“More of your wolf-human creations?” Tyren’s stomach turned. “You’re sick, you know that?”
“Don’t worry,” Kenmore said. “Hunter knows all about them. They’re important to our mission.”
“What do you call them again?”
“Hybrids.”
Twenty-Three
“Peterson!” I shoved the guard’s lifeless body. “Come on, wake up.”
Nothing. His vacant eyes gazed skyward.
I grabbed his shirt and tugged him back and forth. “Wake up, they’re coming!” The sirens wailed, and I knew Kenmore’s men—the watchers constantly surveilling me—would be on top of us soon. They’d imprison us. Or worse, kill us.
I shot up, bolt-straight in pitch black. Drenched in sweat, I was in my cell bed. An ear-splitting alarm sounded. I’d been dreaming again, but I couldn’t remember exactly what about. It must have been intense—my heart raced like crazy. I grasped for the memory, but it evaded me.
The warning signal ripped me back to the present. What now? Fire? Another assassination mission in the desert? But I’d already failed one mission, only to end up back in my prison cell. I didn’t care what happened. Burning in a fire would be a better than going through another surgery. They’d already transformed me into some kind of freak. I had creatures inside my arms with minds of their own. I’d rather perish than keep living here.
I rolled out of bed and sank to my knees. Exhausted and defeated, I could no longer hold back the flood of tears that stained my cheeks.
The incessant blaring of the alarm deafened me. A freight train could tear through the hallway, and I wouldn’t know. I curled into a fetal position, then smelled smoke. Tendrils of vapor stretched out of the high ceiling vents and flowed from under the door. Good, I thought. Time to die. I’m ready. My thoughts drifted to those I cared about: Joanie, Reed, the mother whose face I couldn’t quite recall. Would anyone remember me?
Someone banged on the cell door. It sounded like a battering ram. I rolled to my knees and recoiled against the far wall, coughing and retching in the heavy smoke. Then the door burst forward, separated from its hinges. A dark figure wearing a gas mask surged toward me.
“No, please,” I tried to say, but no sound emerged. He was here to kill me, I was sure. Then I remembered I wanted to die. I’m ready, I thought.
The man bent down and scooped me up into his arms. Helpless and choking, I fell limp as he carried me out and into the hallway. He jogged down the corridor, and we joined other men with rifles and respirator helmets. One of them shoved a tube in my mouth, and I sucked in the fresh air, relaxing as the clean oxygen filled my burning lungs.
Gunfire resonated from somewhere in the building. I lifted my head and tried to talk.
The man’s green eyes peered at me through his visor. “We’re getting you out of here.”
My vision blurred. Thoughts raced through my mind: the mission, Cecile and Rik, jumping inside Peterson’s body—if that had even happened. Suddenly, I wasn’t so sure. Was a rescue possible? I looked down, scanned myself and realized I was wearing my jeans, boots, and a tee-shirt. I couldn’t feel the pocket knife in my bra, so it must’ve been confiscated. Weird. My memory was spotty, like someone had carved chunks out.
Still carrying me, the man followed his companions and sprinted through the maze-like hallways, holding me as if I weighed nothing. My heart raced. Was this another test? Another twisted Kenmore experiment?
We turned a corner where a different masked man waited by an open door. The hangar. The same one where the armored truck had been and where I assumed I’d arrived on the aircraft that had transported me here. Or, it could have been somewhere else. My memories seemed fuzzy, and I realized the plane trip might have been a dream.
He hauled me to a waiting air cruiser, then lifted me onto a jump seat and buckled me in. After removing his mask, he crouched down at eye level. “You’re okay.” He paused, catching his breath. Sweat glistened on his sepia-toned skin. “You’re wondering what’s happened. My name is Tyren. I’m a marine.”
He searched my eyes for a reaction, but all I could do was stare with my mouth open. “You’re in shock.” He grabbed an oxygen mask from the wall and placed it on my face. “You’ve been in a rogue medical lab. We’ve been searching for this place for years.”
I blinked. Thoughts swirled in my head—a mishmash of flashbacks combined with fear, uncertainty, and despair. Instead of my mind clearing, I felt my memory growing hazier.
“You’re lucky to be alive.” He lowered his chin. “You’re the only survivor we found.”
What? How could that be? Cecile, Rik… and someone else. Tears flooded my eyes, and I realized I couldn’t remember everything that happened.
Tyren straightened and peered down as other members of his team streamed onto the ship, powered up, and engaged the air thrusters.
“You’ll be glad to know, we’ve killed the men in charge and are burning this place to the ground.”
The cruiser rose into the night sky, and I gazed through a window, glimpsing fire and smoke below us before we soared away. Free of my prison.
My breathing calmed as I sucked in oxygen. It relieved me to hear Kenmore was dead, but the others… Had they really died?
I yanked the mask off, suddenly remembering. “There were other kids! And someone else—he tried to help me. Was he…?”
Tyren loomed above and shook his head gravely. “There were no other survivors.”
I sank into the chair and exhaled. So much life wasted. How did I survive? Why me?
After a time, we reached a higher altitude, and Tyren took the seat across from me. “What’s your name?”
“Ida.”
He raised his eyebrows for me to go on.
“Ida Sarek.”
“Where’s home?”
I paused. I’d never been asked this question before. Was New York City my home? After being separated from Joanie and the gang, I feared I’d
