Page 300 of Interion

Breno didn't see what came next—he was already running faster, overtaking the second-in-command. Within minutes he burst out of the forest onto the red dirt road, where a line of trucks idled and rolled forward, picking up soldiers emerging from the trees. Dominic had stayed in the last vehicle, the only one that wasn't military—a black SUV guarded by more soldiers and gorgons keeping a tense watch. At that moment, no patrol could calm Breno. Everyone was in danger outside the walls.

He heard Kaori running after him, ordering Hiro and Aish into a vehicle that was already pulling away. The two protested, but under the second-in-command's firm orders, they had no choice but to climb in. He saw them hesitate on the path, clearly torn about separating—but it was an order. They couldn't disobey.

Breno kept running, his feet pounding the red mud. He rounded the last curve and saw no more trucks—only the solitary SUV—and finally spotted his brother. Dominic stood in the rain beside the vehicle, blue eyes wide, short hair plastered to his head, hand gripping the door handle.

“Dominic!” Breno shouted as he closed the distance. When the boy spotted him in the darkness, he ran toward him. Breno caught him halfway, hugged him tight, then scooped him up and kept running toward the SUV, knowing Kaori was right behind.

“What's happening?” Dominic asked as his brother set him inside the vehicle. His eyes were full of tears. Breno wiped them away with a surprisingly steady hand while buckling him into the back seat.

“Nothing you need to worry about. We just need to leave—the storm's going to get worse,” he lied, hearing Kaori approach and order him to sit up front and buckle up. Breno did as she said.

Before getting in, Kaori went to the trunk and grabbed a blue synthetic leather jacket, pulling it on over her jumpsuit with its silver Yamamoto company emblem. The jacket had five buttons, each a different color. Breno wanted to say how ridiculous it was to waste time on a weird jacket when their lives were in danger, but he kept his mouth shut. No point making an enemy of the second-in-command.

When the vehicle tore down the road, tires squealing, Breno could only think what a colossal mistake it had been to leave the boy outside the walls. He should have been more careful with his brother—what the hell had he been thinking when he agreed to let him stay? They raced along the wet road at full speed. Since they were in the last vehicle, they fell behind. Breno had countless questions about the chimeras that had attacked during the test, but he didn't want to frighten Dominic any more than he already was.

The rain got worse, and now they couldn't see even a foot of the road ahead. Breno glanced at Kaori as she drove and had to admit he'd never seen anyone handle a car so well. She was transformed: her serpent eyes fixed on the road while the snakes on her head slithered languidly over her shoulders. For a few minutes, he just watched—he'd never seen a medusa this close before. Breno thought she was the most beautiful and dangerous thing he'd ever seen in his life, but again, these were inappropriate thoughts for the moment. He knew it.

Then the car braked hard, throwing Breno forward in his seat.

“We agreed on only one,” Kaori shouted into the car, to no one in particular.

“What?” he asked, frowning. She ignored him and kept watching the road.

“That wasn't the deal,” the woman snapped, punching the steering wheel. “We didn't agree to an attack. You said you'd take the boy from the center and all the energy he carried—that's it!”

“What's happening?” Breno asked, looking at the road. There was nothing blocking the way. He turned back to Kaori—she was still staring at the windshield, breathing fast. “What's the problem, Kaori?”

“Do I still accept? Three boys for one?” she asked, closing her eyes and letting her head fall against the steering wheel. She seemed furious, but there was a note of indecision and sadness. Breno looked around, searching for a phone or communicator, but there was nothing. She was definitely talking to herself. He realized it could be a psychic from the army, and that she must be receiving orders through one.

“Tato?” Dominic whispered from the back seat. Breno turned and looked into Dominic's wide, bright eyes. “I'm scared.”

Breno reached through the gap between the front seats and took his brother's cold hand.

“You don't need to be scared. It's just a storm—it'll pass soon.”

Breno took a deep breath and turned back to Kaori. The car was silent, and he could hear their hearts pounding. Kaori's was racing the fastest, which only confirmed that something terrible was happening.

“Immediate Kaori?” Breno called, watching her more carefully. All eighteen serpents rose in unison to stare at him, their small black eyes fixed on him. The boy knew he shouldn't openly examine a gorgon, but he couldn't look away. It was hypnotic. “Is everything okay?”

When she didn't respond, he let go of his brother's hand and reached out to touch her, to ask what was wrong. But when their hands made contact, Kaori lifted her head from the steering wheel and moved instantly, grabbing his arm with shocking force. She pulled him close, and in seconds, Breno found himself wrapped in her embrace.

“I've gone too far, and there's no going back,” she whispered in his ear.

Breno knew it wasn't meant for him.

Everything happened so fast he barely had time to think. Serpents coiled around his shoulders in a hungry embrace, and soon he felt the sharp bite on his neck. Eighteen of them. He shoved the woman away and she released him. Breno stared into her serpent eyes—two grayish irises with slit pupils as black as the deepest abyss. He tried to speak, but the words wouldn't come; he tried to move, but his body wouldn't obey; he heard screams around him, but the world seemed to have frozen.

Kaori watched as he slid down in his seat and collapsed against the closed door, his body as limp as a rag doll. Breno heard Dominic scream his name and felt the car shaking as Kaori grabbed him too. In moments, the screams ceased. Breno tried to use his gift, tried to protect Dominic, tried to scream for him to run, but he couldn't do anything—the gorgon's venom flooded his nervous system, paralyzing even his eyelids.

Silence. The world fell quiet while heavy raindrops beat against the metal of the vehicle. Breno heard Kaori get out. He watched her pass in front of the headlights, the serpents dancing in the white light, and then she circled around the car to his door. The moment it opened, Breno tumbled out, his face burying in the muddy ground. Pain flooded his entire body, and soon he heard another door open and another body fall.

Kaori's feet returned to his side, the rain soaking them, and Breno could only see the darkness between the trees. He was still wondering what the hell was going on when lightning split the sky and illuminated the forest around them. For a few seconds, Breno stopped breathing.

They were surrounded.

One of his eyes was covered with mud, but his free eye could see there were many beasts around, and they kept emerging from between the trees. He tried to scream, run, or just move, but he couldn't even blink. The carnicels approached, growling and snapping at the air. Breno knew it was the end—he would die like a rabbit caught in a trap. He would die without even knowing why. He said one last prayer to any god, asked for mercy for Dominic, and begged for it to be quick, for the boy not to suffer.

The largest beast stopped in front of him, its paw centimeters from Breno's face. He would have trembled when the monster lowered its head over his body, but even his tremors were frozen. He wasn't even given the chance to curl up like a worm. The carnicel sniffed his scent: fear and defiance. Silence grew throughout the forest.