He pulled once at the rope around his waist, as if testing it. With a tight spin, he rolled the rope tighter, shortening its length. Showing no concern for his own well-being or safety, he faced the wall, centering himself in front of the solid metal hook. His shoulders rose and fell with a single breath. Then, he jumped with both feet, slamming them against the wall. At the same time, he grabbed the rope and pulled. For a brief moment, he was nearly parallel with the floor.
The sound of splintering wood was deafening. His grunt as he fell flat to the floor, wind temporarily knocked from his lungs. She was able to shine the light up once to see a huge hole where the anchor had once been. He was free.
With a hard shove to the shoulder, Cameron pushed her away from the open door and down the hall. “Get out of here!” With two hands free, he brought the shotgun up to his shoulder.
He kept the muzzle pointed to the ground. She tried to provide as much light as she could from her position. It was only when he lifted the gun, did she realize Joey was climbing to his feet.
“Don’t move!”
Little details stick in chaotic, stressful moments. She’d never forget how he kept his finger on the trigger guard until the very last second. They were fractions of a second, but he gave Joey every opportunity to save himself. He called out one more warning before he had no other choice.
She didn’t see the impact. The report of the shotgun made her stumble back in surprise. She might’ve screamed, but it was drowned out by the second shot. By the time she surged toward the room, Joey was flat on his back, blood gushing from a scattershot of holes in his chest.
“Oh my God…” she whispered.
Cameron touched her arm. “You shouldn’t…”
Any hopes of saving him dissolved away. Her legs too weak to carry her any further, she fell to the floor and crawled to his side. Cameron stood opposite, muzzle centered inches from his forehead. One twitch, and she knew he wouldn’t hesitate.
It might’ve been dangerous, but she held his still-bound hand in hers. For all the pain and torture they’d put him through, Joey at least died peacefully. She searched his face for any hint of awareness and found none. If he had looked at her with teary, fearful eyes as he took his last breath, it would’ve destroyed her. Instead, he stared at the ceiling, nothing more than a living organism slowly draining of life.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Poughkeepsie, NY
Neil couldn’t understand how, but the flickering firelight somehow made Mallory even more beautiful. Despite the cool night, the group had decided to throw a little backyard party. His parents had called to let him know they were able to finally cross the Canadian border and would be home soon.
“We’re in a hotel for tonight, but we’re setting off with the sun tomorrow. I’ve been worried sick about leaving you by yourself,” his mother had said.
While he was glad to have his family safe and home, his heart ached at the thought of everything changing. He and Mallory were just beginning to connect, Ian was finally cool, and even Wills had calmed down and leveled out. Like any group of young adults, their last night of freedom had been dedicated to drinking, dancing, and forgetting their troubles. For a few hours, they pretended like it was just a party over summer vacation.
“It’s too bad your parents are coming back,” Mallory said quietly. “I mean, I’m glad they’re safe, but I don’t want to go yet.”
“I know. I don’t want you to go either.”
Their fingers danced together, lacing and unlacing, curling around each other. The smoothness of her skin was intoxicating.
“It won’t be that bad,” he continued. “Maggie’s house is only down the street. I’ll see you all the time.”
She shrugged, her full lip pouting. “I know, but it won’t be the same.” She bumped him with her shoulder and whispered, “Plus, she always wants to be the center of attention.”
As if on cue, Maggie’s obnoxious laugh shattered their conversation. She was sitting to their left, lounging on a blanket, legs draped across Ian’s lap. Neil and Mallory shared a look, pressing their lips tight to keep from giggling.
“Oh! I just got a message from Kristine.” Maggie shouted. “You gotta see this! I think it’s that code thing you and—”
“Gimme that.” She didn’t even get a chance to finish her sentence before Wills snatched her tablet away. He looked up through the firelight. “It’s the site.” He made his way around and sat on Neil’s left side.
He craned his neck, half wishing he didn’t have any desire to look. But the mystery of the website still called to him, almost more than when he’d first discovered it. All the pain and misery he’d brought into his life, the desire was still there.
“It’s hex, isn’t it?” he whispered, watching Wills nod peripherally. The grayish text on the gray background made it difficult to read. “I’m pretty sure it repeats, but just copy a chunk of it and…” Neil trailed off as Wills did just that.
74 72 65 6d 65 6c 79 20 66 75 63 6b 69 6e 67 20 6e 69 67 68 2e 54 68 65 20 65 6e 64 20 69 73 20 65 78 74 72 65 6d 65 6c 79 20 66 75 63 6b 69 6e 67 20 6e 69 67 68 2e 54 68 65 20 65 6e 64 20 69 73 20 65 78
“What if it’s jumbled again?”
“Then we unjumble it.”
The hexadecimal code translator quickly spat back the answer.
mely fucking nigh.The end is extremely fucking nigh.The end is ex
“You’re so smart, aren’t you?” Mallory purred, fingers stroking the back of his neck.
His skin buzzed, both at her touch and solving the code.
Maggie yelled over, her words slurring a touch. “Did you nerds figure it out?”
Wills replied first. “Yeah, but it’s nothing. Nothing to worry about.”
“Great. Could I get my fucking stuff back then?”
Neil grabbed his arm as he stood. “Why didn’t you tell her?”
He gave him a weary shrug. “There’s no countdown. There’s nothing else. Just another vaguely Biblical warning. What can we even do about it?”
“And we should just have fun?”
“As much as we can,” he sighed. He handed Maggie her tablet and returned to his seat.
It felt wrong to just let it drop like that, but with the amount of alcohol and hormones in his system, it didn’t take a lot to distract him.
“I’m so glad you’re the one who found me,” Mallory whispered, her lips brushing the sensitive skin on his ear. Goosebumps raced across his skin as he turned to face her.
God, she’s perfect, he thought. His eyes dropped to her mouth. She leaned closer. He couldn’t have cared less about who was around or where they were as long as he could kiss those lips.
“I need a drink,” Rachel declared loudly. She abruptly stood, her toe catching on the edge of the wooden bench as she jumped over to leave. With a grunt, she stumbled and caught herself.
“You sure about that?” Maggie cackled.
Neil looked around dreamily, wondering what he missed. He met Wills’ critical gaze. He ran a hand through his styled hair, smoothing it back into place. “Fun times. Good one.”
“What? What’d I do?”
His only reply was a shake of the head. He tipped back the last of the white wine he was drinking and refocused on the fire. His serious, focused expression made Neil wanted to talk to him more about the site, work together to come up with an explanation, thinking maybe Kristine could help in some way.
Mallory pulled away, the cold slipping between them. “Maybe you should go talk to her.”
“Rachel? No, I’m sure she’s—”
“Everyone can feel how awkward it’s been since… I think they blame me.” She leaned forward on her knees, hair swinging to obscure her face.
Neil tentatively touched her back. “Yeah, okay. I’ll go talk to her.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
What I don’t get is why it’s my problem to make sure she’s happy. It’s not like I ever led her on, he thought as he made his w
ay toward the house.
“Hey! Fuckface, wait up,” Maggie called out as she climbed to her feet.
“Oh yeah, real nice.”
“Come on, I have something. For real.” She jogged over, the heavy scent of vodka on her breath. “I got a message through from Hypnos too, but it’s all gobbledegook. Can you fix it?”
He tried to push her away, afraid Rachel would go upstairs to bed, preventing him from apologizing, and therefore ruining any chance he had with Mallory on their last night.
“This could be important!”
“Fine, but you’re lucky I’m even talking to you with that whole fuckface comment.”
“Whatever, fuckface,” she grinned.
He snatched the phone from her hand and glanced at the message. Nothing made sense. Letters, symbols, and numbers mixed together to form absolutely nothing intelligible. “Yeah, I can’t really help you if this is how you got it. Is it a code?”
“Not one I know of,” she replied, frowning. “I didn’t think of that.”
“Well, don’t click on the attachment. It could be some type of spyware.” He tried to pull away from her, but she grabbed him back.
“I already did, look. Do you recognize him?”
Neil glanced at the photo and shook his head. “No, should I?”
Maggie pouted, the glow of the phone illuminating her drunk expression. “I don’t know. Should I?”
“Sorry I couldn’t help,” he said, trying to pull away for what felt like the tenth time.
“Where are you going? Your little cupcake is all alone by the fire.”
“I want to talk to Rachel real quick.”
She released him and nodded sagely. “Good idea. Better to lock that shit down before she gets all crazy.” She flung her hands in the air like a preacher. “God speed, fuckface.”
Even though he’d been delayed a few moments, he still found Rachel in the darkened kitchen. She had her back to the door, shoulders hunched.
Neil instantly felt shitty, even though he couldn’t put his finger on why. Logically, he knew it wasn’t his fault she’d gotten so enamored with him, but he felt responsible for some reason. He steeled himself for the apology, knowing it was going to be one of the hardest things he’d had to do with a girl.
“Hey,” he ventured, hoping he didn’t scare her.
She spun on the spot, sloshing her mixed drink over the edge of her cup. Her face immediately brightened when she recognized him. “Hey yourself!”
Her happiness threw him off his stride. “You doing okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. A lil’ drunk, but I’m good.”
“What are you drinking?”
She considered the clear cup. “That’s a good question. I kinda added a bunch of stuff together. It tastes pretty good, though. You want some?”
“No thanks, I’m good.”
He ran his fingers along the marbled pattern of the kitchen island. Countless times he stood in the same room, apologizing to his family for one stupid act or another. This one was so much more difficult. Broken hearts are harder to apologize for than broken lamps.
“Look, I’m sorry if I hurt you. I honestly had no idea you liked me and if I had—”
“It’s a crush. A tiny, little crush. Really, it’s no big deal,” she insisted. She grabbed his wrist and made him look her in the eye. “I’m really fine.”
Neil didn’t have much experience with women, but he knew enough that the word ‘fine’ was usually anything but. “Then what happened out there?”
She set her cup down and rested her full weight on her straightened arms. It was like he was seeing her for the first time, noticing her as a woman. Her long, chestnut hair framed her thin face, eyes like big soulful pools. He couldn’t remember ever seeing her tipsy, but the alcohol brought down her shy walls. She’s actually pretty in a non-traditional kind of way, he thought.
“I don’t know. I get jealous. I don’t mean to,” she insisted, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “But Maggie has Ian, you’ve got her. Who do I have? Wills?”
He leaned in with a mock conspiratorial voice. “Don’t let him hear you say that. He’ll burn this whole place down.”
She laughed and relaxed her arms, crossing them under her breasts. “I know. I guess I hoped I’d find someone to ride out the end of the world with, that’s all.”
“The world hasn’t ended yet.”
“True,” she conceded. She sipped the drink, giving him a longing look over the side. He could tell she was just drunk enough to maybe try something completely out of character.
“I mean, Mr. O’Leary down the street isn’t bad looking. You could go see how he’s doing.” She gave him a skeptical frown, so he doubled down on the joke. “What? He’s a very spry eighty. You’d never think he was born in the 1900’s.”
“You think you’re so funny.”
He grabbed her hand when she gave him a playful slap. “So we’re okay?”
She stared at his hand and replied softly, that meek core coming through. “Yeah, absolutely. We’re okay.”
“Because I want you to know, I’d never deliberately hurt you.”
“I know,” she smiled.
“Do you think maybe we could—”
“There you two are,” a voice called from outside.
Mallory waved from the open back doors, walked through the living room and into the kitchen. Rachel yanked her hand away and snatched up the forgotten drink, downing most of it in a few gulps. The air became noticeably cooler despite Mallory’s perkiness.
With an overly chipper smile, Neil spoke up. “Hey. We were just going back out to the fire if you—”
“Looks like you’ve forgiven him,” she interrupted, bright eyes pinned on Rachel. Her smile was so broad and toothy, it looked fake, even if it wasn’t.
“Nothing to forgive,” she replied coolly.
Neil was incredibly uncomfortable stuck between them. Mallory physically claimed him, putting her arm around his waist. It was so obvious and entirely unattractive, but he couldn’t come up with a way to extract himself without leaving them alone.
“I hope, eventually, you and I can bury the hatchet, too. I feel like I probably haven’t made the best first impression.”
“No, not really. I get the distinct impression you take whatever you feel like.”
He was surprised by the uncharacteristic bitchiness from Rachel, especially considering they’d smoothed everything over.
Mallory’s fingers tightened around his waist as she sucked at her teeth. “I’m not the kind of person to try and steal someone’s boyfriend, if that’s what you’re implying.”
“The thing is, you can’t really say that, can’t you?” Rachel snapped. “You don’t know what kind of—”
She stopped mid-sentence. At first, Neil was grateful she’d grabbed control of her temper, but then he noticed how still she’d gotten. Her expression was completely blank, eyes unfocused, hands held aloft as she gestured.
“Rach, are you okay?” He thought it might be a seizure or a stroke. “Rachel, can you hear me?” Without looking, he patted Mallory’s arm. “I think you should get some help.”
He looked to her when she didn’t move or respond. The last thing he expected to see was her standing in the exact same condition.
“Guys?” He said it softly at first, speaking to them. He pried her hand from his side and took a big step backward. “Guys!” he screamed loud enough to carry into the backyard.
Ian was the first to appear in the open door, but he was still fifteen feet away. “What’s up?”
Neil’s grip on reality was slipping fast. “They were fighting and then stopped moving. I don’t know what the fuck—Mallory. Can you hear me? Mallory!” He shook her, horrified at how rigid and corpse-like she felt.
Maggie and then Wills walked in the back, just as the girls spoke at the exact same moment.
“Pancake downpour,” said Rachel.
“Elephant shoe,” said Mallory.
Both women closed their eyes, opened them slowly, and looked at one another. In unison, they turned their heads to look at him. The gesture sent a chill down his spine. Neil took another step back, instinctively knowing he was in grave danger. Their expressions had turned vicious, murderous.
“Ohh, catfight,” Maggie cheered.
Luckily Ian was more switched on. He rounded the back of the kitchen island and stalked behind Mallory.
“Look at him,” she jeered.
“Yeah, look at him. I don’t know what I was so upset about,” Rachel laughed.
Mallory tilted her head back and laughed deeply. When her eyes settled back on him, he noticed they were jet black. “I only felt sorry for him.”
With careful steps, he backed away as they advanced. It was like they were hunting him, two lionesses joining forces to take down the poor gazelle.
“You know who I’d much rather fuck?” Mallory continued, her eyebrow arching in that playful way he loved.
“Anyone?”
They both laughed again. He could hear Maggie beginning to realize something was wrong, Wills telling her they needed to get weapons.
“I’ve always wanted Ian,” said Rachel, glancing over her shoulder to where he followed at a safe distance.
“Thanks,” he replied uncomfortably.
Neil feared Ian wasn’t going to catch on quickly enough to jump into action. The way they were talking, it did sound like they were just fighting over him or playing around. No one but him had seen the bizarre transition, how different they were from only a moment before. “This isn’t you! Either of you. Something else is happening. It’s your Seeds. You have to fight it!”
No one knew how to react. They’d never seen Rachel act so brazen and threatening.
“Why are you doing this?” Neil asked Mallory.
“Why are you doing this?” she mocked, earning a fresh peel of laughter from Rachel at her side.
His heel hit the arch frame leading from the kitchen into the hall. He stumbled, catching himself with a hand at his back. Rachel took the moment of distraction to sprint around to the other side, through the living room and approach from behind.
STASIS: Part 3: Restart Page 24
