United (The Guardians Book 2)

by Jessica Roe

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Xahlia crawl over to Jaana and pull her lifeless body into her lap. She began to rock back and forth, whimpering pitifully. Xahlia hid it well behind her bitchy exterior, but she really had cared about Jaana, deep down.

  “You were all warned,” Merche said simply, as if Jaana's death had been her own fault.

  Fortune heaved himself against the bars separating him from the woman he hated most in the whole world, his fists clenched. “I'll kill you!” Fury rolled off him in waves; it was an awful feeling he'd never truly experienced before. Merche had been trying her hardest to break him all this time and she had finally won. He could almost feel the fire within him again, even with that damned leech still at the end of the corridor. That fire, it wanted to break free, burst forth from within him, consume Merche, incinerate her. It bubbled beneath his surface, rushed through his veins, but it was just out of reach.

  Merche turned her gun on Fortune. “Not if I kill you first,” she sang.

  He scoffed. “Are you going to kill every one of us? I'm sure your boss would be thrilled to lose so many of his test subjects.”

  She cackled. “Look around you, you imbecile. It's over!” She waved her gun around wildly, indicating the destroyed building and the terrified guards. “IT'S OVER! I can kill every last one of you and nobody would care. Because my boss, you arrogant son of a bitch, he knows it's over too.”

  Though her gun was aimed directly at his heart, Merche's words gave Fortune more hope than anything else had. Because despite his and Gelasius' speculations, an earthquake didn't necessarily mean their freedom. So what if they somehow managed to break loose? There were a ridiculous amount of guards out there, all armed to the teeth. Escaped Outcasts would certainly be shot or simply rounded up again while they worked on a new place to hold them.

  But Merche's words, and the fear that she was trying to desperately to conceal, meant something. It meant something else. Had something caused those earthquakes? Something the guards couldn't control? An inhabitant of the strange world they were trapped on, maybe? Or was it something else? Had somebody found them? Were they finally being rescued?

  And even if he died right now at the hands of the this monster, at least he could die with the hope that his friends might really make it out alive.

  “Turn around,” Merche ordered.

  He folded his arms across his chest defiantly. “If you're going to shoot me, the least you can do is look me in the eyes as you do it.” Not that he thought she'd have much of a problem with that, but if he was going to die, then it would be on his terms.

  “Fortune, no. . .” Xahlia cried softly. “Not you too.”

  “Do it,” he commanded, staring Merche down.

  For the briefest second she faltered, and something flashed behind her eyes. It was almost like she really. . .cared for Fortune, in the sickest, most twisted kind of way. Perhaps there had been a reason she'd targeted him all this time.

  But whatever emotion she'd been battling with disappeared immediately. Her face hardened, her gun arm straightened, and he closed his eyes as she shot.

  Fortune flinched, but the bullet wildly missed him. It buried itself into the roof of his cell.

  He opened his eyes in surprise. Gelasius had somehow escaped, and he was behind Merche, his arms around her as they wrestled for control of the gun.

  “He got out,” Moisey whispered, so low that Fortune almost missed it. He stepped back to peer in. Gelasius had somehow used brute strength to snap that one damaged bar, leaving jagged edges behind. The hole leftover was small, almost impossible for a man to get through without some serious damage. Sure enough, a dangerous amount of blood was running down Gelasius' shoulder and chest from where he'd scraped them against the ripped edges of the bar as he'd determinedly squeezed his way through. He must have used Fortune and Merche's argument as a distraction.

  Merche screeched something in French as she fought against him. Down the other end of the corridor, the guards, busy dealing with their own chaotic inmates, finally took notice.

  “Prisoner escaped!” Fortune heard one of them shout urgently.

  Seeing them approach and sensing their window of opportunity for escape was closing, Xahlia reached through the bars as far as her arms could stretch. She managed to claw a handful of Merche's hair and she tugged hard, slamming her face up against the bars. It was all the help Gelasius needed to take sole control of the gun.

  “No!” Merche pleaded, when she'd turned to find the weapon aimed at her head.

  There was no time for hesitation, and Gelasius didn't waste a second. He pulled the trigger, and she slumped down against Xahlia's bars, dead.

  Fortune knew he should probably feel something. Horror, maybe, at all the death. Disgust at her bleeding corpse. Perhaps even pity. But all he felt was regret that he hadn't been the one to pull the trigger.

  If he'd had more time, he might have worried about the person he was becoming, about the person his incarceration had turned him in to.

  Without hesitation, Gelasius turned his gun on the guards running right for him and fired with perfect aim. Once, twice, three times.

  The whole thing had only lasted seconds, though to Fortune it seemed much longer.

  But it wasn't over. More guards, hearing the shots, were running down the steps that led to the cells.

  Quickly, Gelasius turned back to the injured Moisey, still barely able to move on the ground. “I'll come back for you,” he vowed, and then he sprinted head first towards the guards, shooting for his life. Shooting for all of their lives.

  Being stuck in the middle of the corridor, Fortune could barely see down the other end, and Gelasius was almost out of his sight when he saw his shoulder jerk back. He'd been shot, but it didn't stop him, not even for a second. Fortune realized then how tough the hunter truly was.

  The Outcasts screamed for him, cheered for him, almost drowning out the sound of even more gunshots.

  He disappeared into the stairwell and Fortune could no longer see him, but it didn't stop him from gripping the metal bars and straining his head against them desperately.

  He was tense, completely on edge.

  Right now, their freedom all depended on one man. Their lives all depended on one man.

  “The control panel!” he heard Eadgar the Clairvoyant scream over the noise. “Shoot out that damned control panel!”

  Fortune wished with all his heart that he could see. His terror for his friend's life went beyond anything else. The gunshots had stopped, but he could hear ominous noises – slapping of fists meeting flesh and painful grunts and moans.

  Then there was one final shot, followed by a blaring alarm, and then. . .

  “He did it!” cried the witch near the end of the corridor as the electronic lock on her cell beeped and opened with a clang. “We're free!”

  Gelasius had done it – he'd somehow disabled the control and locks were opening up and down the room.

  Fortune released the bars and stepped back in awe and disbelief. This was it. THIS WAS IT.

  If he'd thought it had been chaos before, it was nothing compared to the pandemonium of the prisoners finally escaping. They thundered out, high from elation and fury and so desperate for their revenge that they were being careless with their own safety.

  Frozen in place, Fortune took it all in, his heart pounding in his chest.

  A small smile crept up onto his face.

  This was it.

  Chapter 29

  Gable

  Ward had actually seemed relieved at the arrival of the leech – a definite first. Even Cadby, Nicky and Queenie appeared to relax just a little, almost glad to be rid of their funky powers for a short while. It certainly renewed their concentration, which made defeating the newest batch of guards all that much easier.

  But the second they'd finished fighting and knocked the leech out, their brief respite was over.

  “On second thought,” Ward said with a wince. “perhaps we should've
left the damn leech awake.”

  “No time to be dragging around prisoners,” Zay replied tersely. “Will you be okay?”

  “I don't know, I-” Thick roots began to shoot out of the ground around their feet, and from the trees, a hoard of ugly squirrel like creatures with red eyes and wings surged right at them. The team ducked, swatting at the horrid things as they tried to bite and scratch their hair.

  “Make them stop!” Gable screeched at Ward as one of them took a bite at her ear. She felt a searing pain and warm blood trickled down her chin.

  “I can't!”

  She huffed and pulled out her gun. Lifting her arm straight up in the air, she shot.

  It did the trick. The creepy squirrel bat things squawked in offense and took off back to the safety of the blood sucking trees.

  With stony faces, the team picked themselves back up and brushed themselves down, shooting dark glares Ward's way.

  He shrugged apologetically. “At least it wasn't an earthquake,” he pointed out.

  That was annoyingly true.

  But the earth was still moving, if only a little. It was more like a gentle, almost unnoticeable vibration, like he just couldn't turn it off.

  Cadby suddenly cocked his head to one side. “Do you hear that?”

  They all grew silent as they listened. Somewhere in the distance, alarms were blaring, and then there was the spine tingling sound of-

  “Screaming,” Queenie uttered, her face white. “Why is there screaming?”

  Hue looked grim. “Or more importantly, who is screaming?”

  Without waiting for them to debate over it any longer, Gable span on her heel and sprinted in the direction of the noise as fast as she could. It took her less than a minute to finally break the tree line. She halted as she came to the edge of a huge clearing. The first thing she noticed were the two large, gray buildings that sat facing each other, surrounded by trodden on grass and dusty dirt. They were low key buildings, only two stories high, but ridiculously long. Attached to one of the buildings was a gigantic pen, like the kind animals were caged in at the zoo. It was surrounded by another towering electric fence.

  A second later she heard the others pull up behind her, panting.

  “What in the goddamned hell?” Hue breathed as he surveyed the scene.

  The two buildings were crumbling in on themselves dangerously, completely falling apart. Alarms were still screeching. Inside one of the buildings came the unmistakable sound of gunshots, and then there was the screaming. Tortured screams, furious screams, terrified screams.

  “I'm assuming it's not always like this,” Gable guessed breathlessly. “This is Pablo's creation. He insisted on control above all else.”

  “But he's not running the show now,” Ward said.

  “Even so, it's been almost a month since he. . .since he died. It couldn't have been like this the entire time.”

  “My earthquakes. . .”

  “You guys, the ground has stopped vibrating,” Zay spoke up. “Does this mean-”

  “There are leeches nearby,” Cadby confirmed. “Multiple.”

  Ward nodded. “That's probably a good thing for now, as far as I'm concerned.”

  “Yeah, this place is crazy enough as it is.”

  His face fell guiltily. “I think this is down to me.”

  Queenie shook her head to deter his thoughts. “I'm pretty sure that in there is the sound of the Outcasts freeing themselves. Your earthquakes probably helped them do that.”

  “I guess that's the building we're going for then,” Zay said, back to business. He checked the ammo in his gun and stood up straighter. “But we should check the other-”

  “Done,” Nicky panted, jogging over. They'd been so busy listening to the horrifying noises that they hadn't even realized he'd left. Or he was just that sneaky. “It's just living quarters – bunks, showers and a kitchen. Probably where the guards sleep when they're not holding people captive like stupid, sick fuckers. It's empty right now.”

  “Then let's go!” Gable insisted, moving towards the other building. The building with the screaming. The building that Sacha must be inside. He just must be. Because the idea of coming all this way only to find he wasn't here was. . .unthinkable.

  Zay caught a hold of her arm. “Wait, we need a plan.”

  “But-”

  He interrupted her before she could get out another word. Now that they were so close to their goal he had no problem forcing his authority. “Nicky, Hue and Cadby will get the prisoners out here safely, make sure none are left in the building. Gable, Queenie, Ward and I are going to look for the key. It goes without saying that we take down as many guards as we can, though I have a feeling the Outcasts are already on that.”

  Gable wanted to argue, wanted to tell him that she should be in the team helping the prisoners, but there was little time and they were wasting enough of it as it was. By the noises coming from inside the building, things were escalating fast.

  “Fine,” she growled. When he finally let her go, she immediately ran towards the building, the others right behind her.

  They reached a large, metal door with no handle – a lot like the sliding doors at Guardian Headquarters. To the right sat a small keypad.

  “No wonder the Outcasts haven't gotten outside yet,” Queenie burst out, holding her chest – she wasn't used to all the running.

  “Not a problem.” Hue pointed his gun at the keypad, ready to shoot.

  Zay yanked his arm down. “Bloody hell, no need to be so trigger happy! There are Outcasts in there, we can't just shoot the door in. Bleedin' Trackers,” he added under his breath.

  Hue raised a bemused eyebrow. “What's your plan then, boss?”

  Pulling out a knife, Zay used it to pry the metal casing off the keypad. He fiddled inside with the wires, and less than thirty seconds later it beeped. “See that? Child's play. Could've done that in my sleep. They should've bought my security system, the cheap bastards.”

  Gable stared at him in surprise. “Impressive.”

  “Don't let this pretty face fool you – there's a brain underneath all this perfect hair.”

  “He's a computer nerd,” Queenie filled in dryly.

  He winked. “A sexy computer nerd.”

  “Rich, too,” she added, rolling her eyes. Clearly it was an inside joke.

  The metal door made a hissing sound of release as it rose. Outcasts immediately began to spill out, beaten and bruised and coated in blood. They shoved past Gable and the others insistently, crying out as they tasted their first breath of freedom.

  Gable's eyes darted desperately from face to face, but she couldn't find the only one she truly wanted. Tensing, she pushed her way inside, constantly looking, constantly searching.

  Inside, it was pure and utter mayhem. Guards and Outcasts were brawling everywhere, guns being fired from both parties. Outcasts that had clearly taken their guns from the fallen guards held them with shaking hands, obviously unused to the feel of a weapon. It didn't stop them though. Blood splattered the walls on all sides in a sick spray.

  The room they were in was large, windowless and dusty. It was empty of furniture or anything at all, but there were three other doors leading elsewhere. On one side of the big, gray room an open door showed a stairwell that led down – Gable guessed that was where the underground prison was.

  On the other side of the room there had been a set of glass doors, but they'd been smashed – with bare hands, by the looks of the bloody fingerprints smeared over the remains. Beyond the glass she could see what looked to be a lab – a thoroughly destroyed lab. The Outcasts had gotten a hold of that too, not that Gable blamed them. Men and women in white lab coats lay on the floor, unconscious or dead or cowering in corners if they were lucky. A whole section of the lab had caved in completely, leaving a giant gaping hole in the floor.

  There was one more door with a heavy looking padlock which had to lead to the level above.

  Roaring in fury when they finally
noticed the Guardians had arrived, several of the guards turned to charge them. One rushed Gable, and she distractedly shot her elbow in his face, too busy looking for Sacha to pay him much attention. He bounced off and landed on the floor, and was immediately pounced on by an Outcast in an almost feral attack.

  There were so many Outcasts – more than she'd ever realized had been taken. For a brief second she worried that one of them would recognize her, but of course they would – she'd helped put some of them in there. And even if it had been unwittingly, it wasn't like they knew that. She would deserve everything they could throw at her, and so much more.

  But still, even that fell to the back of her mind as she made her way through the fighting and chaos. Sacha was always so much taller than everyone around him; he was never hard to spot in a crowd.

  He wasn't there.

  Panic choked her, and breathing became something she really had to work at. This wasn't it. This couldn't be it. This couldn't be the end of their story.

  Not even thinking clearly, she sped towards the steps that led down towards the prison. It was Zay once again who caught her arm to stop her.

  “Let's go look for the key upstairs,” he said pointedly. “Nicky, Hue and Cadby will check for more Outcasts downstairs and make sure they all get out.”

  She knew exactly what Zay was doing – Sacha was Gable's weakness, her distraction, and Zay was giving her the key finding task to keep her focused. With the state she was in, someone would get hurt if she didn't start paying attention. Most likely her.

  Still, it didn't stop her from wanting to punch his stupid face in.

  But she knew he was right. If they didn't get that key, then all of it, everything they'd done and everything they'd gone through, would be for nothing. And Gable would be no help if she stayed down there with the escaping Outcasts. She needed to separate herself from the situation if she wanted to be any help at all, so she forced herself to become numb in the same way she had when she'd worked for Pablo. She welcomed the lack of feeling like an old friend.

  Shoving her way through the fighting, she didn't go easy on any guard who tried to stand in her way. A punch on the side of her head snapped her neck back, but she was so void of everything that she barely felt it. The guard screamed as she casually buried her dagger in his shoulder and carried on by him. Behind her, she could hear Nicky and Hue taking out more guards, and Cadby encouraging the Outcasts to get outside.