Page 53 of Hell’s Weapon

“We’re not finished with the bodies, so you’ll wait here for now,” the guard says before nodding to two others watching over our group and retreating.

The panther, who had also walked with us, slinks into the building.

Spotting Seffy first and then Milo behind her, I bound over to them, my legs feeling weirdly unstable as the relief hits me in a wave. Milo looks worried but unharmed.

My anxiety ticks up again as I realise Tacita is not amongst the group.

“Are you okay?” I ask Milo as I step into his space. On instinct, I grab onto his waist and search his gaze. Knowing he won’t be able to verbally answer me, I assess every muscle on his pale features, from the tight line of his soft lips to the way his long eyelashes bat over dark eyes that swim with worry.

He dives into my chest, wrapping his arms around me in an unexpected show of affection. His whole body vibrates against mine, his adrenaline levels clearly skyrocketing.

“Tacita got taken away,” Seffy supplies.

Keeping Milo in my arms, I turn us so I’m looking at the blonde woman, who I now see also looks worried, her fingers knotting together.

“What happened?” I ask.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Seffy replies. “There was a knock at my door and when I answered, it was a guard. They started asking all these questions. I could see commotion going on in the hall but they wouldn’t let me out initially. Once I’d told them I had been in my room for at least thirty minutes, I got escorted down here.”

“Did you see the others from our floor?” I want to ask about Tacita specifically but don’t want to reveal how my own fear is spiking.

“Most. Apparently both Frankie and Ahmed are dead. Their room was next to mine. I didn’t hear anything.”

“But everyone else? Are they okay?”

“When I got down here, Tacita and a few others were already down here. She was blowing up about Milo. She calmed somewhat when they brought him down but then that Head Guard came over and she started arguing with him.”

I glance down at Milo, his heartrate has dropped somewhat. I almost don’t let him go as he pulls back from being wrapped around me. He doesn’t go far, standing so his shoulder brushes mine.

“H-h-e-e took her,” he stammers.

Seffy eyes widen as hearing Milo speak but she quickly fills in the details when it becomes clear he can’t say anything else. “The head guy, Officer Zephyr, he dragged her off.”

“No doubt back to the cells,” I mutter, shuffling my weight as I contemplate how I can break her out if she isn’t released.

“They took two others, Daniels and Neive. They came down after me but were already in handcuffs and were taken that way too.” Seffy points towards the Guards’ building.

“Look after Milo,” I tell her and move to the edge of the group, planning to do a quick recon of the cells I was held in the other night. The guards watching over us are chatting to others that have come to the entrance of our building.

Moving swiftly into the shadows of the building adjacent to ours, I don’t have much choice of an escape route. If I can sneak around the edge and round their building, I might be able to follow the perimeter fence line to the Guards’ quarters.

“Thirty-Nine, where do you think you’re going?” A gruff bark shouts, ending my hopes of sneaking away.

“Nowhere,” I grumble as I turn to face Officer Zephyr. Leaning back against the wall I fold my arms over my chest. “Just waiting for you lot to allow me back into my room so I can shower.”

“Not disappearing on us then?” He steps out of the doorway and into the space between the buildings.

“Nope.” I pop the p.

“Good. We don’t need you sneaking in, or out of, any more off limit facilities.”

I received a bollocking for breaking out of the cells the following day. Officer Zephyr had paid a visit to my room with another one of the guards and grilled me for hours about how I’d done it. I’d happily told them about how shit their security system was. And that even if they changed the locks, and I found myself down there again, I knew I’d be able to break out once more.

Minutes pass and he doesn’t take his eyes off me. We stay in some sort of stand-off. I consider going back to stand with Milo, Seffy, and the others, but now that I’ve caught the attention of the Head Guard, I don't want to give him anything, even the knowledge of whom I care about.

I’m plotting a way to cause a distraction when a noise above us grabs all our attention. It sounds like giant wings flapping. In the fading evening light, it takes me a second to spot the flying creature circling above us.

They’re high above the compound and gaining height. It's difficult to make out any detail of the creature as I move away from the building wall to keep my eyes on it, as its trajectory changes.