Page 141 of Remnants
“I think I see someone!” Rae whispers as we creep around the bar, using our hands as our guides.
“Make sure it’s an agent before using your gift,” Kell reminds her, and she nods.
We get closer, but it’s too difficult to make anyone out unless we’re as close together as the three of us are. She reaches her arm into the mist, half of it disappearing until all we can see is the dim red glow of her gift. Raegan drags it closer, then shrieks when the zombie she’s holding snaps his teeth and pounces.
Her gift activates instantly, but Kellan doesn’t wait for her to finish before he dismembers it. He grunts when a zombie flies at him, its mouth wide over his arm as it tries to bite down but skates over hard scales instead. And then another hits him. And another. They fly at Raegan too, like we’ve run into a fucking nest of them as they climb over them both and start reaching for me.
“Aaaangh!” Raegan yells, the weight of them pushing her down while her gift doesn’t work fast enough to drop them.
Kellan’s equally buried as they cling to him like spiders.
One of them grabs my hair, and another, my elbow. “Ahh, fuckers!” I shove and try to knock them down, but they keep coming.
“Dammit! Dane, run! Find and kill that fucking fog person so we can see.” Kellan is brought to the floor, and he takes a final gasp on his way down. The zombies might not get him, but the gas could.
Raegan throws herself over the zombies on Kellan, her gift eating away at the ones between them and on her back. “Go! We’ve got this. And don’t you fucking dare let them get you, Dane,” she adds.
I dash through the fog, grabbing my gun and running blindly. I know the bar where we’d been, so I can picture the room in my mind, guessing where I am and where I can reach the perimeter of the room where I’m hoping the fog isn’t. I think the zombies are just as blind as we are. As long as I don’t make a loud noise or run into them, I’m able to pass right by. The ones I do knock into, I spin and dodge out of the way, then keep going.
The fog thins, and I gasp when I can see the job boards and hallway. Someone is crouched there, their hand on the ground and fog pumping steadily from it.
Found you.
Staying within the edge of the fog, I aim and fire. The agent falls.
The fog doesn’t immediately dissipate as I’d hoped.
Glass shattering draws my attention to the ceiling, where Jackson’s just broken one of the hexagonal windows overhead on the far side of the hall. His arm beckons the fog to him, pulling it out the opening when he’s suddenly knocked down, disappearing into the fog.
Thorne dives in after him.
Fuck. Zombies, Vera, sleeping gas,andThorne? Can it get much worse?
The fog continues to filter out of the hole Jack created, and it spreads more evenly across the room now that its user isn’t controlling it, making it thin enough that I can see the others again. Raegan and Kellan are almost done taking care of the mass of zombies we’d had, and Aiden’s applying metal on one side of the room to a vent. Thorne is throwing his attacks at Jack as if there’s no one else in the room, furniture flying and sharp winds hitting others in their path. Jackson tries to deflect them where there are no Guild members or at agents and zombies instead.
Tinsley is speeding around the perimeter, knocking agents off their feet, while Reid appears behind them to take them out. Evie and Silas are still fighting, but Fabian, Gabe, and Zedd are lying on the ground.
“Everyone…stop,” a droll voice declares, and cold fingers trail down my spine.
I’ve been listening to that voice through the computer, but hearing it in person is a different experience that makes my skin crawl.
The terrifying thing is…everyone in the room goes still except for agents, who continue firing darts at Guild members who don’t even try to dodge or counterattack. The darts hit them while they do nothing, and then they drop…breathing in the gas-filled air along the floor.
Jackson crashes to the ground, his body frozen mid-motion in whatever attack he’d been about to create. Aiden’s stiff by the vent he thankfully finished covering. And Raegan and Kellan…the zombies around them are down, but more are heading their way.
But me…I can move.
Royce.
My eyes find Vera’s. She mouths something to me that I can’t make out. This is it, isn’t it? Whatever she’d stuck me with, it worked.
I can take down Royce.
The necromancer surveys the room, and my muscles lock on instinct. I barely breathe, too scared he’ll somehow notice I’m not under his control and take me out before I can do anything. But he passes right by me without noticing me at all, then pauses near Jackson. “Ah, I remember you. You’ll do well.” He raises a hand, and Jackson stands, his movements stilted.
Fuck. I need to get to Royce without being seen. The fog is still around, still obscuring the view through the room slightly, but is it enough?
Sliding my foot to the side, I creep toward the bar while Royce is focused on Jack, and the agents are busy going after the members in the middle of the room. Once I’m close enough, I dive behind it, my heart jackhammering so loud I’m waiting for a zombie or agent to hear it and give me up.
