Selena
I pelted, flat out down the corridor, heading toward the exit. The moment Cass had opened the door, an alarm rang out in the room. A persistent buzzing that droned in my ears. My bare feet slapped against the concrete floor as I fled past cage after cage. The Vs inside them were riled up, hissing and spitting at me as I passed.
As I rounded a corner, my ears rang with silence as the alarm stopped. It nearly made me pause to check the Vampires had actually escaped. But as I threw a brief glance over my shoulder, I saw the bared fangs of those in hot pursuit.
I let out a strangled noise of fear, pushing myself harder, running toward the exit with all the speed I could muster. I passed large and small storage crates all stacked up between the cages as the exit came in to sight. Even if I made it out before a Vampire caught me, guards could be just on the other side of that door. Hiding seemed like the better option, but not when the thirty Vs chasing me could sniff me out.
A hissing noise poured through the air and my head snapped up in the direction of the sound. Huge vents around the edges of the room were leaking a silvery mist into the air. It descended over the entire space like a cloud dipping into a valley.
I instinctively covered my mouth as the fog enveloped me. I could barely see five paces ahead, but I couldn't stop. The Vs were too close behind me.
I coughed as the mist hit the back of my throat and was forced to slow. Silence pressed in on me.
No pursuing footsteps. No snapping jaws.
I turned on my heel, squinting back the way I'd come, braced. All I could see was fog.
“They're coming,” said a male voice to my right, making me jump.
I froze, unsure who had spoken or even if I'd imagined it. The memory of the mist from the first V Games struck fear in my heart. If I started hallucinating, I'd never get out of here alive.
“Move, you idiot. Come toward my voice.”
“Me?” I breathed into the silence, just to be sure.
“Of course you,” he growled.
I cautiously moved back the way I'd come and my foot hooked on something soft. Glancing down, the mist swirled by my feet, revealing one of the Vs who had pursued me. He'd seemingly collapsed mid-running, his arm still outstretched in my direction.
My heart tipped over. They'd planned for a breakout meticulously. This mist was no coincidence.
I side-stepped the body, moving to my left where the voice had come from. My shoulder met with a silver wall of mesh.
“Here.” The mist shifted enough that I could see into the cage. A Vampire stood inside, his shirt looking as though it had been ripped from his body and strapped around his mouth. I could hardly see anything of his face, but he wore smart-looking trousers, his feet bare.
He pointed beside his cage where a stack of crates towered up the side of it.
“Climb up there.”
“Why are you helping me?” I whispered, hurrying to obey. I hardly had a better idea and his orders suggested I needed to move fast. Guards were surely already on their way here to clean up this mess. I just prayed Cass didn't take the elevator back down here anytime soon. She'd pass out the second she stepped through the door.
Hurriedly putting my heels back on, I freed my hands to assist my climb. I hoisted myself up onto the first crate, clambering higher and higher until I was level with the top of the V's cage who'd helped me.
Behind the top crate was a gap between it and the wall, so I quickly slithered into it. I tucked my knees up, pressing my back to the hard wall, gazing down into the cell where the Vampire was. He'd moved as far back from the front of the cage as possible where less of the mist had gathered.
He slid down to the floor, glancing up at me, his obsidian eyes like two black discs.
“How are you still awake?” I asked, knowing I didn't need to raise my voice for him to hear me.
“Vs don't need to breathe, but we do so to talk, or out of habit, that's why this mist works.”
“Do the guards use it often?” I asked.
“No. But they used it to catch me.” His dark brows lowered.
“What's in it?” I whispered, twisting my hand before me in the silvery air. Whatever it was, evidently didn't affect humans.
“Blood sap,” he replied, lowering his voice. “It comes from white oak trees. A dose can knock us out for hours.”
I nodded and he said, “Name's Decon by the way.”
Before I could respond, he pressed a finger to his lips over the shirt on his mouth.
The distinctive screech of a door's hinges echoed through the room a second later. I steadied my breathing, shivering against the icy brick wall as heavy footsteps approached.
“Jesus Christ. How did they get out?” a male voice reached me.
“You tell me, Wesley.” I recognised the authoritative voice from earlier. “Everyone get this shit cleaned up and someone better tell me how this happened! Fifteen minutes!” he roared and the shuffling of feet and heaving of bodies filled the air as they manoeuvred the Vs back to their cell.
I shut my eyes, praying Cass was somewhere safe. That she'd somehow avoided this mist. That they weren't going to find her asleep somewhere with a bag of guns.
My eyes fell to Decon below me, his eyes now shut as he pretended to be unconscious. I was beyond grateful that he'd helped me but, with a sinking feeling, realised there were plenty of Vs in this warehouse who could still rat me out. I just prayed they hated the guards enough to keep their mouths shut.