I put a finger to my lips. She snapped her mouth shut.
I crawled closer to her and peered around the edge of the bumper. The door into the building was locked, but there had to be a button in here that opened the garage door.
Two of the scrabs stood side by side near the front bumper. The other one had been in the corner before, but I couldn’t see it from this angle.
That woman said that the scrabs wouldn’t move again until she commanded it, but would that still be true if they spotted us? It didn’t seem worth the risk. We should wait for them to retrieve the scrabs and then make a run for it.
I turned back to Madison. I gasped.
The third scrab was standing on the other side of the van. It was maybe five feet away from us. Motionless.
Madison followed my gaze. She shot to her feet, her eyes wide and her machete poised in front of her. The scrab still didn’t move.
“What is it doing?” she whispered.
I reached behind my head to grab the machete in my weapons pack. My hand hit something slimy.
I screamed, spinning around to see a scrab standing right behind me. My weapons pack ripped off my back. It dangled from the scrab’s claw. I scrambled closer to Madison, but the second scrab was just as motionless as the first.
“What are they doing?” Madison gasped again. We were backed into the wall, trapped by the scrab on either side and the van in front of us. “Did it just take your weapons pack on purpose? Grab something from mine.”
Mine was still dangling from the scrab’s claw. I opened her pack with shaking hands and grabbed the baton sword. The scrabs didn’t move.
“Do you think they can hear us in the building if we scream?” she asked.
“I don’t know. But they may just set the scrabs on us if they find us. Do we want to risk it?”
The scrab tossed my weapons pack to the other side of the garage.
“Let’s risk it,” she said.
We screamed.
The scrabs lunged.
I had the baton sword ready, but it only took half a second to realize that there was no possible way I could fight a scrab while cornered. It was one of the things we learned in training—scrabs always had the advantage in a small space.
I dove for the ground and scrambled under the van. Madison did the same.
The third scrab slid under the van. It snarled. Its claws scratched against the floor as it crawled toward us.
My hands were shaking so violently I almost dropped my sword. I gripped it tighter, thrusting it forward as hard as I could. It sank into the scrab’s eye.
The scrab made a squeaking sound, its claws skittering across the floor as it retreated. I crawled out behind it, my breath coming in short, panicked gasps. I dove forward to yank the sword from the scrab’s eye. It squeaked again, claws swiping wildly at me.
I drove the blade into its neck and darted to the side as it fell.
There was a glowing red light behind it. The button to open the garage door.
I leapt across the garage and slammed my hand against the button. The door began to open. I grabbed my weapons pack from the floor.
“Clara!”
I whirled around to see Madison on the ground, halfway out from under the van. One of the scrabs was flailing around the garage, a machete stuck through its hand. I couldn’t see the other one, but the van rocked violently, like the scrab had just crawled under it.
I grabbed Madison’s arms and helped pull her to her feet. Blood dripped from her pants leg. We sprinted for the door.
I ran smack into Grayson.
“Oh thank god,” I gasped. Noah and Edan were beside him, weapons out.
I pointed a finger at the garage. “Scrabs. Trained. Really smart. One of them grabbed my weapons pack.”
Grayson unsheathed his machete. The scrab Madison had impaled finally got the blade out of its hand and moved toward the garage door. The other one crawled out from under the van and stood shoulder to shoulder with its buddy.
“What is—” The woman from before appeared at the door. Her eyes widened as she took in the dead scrab and the other two, now stalking toward us. She fumbled with her tablet. “Halt!” she called.
Both scrabs froze, a jolt going through them like they’d just been shocked.
Grayson marched forward, blade pointed at them.
“Stop!” the woman yelled. “Don’t you dare—”
Grayson slashed his blade across the neck of the first scrab and then the second. He was incredibly quick with the weapon and knew exactly how much pressure to put behind the blade to kill quickly. Both scrabs fell to the ground.
The woman gasped as she ran down the steps. “I just told you to stop!”
Grayson lifted an eyebrow as he pulled his phone from his pocket. He swiped at it and then lifted it to his ear. “Hi. I’d like to report some scrabs being kept alive in north London.”
The woman turned on her heel and darted up the stairs.
“Did you get my text?” Madison asked Grayson. “Did you see a van leaving?”
“Julian and Saira went after it with the teams,” Grayson said, sliding his phone back into his pocket. “I’ve got Patrick and Dorsey waiting with the other van, but I think we should stay here until—” He cut himself off, body going rigid. He swept his arm out, pushing me behind him.
Three men stood in front of the garage, guns aimed at us.
“We’re going,” Grayson said, lifting his arms. “All right? We’re leaving.” He motioned for us to go, and we all broke into a run.
We ran to the end of the street, where the van was waiting. Patrick was in the driver’s seat, Dorsey in the seat beside him.
“Maybe we should stay and wait for the cops,” Madison said, looking back in the direction of the storage facility. The men appeared at the end of the
