Raging Sea (Undertow, #2)(41)

I push her against the wall and swipe the card on the sensor. The door opens with a heavy clank. Amy wasn’t lying. My father is on the floor. He’s lost some weight, but he’s not as bad as some of the people in this camp. He looks up at me, confused, like he’s not sure whether what he’s seeing is real or a delusion.

“Lyric?”

“Dad, can you walk?”

He tries but gives up with a groan.

I pull Amy into the room.

“Help me get him on his feet. You’re going to be his crutch!” I shout.

She does as she’s told.

“Lyric, this is crazy,” my father says.

“Crazy is all we’ve got,” I say, helping him into the hall.

“Now, where’s Bex?” I demand.

“Who?”

“Rebecca Conrad!” I shout.

“She’s upstairs.”

“With the Alpha?” I demand.

“No, they’re on the floor above that. They’re in the tank,” she explains.

“The tank? What the hell is that?” I ask.

Amy whimpers. “It’s on the top floor. I have nothing to do with it. I don’t work in that section.”

She points down the hall to another exit sign. I suddenly realize how hard it’s going to be to get everyone out. There must be at least sixty adults, maybe even more, all as sick and weak as my father. Who knows what kind of state the Alpha are in, and then there’s their children. I don’t even know where they’re keeping them. We’ll never find them on our own.

“You’re going to have to come with us,” I say to Amy. Her eyes drop down to the hypodermic needles on the floor. She’s considering going for one, jamming it into me, maybe knocking me out.

“Lady, I don’t know if I can kill you, but I know I can shoot you. If you don’t help us, I’ll put a bullet into something you need. Now go!”

She nods and, OMG—I’ve got a hostage.

I unlock all the cells while my father leans on Amy. I don’t even bother to look inside the rooms. I don’t have time. I tell myself the best I can do for them is to let them out.

“Are there soldiers on the other side of those doors?” I ask, pointing to the end of the hall.

She nods, but before we can make a plan, the door behind us flies open and one of the prisoners I released appears. He’s the bearded one with the wild eyes, and like all the others, he’s filthy beyond belief. White foam forms in the corners of his mouth like a rabid dog.

“I need a weapon,” he says to me.

“I think those needles have something bad in them,” I say, pointing to the floor. “Stick Amy here with one if she tries to get away.”

He scoops up a handful and nods.

“I can do that,” he offers.

We hurry down the hall, pounding on cell doors and telling everyone they are free. Along the way, my new sidekick tells me his name is Charles and he’s married to a Sirena named Melissa. They’ve got a daughter named Georgie, and he hasn’t seen either of them in two years.

When all the doors are unlocked, we shove Amy through the double doors, and as she said, a soldier is on the other side. He’s sitting in front of a bank of video screens eating a bologna sandwich. He couldn’t be more unprepared for us. He fumbles for his rifle leaning against a file cabinet, but I’ve got my pistol in his face.

“My friend needs to borrow your gun,” I say.

The guard frowns.

Charles pricks the side of Amy’s neck, and she sobs.

“Darren, just give it to him!” she shrieks.

Darren reaches over and timidly picks up his weapon, then hands it to Charles. Wild Eyes tosses his hypodermic needles into the corner, then swings the rifle around and aims it at Darren. I’m sure he’s going to shoot him, but instead he snatches the bologna sandwich and swallows the whole thing in three bites.

“Darren, we’re not going to kill you,” my father explains, eyeballing Charles as he talks. “We’re not going to kill anyone. We need to open all the doors. You’ll be able to go home afterward, you’ll be able to get another sandwich. But if you don’t help us, I’m going to give my daughter permission to shoot you and we’ll just figure it out on our own. I’ve seen this kind of security before. I know there’s a master lock that releases everything. Where is it?”

Darren gets up from his chair and crosses the room. There’s a metal box mounted on the wall. He opens it, inserts a key, then turns it with a click. Suddenly the air is alive with a piercing wail. Darren has sounded the alarm.

Charles slams the butt of the rifle against Darren’s head and knocks him out. Amy lets out a little yelp and then starts to whimper.

“Unlock the doors!” I shout at her.

“I don’t know how! I swear. I’m just a nurse!”

I have no idea if she’s being honest or not, but the alarm is freaking me out. We need to get away from here.

“All right, take me to my friend and then my mother!”

“I want my wife and daughter now!” Charles screams.

I lean down and snatch Darren’s keycard off his chain, then hand it to Charles.

“Find your kid,” I tell him. “Get her and all the children out of here. We’ll find your wife and meet you outside.”