Bound to Ashes (The Altered Sequence Book 1) (17 page)

I hadn’t considered that. They took our packs. All our food, water, Alessandra’s maps, the guns. We’re as good as dead without them.

“Yeah. Good idea.”

“Well,” Ashton says awkwardly. “We should... I mean, you’re in no shape to go alone.” He gestures hesitantly at Vinder’s face, bruised and puffy.

Vinder just laughs and says, “We can help a
little
.”

Peregrine squints out of her black eye and says, “I dunno, I feel
great
.”

“Alright,” Alessandra says, standing over us on the stairwell. “Peregrine, Vinder, Jules. You guys go look for our stuff. Ashton, Dev, and I are gonna go get James. Cain,” they exchange a difficult look, “go find the guns.”

She knows just how to talk to him. He leaves at once.

Vinder grins and salutes exaggeratedly. Peregrine laughs and says, “You got it, boss. After that let’s meet inside the Capitol Bank building. We can regroup and then get the hell out of this city.” Relief fills me at the mention of leaving.

They peel off and I hear Jules tell Vinder and Peregrine, “You guys better keep up.”

I can feel the life returning to my legs after being cooped up in that cell. After a few more flights of stairs Alessandra stops us. She holds her hands up to quiet us and says, “Okay, this way.” She leads us down the left side. Outside the stadium, I can make out the shapes of broken glass in skyscraper windows.

Alessandra grinds to a halt and stops us, shoving us against the nearest wall behind an ATM.

“What the h—”

But she shushes me before I can finish.

Ashton is apparently more observant than me. “Can’t believe I didn’t notice them,” he says pressed against the wall.

Sure enough, there are some men all sitting around the entrance to the ticket holder’s booth. They’re just standing and talking in a circle, they haven’t noticed us. Leaning around the corner, I count five of them. Only three seem to be armed.

“I can handle this,” Ashton says. “You guys go.”

If anyone else had said it, I wouldn’t have believed them. But Ashton is capable. I have to tell myself that before the worry sets in. No one can catch him.

“Alright, good,” Alessandra says. “Go now.”

All we hear is a slight shifting of Ashton’s feet before he darts away, just a blur. The guards notice right away.

“What the hell?”

“It’s one of them—”

But he’s already led them away, given them something to chase and shoot at. They head off around the bend.

Splitting the group. Now that it’s happening, I can finally see if all those years of fighting tooth and nail to prevent it have been necessary.

“We’re clear, let’s go,” Alessandra says, snapping me back to reality. She slinks out from cover and makes for the entrance.

The room has two levels divided by a long, shallow staircase. Picture windows to the left at the other end, bleachers on the upper level to the right. Tables and chairs piled in the corner. James is strapped to the nearest bleacher.

He sucks in a shocked breath but knows better and holds it. His eyes get wide and he jerks his head to the picture windows. He mouths, ‘Behind you.’

Two forms stand in the windows. Alessandra and I hit the carpet immediately. She rushes over to James’s feet. A little pocketknife procured from her boot is a poor tool for cutting that cord, the men at the window stir, she won’t get it in time—

The two men look over. One, a thick man with grey hair, comes running—I swing to the side and he flies past me, staggers, turns around, and gives me a look like, ‘What the hell?’ He glances over at Alessandra and James and makes for it—

I have to stop him. I rush him and shoulder tackle, push him aside. He’s flung into the pile of tables and chairs. Limp and sprawling over metal. His head slumps to the side. Motionless. Is he dead or is.... did I really...?

“
You
.”

I spin around.

A shadow lingers in the corner, dark eyes watching me.

He steps into the light from the window. He doesn’t say a word, just walks towards me. He doesn’t go for Alessandra or James. I’m his focus. His furrowed brow and hunkered head and stabbing gait, he’s fast—hissing, venomous words: “You should have
died
!”

Damn— I block the first blow but his other fist flies up. I barely duck in time. Can’t slide past, he’s on me again, that elbow jabs my spine— the floor rushes up but I kneel and catch myself. My back protests with hot pain. I whip around and face him and he’s just standing there as if nothing had happened, straight-backed and shadowed.

I glance at the upper level with James and Alessandra—

Heydrich rushes at me again, silently, doesn’t say a word. His hands reach for my neck but I turn them away and strike him across the face, like punching a brick wall. It doesn’t deter him and he’s reaching for me again. Eyes wide, blank stare, boring into me. Push him away, stop it, come on—

I palm his arms down but he’s pushing me back, and back, every swipe and every parry I have to take another step back. His hands move like lightning, his fervor radiating like fire. I finally sneak a couple blows in. He doesn’t slow. I can’t get the high ground.

My back hits the glass and that’s when my heart starts racing. Heydrich reaches back and I slide sideways away from him— but he meant to miss. The safety glass fragments into a web of pieces and the whole thing wobbles and falls, careening to the ground. The empty window frame sucks air out and Heydrich’s palm meets my neck. The edge of the window frame cuts into my lower back and he bends me over the ledge. My arms move on their own, reach out to the sides to grab the ledge, and his hands tighten over my throat. I fight to keep the passages open. My legs shoot out to balance but he’s pressing and pressing, tilting me farther back.

The look on his face. Those
eyes
.

My head starts to throb and sounds become muffled. I reach up and grab his forearms— like concrete. I push and tear, but nothing happens. Everything’s dim.

I finally find purchase with my foot and hook his leg around mine and pull. His balance disturbed, I grasp his arms and push up. He stumbles backwards and I wind up for a final blow but he freezes.

Alessandra’s behind him with a rifle pointed at his head.

“You have
one
second to stand down,” she says through grit teeth.

Heydrich casts his eyes down and smiles softly. He holds his hands up and backs towards the window. He starts laughing.

The blood is throbbing back to my head. I step away from him and lean against the other window. Just shoot him, Aless, come on....

“Well played, Mead,” Heydrich says. He’s right in front of the open window. He looks up and says, “Well played.” He bends backwards and falls.

“No,” Alessandra blurts.

We lean over the ledge. The window juts out and directly below is just the seats, and makeshift shelters, tarps fluttering, scrap wood structures.... No body. Endless lines of bleachers and shelters cloaked by curtains of rain.

Alessandra is gaping, mouth opening and closing, failing over and over to find words.

James, rubbing his wrists, rushes over and says, “He just fell? That’s it?”

“That’s impossible,” Alessandra says.

“Well,” he swallows. “Let’s just go. The whole place is lit up trying to find us.”

He must have had someone working with him, lining something up to catch him or something... no, that’s impossible... Unless he planned an escape that way? Did he predict we’d escape and come for Alessandra and James? Of course not.... I rub my neck and stretch it out. It’s tender.

“You alright?” Alessandra says, checking the rifle for ammunition and slinging it over her shoulder.

I don’t know what to say first. ‘Did you see how fast he moved?’ ‘How can he be that strong?’ ‘How did he find us?’ But all that comes out is a croak, “Yeah.”

“Good,” she says hurriedly. She turns to James. “We’re meeting everyone else at the Capitol Bank building.”

“Then let’s go,” he urges. He glances at the other guy in the pile of furniture, then at me. He hurries along after Alessandra, sticking close. I finally convince my feet to move.

I glance out of the window. Everything is as quiet as it was before, and it’s like Heydrich wasn’t even there at all.

[Alessandra]

The Capitol Bank building, the most run-down building on the block, is a windfall. Windows are broken out and the support beams threaten to collapse at any second. It’s perfect. The stadium people must be scared to come in here. Probably because only fools hide in a building that might fall at any second.

And I guess we... made our mark. I’m fairly certain Dev killed that man back there and who knows how many else got in the Altered’s way... as gut-turning as it is, the stadium people would have to be some kind of stupid to come after us now.

I should have reached out to them. They’re just like us, trying to live. Hell, if I can convince Dev that there’s a reason to follow me, I could have done it with them. It’s hard to want to help people that try to kill your friends. At least no one will guilt me about leaving them behind.

I push past a blanket of ivy and head down into the parking garage. Better here than the lobby, though— it was a mess. Plush red carpets and gold-trimmed countertops were rotten and trashed. Most of the ceiling had caved in. But everyone else will be smart enough to know where to find us.

James and Dev file in after me. The sloping parking garage, more like an underground lake, wears a carpet of squelching brown moss. We settle around the booth at the entrance, but we’re hidden enough from the outside from all that ivy. We’re safe as we’ll ever be.

I sit in the ticket taker’s seat and my feet practically sigh with relief. My hands are throbbing from grabbing that rifle so hard. I can still see Heydrich’s face when I close my eyes.

I grab the binders and moldy papers and the register on the desk in the booth and plow them off—they crash to the ground. The dry papers flutter and settle on the wet ground, the soggy binder crumples under its own weight. I kick my feet up on the counter. The rifle sits across my lap and I stare out the entrance through the ivy curtain.

Not sure if that helped or not.

It would have been one thing with just the stadium people. But now Heydrich. I
knew
he was out there. But I kept telling myself to forget it, it was impossible. James confirmed three bodies. Ashton confirmed two. I issued James the tranquilizers myself, it was enough to kill a horse. And he wouldn’t lie if he didn’t do it, or didn’t use all of it....

Then again, I used the same amount of tranquilizer for Dev. And
he
woke up.

No. That’s impossible. If he’s one of them, then why... why does he want to kill them so bad? He said the supersoldiers were better off dead. There’s something else going on here and it makes me want to scream.

Dev approaches the door of the booth and leans against it tiredly. I wait for him to say something, but he just wears that thousand-yard stare.

“Everything okay?”

He glances at me and says, “Yeah.” But I can tell it isn’t.

“They’ll be back soon.”

He half-glances at me and says, “I know.” He fights to say something else, hesitates, then says quietly, “I don’t think Heydrich is who you think he is.”

I sit up and face him.

He frowns and says, “Back there, that was... for his size, he was way too strong. It doesn’t make sense. And the way he disappeared,” he looks up at the ceiling and stares at it like it will bring answers. “And....” He pauses, like he’s trying to decide whether to continue. I wait. “That was the first time I’ve ever seen his face. Every other time I saw him in skimmer gear, with the face shield. But I can’t stop thinking about it... I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before.”

“Somewhere?”

“Yeah.” He swallows and for a flicker of a moment I can see the strain in his eyes. “At Caduceus.”

I don’t want to admit Heydrich is one of them. A supersoldier with a grudge is not something I want to deal with. But Dev’s observations aren’t wrong. Probably. I just end up groaning and folding my hand over my eyes. This is ridiculous. As if life couldn’t get any harder. We’re already worrying about everything possible—getting snagged by rusty metal, infection, do we have food, or fresh water, or any medicine at all, and how far we have to go....

James wanders over and sticks his hands in his pockets. He huffs. “Guess that explains the whole tranquilizer thing.”

“Yeah....”

James looks over at Dev, who eyes him warily. “Hey,” James says. “Thanks for helping back there.”

Dev says, “Don’t thank me, Alessandra was the one that let us out.”

James smirks and looks at me. “You what?”

“It’s a long story.”

He laughs.

Dev’s attention snaps to something beyond the ivy curtain. The dimming light reflects on his eyes and I get a shiver down my spine. Just like a cat or dog’s eyes, that reflective disc shining back.