I ran through the groups still receiving the Feeb kit and dodged into a nearby building. It wouldn’t be long before they caught up. I skirted around a secretary’s welcome desk and entered the back. Where there should have been offices, there were rows and rows of cages. My skin was numb from the cold. My fingers tingled. Were the cages really there?
I stepped forward. It was dark, but these cages were all metal, these were not camouflaged with drywall. It wasn’t a ghost-memory. These cages were real and they looked—occupied.
A screech like from a hawk pierced the air. I veered toward it as if drawn by a siren. I didn’t know where I was going but I had to keep going.
Another screech. Everything was in shadow. One of the shadows raced for me and threw itself against the bars. His face materialized into a man. Someone who was no longer anything but his rage, his fear, his hatred.
I stepped back, my skin prickling, my stomach cramping. This was a room full of caged Vs.
Shouts behind me. I raced down the aisles and tried to lose myself in them, but my movements stirred the Vs into a frenzy. It became a riot of noise. Shrieks, screams, bodies thrown against the bars, hungry arms reaching out to me. I swore my heart stopped beating, but then I realized the noise was good. The noise would cover any sounds I made.
“You have to leave now or not at all. Now is the time.”
“I’m not ready. There’s too much to prepare still. You gave me no warning!”
I crossed an aisle and stumbled into lantern light. Two people held lanterns over their heads. They hovered over a wheelchair. Both saw me at the same moment. Tabitha and Dr. Ferrad.
“What are you doing here?” Tabitha said, the light hollowing out her cheeks. “You can’t be here.”
“They’re after me,” I said. “They’re going to lock me up. Help me.”
“Turn off the lights,” Dr Ferrad said. “They’ll act like a beacon.”
We were plunged into darkness. This did not quiet down the Vs.
“They’re going to find us,” Tabitha said, her voice floating in the darkness. “We have to hurry. Do you want out or not?”
A long pause. “I’m so close to a cure.”
“Yes or no?”
“You know it’s a yes. You know it. You’re loving this.”
Steps pounded a nearby aisle. Flashlights flared like lasers. “They’re coming,” I said.
“Gabbi, stay where you are. Dr. Ferrad, I’ve promised you—”
“Yes but what you’re asking for in return—”
“There’s no time for this,” Tabitha said, frustration rising in her voice. “I already got what you needed.”
I decided if they weren’t going to do anything I could still run. I worked my way around where I thought the wheelchair was.
A shuffle. A screech.
“Hold her!”
“I need her!”
Something wrenched at my hair. I reached up, felt hands formed into claws. I stumbled backward and fell onto the ground. My head burned and blood dripped warm down my cheek. Tabitha turned on a lantern and flooded our section with light. A V stood over me, my chunk of hair and scalp in her hands. She flung it aside and reached for me.
I felt my world crash apart. Mary’s black, straight hair was in mattes around her head. Her shirt was torn, her jeans practically non-existent. She had bruises everywhere and the IV snaked into her arm. She looked at me and didn’t see me.
Panic threatened to choke my throat. Was it her or another V and I only wanted it to be her? My friend, the one who looked after me and made me laugh when I felt my lowest. The one who dreamed about living out in the country surrounded by friends. The one I had promised never to let down. The one I had abandoned when she had told me to run.
I wanted to cry out. I wanted to kill them. I wanted to gather her up in my arms. I wanted to die.
The blue light of the lantern washed out her skin. Her hands came around my neck and squeezed. She cocked her head as if listening to a small animal scream.
So I tried screaming. “Mary, it’s Gabbi!”
I swore I heard my name from her lips. Her hands loosened. I sprang out from under her, pushed her off. She snarled, her face turned into a hateful grimace that made me shudder.
Dr. Ferrad lifted a needle into the air and shot Mary up with something that made her crumple.
“Leave her.”
“I’m not leaving without her! That was the deal,” Dr. Ferrad said.
Tabitha raised the lantern higher and their faces turned into skulls with holes for eyes and mouth. Tabitha stared at Dr. Ferrad. There was a mean set to her chin and a dangerous gleam to her eyes. I shivered. I had never seen Tabitha like this before.
Shouts from far away. “Over here. Go around. Cut her off.”
“I’ll bring her,” Tabitha said. “Kern is waiting. Go now or never.”
Dr. Ferrad opened her mouth to argue. The blue light disappeared into the black cave of her mouth. She turned and ran away into the dark.
Tabitha dragged me up by the arm. Mary was crumpled at our feet. I struggled but she dragged me down the aisle.
Boots stomped up, flashlights blinded me.
“Trust me,” Tabitha said in my ear. She pushed me so hard I fell forward onto my knees. “Here! Here she is!”