blood dripped from her mouth, and then for a moment there was silence as two bodies crumpled at his feet.
Alex caught his breath and crouched down to yank the badge from one of their belts. He wiped his hand on the man’s vest before collecting all the ammo and guns that he could carry. Then he straightened and locked his eyes on the door above them.
“C’mon, girl,” he whispered, and Luna fell into step at his side, just as determined as he was.
The badge buzzed him back into the hall where the air suddenly felt colder. Alex kept low and raised the rifle, Luna pressed tight to his heel. Every turn felt like a trap waiting to spring.
The first guard spotted him as he turned the corner. “Hey!” was all he managed before Alex slammed him against the wall and drove a knife into his throat. The man fell with a gargling sound. Alex dragged the body to the side of the hallway before he pushed forward.
Farther down the hall he found two more guards deep in conversation. Alex fired twice without second thought. The first man dropped instantly but the second spun and screamed as Luna lunged at him and dragged him down. Alex finished him with a swift and brutal shot to the head.
The silence afterward didn’t last for long. A red light flaredto life above him, followed by the shriek of an alarm splitting through the building.
His shots had given him away.
Boots pounded close by and radios crackled with frantic voices, but Alex barely heard them over the beat of his heart. He adjusted his grip on the rifle, took one look at Luna whose snout was drenched in blood and started moving again.
They thought they could take Luci from him.
Not a fucking chance.
Chapter 25
Myra
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Myra said as she paced the length of their beat up minivan. They’d stopped to stretch their legs and get some fresh air, and everything had felt relatively calm until Cipher dug into his computer and confirmed what she already dreaded.
Luci and Alex had made it to AZ-7.
Of course they had. Because nothing in Myra’s life ever came easy.
From the open trunk, Jace let out a giggle at the sound of her swearing. It was the kind of laugh that would have eased the tension in her chest on any other day. But right now it only made her want to pull her own hair out just to release the pressure building under her skin.
Cipher’s voice cut through her spiraling thoughts, infuriatingly calm. “We’re an hour away at most. Maybe we should just drive in that direction while we figure out what comes next. Otherwise, we’re just wasting time.”
Myra stopped pacing and ran a hand through her hair as she stared out to the horizon. She’d never found it difficult to make decisions under pressure, but today the choice she had to make felt impossible.
Cipher shifted his weight, still leaning against the van, thoughnow, he looked a little less calm than before. “I’m just saying, every minute we stand here is a minute lost, and we don’t have the luxury — ”
“Cipher,” Myra cut him off as she pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose. Her tone wasn’t angry, just frustrated from the strain of having too many choices and not enough answers. “Please, just give me a second to think.”
He fell quiet.
Her mind spun through their options. She had to decide between heading to Sonora or AZ-7. Logic said Sonora because if she forgot about Luci and Alex and drove straight for the border they might actually make it. A bitter part of her whispered that maybe she should. They’d left her behind, so why should she risk everything just to find them?