Before I can close the door, my hands freeze. I feel a whoosh as Oksana and the other two women leave. There’s the briefest hesitation, then Will follows.
It’s different from all of the other times that hitchers left. Not like they’re moving on, but more like they’re simply moving the hell out. Like they’d rather stay here than stay with me.
And I’m perfectly okay with that.
“What’s wrong?” Deo asks.
“Nothing.” I slam the door and lean against it for a second to get my bearings. “Let’s go.”
Even though we run at full speed, the dark, cold corridor seems longer heading back than it did when I was walking this way with Cregg and Lucas last night. Maybe it’s because every muscle is tense, waiting for an alarm to go off, or for us to encounter one of the guards. We have all three bracelets, so I doubt Cregg and the others can get out on their own, but that won’t stop them from sounding an alarm. For that matter, if someone didn’t find a way to put Cregg out, his flaming body might trigger a fire alarm all by itself.
The tunnel starts to tilt upward now, and the lights are getting brighter. I reach the door before Deo does and wave Cregg’s bracelet again, and then we’re in the hallway, just a few doors down from my room.
As we pass, I hear a door open behind us. It’s Ashley.
“Oh, thank God! How did you . . . ?” A quick shake of her head as she pulls her phone out. “Never mind. I have to tell Daniel and the others to abort.” She looks down at Cregg’s ID in my hand. “That should work on the elevators. Do you know where they are?”
Daniel and the others? But there’s no time to ask. “Yes, I do.”
“Then go. Get out of here!”
I’m terrified that Timmons will be in his cubicle when we reach the monitoring station. But it’s as empty as the rest of the Highside.
Well, except for Room 81. The noise starts when we’re a few yards from the door.
thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump
RUN RUN RUN, ANNA
I hurry past, but then stop and look back at the door. Deo halts too when he realizes I’m not next to him.
“What?”
“You don’t hear that?”
“Hear what?
“It’s a little kid, Deo. A little boy, I think. And Jaden says—”
Whoa! Hold up. No, no, no, no! Absolutely not.
But you said they might not actually be moving the other patients. That they might—
No. They won’t hurt the little ones. And, Anna, you cannot handle that kid. You cannot hide that kid. Believe me.
He could be right. I remember Cregg’s face when he spoke about the kids here. His righteous indignation, like they were doing a service for these children.
The door starts doing that weird thing again, almost like it’s pulsing into the hallway. Almost like a heartbeat.
“A kid?” Deo says. “Are you sure? I don’t hear—”
“You don’t see that? The door?”
“No. Anna, we need to get the hell out of here.”
Jaden echoes the sentiment, but it’s not his urging or Deo’s that gets my feet back into gear.
RUNNNNNNN, ANNA! HURRY. BWEE-OM, BWEE-OM. GOGOGOGOGO.
The door throbs in time with each syllable.
Jaden is right. How do you hide a kid who can do that?
So I run.
All of the rooms are dark, and the monitoring station is empty as we turn into the hallway between the testing center and the cafeteria. I grab Deo’s arm and pull him into the corridor with the elevators.
“Up, right?”
I nod, really hoping Jaden’s comments about this being a rabbit warren are correct and we’re not headed for an even higher floor in some windowless building. The elevator door slides open instantly. We hit the up button again and the car begins to ascend.
Deo leans against the side of the elevator, catching his breath. “Whew. I thought someone would have sounded the alarm by . . .” He falls silent as we both hear the alarm blaring below us. “Guess I jinxed it.”
All I can think is that the alarm sounds exactly like the noise—bwee-om, bwee-om—that the kid in Room 81 was making.
The light in the elevator goes out a few seconds later. I stifle a scream, expecting us to halt or drop suddenly. But we keep going up.
When the door opens, I look out into a room that’s as dark as the elevator. I can just barely make out a door directly in front of us with another security panel.
I step out into the hallway. Deo doesn’t follow immediately. He’s standing in the elevator doorway, stripping off his sweatshirt.
“What are you doing? It’s freezing in here.”
He wads the shirt into a ball and shoves it into the gap so that the elevator can’t close. “Maybe this will slow them down a little.”
“When did you get so smart?”
“Born this way. You’re just getting more observant in your old age.” He tugs my arm and we go through the door.
“You got that flashlight thing on your phone?” Deo whispers.
“Yeah.” I pull it out of my pocket. As my eyes adjust, I detect a very faint hint of moonlight off to the right.
“Does that way look brighter to you?”
“A little,” he says. “Come on.”