43

 

“SISSY IS ALREADY dead.”

It takes a moment for Ashley June’s words to register. Then I’m spinning around, racing out of the conference room.

“Gene!” Ashley June cries from behind.

I ignore her plea. I tear down the corridor past empty glass offices. In the elevator lobby, I smash the buttons, glancing down the atrium to the lobby far below. Nothing. No movement, no sign of Sissy, not in the lobby, not in the elevator stopped many floors below me. Even the elevator buttons remain unlit and unresponsive.

“Sissy! If you can hear me, get out! Get out, Sissy!”

The only reply is the sound of my own echo.

When I return to the conference room, Ashley June is gazing outside. At the setting sun, touching the tops of the surrounding buildings. A red glaze fills the floor, but it is heavy and dark, the color of blood clotting. The opaque walls of the Panic Room are darker now, Ashley June having dimmed the walls in my absence.

“What have you done to Sissy? Where is she?”

“It was over the moment you stepped into this building.”

“Tell me where she is!”

“She’s probably in the guts of about a dozen people right now.” Ashley June turns to face me. “It’s too late.”

I move forward, slapping the glass so forcefully that Ashley June jolts backward.

“Tell me where she is. There’s still time. You don’t know Sissy. That girl cheats death like no one else. I can still help her. And after I help her, we’ll help you.”

“It’s over, Gene, she’s—”

“No, she’s not! I’d have heard screams and howls already.”

And at that, as if I’d inadvertently flicked a switch, a wail screeches from many floor below. And another. And another.

“Now it’s really over,” Ashley June says. “And in a few minutes you, too, will be killed. The sun has almost set. Night is upon us. And this building is filled with people. As is every building in a thirty-block radius. Rumors of two hepers on the loose last night sent the whole metropolis into a tizzy. Half the population came out, sniffing around, hoping, if not to find you, then at least to discover a drop of you, a smidgen. The dawn siren caught most by surprise; we had to find refuge in these buildings.”

She looks outside at the nearby skyscrapers. “We’re not just talking about thousands of people, or even hundreds of thousands. But millions. Millions who are awakening now, Gene, all around us. There’s no way out. Not out of this building, not out of the metropolis.”

I feel blood drain from my face. I knew there were people in the buildings. But not millions.

“Then just kill me already!” Spit flies out of my mouth, sprays the glass. “Just kill me yourself, put an end to this.” I take out the handgun from my belt. “I’ll shatter the glass for you, let you out. Okay? Isn’t that why you brought me here? So that you get first dibs on me? Well, here I am. Have at me.” I cock the handgun, aim it at the glass chamber.

“No, Gene, no!” Ashley June cries. “I brought you here so we can be together.” Her eyes glistening in the dark. “I’ve turned, yes. But some things still remain the same in me.” She pauses, and now her voice comes out as a whisper. “I still have the same feelings. I still feel the same way about you. But more intensified now. Purer.”

She points to the table behind me.

“Inject yourself. With the hypodermic needle on the table. It’s filled with concentrated people fluid, more than twice what you need. Use it, and within a minute it’ll all be over. All the running. All the hiding. You’ll no longer be prey. You’ll be like all of us. And the Hunt will at long last be over. And we can finally be together.”

I raise the gun until it is pointing to the top of the Panic Room. All I need to do is pull the trigger and the glass between us will shatter.

“No, Gene!”

I close my eyes. “If everything you said is true, maybe it really is over. I’ll let you end it. You can have me.”

“Gene!”

The sound of a gun fired.

But not from my gun. The explosion muted, distant. From a few floors below.

From Sissy’s gun.

Screams break out from below. Then, another sound—Sissy shouting, her voice filled with fright and fury.

And at that, I’m running, ignoring Ashley June’s pleas, ignoring the sound of her hands slapping against glass behind me.