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Authors: Emily McKay
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TEN
CARTER
My mind was racing so fast as I turned to leave the radio room I barely noticed that Zeke wasn’t there anymore. He must have slipped out first. I had other things to worry about now. I had to get out of here. Go find Lily, find some way to get her back into a medically induced coma—like I could just pull an anesthesiologist out of my ass—and
then
go get the cure from Sabrina. Because—ah, hell—this wasn’t hard enough to begin with.
At least I had the plane. Maybe I could search from the air. Maybe I could—
In my mind, I was already gone. So deep and so far into crisis planning that it took me a moment to realize the halls were emptier than they were just a few minutes ago. And there was noise coming from down the hall. It took me a second to recognize the sounds of fighting. The brutal thwumps and crunches of fists hitting flesh. The rumble of encouragement from a crowd of onlookers. The chanting jeer of “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
I rounded the corner in a jog only to stop short. I couldn’t even see who was fighting. It looked like everyone on the floor, hell, maybe everyone in the building had crowded into the space. The crowd seethed, surging around the fight in the center raging right outside the copier room, where Ely was being held.
I don’t know how, but somehow I could tell that they were tag-teaming it. Something about the way the crowd shifted tipped me off. It wasn’t just one guy fighting Ely. It was a bunch of guys.
I’d been in a lot of fights and I’d sparred with Ely. He was good. Maybe one of the toughest guys I knew. But no one guy could hold his own when a whole crowd was chanting for his blood.
I heard another sickening crunch followed by a muffled “umph” and disgust rolled through me.
I’d wanted him to pay. I’d wanted revenge. But not like this.
I rushed toward the crowd, pushing people out of the way. “Zeke!” I yelled for help. Because he’d be good in a fight and I needed backup if I was going to get Ely out of this alive. Plus he knew these people. He could help calm them the hell down.
The crowd closed around me and I had to shoulder my way through. “Zeke!” I started to call again, but then the crowd shifted and I got pushed forward, right into the center of the fight. And that’s where I found Zeke.
Some guy I didn’t know had Ely’s arms behind his back and Zeke was landing blow after blow to Ely’s stomach. Zeke’s face was a blank of mindless rage.
Less than thirty minutes ago, Zeke had been the one protecting Ely from Joe. Now he was beating the crap out of him. After standing ten inches from me when I thought about killing him. Shit. I’d done this.
All this anger. All the rage. This was me.
Damn it.
I threw myself at Zeke’s back, but he shook me off and just kept pounding on Ely.
How the hell was I going to fix this? How could I save Ely when part of me still wanted revenge?
The answer was obvious. I couldn’t calm things down until I calmed myself down. How could I do that when I still wanted to take him apart?
And this was it. They might well kill him. Unless I stepped forward and stopped it, Ely would die. Yeah, maybe he was a lying sack of shit, but he’d done it to save his brother. I had to remember that.
I threw myself between Zeke and Ely. Zeke had momentum behind him and a punch grazed my ribs. I twisted away from the punch so his fist rolled off me and then I danced out of his way. While he was off balance, his hand extended, I locked his fist in mine and twisted his arm up under me, holding it between my arm and my ribs. Zeke twisted so his back was toward me, reaching his other hand over his head and behind him. His hand found my jaw and his fingers dug into the vulnerable skin there. It hurt like hell, but I was taller than him. Not by much, but by just enough that he wasn’t able to get the leverage to rip my jaw off.
“Calm down,” I said in his ear, practically yelling to be heard over the confusion.
CARTER
My mind was racing so fast as I turned to leave the radio room I barely noticed that Zeke wasn’t there anymore. He must have slipped out first. I had other things to worry about now. I had to get out of here. Go find Lily, find some way to get her back into a medically induced coma—like I could just pull an anesthesiologist out of my ass—and
then
go get the cure from Sabrina. Because—ah, hell—this wasn’t hard enough to begin with.
At least I had the plane. Maybe I could search from the air. Maybe I could—
In my mind, I was already gone. So deep and so far into crisis planning that it took me a moment to realize the halls were emptier than they were just a few minutes ago. And there was noise coming from down the hall. It took me a second to recognize the sounds of fighting. The brutal thwumps and crunches of fists hitting flesh. The rumble of encouragement from a crowd of onlookers. The chanting jeer of “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
I rounded the corner in a jog only to stop short. I couldn’t even see who was fighting. It looked like everyone on the floor, hell, maybe everyone in the building had crowded into the space. The crowd seethed, surging around the fight in the center raging right outside the copier room, where Ely was being held.
I don’t know how, but somehow I could tell that they were tag-teaming it. Something about the way the crowd shifted tipped me off. It wasn’t just one guy fighting Ely. It was a bunch of guys.
I’d been in a lot of fights and I’d sparred with Ely. He was good. Maybe one of the toughest guys I knew. But no one guy could hold his own when a whole crowd was chanting for his blood.
I heard another sickening crunch followed by a muffled “umph” and disgust rolled through me.
I’d wanted him to pay. I’d wanted revenge. But not like this.
I rushed toward the crowd, pushing people out of the way. “Zeke!” I yelled for help. Because he’d be good in a fight and I needed backup if I was going to get Ely out of this alive. Plus he knew these people. He could help calm them the hell down.
The crowd closed around me and I had to shoulder my way through. “Zeke!” I started to call again, but then the crowd shifted and I got pushed forward, right into the center of the fight. And that’s where I found Zeke.
Some guy I didn’t know had Ely’s arms behind his back and Zeke was landing blow after blow to Ely’s stomach. Zeke’s face was a blank of mindless rage.
Less than thirty minutes ago, Zeke had been the one protecting Ely from Joe. Now he was beating the crap out of him. After standing ten inches from me when I thought about killing him. Shit. I’d done this.
All this anger. All the rage. This was me.
Damn it.
I threw myself at Zeke’s back, but he shook me off and just kept pounding on Ely.
How the hell was I going to fix this? How could I save Ely when part of me still wanted revenge?
The answer was obvious. I couldn’t calm things down until I calmed myself down. How could I do that when I still wanted to take him apart?
And this was it. They might well kill him. Unless I stepped forward and stopped it, Ely would die. Yeah, maybe he was a lying sack of shit, but he’d done it to save his brother. I had to remember that.
I threw myself between Zeke and Ely. Zeke had momentum behind him and a punch grazed my ribs. I twisted away from the punch so his fist rolled off me and then I danced out of his way. While he was off balance, his hand extended, I locked his fist in mine and twisted his arm up under me, holding it between my arm and my ribs. Zeke twisted so his back was toward me, reaching his other hand over his head and behind him. His hand found my jaw and his fingers dug into the vulnerable skin there. It hurt like hell, but I was taller than him. Not by much, but by just enough that he wasn’t able to get the leverage to rip my jaw off.
“Calm down,” I said in his ear, practically yelling to be heard over the confusion.
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