Something rumbled again, and he looked up at the crack that ran the length of the hall.
“Nero, we have to get…”
He trailed off as he stared at the empty space where they hybrid had once been.
Slabs of rock fell from the ceiling overhead as the hall started to cave in.
“Shit,” Rem said and raced to a door down the hall.
He wasn’t quite sure where it led, but it was better than being crushed. He could only hope that Nero had enough strength to get out of the hallway on his own.
He pushed through the door, entering the winding hall leading to the darkness below.
Chapter Fourteen
“Light one more,” Jenna said to Nyx.
They had taken out a good number of the sections, but she couldn’t be certain how much farther it would be until she found Rem. Her only hope was that he had been able to get away during all the explosions.
A loud crack echoed throughout the hall. She froze, afraid the ground around her might break way. She hadn’t exactly been practicing controlled demolition.
A wall shifted from its upright position and landed against the wall across from it.
“Nyx,” she called out. “Maybe you should wait.”
The words were barely out of her mouth before the explosion rippled around her. The walls trembled, and for a split second, she could see Nyx on the other side of the hall.
“Run,” she shouted as the ceiling fell in between them.
Jenna turned, not quite sure where to go. Nyx had been her guide and so far, she had been very lucky.
She’d never run so hard in her life. The ground was uneven now, and it was a struggle to stay upright, but somehow she managed. She turned the corner and found herself in the great hall.
The great hall remained standing at this point, but it wouldn’t be much longer until it fell apart.
Thick, jagged pieces of the cave crashed into the center. She’d have to be quick if she was going to make it through this.
A noise drew her attention across the room. Glycons. More than she even thought were in the place.
It looked like her luck had run out.
Jenna drew her gun and took aim.
The quaking wasn’t going to give her the aim she needed. After she fired the first shot, they would know where she was, and with all the shaking, there would be no way to hit them all. They would be on her before she got them all.
She took a deep breath and searched her bag. One stick left. It would blow the room for sure, but the only way it would work was if she could make it to the door just behind the podium. It had to lead to a way out.
Jenna took a deep breath. Doing this might seal her in though, and that wasn’t all that appealing. She glanced over her shoulder to the hall behind her. The dust was thick, and she knew that it wouldn’t last much longer either.
She looked over to the Glycons. There was a chance they could make it out, and the thought chilled her. Forget the lodge, these creatures would kill every last person in their path. It wouldn’t matter who they came across.
On top of that, the hybrids would likely be blamed. Thanks to reporters like Jill Charity, the public would place the blame with the lodge.
Taking a deep breath, Jenna tucked the lighter and dynamite in her pocket. Drawing her gun again, Jenna worked her way into the room. Maybe if she stayed against the wall, she’d be able to make it.
She crept along the wall, trying to stay as quiet as possible. Her eyes stayed trained on the Glycons across the room. They stood around, as if not really sure what they should be doing.
The room shook hard, and she slid a little, her shoes scraping loudly against the floor.
Jenna froze, her gun still trained on the menacing beasts. Rocks crashed all around her, but she was more worried they might hear the hammering of her heart. It was so loud she could have sworn they would.
The Glycons continued to huddle in the back.
She let out a breath and continued the arduous trek along the wall.
Her breathing came easier the closer she got to the door. When it was nearly in sight, she smiled.
A loud shriek came from inside the door, and Jenna felt a chill pass over her. Within seconds, someone pinned her to the ground. Her hands pushed back at the mushy flesh of the Glycon that had been waiting on the other side of the door.
She could hear the other Glycons across the room answer the call of one of their own.
The beastman snapped its warped human-like teeth at her. The stench that rose off it made her gag, but she swallowed down the feeling.
One of her guns lay next to her. All she had to do was grab it. But that would mean taking a hand off the Glycon, and there was no chance if she did.
She felt the tears well in her eyes. All this work, and she was going to lose this way. She snapped her eyes closed. There was no way she would let a pair of glowing Glycon eyes be the last thing she saw.
The weight suddenly lifted off her. Jenna opened her eyes to bright red ones. She scrambled back until her mind recognized just who was looking back at her.
“Hurry,” Rem shouted.
She looked to where the Glycon lay. His neck was at an odd angle.
Jenna grabbed her gun and raced with Rem to the dark door.
“Wait,” she said once they were on the other side.
She reached into her pocket and frowned.
“Jenna,” Rem said and growled a warning.
The sound of the Glycons as they moved through the rubble of the room reached her ears.
“We need to move,” he said and pulled her arm.
Jenna shook her head. “I don’t understand. I had one…”
She trailed off as she stared through the door at the stick on the floor near the dead Glycon.
There was no time to grab the explosive. She pulled out her gun and leveled it as best she could.
“We won’t be able to take them all out,” he said.
Jenna turned to look at Rem and smiled.
“We will,” she said.
The first bullet hit the floor near the body. The quaking worsened.
She took a deep breath as a Glycon passed the body. The beasts would be on them any moment.
She ignored everything else, concentrated on her shot and squeezed the trigger.
She couldn’t take her eyes off the bright burst from the stick.
Even if she was far enough not to be blown up, she was still too close. Jenna screamed as she was tossed back.
Warm arms wrapped around her as she dropped to the ground. The ground shook violently.
“The whole place is collapsing in on itself,” Rem said in her ear.
She glanced back into the great room one last time. A part of her could almost feel sorry for the helpless creatures. Never once had they asked to be made that way. All of them had just been tools of the Horatius Group.
Still, they couldn’t exist. As they were, they posed a danger unlike the world had seen. She couldn’t even process what they would be like roaming free, mindless and savage.
A large rock crashed in front of her, and she was glad to shut out the images. In the end, the Horatius Group always seemed to come out on top. She would take the victory, no matter how it made her feel inside.
* * *
They walked in the dark for some time. Rem watched as Jenna tried to shine her phone at her feet, so she wouldn’t trip. For him, this was the easy part. Seeing at night was like breathing. When her battery went dead, he led the way.
“How did you escape?” Jenna asked in the darkness.
He was glad to not have her see his face. Despite his joy at seeing her, he didn’t want to talk about the death or what Harold had done to him. Still, he had to say something.
“Your dynamite,” he said. “It distracted the Glycons enough that I was able to run.”
He watched as Jenna slowed and took hold of his arm.
“I didn’t know where to look,” she said. Her hand squeezed his arm. “I wanted to, but there was no time. The only thing I knew was that I had to do something.”
Rem grinned. “Well, you certainly did something.”
She looked in his direction and despite not being able to see him, she smiled.
“Nyx was leading me to you, but we got separated,” she said. Her voice trembled with worry.
Rem placed a hand on her own.
“No one knew this place better than her,” he said. “I’m sure she made it out.” He sighed loudly and looked around. “I think we should worry more about our own situation.”
Jenna searched around blindly.
“I hear something,” she said quietly.
Rem had been following the roar of the water of the underground river. Where there was water, there would be a way out.
“We’re getting closer,” he said.
Not five minutes later, the descent came to an end, and they stood in a long hall.
Rem could sense something. He couldn’t totally explain it, but he knew this is where they’d kept Magnus and Nyx’s people.
He glanced down the hall at the room at the end. It could be dangerous. More Glycons were likely lurking there.
“I need you to stay here,” he said.
Jenna frowned at him in the darkness.
“So you want to leave me here in the dark by myself?”
Rem gave a small chuckle. “Maybe you want to come with me and fight blind?”
She glared at him but shook her head.
He placed his hands on her shoulders.
“I’ll just be a moment,” he said
Jenna nodded.
He placed a kiss on her lips and then sped away.
The taste of her still lingered there as he made his way along.
Rem paused outside the door. Two Glycon guards lay dead on the floor.
The door hung open as he stepped in the room. Cell after cell hung open wide, clear of any life.
“He got them,” Rem said, smiling to himself. Magnus had made it in time.
He still wished he’d been able to follow to get the stone. As long as Agatha had it, there would always be trouble.
A scream echoed off the walls.
“Jenna,” he shouted.
Rem ripped through the door and into the empty hall.
He could smell her blood there.
* * *
Jenna hissed as the Glycon tossed her roughly to the floor. Her ribs were raw from the struggle after the creature had scratched her. She was unlikely to be able to escape from one, and with several around, it seemed impossible, especially since she’d dropped her gun when she was hit.
“I see I finally get what’s mine in the end,” Romulus said from the shadow of the overhang, barely visible.
Despite the destruction throughout the facility, red lanterns provided some dim light. Probably some sort of emergency lights.
Rough waters flowed at her back and kept her a safe distance into the cave. She could see as it splashed against the cliffside and knew she’d never survive falling off a cliff into some underground river.
“Not even if you were the last person on Earth,” she spat out.
She watched as his face contorted in rage.
“Oh, you will know me,” he hissed. “You will know all of me.”
“Oh, but brother,” Rem said and stepped into the opening. “It seems she already does and doesn’t want to know more.”
Jenna sighed in relief.
“Rem,” she whispered.
He smiled when he looked over to her, but it quickly faded to a frown.
“You hurt her,” he said.
Romulus glanced over to her and then back to his brother.
“She’ll live,” he said.
She watched as Rem’s eyes changed from their green to a bright red.
Several of the Glycons perked up at the challenge.
Jenna moved forward but stopped when Romulus held up a dagger-like finger.
“You are not for him,” he said.
She frowned at him. Even now he was still trying to make her his.
Rem stepped forward.
“Don’t touch her,” he said.
Glycons that had been hidden against the walls stepped forward. There were far too many for Rem to take on by himself.
She looked around. There had to be some way out of this. If she didn’t do something, he wouldn’t make it.
Jenna gasped as a Glycon dove toward Rem, teeth snapping.
Something she had never heard before ripped from Rem’s chest, a cry so bestial that it made her afraid that he had become one of those things.
In one swift move, he snapped the neck of the charging Glycon.
Several others hissed and surrounded him.
“Get up,” Romulus said to her.
When she didn’t, he reached down and roughly pulled her to her feet.
“Say goodbye to my worthless brother,” he whispered in her ear.
Rem’s now red eyes found hers, and she let out a little cry at what she saw there. This was not the man she knew.
“No,” she whispered.
Rem roared loudly. It pierced her ears and made her ache inside.
Romulus wrenched her arm and pulled her toward a set of stairs. Wherever he was planning on taking her couldn’t be a good thing, but she kept her eyes on Rem.
There were seven Glycons from what she could see, but from time to time, more eyes seemed to pop up in the darkness.
Several jumped at Rem this time. He was so surrounded that she couldn’t even make out where he was in the crowd but knew he must be the one driving them closer and closer to water.
“Let’s go,” Romulus said and yanked hard on her.
Jenna struggled harder against his hold.
His hand whipped out and hit her hard on the cheek. It was like being struck with stone. She fell to the ground in pain.
From behind her, she could hear Rem growl.
They had driven him nearly to the edge of the cliff to the water below.
“You will do as I say,” Romulus hissed and yanked her to her feet again.
Jenna looked at the one thing keeping her from Rem.
“Never,” she whispered.
She had never moved so fast. Whether it was adrenaline or something to do with Rem, she wasn’t sure. The rock she had tucked in her hand slammed into the side of Romulus’s head, sending him back a few feet. It was enough. Just enough.
Jenna turned and ran. Not away from the deadly Glycons but to Rem.
“No,” Romulus screamed behind her.
His yell drew the attention of the Glycons, and if they could express surprise, she imagined that would have been the time.