by Cheree Alsop
“Mouse says he sees a few faint heat signatures, but nothing substantial,” Jaze told all of the teams quietly. “Keep alert just the same. We need a quick sweep to ensure that the place is empty. I have no doubt the General will blow it if he knows we’re inside.” He looked at Alex’s pack. “Keep in contact, stay in your units, and notify me if you see anything suspicious.”
“Will do,” Jericho replied. The rest of the pack nodded.
Jaze gestured for them to move out.
Cassie and Tennison fell in behind Alex as he followed Jaze into the building. Jericho took Trent and Terith around the front with the Black Team.
“How’s it look?” Jericho’s voice asked quietly over their earpieces.
“Good,” Kalia replied. “Stay quiet. Brock said there’re signs of recent activity in some of the lower levels. This place is a lot deeper than it looks.”
Alex followed Jaze’s team through the wooden interior. The building looked like it was going to fall down at any moment, yet support beams of fresh wood and the occasional brace had been placed in key locations to ensure that didn’t happen.
Jaze paused at a set of wide doors. At Chet’s nod, he pulled one open. Everyone flinched at the smell of decay that flooded the air. Alex’s stomach tightened. He had smelled the same scents at other locations linked to the General. Worry at his team’s first mission filled him; it wasn’t going to be pretty.
At Jaze’s motion, Alex, Tennison, and Cassie continued to the basement. They branched left while Jaze’s wolves went right. Brock had been correct about the size of the building. It could have fit a baseball stadium comfortably, yet it lay mostly abandoned. Dust and cobwebs filled corners along with machinery that looked as though it had not been used for years. Alex studied a huge conveyor belt covered in a deep layer of dust and debris.
“What do you suppose this place was?” Tennison asked quietly.
“An assembly factory of some sort,” Cassie guessed. “By the looks of these machines, it probably had to do with vehicles.”
“Found the source of the scent,” Professor Dray said into their earpieces. The disgust in his voice was obvious. “We apparently got the experimentation floor. Someone needs to tell the General that it’s not nice to cut up werewolves and leave them to die.”
A few minutes later, Jaze’s voice came on. “These last tables are fresh.” His voice was tight. “I’d say hours. We may not be alone. Brock, any sign that the wires have been triggered?”
Alex couldn’t hear Brock’s reply. Kalia repeated it for their team. “Brock says no signals have gone through. Mouse is sweeping for remote triggers. Hurry guys.” There was a hint of panic in her voice.
“Let’s get this over with,” Alex told Cassie and Tennison.
They began to jog through the basement. The scent of decay intensified until they reached a huge round cylinder sunk deep into the floor in the middle of the room.
“What is that?” Tennison asked, covering his nose and mouth at the putrid smell that rose from it.
Alex looked up at a hatch that opened in the ceiling above them. “A disposal for the bodies,” he said. His stomach rolled with nausea at the stench that surrounded them.
A sound caught his ear. Alex leaned over the hole.
“Careful, Alex,” Cassie warned.
“We should get out of here,” Tennison said. “There’s no sign of anything living.”
Alex pulled the flashlight from his gun and shined it into the hole. The sight of bloody, broken, decaying bodies made him close his eyes. The thought of the pain the werewolves had gone through filled him with frustration. He opened his eyes and forced himself to look into the hole again. There it was, that small sound. It was sharp, but faint, like a gasp of air taken in through bruised ribs. Alex knew the feeling from his encounter with Torin. The Alpha definitely hadn’t pulled his punches.
The smallest movement caught Alex’s attention. He peered closer.
“Alex, you’re going to fall in,” Cassie said, grabbing his shoulder.
Alex concentrated on the mass of bodies below. He saw it again, a hand, fingers reaching weakly.
“There’s someone down there,” Alex said. He tore off his wristband of nylon rope Caden had insisted they all wear and began untying it.
“Are you kidding?” Tennison asked. “There are bodies down there, but no one alive.”
“Alex, what are you doing?” Cassie asked.
Alex handed Tennison the end of the rope. “Tie this off somewhere.”
He climbed onto the edge of the cylinder.
“Are you crazy?” Cassie said, her voice near panic. She tried to stop him.
“Cass, there’s someone down there,” Alex told her. “We have to get whoever it is out before the General knows we’re here and blows the place.”
Cassie shook her head, her eyes wide.
Alex met her gaze, his tone firm. “This is why we’re here,” he told her. “We help werewolves who are in trouble. I’m not going to leave whoever is down there to die.”
“It’s tied,” Tennison called from beside one of the machines.
Alex looped the rope around his back. He took a deep breath of disgusting air and stepped over the edge.
“Be careful,” Cassie told him, worry thick in her voice.
As Alex lowered down into the pit, he heard Tennison say over the earpiece, “Alex found someone alive in the basement. He’s climbing into a hole in the floor to get them out.”
“Hurry,” Kalia replied. “And be safe.”
Alex stepped carefully down the metal side of the hole. The cylinder tube wall was wavy and coated in grime from the bodies sliding down. He tried to not imagine what coated his sneakers as he worked his way down.
Alex reached the bottom with a sickening squish. The smell that rose up around him made his stomach heave. He hunched over for a moment, trying to force the nausea down. Blood, both dark red and brown, covered the bodies around him. He couldn’t see the hand that had caught his attention before. Alex began to make his way careful among them. Horror, fear, and pain showed on the twisted, still faces. The sight burned into his mind.
Alex was about to put off the moving hand as a figment of his imagination when he heard the slight breath again. His head jerked to the right and he saw wide gray eyes watching him.
Alex dropped to his knees next to her. The girl’s cheeks were streaked with blood, making her look like the corpses around her. As he cleared away the bodies that had been piled up as though they had all been dumped in one mass, Alex realized that the blood that coated his hands was hers. She had lacerations along her stomach, her arms, her legs, and her back. She made a slight sound of pain as Alex shoved the last body free.
“It’s okay,” Alex said. “I’m going to get you out of here.”
A tear trickled from the corner of her eye, cutting a path through the blood.
Alex put a finger to his earpiece. “Tennison, I found a girl. She’s alive. I’m going to put the rope around her and I need you to pull her up.”
Only static answered. Alex looked up.
Cassie’s head blocked out the light high above. “Alex, the place is going to explode! Kalia says someone triggered an alarm!”
The ground shook, throwing Alex and the girl against the wall. Alex gathered her in his arms and hunched over her protectively.
“Get us out of here,” he shouted.
Crashing and splintering sounded from above. The rope fell, coiling among the bodies.
“Alex!” he heard Cassie shout.
His earpiece clicked on and off, but he couldn’t hear anyone speaking. He realized the cylinder was cutting off the reception.
Another explosion sounded. The entire building was going to go down. Alex’s heart clenched. He wouldn’t let his sister die.
“Get out of here,” he yelled.
“I won’t leave you,” Cassie yelled back.
She appeared at the mouth of the hole again. Blood streaked her cheek.
Tennison grabbed her arms.
“Get her out of here,” Alex commanded to Tennison as the floor buckled again.
Tennison nodded. “We’ll be back for you,” he shouted.
“Just get Cassie and the others to safety,” Alex yelled. Another explosion tore through the building.
A huge chunk of the ceiling fell into the hole. Alex leaned over the girl, holding her close.
His heart thundered in his chest, filling his ears with the roar as more explosions sounded. He realized they were going to be buried alive in the tube of bodies if it didn’t collapse first.
Each explosion sounded louder than the last. Alex held the girl close to him. He could feel the warmth of her blood as it seeped through his clothes. The ground shook and the ceiling above the hole collapsed. The light above them was shut out, leaving Alex and the girl in the haze lit only by the light from his gun.
When the rumbles ended, Alex blew out a breath, trying to clear his thoughts. He was trapped on a pile of bodies with a girl who looked like she was going to bleed to death if he didn’t do something. He could fall victim to the fear that pressed in on him from every side, beckoning for him to fade into numb shock, or he could do something to save her.
Alex checked the girl over quickly. At first he had thought she was younger, but he realized she was close to his age. She watched him through half-open eyes, her gray irises almost swallowed by her pupils that were dilated from the pain. Her wounds weren’t closing, which let him know they had been made with silver.
Alex took off his shirt and tore it into pieces. He spoke to her while he worked to reassure her and keep his mind focused despite the horrors around and above them.
“Stay with me,” he said quietly as he wrapped the tee-shirt shreds around the lacerations on her arms. “I know it’s easier to close your eyes and go to sleep, but stay with me.”
Chapter Thirteen
She winced when he tied the knots firmly to keep the wounds from bleeding.
“I’m so sorry. I wish you didn’t have to go through this. It must have been horrible.” His voice died away at the thoughts of what she must have experienced.
He found her watching him while he worked and asked. “What’s your name?”
At her silence, he smiled. “You don’t have to be shy. We’ll probably be here a long time.” Thoughts of being captive in that little hole and unable to get out tormented his mind. He forced his voice to remain positive. “I may be the only guy you have to talk to for a while. Might as well make the most of it.” He winked as he tied cloth over a particularly deep laceration down her thigh. “I’m not that bad, though my sister might tell you otherwise. She thinks I was crazy to jump into this hole.”
“Siale,” she whispered.
Alex paused, his hands motionless. He met her gaze. For the first time, it felt like she really saw him. He stared at the reflection of himself in her eyes, dirty, blood from some cut from the falling debris on his forehead, dark, unruly hair, searching blue eyes. She seemed to see past all of that to his core. He held his breath without realizing it.
“My name is Siale,” she repeated. She winced and held her ribs.
Alex checked her quickly. His hands came away wet with fresh blood. “I need to see what’s going on,” he said, trying to keep his voice gentle despite the panic that welled up in him at the amount of blood. “If I don’t stop the bleeding, you could die.”
She nodded, her eyes never leaving his face. He carefully peeled back her shirt. His stomach knotted at the sight of a huge hole in the side of her rib cage. It looked as though someone had implanted a thick tube that was yanked out before she was thrown away. He could see shards of silver in the wound. Blood poured out with every breath.
Alex pressed the last piece of his shirt against the hole. Siale let out a small cry that she smothered weakly with one hand.
Her attempts at courage made Alex’s eyes sting with tears. “I’m so sorry,” he breathed. “Nobody should have done this to you. This is wrong.” He blinked quickly, keeping the tears at bay. “I’m with Jaze Carso’s pack. We didn’t know anyone was here or we would have gotten you out more quickly. We’re fighting to stop the General.”
Siale’s gray gaze darkened with subtle shades of blue. “Stop the General,” she forced out.
Alex nodded. “We will. I promise you that.”
Her gaze flickered, as if the light was trying to go out. Alex pressed his hand more firmly against her side. “Don’t you leave me,” he said, keeping his eyes locked on hers. “Don’t stop fighting. Never stop fighting.”
The words that escaped him sent a wave of memories rushing through his mind, something he had forgotten.
“Jet told me the same thing before he left us at Two.” Depth appeared in Siale’s eyes, chasing away the flicker. Alex took it as a good sign. “Jet was my brother. He saved my twin sister Cassie and me the day our parents were killed. He took us to Two, one of Jaze’s safe houses. I begged him not to leave us. I was eight years old and terrified that we were about to lose the last member of our family.”
Alex remembered Jet kneeling on the ground so that he was eye level. Jet had just seen their parents slain, had done all that he could to save other werewolves from the genocide, and had lost countless friends. Alex knew his brother had so much more left to do, yet Jet took the time to kneel on the ground; his knees sent up a small puff of the red rock dust of Two.
“No matter what happens, keep fighting,” the Alpha told him.
Alex nodded, but couldn’t hide the fear he felt at Jet leaving them.
Jet put his hands on Alex’s shoulders. Alex could still remember the comfort that flooded through him at his brother’s touch. Jet never reached out to anyone if he didn’t have to, the result, Alex now knew, of his violent upbringing. Such moments were rare, yet Jet took the time.
“You’ll never be alone,” Jet said quietly, his dark blue eyes passionate and voice soft. “Whatever you do, don’t stop fighting. Never stop fighting.”
Alex’s words choked off as he looked down at Siale. Tears he hadn’t known escaped burned down his cheeks. He wiped his face on his shoulder. “I guess I’ve been a fighter ever since.”
Siale smiled, then gasped at some unknown pain. She curled inward, clutching her chest, tearing the bandages out of Alex’s hands.
Alex fought down a rush of panic. “Siale, you’re going to bleed out. I need to keep pressure on that wound,” he said. “If you don’t let me help you, you’ll die.” His throat tightened. “Don’t you dare leave me here alone.”
He put his hands softly but firmly on her side. After a moment, her muscles loosened and she rolled to face him. Her face was pale with pain and tears streaked her cheeks, but she kept silent as he repositioned the bandages. He moved so that she could rest her head on his knee to keep it out of the grime beneath her. Her hair swept across her face. She would have to move her arm past his bandages to push it back.
Alex caught her hair gently with his fingers and brushed it behind her ear. The strands were dark brown and soft. The gentle curve of her cheek against the back of his fingers felt so out of place in the tunnel of horror where they found themselves.
Alex searched his mind for anything to tell her. His gaze focused on the cuts on her arms that were bleeding through his bandages.
“I remember walking with Jet down the road one night.” A small smile crossed his face. “He hated being inside, so whatever chance he got, he left and I usually tagged along with him. He never acted like me following him around was a problem. I realize now that he liked the company, he just didn’t know how to say it.”
Alex studied his hands; Siale’s blood coated them in red that was beginning to darken and harden. “We passed a man living out of a shopping cart on the side of the street. Jet was usually so careful to go out of his way to avoid strangers, but he walked right up to this man even though I was sure they didn’t know each other.”
Alex could hear the rustle of the bree
ze that pushed against the cans the old man had tied to his cart. A tattered sleeping bag tied with a bandana sat in the place where little kids usually rode. The inside of the cart was filled with odds and ends the old man had gathered along with a few dented cans of soup and a worn out teddy bear.
The old man stood when Jet reached him. They studied each other for a moment, but instead of Jet’s alert stance, his knees bent, his hands open and closing as he decided what to do, Alex remembered Jet giving the man a rare, small smile.
“Scars like yours are survived,” the man said.
Jet nodded, the haunted depths to his eyes giving no reason to explain.
“Welcome back. I’m glad you made it,” the man concluded with a knowing nod.
He and Jet shook hands, another rare thing for the werewolf, and they continued on their way.
“He constantly surprised me,” Alex told Siale. Her face was away from him, so he couldn’t tell if she was still awake. The thought of being alone in the body-filled tunnel was too much to consider. He paused, waiting for her to make some sign that she was with him. “Are you still here?” he barely dared to ask.
It took her a moment to respond. When she did, the “Yes,” left her like a sigh.
Alex held onto her voice like a lifeline. “They’ll come for us,” he said, promising her with words he knew better than to hope for with the amount of debris above them. “Somehow,” the word was spoken in a whisper.
He turned off the little light from his gun. It was easier that way. Even though his wolven eyesight allowed him to see in the dark, the lack of all light made it impossible to see more than mere forms; lumps and insubstantial shapes became their seat instead of the horror he really knew was there.
He ran a hand down her hair. It was the only part of her he dared to touch for fear of hurting her. His grip on the bandage that kept the blood seeping from her side was tight. He worried about the pain he was causing, but the blood loss was far worse. Whenever he quit talking, the silence pressed in around him with a palpable weight. It choked his throat and made it hard to breathe because in the silence, fear became real, and the fear of staying in the hole forever was too terrifying to consider.
