The Decaying Empire (The Vanishing Girl Series Book 2) (23 page)

CHAPTER 14

I
knew the moment the power went out. The night-light I’d taken from our god-awful nursery and moved to our bedroom flickered off. I held my breath, waiting for the backup generator to start up. When it didn’t I exhaled. Both Adrian and Eric had pulled through.

“Fuck me, those were some of the longest four hours of my life,” Caden said, getting up and flipping on the flashlight he’d left next to the bed.

I rolled off my side already dressed, deliberately leaving my GPS tracker in the sheets. Unlike me, Caden didn’t have one of these suckers to worry about. Apparently only the revived teleporters got tagged.

The clock was now ticking. We might have more than our normal ten minutes to escape, but we only had one chance to catch the outer patrol and execute this without a hitch.

Grabbing my own flashlight, I moved throughout the cabin, collecting supplies not already packed. Among them were objects Caden had stolen earlier in the week—gloves, electrical tape, scissors, a flathead screwdriver. This time when I hot-wired a car, I’d be slightly more prepared.

Caden hadn’t batted an eye at these requests, even though technically we wouldn’t need to steal a car with the current plan in place. Caden liked to be overprepared. And I—well, I liked to keep secrets.

There was so much we wouldn’t be taking with us. Photos and clothes and books. They could stay for all I cared. The only important things I carried were in my heart.

Once I’d hurriedly zipped my bag up, Caden tried to take it from me.

My fingers tightened around the straps. “I’ve got it,” I assured him.

“You sure?” he asked, ever the gentleman.

“Positive.” I needed the bag for what I was about to do.

He let go and took in our dark living room. “Any final words?”

I flashed him a skeptical look. “No.”

“Well, I have some.”

I gestured with my arm for him to proceed.

Caden turned toward the living room and staircase. “Thank you, cabin, for housing us for a week. You did your job well. A special shout-out goes to the bed—oh, and to that shower massage thingy. Yea-uh.” Caden smirked.

I swatted him on the butt, trying to hold back my own grin. “Are you done yet?”

He glanced around before turning back to me. “M’kay, now I am.”

I clicked my flashlight off and slipped outside, Caden at my back.

Once we’d crept down the stairs from our porch, I swiveled to face him. “Caden, there’s something I need to do,” I said.

He gave me a questioning look. “Right now?” he asked incredulously.

“Right now.”

“What is it?”

I began to back up; for each step back I took, Caden took one forward. “Something that will help me escape.”

Caden’s eyes narrowed. “What is it?”

I conjured a blank expression so that he couldn’t guess it.

He cursed. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“We’re running out of time. I need go.”

Caden grabbed my forearm. “Like hell you are! You are either coming with me, or I’m coming with you.”

I yanked my arm out of his hold. “I’ll be back in time.” I backed up and he followed. I nodded in the direction of our rendezvous point. “They need you. No one needs me at the moment.” Unfortunate but true.

“What are you planning?” Caden asked, his brows furrowed. Fear shone at the back of his eyes.

“I will tell you as soon as we’re out of here, but for now you’re just going to have to trust me.” It was a hard favor to ask, especially considering that I was lying through my teeth. I had no intention of telling Caden anything because he’d fight me on this.

He shifted his weight
. “Fu-u-uck,”
he drawled. “You better be at our meeting spot in fifteen minutes, or else I’m not leaving.”

“I’ll be there.” I told him levelly.

He pulled me close. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

He kissed me savagely and let me go. “Fifteen minutes,” he repeated, backing away.

“Got it.” I turned on my heel and began to run.

Behind me I heard him mutter. “I’m so fucking whipped.”

When I looked over my shoulder again, he was gone.

I sprinted to the main buildings, keeping to the shadows. In the distance I could hear the rumble of a semi. It was dangerous being in this section of the facility; I wouldn’t be able to explain myself if I got caught.

I won’t get caught.

I darted from building to building until I arrived at the hospital wing. Under normal circumstances the lights here would’ve blazed in my eyes, and cameras would’ve captured all my movements. As it was, all was dark.

I entered the hospital wing and made my way down the hall, past the pediatric section. I curled my lips as I felt the gummy wall—it was just as sticky as I thought it might be. Ahead of me, through the dim moonlight that shone in, I could make out the stairwell. I ran to it, wincing as my steps echoed.

I grabbed the flashlight from my bag and flicked it on as soon as I began descending the stairs. I half expected a zombie to jump out from the shadows. Something about the play of artificial light in dark settings always made me fear the worst.

My heart pounded in my throat, and I tightened my grip on my bag.

Almost there, almost there.

Exiting the stairwell, I entered the basement.

Third door on the left.
The sedatives lay on just the other side of it. I grabbed the door handle and pushed down on it—only to meet resistance.

I stared down at the door, horrified. The bastard was locked when it should’ve been open. The power outage should’ve taken care of this.

I cursed quietly. I hadn’t planned this part. Time was slipping through my fingers; I needed to get out of here and get back to our rendezvous point.

I shone the flashlight over the hallway wall when something caught my eye. Encased in glass was an ax.

For emergency use only,
the label read.

I’d say this was an emergency.

I crossed the room and, using my elbow, broke the glass. Was I really going to hack my way into the room?

Yes. Yes I was.

I yanked out the ax and returned to the door. Placing my feet shoulder-width apart, I aimed the ax at the door handle, pausing to glare at the slot for the keycard.

Rookie move, assuming it was powered by electricity.

I had just three more minutes to get in and out, and then I’d need to sprint my ass off to make it back in time.

Placing one of my hands near the ax head and the other near the handle base, I drew the weapon back.

“What are you doing?”

I almost dropped the ax upon hearing the voice. I turned and stared at a nurse. She pulled a cell phone from her pocket. I could see the whites of her eyes. She was petrified, yet that didn’t stop her from trying to dial for help. I’d have admired her nerve under different circumstances. Right now it was just a nuisance.

“I wouldn’t do that,” I said, my voice hard.

Her hand shook. “Put the ax down.”

“Put the cell phone down.”

The nurse’s eyes narrowed, and her grip tightened on the phone.

“It’s always got to be the fucking hard way,” I grumbled, approaching her.

“Come any closer, and I’ll call Richards.”

I masked the brief flare of fear that his name induced. He’d be called anyway. I just needed to make sure I was long gone by the time that happened.

The nurse stood there obstinately, raising her chin, and for a second I imagined that she knew a bit about combat.

That idea quickly vanished, however, when I rammed the palm of my hand against her nose. Cartilage crunched, and the nurse dropped the phone to hold her nose.

While she was distracted, I moved behind her and wrapped my arm around her neck, applying pressure to either side of it. Belatedly she realized what I was doing, and she let go of her nose long enough to scratch at my arms. I silently counted back from ten.

. . . seven, six, five, four . . .

The nurse’s body went limp in my arms, and I set her down gently on the ground. I crouched above her and placed my hands on either side of her nose.

Why am I wasting my time?

I pushed the cartilage back into place so the break would heal evenly.

Snagging the lanyard around the nurse’s neck, I approached the locked door once more. I held the barcode of her ID badge to the keycard reader. A green light blinked, and the door clicked open.

Serena had been right. The chamber that contained the vials really did look like a cross between a refrigerator and a snack machine. I scanned the nurse’s keycard again and pulled open the chamber door.

Inside sat rows and rows of vials. I looked for the one labeled fentapropol.

Bingo. Three rows of the drug rested inside the container.

I grabbed as many as I could and shoved them into my bag, their glass tubes clinking together. Once I’d cleared out the collection—something like thirty vials—I closed the storage unit and moved to the nearby drawers.

I opened and closed several before I came across the one I was looking for. I emptied its contents into my bag and zipped it up. The pressure that had been building inside me since I’d left the cabin now released a little.

I wiped my prints down, returned the lanyard to the nurse’s neck, and left the basement. They’d figure out I’d been here—probably sooner rather than later because the nurse had seen me. But the longer it took the Project, the greater the head start I had.

Because once they found out my weakness, we’d be screwed.

Caden was pacing when I arrived at our meeting spot. On the other side of the fence, both Eric and Serena waited, looking anxious. I heard the distant sound of an engine.

When Caden caught sight of me, he managed to look both madder than hell and incredibly relieved. “Where have you been?” he said, stalking over to me. He grasped my shoulders.

“It can wait.” I glanced over his shoulder. “How are things here?”

“Other than everyone freaking the fuck out because you weren’t here, we’re good.” Caden’s jaw clenched. “Angel, we’re going to have a little chat about those secrets of yours when we get the chance.” He let me go. “But for now, I just want to see you on the other side of this fence.”

I followed him to the hole the three of them had cut away. The sound of an engine grew louder, and in the distance I could see headlights.

“That’s the outer patrol,” Eric called, “so get your asses moving!”

I shimmied through the opening and darted across the road to where Eric and Serena waited.

Serena welcomed me with a glare. “Next time will you please inform us when you decide to go rogue?”

My eyes met Eric’s. He, I’d informed. “Will do,” I said, staring at the road.

Serena huffed, clearly still angry.

Caden came in behind me. “Ready to do this?” he asked the three of us while I handed him my bag.

“Let’s check with Ember,” Serena said.

“Chill, Serena. She’s the reason we were even able to cut through the fence,” Caden said. He turned to me. “’Kay, angel”—he nodded toward the road—“I think it’s showtime.”

I stood shivering in the middle of the road, my arms wrapped around myself. This was our brilliant plan to distract military personnel, though
half-baked
would be a better descriptive term, in my opinion.

The military vehicle’s headlights blinded me as it came barreling forward. Ten feet away it skidded to a stop.

“Hands in the air!” one of the soldiers shouted.

I squinted at them, raising my hands. Past the light I could make out four M16s trained on me. I ground my teeth. Here I was, in yet another situation where I was on the wrong end of a gun.

The soldiers hopped out of the vehicle and swung their guns first to the foliage that bordered the road and then back to me. My teeth chattered and my arms shook.

“P-please,” I said, “I don’t know how I got here.”

One of them spit onto the ground near me. “You one of them freaks?” He jerked his head toward the facility.

“Hey, Chris,” one of the soldiers called out to the man in front of me, “there’s a hole in the fence here.”

I was already moving before Chris swiveled back to face me. I grabbed his gun and pushed the barrel away from me. Caden, Eric, and Serena had fanned out from the foliage and fought the other soldiers.