Meg stood mannequin-still right where he’d left her. Grabbing her hand, he yanked her back toward the entrance of the asylum. Meg’s body moved to keep up, but she ran in a daze, tottering in the three-inch heels Arkdone had her wear.
To the metasoldiers wearing gas masks pouring in the back windows, Williams yelled, “Kill them all!”
He helped Meg over the debris that used to be the front door and ducked her head down as a helicopter dove from the clouds and landed ten yards away from them. Never allowing her hand to leave his, Kenneth Williams pushed Meg into the chopper and climbed in right behind her. Miro, who was piloting the bird, turned around awaiting Williams’ signal to take off. His eyes were black and dead and his thoughts were half English and half Russian.
***
The feral cats, two of which had fresh kills dangling from their mouths, looked up and watched the loud bird fly straight up and away from the asylum.
The noise of the blades chopping through the air, while bothersome, was no threat to them or their kills, so the wild cats found their favorite perches and began cutting past the rats’ furry skin to savor the warm, bloody meat below.
Chapter 65 Get Out Alive
“Where’s Meg?” Alik spun looking for his sister.
“Arkdone did something to her, Alik. He took her.” Evan’s eyes were still bloodshot from tears of horror and guilt at what just happened to Meg. Alik was yanking off his brother’s restraints.
“They made us watch, Alik. They erased Meg’s memory.” Cole’s voice was bitter with anger and heartbreak.
“What?” Alik turned to help his brother stand on unsure legs.
“He performed what he called ‘The Perfect Concussion’ using subaural frequency waves to target her hippocampus. She didn’t remember anything when he walked her out of here. She even held his hand as if she was a little girl walking with her daddy,” Evan coughed through tears pouring again from his raw tear ducts.
Alik shook his head in disbelief. “We’ll get her back, I swear it.”
Crash!
Alik was working on Creed’s iron shackles, picking the lock with two paperclips he found on the desk. “I think Williams’ metasoldiers have decided to join the party.”
“Wait, what?” Evan sputtered.
“We need to get out of here now!” Creed said to the sounds of crashing windows just beyond the lab.
“Yeah, without you killing each other. Stay at least seven feet apart and let me lead the way. Farrow, I need you beside me.”
She nodded once, finished yanking the Velcro and buckled straps off Sloan and hurried to Alik’s side, careful to step around Bjorn’s body.
“I don’t know where we’re going, Alik. The SUV can seat everyone but not seven feet apart.”
“I have a plan for that,” Evan said reaching beside him for a device he had been eyeing for the last three hours as he was strapped to the seat.
“Wait, what about Maze?” Cole said.
At the sound of his name, Maze let out a plaintive cry.
“Oh dear God, what did he do to you?” Alik ran up to the half-hidden crate barely big enough to fit the large, bloody coyote.
“You’re going to have to carry him, Alik. He’s implanted with a nanoweapon, too.”
Alik’s rage had him crushing the metal clasps that held the crate together so the sides flopped open making reaching under the coyote much easier. “Oh, Maze. I’m so sorry Big Man. Come on; let’s get you out of here.” He carefully slipped his large hands under Maze’s belly and scooped him up easily. Maze tensed when his paws grazed the table. “Shh, Buddy, I’m sorry. We’ll get you fixed up and…” Alik swallowed hard, “we’ll find our Meg, too.”
“Let’s go,” he said to the others, pulling his eyes away from the loyal coyote who had slowly lifted his head to lick Alik’s face in thanks.
Alik and Farrow led the way back down the macabre corridor. The white walls were painted red with blood. Body parts were strewn all around, some still hanging from the ceiling and cement walls.
If they had time to grieve the loss of life they would have, but this was a matter of their own life or death. They were hunted now by two madmen and they were in no position to stop and bury any dead.
Willing gravity not to pull a clump of tissue or even a droplet of blood on top of them, they hurried through the gruesome passageway and back to the main foyer where the whole battle had just begun. Metasoldiers wearing gas masks were streaming into the building. When the Winter Clan hit the wall of gas, their eyes began to burn and itch horribly. The effect on Alik was the worst because he couldn’t even use his hands to pull up his shirt over his face as the others instinctively did. His hands were full.
The metasoldiers were busy fighting Monarchs. Gunfire, knives and fists were flying through the air.
So was a helicopter.