United (The Guardians Book 2) (27 page)

She hoped.

Unmistakable sounds of fighting came from behind her as the rest of her group took on the guards. She pushed it to the back of her mind and tentatively approached the door, afraid of what she would find on the other side.

Or who.

This was it.

One sick son of a bitch was waiting just beyond that thin piece of wood, and Gable was going to kill them. She was going to kill them for allowing Pablo's scheme to continue instead of bringing it to an end after his death when they'd had the chance.

She tried the doorknob, but of course it was locked – she hadn't really expected otherwise. She pressed her ear to the wood; on the other side she could hear shuffling, drawers being opened and slammed closed again.

Stepping back, she took a deep breath and kicked the door as hard as she could. It splintered open with a crash and she stormed inside with her gun drawn.

There was just one man inside. He was sweating through his white shirt as he hurried about the room, gathering files and shoving them all into a box.

He turned at the intrusion, and then he. . .he just
smiled
, like he was happy to see her there with murder in her eyes. Pushing his floppy dark hair from his eyes, he said, “Hello, Gable.”
 

She paled. Her gun arm dropped lifelessly to her side. “Chase?”

“Sacha, you have to get up. Please, man.” Fortune had gotten so desperate he'd resorted to down and out begging – he'd quickly discovered that trying to force a six foot five werewolf to his feet when he didn't want to move was no easy task.

Most of the other Outcast prisoners had already escaped and stormed their way upstairs; Fortune could hear the daunting sounds of a deadly fight taking place above them. Only he, Sacha and Xahlia remained below in the cells. Even Moisey had been carried out by a couple of the others.

But Sacha refused to move from the ground, and Fortune couldn't leave without him. He wouldn't.

Sacha didn't even seem to grasp the fact that they
could
leave. Those dreams he'd been having of his girl and that last round of experiments had completely done him in. He was lost inside his own head – or at least, he was trying to be. “I just want to sleep,” he mumbled, his head buried in the arms resting on his drawn up knees. “I just want to dream. I don't care about anything else, not anymore.”

“We could slap him,” Xahlia suggested seriously. Her head kept snapping back and forth between them and the stairwell as she made sure that no guards were coming down.

Fortune genuinely considered it for a brief moment. “I think he's been put through enough pain as it is.”

Heaving a sigh, she dropped down to her knees beside them. Jaana's blood still stained her hands and arms but she seemed to be making a conscious effort to try and ignore it. Fortune had to keep forcing his eyes away from her cell as it was – every time he caught a glimpse of Jaana's still body a stab of pain shot right through his heart. It felt wrong to be leaving her down here while they all escaped towards freedom, but he knew he needed to focus all his energy on the friend that was actually still alive, as callous as that may be.

“Lift your head,” Xahlia instructed Sacha in a gentle voice. She stroked his dark hair, and for once, Fortune didn't bother to stop her.”

“No,” Sacha replied tersely.

It didn't take her long to lose her patience. She may have claimed to love him, but she also wanted to get the hell out of there – Fortune understood the feeling all too well. “Okay, stop being such a crazy asshole and lift your stupid damn head!”

Fortune was about to snap at her, but her temper tantrum actually did the trick. Sacha finally looked up, though it was like he wasn't even seeing them; there was something missing behind his eyes.

Still, it was a start.

Fortune snapped the fingers of his uninjured hand in Sacha's face to gain his attention. “I know your head is messed up right now, brother. I know things royally suck. But I need you to get up for me so we can get out of here. I need you to quit thinking about Gable for just a minute and concentrate on your happy place instead, then I want you to cling on to that and let it give you strength. Sound good?”

Sacha frowned dishearteningly. “Gable
is
my happy place.”
 

Xahlia's face fell at that, but a moment later she lit up as inspiration struck. “I bet you she's here right now,” she said quickly. “I'll be she finally came for you and that's why everything went crazy – why the guards lost control and why we're able to escape. You said she was incredible, Sacha. Incredible enough to do anything, right? Even this?” Her words surprised Fortune, and for the very
first time he thought that maybe she really did love Sacha after all.
 

Sacha's mouth dropped open as he contemplated everything she'd said, and finally,
finally
, a light came on in his eyes. It was dim, but it was there. Xahlia had successfully shook some sense into him. He turned to Fortune eagerly. “You think. . ?”

Actually, Fortune didn't. He didn't believe Gable had really come, not really, and a big part of him thought it was cruel to give Sacha such hope. Because as much as his friend loved her, this Gable girl was just a. . . Well, she was just a girl. She wasn't an Outcast or a Guardian or anyone with enough power to find her way into whichever dimension they'd been thrust into. And even if by some miracle she
had
found her way, then there was the scary rainforest outside, the bloodthirsty trees and the creepy crawlies that lay beyond and the guards, so many guards. It wasn't that Fortune thought that she wouldn't
want
to fight her way through all of that, because if she loved Sacha as much as he loved her then he knew she'd stop at nothing to find him, but it was just impossible. A tragic, heartbreaking impossibility.

Xahlia glared at him pointedly, and he knew he was taking too long to reply. “Yeah,” he lied as convincingly as he could, because he sure as hell wasn't about to voice his true thoughts when this was the only thing that had gotten Sacha to wake up. “She's probably up there right now, looking for you. Don't you want to find her?”

The guilt was already beginning to eat him up inside, but he'd deal with that later when they were safe and
away
from there. Sacha would forgive him eventually. . .he hoped.

“You're right,” Sacha agreed, nodding as he pushed himself up and clambered to his feet. But his mental state had weakened him so much that he staggered. Fortune grabbed him and slung his uninjured arm under his shoulders to help him walk. At six foot one, he was only a few inches shorter than Sacha, but it was still a struggle.

Xahlia clapped her hands excitedly as she led them away. She made sure to step on Merche's body as she passed over her and the bodies of the other guards Gelasius had taken out.

Fortune spared one last glance at Jaana over his shoulder as they passed by her cell. A piece of his heart broke off and remained with her, and he knew he'd never get it back. It would stay down within the remains of her cell forever.

There were more bodies near the stairwell – bodies of the guards who had gotten in the way of the escaping Outcasts as they'd stampeded out, and a couple of unfortunate Outcasts the guards had taken down with them.

So much death, so much destruction. It would haunt them all for the rest of their lives – if they made it out.

They reached the curved stairwell quickly and shame immediately filled Fortune as they turned the corner and almost stumbled over Gelasius – he'd forgotten all about him. He was slumped on the steps against the brick wall, beaten all over and bleeding from the bullet wound in his shoulder. Eadgar the clairvoyant was kneeling next to him, shirtless so that he could use the material to try and stem the flow of blood.

All of those other Outcasts had just rushed by and left him there to die, even knowing he'd been the only reason any of them had been able to escape at all. It was sickening, yet at the same time, Fortune could almost understand.

He let Sacha slide down to sit on the steps above them so he could crouch down by his injured friend.

“We don't have time for this,” Xahlia ground out, and any respect Fortune may have gained for her died.

“I'm okay,” Gelasius mumbled when he saw Fortune's horror stricken face. The poor guy was barely conscious. “Had worse, anyway.”

“He is
not
okay,” Eadgar corrected sternly. He was a strong looking Egyptian man in his late forties. Most of his body was covered in tribal style tattoos – even his bald head. “He put up a helluva good fight, but eventually the guards managed to disarm him before beating him within an inch of his life – I saw the whole thing. He must have heard me yell, because he somehow found a scrap of energy to grab one of their guns after they let their guard down when they thought he was done. Our hero got out one more shot.”

“The panel controlling the locks on our cells?” Fortune guessed.

Eadgar nodded, pointing over his shoulder at the smoking panel attached to the wall. “They got the gun off him after that, but it was already too late. They stomped on his hand – not sure if he'll ever be able to use it again.” He gestured towards the mangled hand Gelasius was holding against his chest. “They were about to put a bullet through his head when the rest of us got out and charged them.”

“Then they had a whole new set of problems to deal with.” Sacha's eyes were closed, but he was listening to the conversation with rapt attention. Probably because he'd somehow missed everything the first time around due to his self induced comatose state.

Fortune's gaze drifted back down to the broken bodies of the guards at the bottom of the stairwell. Their limbs were all pointed in very wrong angles; their deaths would have been torturous. He couldn't muster up even the smallest amount of sympathy for them, not even from the very depths of his soul.

“That will have to do for now,” Eadgar decided out loud, tightening the knot on the makeshift bandage around Gelasius' bullet wound. “I sure as hell hope there's a way to get out of this place. He needs medical assistance immediately.” He looked down at his patient. “Can you walk if I aid you?”

Gelasius' head flopped up and down unconvincingly, and Eadgar took that as a yes. Turning back to Fortune, he said, “You help the wolf out, I've got the shadow guide.”

He nodded, but before he could make a move towards Sacha, an injured guard holding his bloody arm to his chest stumbled down the stairwell above them. He snarled furiously when he caught sight of them, and lifted his gun straight at Sacha.

“NO!” Xahlia screamed. She threw herself in front of him, right as the guard pulled the trigger. A BANG shot out, the force of the bullet throwing her into the wall. She fell backwards, tripping over Sacha and tumbling down. With horror on his face, he tried to reach out for her, but his hands only caught air. Fortune managed to catch her before she could fall all the way down.

Eadgar yelled out a battle cry and launched himself at the guard, taking him by surprise. Before the guard had a chance to react, his head was in Eadgar's hands. There was a sickening snapping sound, and Eadgar dropped his dead body to the ground without care. With a face full of thunder, he picked up the guard's gun and fired off two more unnecessary shots in the guy's head.

Fortune looked down at Xahlia as she lay in his arms, seeming smaller than she ever had. An impossible amount of blood was pumping out of the wound in her chest. He prayed for a second that she could be saved, like Gelasius, but when she coughed up a mouthful of blood he already knew it was too late.

“I'm sorry,” he whispered to her, though he didn't know if she really heard him.

He'd never liked Xahlia, had tolerated her at best. She'd been spiteful and bitchy and all around awful, but God, he didn't want her to die. She'd been so,
so
close to freedom, literally right around the corner. Her death was another that would leave a hollow pit in his stomach for the rest of his life.

Her eyes, slowly draining of life, flitted to Sacha, who had gathered his strength and pulled himself down next to them. His large hand brushed back the blonde hair from her face as he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. By the time he pulled away, she was gone.

“She died for me,” he uttered guiltily.

Fortune couldn't deny it, but Sacha didn't deserve to drown himself in guilt. “She did, but it was her choice.”

“A brave choice,” Gelasius confirmed weakly. “We should make it count by getting you out of here alive.”

Slowly, Fortune laid her down gently on the concrete steps, brushing her eyelids closed. It was sad, but there was nothing they could do to change her fate now.

“Let's go,” Eadgar said gruffly, slipping his arm beneath Gelasius' shoulder to help him up.

But something else happened then, something incredible.

They all gasped and clutched at their chests as that hollow, empty feeling inside of them just. . .drifted away.

“The leeches have all been taken out,” Fortune burst out breathlessly.

It was a wondrous, beautiful feeling, like the weight had been lifted right off their shoulders. And this time there were no guards with guns aimed at their hearts, no drugs dulling their senses, no straps holding them down. They were them again. They were
alive
again.

Fortune laughed incredulously as he held out a hand to summon a fireball. It wrapped around his skin, warm and familiar and
powerful
. God, it was good to be back.

But there was another feeling inside, there was. . .instability.

“This place affects us,” Sacha reminded them, his voice quiet with fatigue. He was too weak to properly wolf out, but his fingernails had lengthened into vicious claws and his teeth had elongated and sharpened. Coarse black fur was beginning to sprout in patches over his arms and even his ears had grown pointy at the tips. “We can't control ourselves here, not completely.”