The surviving hunters who lived on Level Five were standing at the ends of their tunnels, watching from behind the barricades they’d hastily built.
“Walk with me,” Afana said to General Finn, who looked like he was going to piss himself with excitement, then forced his face into a serious expression. General Finn walked like he had a stick up his ass as he followed Afana down the stairs past Level Five to the Level-Six door.
Afana pulled at the door handle to the Level Six exit, but it didn’t open. The second time Afana used all his strength, and the sweat dripped down his face. It was like the door was welded to its frame.
The override Advisor Jones had implemented hadn’t worked. Afana looked over Advisor Jones’ body, his brains slopped on the glass floor beside the splintered mess. He’d smashed the head of the only man who could attempt to open the door. The other was locked behind the door.
Afana tried one more time to open the door and let out a scream that bounced off Level Five’s walls when he failed. The men in the tunnels who had been watching quickly hid down their tunnels, out of Afana’s sight. General Finn, on the other hand, stood there stock still. He didn’t fear Afana, or if he did, he was doing a good job of hiding it.
“I want everyone from Level Six up on Level One, and I need you to get the men to do it,” Afana told General Finn.
“Of course. I will do anything you request of me, and I will ensure that the men follow orders,” General Finn said firmly. It actually looked like Afana was going to smile at Finn. Afana had gotten what he wanted.
Someone to do his dirty work.
“I will get the door opened,” General Finn stated with conviction.
“How?” Afana asked between panting breaths.
General Finn indicated the spectators. “We can use the tools the men use to maintain the bunker. The tools are kept in one of the tunnels on this level.”
Afana was getting annoyed that he was surrounded by idiots. “The door is unbreakable,” Afana said dismissing General Finn as his hands clenched up.
“I wasn’t thinking we should break the door. More like we take it apart,” General Finn explained, and that got Afana’s attention.
“Get to it,” Afana ordered.
Afana looked up at Level Four. There were infected coming out of the tunnels he hadn’t searched earlier. The generals were watching him, wondering what he was going to do next. This was his bunker, after all. He couldn’t—and wouldn’t—let the monsters have free rein with his cattle! He also didn’t want to risk getting bitten again.
“Stay down here until you’ve opened the door or you’ll be on top of the pile of bodies.” With that, Afana ran for the stairs. He didn’t have the energy to jump into the drop hole and pull his body up. He was worried that if he failed to make the leap, the generals would see that he was weaker than normal. All the fighting had sapped his energy.
Running up the stairs wore him down even more. He needed to head up to Level One just to feed. Afana began to wonder if it was blood he needed, or if he was just out of shape. This was the most fighting he’d ever done. He needed to get his house in order quickly.
Chapter Seventeen
Ryder walked over to the advisors’ families. “You’re free, so you can leave.” She pointed to the door. The advisors’ wives looked at one another, clearly not sure what to do. Many of them had had no choice who they’d been married to, although some had been lucky enough to find love in that brutal place. Most of the women had never been out of the bunker unless they were born outside. Now that they had the chance to escape, they didn’t know what to do.
The women looked up through the glass ceiling at the advisors.
Some of the women took their kids’ hands and led them past the bodies on the floor, shielding their eyes from the gore. Ryder and the others had two-tapped them; they weren’t coming back to life after the Merry Men had taken care of them.
A woman came up to Ryder. “My husband?”
“We will let him out once we’ve rescued everyone,” Ryder told her. She wasn’t going to kill them, and neither were the Merry Men. They weren’t as bad as Afana.
The rest of the women and kids left, and finally, Level Two was clear of Afana’s hostages and the Mad.
When Ryder circled her finger in the air, the gang knew it was time to head to the next level.
Carter led them down the stairs to Level Three, and Ryder peered over his shoulder and saw that the door was open. Part of her was scared that the door would be closed behind her, but Carter winked at Ryder. “We’re not going to be locked down here,” he reassured her. “But if we are, what a cool group of people you get to hang out with!” Carter smiled, and so did the others.
Ryder winked back. “Good point. I couldn’t think of a better group to hang out in a coffin with.”.
Carter grinned. “I’ll be able to teach you to braid your hair when it grows back.”
Ryder ran a hand over her hair and laughed. “Hey, it’ll be at my ears soon! Dustin, shut the door. I have to take Carter up on his offer.”
Dustin frowned but headed back up the stairs.
“No,” Ryder yelled.
Dustin froze.
“I was only joking,” Ryder told him.
Carter shook his head. “Your comedic timing really sucks.”
He’s right. Ryder rolled her eyes. “I’m working on it.”
Carter pushed open the door to Level Three, which was where the generals lived along with their wives and kids. There was no screaming on this level. Like Level Two there were bodies on the floor, only these were dressed in generals’ uniforms. There were blockades at the entrances to their sleeping
