Chapter 44
Beca's POV
The only thing that might get in the way of my escape is Zeke. Everytime Ashley and Jessica come to my room, he finds an excuse to join us. His eyes trail my body, making me shudder. Something about him isn't right and I'm afraid that he'll do something before I can get out.
Before Zeke started stalking them, Ashley and Jessica told me that they'll put me on a gurney and wheel me down to the fourth floor and from there, we'll go to the parking garage. Hopefully, Theo and his crew will meet us there. The thought of seeing Chloe again makes my heart speed up.
"Hey Ashley," I whisper, taking advantage of the pictures the girls are taking for Dr. Fergus. Jessica is out in the hall making sure Zeke stays there while Ashley unwillingly violates me.
"What?"
"Where's my ring?"
"With your other personal possessions in Dr. Fergus's office."
"How can I get that?" I turn toward her where she crouches behind me and she stares at me with wide eyes.
"You can't. I'm sorry but I'm sure you can get more clothes."
"The clothes aren't what I want. The only thing I want is my wedding ring." Ashley sighs and stands up.
"I can try but I'm not promising anything. According to Theo, the plan is put into action in just a couple of hours."
"Good. If you think you'll get hurt getting it though, don't do it. Your life isn't worth losing over a ring."
"Thank you," Ashley smiles and turns toward the door. "This will work. We'll get you out and Jessica and I can start a new life. One without death and destruction." Ashley leaves and I pace the room, letting the minutes tick by slowly. Each second that goes by is a second closer to getting out of here. Doesn't mean I like watching it go by slowly though.
"It's just me and you," Zeke whispers suddenly, shutting the door behind him. I clench my hands into fists, ready to punch him.
"You might want to go," I snarl. "I'm not in the mood for your shit."
"Well, get into the mood baby," Zeke saunters toward me, obviously having recovered from the massive kick to his balls courtesy of me.
"No thank you." As he gets closer, I back up against the wall and scan for a way out. The only way of course is the door behind him that he shut. Damn. I really didn't feel like fighting.
"You smell so good," Zeke grabs my shoulders and I growl as his mouth trails up to my ear. His next words are muffled but I still shudder from the heat of his breath on my neck. When his hand grabs my breast, I start to bring my knee up but am stopped by a sudden shock that takes hold of my whole body. Confusion flows through me as I fall to the ground. Didn't they take my shock collar off? All my questions are answered when I see the taser in Zeke's hand.
"That'll teach you to kick me in the balls," Zeke laughs and taser's me again even though I didn't move. I grit my teeth against the pain and growl softly when it goes away. No way am I going to be stopped by something that's not even a real gun. I scramble to my feet and walk toward Zeke who smiles and taser's me again. When I don't fall, his sneer disappears.
"What the hell?" He adjusts something on his taser that makes the next shot more powerful. My body jerks but I don't let that stop me. Instead, I push forward and when I get to him, I grab his shirt and let my claws out. My claws slice open his skin and he screams.
"You're crazy," he cries and I smile.
"I know." With one more slice to his chest, I drop him and go toward the door. He taser's my back and I roar, turning toward him and sinking my claws into his stomach. His eyes roll back into his head as my hand moves around inside him. Blood pours over my wrist and onto the floor in a red waterfall. A part of me purrs in satisfaction and the other shivers in horror.
Zeke's body jerks and his hands go up to grab mine and try to pull it from his body. Instead of doing what he wants, I reach up and grab his still beating heart. Retracting my claws, I squeeze it and with almost no effort, it bursts. Zeke, now dead, goes limp, his eyes still open and blood trickling from his mouth and nose.
Gasping, I rip my hand from his body and back away from it. My hands shake and I can feel the panic spreading. I've killed before but it never felt that personal, so...vindictive. Zeke's blood covers my hand and I look around for anything to clean it off. Grabbing the sheet off my mattress, I desperately rub it off and when it doesn't completely get cleaned, I let out a sob. Zeke's lifeless eyes watch me and I can't help but try and find something that says I'm different than him. That I don't contain that same evil that Zeke did or Dr. Fergus does. If I do, I'm not any better than them.
I don't know how long I sit there, watching and being watched by Zeke's body, but when his radio crackles and someone asks for an update, I declare it time to go. The plan will have to be thrown away. Because of Zeke- because of me, we don't have much time.
Holding back my sobs, I stand up and open the door. Nobody seems to be in the hallway, but I close it and turn towards Zeke. Knowing I have to do this, I hold my breath as I search his pockets. Even when my hand touches his phone, I don't feel anything. Just emptiness and horrible unease. How can I go back to Chloe knowing that I'm capable of doing something like this? Instead of knocking him out, I chose to kill because I was angry. What happens if I lose my temper with Chloe or someone else I love? Will I kill them in such a gruesome way too?
With trembling hands, I tap in Theo's number thankful that he made me memorize it. It dials several times before he picks up.
"Hello?"
"Theo? It's Beca."
"What the hell? How are you-? Whose phone are you calling on?" I look at Zeke and ponder on telling Theo.
"Um, I did something. Something bad." Theo sighs and urges me to tell him. "I killed Zeke."
"What?" Theo makes a choking sound and says something to someone beside him. "Why would you do that? Do you realize that this changes things? It won't be long before someone realizes that something happened to Zeke since we're supposed to check in."
"I know. So what do we do now?"
"We don't do anything," Theo shouts and I'm tempted to put the phone next to my bad ear so I don't have to hear him. "You will stay there in that room while I get everyone ready to come get you. Where's Ashley and Jessica?"
"I don't know. They left a while ago."
"Okay, I'll call them. Stay there Beca, I mean it." The phone beeps signaling that Theo hung up. Sighing, I put the phone into my pocket and pace the room. According to the phone, I last a minute and a half before I grab Zeke's keys and leave. Making sure not to get blood on anything, I use the bottom of my shirt to open doors and lean against walls. Everything seems silent and I would think that it's weird if it wasn't for the fact that I've been through these halls many times and it's always like this.
I reach the end of the hallway and balk for a second when I spot the keycard to the elevator until I remember I have the keys. Before I can use it though, the elevator dings and I panic. Thinking fast, I let my claws out and climb the wall until I'm hanging from the ceiling. When the elevator doors open, I hold my breath. Luckily, it's Jessica and Ashley.
"Hey guys," I whisper, dropping down beside them. Ashley squeals, earning a slap on the arm from Jessica.
"Theo filled us in. Get on the gurney." Jessica flips the sheet over and I hop up onto the metal slab. The cold makes me shiver and Jessica places a hand on my arm.
"Try not to move or breathe too heavily. You're supposed to be dead and we have to go through a checkpoint. Thankfully, you look horrible so they shouldn't second guess you being a corpse."
"Thanks," I joke and then focus on letting my body go lax. The sheet is pulled up and over me, covering my face. The girls wheel me back into the elevator and for several tense seconds, we wait as the elevator goes down to the fourth floor. I knew the fourth floor is horrible and expected the worst. What I didn't expect was the smell of death to hit me full force before the elevator doors even open.
Gagging and trying to remain still proves to be a challenge as the girls wheel me onto the floor. The stink of human BO mixes in with the smell of death as does the cold. I'm guessing the guards stationed on the fourth floor don't bother with deodorant since they're gonna stink anyway working down here.
"Another experiment kick the bucket?" A nasaly voice asks and I panic, knowing that they'll pull the sheet back to check me out. Theo said something about all the other experiments were scary and inhuman. So I partially shift before going completely limp. The guard pulls back the sheet and I can hear the girls holding back their gasps.
"Damn, it's ugly. What was this thing supposed to be?"
"Who knows?" Jessica shrugs. With squinted eyes, I can see the blurred figure of the guard shake his head and then he sets the sheet back over my face.
"Just set that one in the pile over there. We're taking them to get cremated later."
"Well, actually we have to-"
"Okay," Jessica interrupts Ashley. "We'll do just that." The gurney starts rolling again and when its stops, Jessica leans down.
"I'm so sorry. You'll have to stay here until the guard switches. This room will be empty for two minutes, enough time to hightail it out that door. By then, your friends will be waiting and you can get out of here."
"What are you doing?" The guard demands and his footsteps get closer.
"I like to say a few words to them before they're sent off. It's cruel what he does to them, don't you think?" Jessica's voice is calm and sharp, daring the guard to fight her.
"I guess. Just dump the body and get out of here. I have things to do." The guard's footsteps retreat and Ashley grabs my legs, muttering under her breath. Jessica remains quiet as she reaches under my armpits. Together, they lift me up and set me down on something cold and tough.
"Stay still and wait for the timer to go off. That signals the guard change. Stay safe." Jessica whispers.
"You too," I whisper back, barely audible. The girls leave and I'm left alone, stacked on top of corpses. Not long after they leave, more people come in with a body and just my luck, it's the dragon.
"Whew, that's a big mama jama," the guard whistles. "How many gurney's is that thing on? Too many to count, that's for sure. I thought this thing died several days ago?"
"It did," one of the nurses answers. "But Dr. Fergus wanted to get as many samples as he could from it. Practically stripped the thing bare."
"Nice. Just set it on top of that stack. We're taking them to be cremated later."
"That must stink," another voice pipes up and suddenly multiple wheels start rolling, creating a rumble. I knew the dragon was big, but not that big. Suddenly, the dragon is on top of me, crushing my chest and making it hard to breathe. My already sore body suddenly lights up like a christmas tree as I struggle to inhale. Several of my ribs cave, creating a large crack that sounds out across the room. Over my hysteria and pain, I can hear the guard and nurses laughing. When it goes quiet again, I become afraid that the guard will hear my loud breathing, but not once does he come over. The nurses leave and snores soon fill the silence.
Taking that as a sign of being safe, I wiggle out from underneath the dragon, coming face to face with another corpse. The eyes are gone and veins stretch across its face. The creature looks like it died in pure agony and it scares me so bad that I scramble to get away. In the process, I manage to get back under the dragon and knock into another corpse which causes a body avalanche.
Corpses tumble all around me, until I'm buried underneath a mountain of them. The breath rushes out of me but I freeze when I hear the guard startle.
"What the fuck?" The chair squeaks in relief as he gets up and just when he reaches the pile, a chime sounds. "Let the next guard deal with it," the guard mutters to himself and his footsteps leave the room. The minute he's gone, I start to move again. Shit, I'm stuck and I only have two minutes and counting to get the hell out of here.