The Gender End (The Gender Game #7)

I heard Viggo shout in warning and turned, seeing a flash of something silver, and Viggo opened fire as a silver python slid in from the door behind us. I noticed the fat lump squirming within its belly, just a few feet under its head—likely this was the monkey creature that had been in pursuit of us—and a nauseated feeling grew in my stomach as the people defending that side of the room pelted the creature with bullets. Its body jerked as Viggo fired, and then everyone on that side was firing into the wide-open door. I returned my gaze to the other doors, searching for movement in the tunnels ahead and finding none.

A quick glance at Viggo showed me that Ms. Dale’s plan was working. Already the bodies of pythons littered the floor, silver coils blocking parts of the entrances. Owen tossed something out the door, and an explosion followed. I looked back toward my door. It was still clear.

“Viggo,” I shouted. “This door is clear. We should start falling back to—”

Something detached from the ceiling on the right and swung in, landing in a crouch in the area between the two lines and coming up swinging. One of the Porteque men on the left caught the blow, and there was a sickening crunch—and then his body fell to the ground, the straight line of his neck interrupted by an obvious break. A young man wearing black pants, a black sweater, and a black balaclava mask twisted around to face us, his hands still in fists.

Elena had sent the boys to fight us.

Before I could even react, Maxen began firing at the boy, catching him in the shoulder and chest. He went down, and Maxen shouted, “Let’s go!” before darting through the door on the left. The Porteque man closest to me started to turn toward me, bringing his gun around, and I shot him without hesitating, dropping him to the ground. Tim raced past me toward the fallen boy, moving to check his pulse.

The others began to follow Maxen just as something dark and huge exploded into the room on the other side, clawing its way over the body of a python with a hunting howl. The fear that sound sent through me was nothing, though, compared to something I almost felt before I heard—the sound of buzzing.

“Run!” Ms. Dale roared, and I saw her toss something at the monkey-wolf creature as Tim came to push me up, shouting for me to move. I didn’t even catch a glimpse of which door we went through, just scrambled through the airlock, trying to avoid the explosion.

There was a loud bang as Ms. Dale’s grenade went off. My ears rang from the force of it, and we all stumbled. I shook my head to clear it, climbing back to my feet and helping Tim up beside me. I moved over and did the same for Morgan, the haze that had drifted into the room through the open airlocks making it difficult to see anything. The buzzing grew louder.

“We have to go!” Morgan said, and she grabbed my hand, dragging me with her.

Then we were running, out and away through another cave, running from the buzzing of the red flies. They’d have plenty to feed on in that room with all the bodies, and I fervently hoped that would buy us a little bit of time, just enough for all of us to get out safely. I ran as fast as I had ever run, scanning wildly through the mist with my flashlight.

The ground was uneven, and I stumbled and stubbed my toes and should’ve fallen a dozen times—but somehow I was still up and moving. I drew to a sudden stop when I almost impacted with a wall, and took a few steps back, breathing heavily and listening for sounds to tell me what was happening and where the next door was.

Looking around, I gasped and almost dropped my flashlight when I saw Morgan appear suddenly out of the mist, my hand twitching for my gun. I could see her eyes darting around, looking for others, and I shook my head. I turned on my subvocalizer.

Viggo? I wheezed into the comm-link. There was a burst of static, and then nothing. I tried it again, several more times, each time growing a little more frantic.

“It’s no use,” Ms. Dale’s voice came out loud as she approached, much like Morgan had—seemingly from nowhere—giving me the cut-off signal with her hands. “We’re either being jammed or the rock is interfering with our signal. Either way, I haven’t seen anyone else. Have you?”

I shook my head and straightened up, realizing I was shaking, though I didn’t know whether it was from adrenaline or from rage.

“No. And Maxen shot that boy and got away. We need to—” I stopped as a shadow emerged from the mist behind Ms. Dale, my gun going up and firing a warning shot near it. The shadow shifted and quickly drew away as Ms. Dale whipped around, her gun raised.

For several moments everyone was still, waiting and watching. Then Morgan moved past us, slowly, pushing slightly into the mist. She stood very still for a second, and then turned.

“It’s gone,” she whispered, moving back toward us. “I think you scared it, but it can’t last long. What were you saying?”

It took me a moment to remember what I had been saying. My heart was still pounding, and the adrenaline rush was making my skin tingle with alertness.

“That we need to find Maxen and get him off the playing field.”

“Wrong,” Ms. Dale said, shaking her head. “My first priority is to get to Elena. Let’s stick to the plan.” I rubbed my forehead.

“You’re the primary for this mission,” I said, and she nodded. We’d ranked everyone on the team from primary to tertiary, so in the event we got split up, those who were of the highest rank would take control over the others and lead them on the next part of the mission. It was to ensure that we had a backup plan, and that both of our objectives were achieved. “So this is team ‘stop the queen.’”

Morgan swallowed. “We were all assigned to that mission anyway,” she said, her face rueful, and Ms. Dale smiled wanly.

“What are the odds of that?”

“That we got separated right into our mission group… or that all three Matrian women are going after the queen?” I asked, and she blinked, and then gave a ghost of a smile.

“I didn’t even consider that last part. I was going with the first.”

“Well, my answer is, who cares?” I replied, shouldering my rifle. “We need to get moving. If we can, we need to find a way to get her down here and closer to us, where the playing field is less to her advantage.”

Ms. Dale had opened her mouth to reply—then she seemed to spot something on the wall behind me, and moved toward it instead. The mist billowed and shifted around her as she moved, and I saw a cabinet on the lab wall, filled with several familiar canisters. She pulled them out, five in total, and passed two to me and two to Morgan, taking one for herself.

“Good times,” I said when she handed it to me, unable to stop myself from thinking of the time Ms. Dale had taken me into The Green for training, before I entered Patrus. Ms. Dale smiled wryly.

“Good times, indeed,” she replied. “Let’s move. We don’t have access to Thomas’ map, and this place just got worlds more dangerous.”

I nodded and began walking, keeping a hand against the wall and following it, trying not to jump at the various growls and sounds erupting all around us. Maybe, just maybe, we could get through this one unnoticed and unscathed.





32





Viggo