The Mad flung the door open and headed straight for Willard. Willard threw some of his knives but missed in his panic. Willard had nowhere to go except back down the stairs Level Five, where Ryder and the others were.
Fear flooded Willard’s body. He didn’t want to turn into a Mad like Javier. The Mad was fast, and its arms were stretched out as it tried to grab Willard.
Willard glanced over his shoulder as he ducked out of the way, and his feet betrayed him. They tangled on one another, and he went ass over teakettle down the stairs.
“Mad! Mad!” Willard yelled it over and over as he crashed down the stairs and slammed into the closed door to Level Five.
The Mad didn’t stop. It almost flew down the stairs as the need to bite into Willard took over.
Willard screamed and tried to get hold of the door handle, but he couldn’t get a grip on it.
The Mad landed on Willard, knocking the breath out him. This is where I’m going to die.
The door to Level Five was flung open, dropping Willard and the Mad down the last few stairs and into Level Five. The Mad lunged in an attempt to bite Willard’s neck, but before it could a size-eight black boot connected with the Mad’s jaw and knocked it off Willard with force.
Willard scrambled across the floor away from the Mad. His body was bruised and battered, but there was no way he was going to stay anywhere near the Mad. He had more knives ready for any other Mad.
The generals on the level ran away from the Mad, since they were weaponless and scared.
“Hey, dickhead,” Ryder yelled at the Mad. It and all the generals turned to look at Ryder. Ryder grinned. “Just the Mad dickhead for now,” she told the generals. “I’ll deal with you dickheads later.”.
Ryder ran at the Mad, her spear blade activated and ready to strike it. She plunged the spear into the Mad’s overgrown gut and regretted it instantly. The Mad gripped the spear and swung around, and Ryder had to let go of it. The Mad came back at Ryder with her spear sticking out of its bloody guts.
“Hey, I like that spear!” Ryder wanted it back.
Carter was at Ryder’s side before she even had to ask, his axes up and ready to chop off the fat Mad’s head. “Are you going to let me kill this one?” Carter asked.
Ryder shrugged and stepped to the side. “Be my guest.”
Carter happily accepted and ran at the Mad. His first axe missed the Mad’s neck and sliced across its face. Carter’s next axe was ready, and this time he didn’t miss. He went for the throat, and blood sprayed out of the open wound, covering Carter.
Carter tried to get away from the blood splatters, but the Mad wasn’t finished just yet. He still wanted to feed. Every time Carter moved, the Mad came after him.
“Go the other way,” Ryder yelled, trying to help him get away from the blood fountain.
Carter dodged again. “I’m trying. Will one of you two-tap him!”
Ryder folded her arms and grinned. “I thought it was your kill. Come on, I want my spear back.”
Carter was now running in circles. “As soon as it runs out of blood I’ll get it for you!” Carter bitched. “Surely this Mad will be out of blood soon?”
Then again, it was one fat Mad, Ryder thought.
“It’s yours now,” Carter said as he headed toward the gang. None of them wanted to be covered in the fat Mad’s blood, even though they already all had a fair amount of blood on them. They all looked like they’d taken a shower in blood instead of water.
Byrant fired his gun at an oncoming Mad, and it dropped to the ground. A fountain of the Mad’s blood sprayed upwards toward Level Four.
Ryder spun. “Where’s Koda?”
“On Level Four,” Willard replied breathlessly. “Help him.”
No one wasted any time. They sprinted up the stairs to Level Four to help Koda. Ryder sprinted toward the Mad and went to pull the spear from his dead body.
“Not so fast.” General Finn’s nasal voice came from behind them.
Ryder whirled to see the general’s gun pointing straight at her head.
Even through the blood-smeared ceiling, Terrier could see the situation unfolding above him. Ryder was on her own with the generals. He’d screamed up at her, trying to warn her that she was in danger. He’d waved his arms frantically, and everyone else on Level Six was doing the same, but she didn’t see.
They’d all been so happy to see Ryder and the group of strangers. They’d had real hope for the first time that they were going to get off Level Six and out of the bunker to freedom. For Terrier, it was worse than that. Ryder had come back for Terrier as she’d promised, only to be captured again.
“We’ve got to open the door! We need to help Ryder.” Terrier pleaded with everyone. They all looked at him skeptically. No one knew how to open the door other than Advisor George, and he was locked up. He glared at the door to the room where Advisor George was being kept. “I’ve got to get the answer out of him.” Terrier dashed over to the door.
Peter blocked Terrier’s way. “I’m sorry, man. I can’t let you do that.” Peter held up his hands to show he wasn’t happy with the situation. The two giants stood eyeballing one another.
“I have to. They’ll kill Ryder if we can’t get the door open.” The thought of anyone harming Ryder terrified Terrier, since he’d sworn to protect her. He wasn’t going to stand by and watch it happen, not to his Ryder. “Step aside, Peter,” Terrier ordered.
“Terrier, you know you won’t be able to get any sense out of Advisor George. He’s Mad. The Mad don’t talk, they only
