He took one slow step toward me, and then dropped to his knees.
His fingers curled as I rushed forward, clawing, grabbing, dragging me down as I reached for him. His blood smelled rich and sweet, filling my nose, making my stomach clench tight.
His lips moved so fast—a jumble of gurgles until one hissed word tore free… “Kris.”
Kris…Kris…a soft thawack wrenched me from the sight, and a deep growl from Angel followed. Seconds…it had to be just seconds. The plastic sheeting moved on the other side of the atrium, sweeping backwards and forwards as I shoved to my feet.
My legs trembled. Adrenaline rushed. Chuck wasn’t the killer.
Memories crammed in. Cruel, beady eyes. Someone watching me from the other side of the airlock door…the ‘booster’ that Kenya had been giving to the others.
It all made sense…I flinched, stilled as one name raced through my head, Damon. Kris was covering his tracks, killing those who knew the real reason he locked himself in the lab. He’d been feeding them the damn plague.
My body trembled, knees weak. I could still feel his lips, still feel the rush of his fingers…still hear his voice in my mind.
The ring bounced against my side as I aimed at the plastic and followed. My pulse was all I could hear as I stumbled past the plants and shoved through the plastic. Wet boot prints were left behind, leading back the way I’d come.
I shoved forward, forcing my feet to move. He was headed for Damon, ready to end this once and for all. My finger slipped to the trigger guard as I raced past the foyer to the lab.
Angel kept up, striding out as we rushed along the lab’s hallway and hit the doors. The handle was lifted, the door hung open. I grasped the steel and yanked.
There was no sound of a scuffle, nothing. I made for the bedroom and glanced inside. Voices echoed back the way I’d come…the lab.
I glanced at the side door and hurried.
“You sent her out there to die?” Damon’s roar rebounded along the hall. “Goddamn you…goddamn you sonovabitch!”
Muffled words responded. I craned my neck as I slid along the hall and stopped outside the door.
“And Chuck…the blood…the blood on your shirt…” Damon stuttered. “So this was your plan all along, wasn’t it? Mutate the plague and release it out into the world.”
“Yes,” the cold word echoed as I reached for the door handle to the lab. My hand was slick, finger finding the smooth curve of the trigger. I’d never fired it at anyone—never aimed it at anything that wasn’t a wall, or a damn object.
A light filled the hallway, slowly at first until the blinding glow swallowed the walls and the ceiling and closed in.
“I’ll do it,” Kris snarled. “I’ll kill every last one of you. I’ll end it all.”
I gripped the handle and shoved. My movements were slow, and numb, muted like watered-down colors as I lunged into the room.
White stole the space, stainless steel glinted. I glimpsed a dark blue jacket on the edge of a bench, the hood open, sleeves turned inside out and for a second I was back in that cage, staring out into the sea of filthy faces and seeing him.
The man in the hood.
“Don’t you come closer. I’ll blow you all away. I swear I will.”
I jerked my focus toward the button in his hand. He gripped a detonator, finger poised over the trigger.
“Don’t…don’t do it, Kris,” Damon stuttered and lifted a hand, but it wasn’t a call to battle…it was a plea.
Blood trickled from under his nose. His knees buckled, and he fell.
The light from the hallway spilled through the cracks around the door to flood the room.
Kris paled under the glow. He threw a panicked glance behind me and raised a hand to shield his eyes.
“It’s you, isn’t it?” I whispered and dragged the muzzle high. “You’re Pestilence.”
He didn’t answer, only stared into the light. I knew what it was now, knew who stood at my side, who’d come for his soul. I gripped the Bible and burrowed into my pocket.
The gleaming rays bounced off the stone, and for a second the emerald was alive, throwing off vibrant hues of green to fill the room.
“You left this ring for me. You taunted me, used me…You could’ve had me killed. I was right there in the cage, hurting and bleeding. One word and Miles would’ve done it, could’ve saved you all this trouble.”
Kris flinched, gaze frozen by the stunning glow. “I didn’t…”
My gaze followed the wires from the button in his hand to the desk behind him. “Didn’t what, Kris? Didn’t use me…didn’t worm your way into my head? Didn’t watch me behind that damn door as I dressed?”
He swallowed hard and shook his head. Angel growled outside the door. The savage snarl invaded with the light. But it was the bark that made me cower.
It wasn’t of warning.
It was of hate and fear.
Savage snarls turned into sickening howls of terror. Something heavy slammed against the door. But I couldn’t leave him…I couldn’t do a damn thing as Kris lifted his gaze to the door behind me.
“Harlow,” Damon whispered.
The end moved in slow motion. Kris’s eyes widened, his terror was a green glow.
Damon reached for me as Kris stabbed the button in his hand and the bright spark ignited.
“It’s too late,” Kris whispered. “We’re all dead anyway.”
I didn’t hear the click. Didn’t feel the fire.
The blast of air hit me like a blow.
My head snapped backwards, teeth gnashing.
My feet left the ground as the ring slipped from my fingers. I tried to reach for the glow as the light crammed in and detonated with a deafening boom.
Darkness followed, consuming the light with ravenous hunger.
Fragments filtered through. Flashes of light peppered with the savage howls of Angel.
It was that sound that called to me, that desperation, that need. I cracked open my eyes to stare into thick white smoke. The lab was decimated, chairs embedded into walls—stainless steel tables bent and bowed.
Damon…I sucked in the dust and tried to lift my hand as something warm and slick fell into my eyes. Pain flared, piercing my skull with fangs, as movement came from my left.
Kris rolled, pushed, fragments of concrete tumbling free as he slowly climbed to his feet. Blood ran down his head to seep into the white collar of his lab coat.
He lunged forward, stumbled, hit the ground, and then tried again. He was getting away…he was getting away.
My fingers trembled, pain raced along my arm. Bits of brick and concrete fell as I skimmed my fingers across the mess.
Sharp edges poked and prodded. But I needed the feel of steel. I needed my gun as Kris tried once more to stand.
Shadows turned the bright white into gray as Kris turned toward me. His head lowered, gaze fixed on the ground. He stumbled forward and bent over.
Sunlight glinted off perfect steel in his hand.
I knew the gun, knew it better than I knew my textbooks.
“Should’ve stayed away,” Kris murmured, and wobbled. His finger slipped to the trigger as he took aim.