Chapter 287
Hesitation made me stay put for a second, but just as I had decided perhaps I should chase them down, another scream echoed down the hall. I was close to the source and decided I needed to go that way instead.
Having had no luck with any of the adults I thought might be able to help me, I reached out to Brandon. His voice filled my thoughts immediately. He sounded worried, but not in the same sense that I was. “What’s up? Are you back from training?” he asked.
“Look, I don’t have time to explain, but I need you to go get my sister, now, and tell her to take my IAC call.”
“What’s going on?”
I sprinted down the hall, wishing he’d just do it. “Go. Now!”
“Give me visuals, Cass. Where are you?”
“Go!”
“I am.”
I couldn’t see him, but I got the impression he was probably already halfway to my sister’s office. I turned the corner and was immediately sliding, my feet coming out from under me. I regained my balance, thinking perhaps the floor had been freshly mopped until I realized it wasn’t water I’d stepped in. It was blood, and it was everywhere.
“What the heck?”
I turned around quickly, my hands in a protective stance. When I realized it was just Dax and Tara, I relaxed a little bit, but then I was angry. “I told you guys to leave!”
“We heard another scream and thought it might have been you,” Tara explained.
While I could appreciate her concern, this was definitely not the place for her. I’d already spotted several Vampires who looked to be up to no good. She could get hurt. Or worse.
“What happened here?” Dax asked, his face pale as he looked around us.
“I don’t know.” Glass shattered down the hallway, and then an alarm began to blare somewhere to our right. I had the feeling things were about to intensify. I turned back to my friends and shouted, “Go back! Now! I can’t protect you, Tara.”
She was ready for a fight. I could smell it on her, see it in her eyes. I knew that feeling. It had gotten me into huge trouble. “I’m fine, Cass,” she insisted.
She wouldn’t be, not if I let her stay her.
“Visuals, Cass!” Brandon screamed in my head, and I forgot he was still with us. I flipped a button on my IAC and heard him freaking out at where I was.
Mustering every bit of leadership skills I had inside of me, I said, “Listen, you two. I’m not kidding. Get out of here. Now!”
Seeing I was serious, Dax grabbed Tara by the arm. “Come on. We should go.” I don’t know if he was concerned for himself or just for her, but I was glad he was starting to get the picture.
Tara pulled away from him, though, and I realized I was wasting time. “Whatever is happening, I can help.” She looked at me confidently. “I’m not an infant, Cassidy. If you can be here, so can I.”
There was no time to argue with her, not with people screaming, glass breaking, and alarms going off. I knew that the Vampires must’ve somehow broken out of their cells, and the idea that I’d have to somehow protect Tara while finding Bonnie and Lena did not sit well with me. But I needed to get moving, so I took off again, praying Tara didn’t do anything stupid—other than what she was doing right now, following me.
We rounded another corner to find four Guardians splayed on the tile floor. This was where the blood was coming from. They weren’t dead, but the sight was gruesome and the noises they were making were awful gurgling sounds as their bodies tried to put their lungs back together. One of them was Gerald, the guy who’d let us in the night before.
“Glock?” I asked, looking around. I hated myself for it, but I bent down and felt around on one of the Guardians until I found the weapon I was looking for. Dax did the same thing, and at the end of the hallway, a woman found enough strength to move off of the Beretta she’d fallen on when whatever had happened here took place. I grabbed it, thanked her, and handed it to Tara. “Do not shoot any Guardians,” I reminded her, and she nodded. I couldn’t tell if she was a little afraid now or still just more excited than anyone should be considering what we’d just discovered.
I imagined the lack of Berettas on the other three Guardians meant the Vampires had those, which meant Tara and I could both be in danger of being shot, as well as having our throats attacked like the Guardians on the ground. And we would not be able to heal ourselves if Vampires attacked us because Vampires can kill Hunters.
These Guardians must’ve had time to send an IAC request for help. Remembering the issues I’d had with my sister and the rest of the team earlier, I decided to try a little experiment with the woman on the floor. I thought it was so odd that none of them had even come on the IAC to tell me they were busy, like they normally did. It was like there was a wall between us. I bent down and looked at her name tag. “Can you see my request to speak to you?” I asked quietly.
It was only her eyes that moved, but it was a no. So something was going on. “Did you try sending for help?” I asked her.
“Tried,” she croaked. “No answer.”
“Brandon is getting help,” I assured her. “Just hang on.” I knew she wouldn’t die, but they all had to be in so much pain. I would like to say I couldn’t imagine what that felt like, but I did know. I’d felt it myself when Jamie had given me the Transformation serum. I shuddered at the thought.
The Guardian looked relieved that help was on the way, and I puzzled over how I had been able to reach Brandon and no one else, especially since none of these Guardians had been able to get a message out. But he seemed unreachable now, too, as I stood, preparing to move on in the direction where I’d last heard the screaming.
“Look, if this Brandon person is getting help, maybe we should hang back,” Dax reasoned, grabbing onto Tara’s arm. I thought we were moving toward the intake room, that it was close by. Hopefully, the Guardians there had managed to lock everything down and everything was all right. Wouldn’t Lena have known what was happening? But then… I hadn’t felt anything odd whenever those Vampires had escaped, so maybe not.
“I think it would be a great idea if the two of you did just that,” I said to Dax, but as I continued down the dark hallway, I heard two sets of footsteps behind me.
The office doors came into view ahead of us, the same ones I’d carried Bonnie through the night before. I hoped nothing had happened to her and that she didn’t get caught in any crossfire. I realized as we neared the glass doors that there was blood here, too. More Guardians lined the hallway floor to the left, the direction Cadence and I had come from the night before.
Bullet holes and ash were also abundant here. So at least these Guardians had gotten a few of the Vampires. But I knew it wasn’t all of them, and as I reached out to pull the door open, my hand was shaking.
I saw a pile of ash on the floor in the waiting room but no blood. The alarm was coming from the hallway on the other side of the door, down near the playroom. I thought that’s where I needed to go until I glanced over at the reception area and saw a hand resting on the keyboard, reaching up from the floor
The glass partition was open, and I flung myself through it, realizing what I was seeing as I landed behind Lena. She was trying to stand, to pull herself up off of the floor but wasn’t strong enough to do it.
Lena was alive—otherwise she would’ve been a pile of ash. I dropped down next to her and turned her so I could see her face. It was obvious that she’d been shot several times as smoke was pouring from black holes that riddled the front of her otherwise pristine white uniform. “Lena, what happened?”
Her eyes were vacant, like she was in the process of leaving her body, as she said, “Cassidy, I’m sorry.”
I had no idea what she meant, so I asked again, “What happened, Lena?” The sound of something heavy hitting the wall on the other side of the door startled all of us, and I looked up to see Dax’s eyes widen in terror. He had the gun in front of him, and I was aware that he knew how to use it. But I hoped he didn’t have to, not until I found the little girl I was looking for.
Lena must’ve been thinking the same thing. “Bonnie,” she whispered.
“Where is she?” I asked, hoping if she answered nothing else, she could tell me where she was.
“Get… Bonnie,” Lena whispered. The vacant look in her eyes filled her entire face as she grimaced in pain. She drew in one last shallow breath and then faded away, right in my arms. Even though I’d seen it before, it was still shocking, and it took me a moment to register that she was gone.
I fought back tears as I dusted my hands off. Lena had been a good person, regardless of what she was. The fact that she’d said get Bonnie gave me hope, though. It meant Bonnie must still be alive, or else she was a moment ago, when Lena had seen her last.
Jumping back through the partition so that we could all stick together, I moved toward the door that divided us from the hallway that led to the playroom, praying Bonnie was there, and that she was safe. Once I found Bonnie, I’d barricade us all in a room to keep Tara safe from any other Vampires and wait for help. Brandon had to have gotten help by now. I thought it was odd that he hadn’t contacted me for so long.
We walked stealthily, all of us ready for anything. I thought I might be able to contact Bonnie with my mind, but it was difficult to concentrate under the circumstances, so I decided to wait. If I didn’t find her soon, I’d have to try reaching her the way I’d contacted Mina the day before.
Unfortunately, that ended up not being necessary. I reached the playroom first, and when I looked in through the open door, I gasped in absolute horror at what I saw, and if it hadn’t been for Dax and Tara behind me, I might’ve collapsed right there in the middle of the blood covered floor.
