“You always exaggerate. It was nowhere near him.” Ryder rolled her eyes, then nodded to Carter, and he followed orders and opened the door as quietly as he could.
This time the door didn’t betray them. Murray did.
“Afana.” General Murray shouted. Afana looked at Murray like he didn’t know him. He was fighting the battle inside his body, the battle against the Madness.
Ryder’s breath caught when Murray pushed her out of the way and headed straight for Afana. The slimy double-crossing shitball. And I believed for even one moment that he’d changed. Fuck him, Ryder thought.
If looks could kill, Terrier would be dead. Ryder had trusted Murray because of him. Terrier didn’t see the look on Ryder’s face because he started to go after Murray, but Carter stopped him.
Ryder pointed the arrow right at Murray’s back as he walked over to Afana, but Carter pushed her arrow down. What the fuck was he doing! “Carter?”
“It’s Tommy… Afana’s got Tommy,” Carter said, his voice full of fear.
Murray was blocking Ryder’s view, and she leaned a little to see. First she saw Advisor Robert, then Afana, whose long fangs were protruding out of his gums, about to go into little Tommy’s neck. Afana had Tommy in a tight grip, and he looked tiny next to the monster. Why hadn’t the kid stayed put like Carter had told him? Why was he here?
Afana looked away from his meal at the quickly approaching Murray. “I’ve captured them for you, and Terrier is on Level Six,” he announced.
I fucking knew it! Ryder’s knuckles turned white as she gripped her arrows. They were worthless since Murray was blocking her target. That yellow-bellied jerk.
Afana looked as if he were grinning, but it was hard to tell since his face was like an uneven boulder. He stared at them for a long time without saying anything.
Advisor Robert looked at Afana, “Afana?” He waved, and it snapped Afana out of his trance.
Murray was beside Afana now and looking at Ryder and the gang. Afana still had a firm grip on Tommy, but Murray didn’t even look at the poor kid. He was a monster like Afana, and Ryder had brought the whole gang to him. They’d followed his idea of splitting the group up, leaving them weaker.
With Murray now beside Afana, Ryder had a clear shot at both of them—but they had Tommy. Ryder knew that both men would use Tommy as their shield.
Advisor Robert stood alongside Afana as well, and it was clear that the wrinkly old fool was happy.
Carter, Vicky, and Byrant looked at Ryder with fear, since it was the first time they’d seen Afana up close. They didn’t know what to do.
Ryder scanned the area for Massimo and Leandro. Where were they? They weren’t on the floor. Ryder looked through the glass floor. Were they on another level, injured, and they hadn’t seen them? Were they down one of the tunnels? Were they okay? The questions raced through Ryder’s mind.
Ryder saw a flash of white behind Afana—Fluffy’s tail. She shifted to peer behind Afana. Massimo was banging on a glass door, and Fluffy was scratching at the door next to him. They’d been trapped in another room. Massimo’s clothes were ripped, there was blood on his face, and he was raging angry. His vampire fangs were out and he was ready to attack, but there was no one to sink his teeth into. It looked as though they’d had a fight and then Afana had locked them in the lab.
There were signs that Afana had been in a fight, but the blood could have been from the Mad he’d killed. At least Ryder knew her friends were alive—and pissed off. If she could get them out of the room, they would stand more of a chance of getting out.
Ryder wished they had Samantha with them. She had been able to get the door to Level Six open, and maybe she could have done the same here.
“I was wrong about you, General Murray.” Afana spoke in the deep voice that sent dread up the spines of everyone on the level.
Ryder felt almost physically ill. He wasn’t the only one wrong about General Murray.
“You brought me the traitor and her friends.” Afana stared greedily at Ryder. “Ryder, You were very good at hiding the fact that you were female. I knew there was something off after all of the years of watching you. I just wasn’t sure what.” Ryder was creeped the fuck out. She’d always known that she was being watched by a monster, but him actually saying it made it even worse.
Stop thinking about his bullshit and start thinking about how you’re going to kill him, free the others, and … Ryder stopped herself from thinking about what she’d do after that because there wasn’t any point. The only point to her life was to rescue the others, and she would attempt that until she lost her mind to the Madness.
Afana grinned. “And you brought me Terrier, the traitor who was hiding on Level Six.”
Ryder slipped the tip of the arrow into the alcohol and passed Carter the flint without Afana or the advisors noticing.
“Also, you brought me two more specimens to test.” Afana stepped to the side, still holding Tommy in front of him to reveal Massimo and Fluffy. “I’m glad you did, since the other two didn’t survive the testing.”
General Murray must have brought Knuckles and Tank to Afana for him to run his tests on. Ryder remembered seeing Tank’s body in the lab. He was mutated like Afana, and his head had been chopped off. Knuckles was apparently dead now too, and Afana had Massimo and Fluffy to run his new and awful tests on.
Ryder looked at General Murray. She didn’t need to ask him if
