61. Evie
THE PLAN WAS TO STAY TOGETHER. Stay quiet.
But some of the people we’d freed from the cells scattered once we reached the top of the spiral stairway. Before we could stop them.
Kara tried to run, but Cormack still had her hand tightly gripped.
Blood pulsed wildly in my temples, images rushing through my mind like a frenzied show reel.
Dead. Dismembered. Chains. Hooks. Knives. Blood.
So much blood.
We had no plan for what to do next. I didn’t blame anyone for running. It seemed safer to stick together, but splitting up might be the only way any of us were going to survive.
Our group was now made up of Cormack, Kara, Louelle, Yolanda, Hop, Richard, Poppy, Thomas and me. Most of us were armed with knives, but that was no defence against a horde of murderers, especially if they had guns. And the three of us that had been rescued were still groggy.
“Richie, you can put me down,” whispered Poppy. “I’m okay.”
“You’re in no state to walk,” he said.
“Yes, I am,” she insisted. “They’d barely . . . started on me yet. I’m slowing you down.”
I glanced at her in horror, gory images in my head of what she’d witnessed.
Richard gingerly set Poppy down on her feet. “Who did all this? Who are they?”
Her eyes enlarged. “The same people as the one who killed Saul. There’s more of them.”
Yolanda stared down the dark hall. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m heading straight for the front door.”
“If the front door’s not locked, the gates will be,” said Louelle. “And those gates are freaking high. But I’m with you.”
“Me too.” Hop nodded, breathing hard. “The best way forward is usually in a straight line.”
“We’ll find a way over the damned gate.” Cormack started walking, pulling Kara along.
“Wait,” said Poppy. “Shouldn’t we warn the mentors?”
Cormack stopped and looked back over his shoulder. “We’ve got no guarantee they’re not dead. I’m not wasting any time.”
Richard and I locked gazes, each of us knowing what the other was thinking.
“There’s another way.” Richard gestured towards the wall. “Through there. The walls are hollow.”
Cormack spun around fully. “How the hell do you know that?”
“It was accidental. No time to explain,” Richard said. “But the passages would have to run all the way to the front.”
“Let’s do it!” I stared at Richard, trying to calculate the difference in time between just running for the door and heading around to the entry to the hidden passages. Every way we could choose to go was dangerous.
“Sounds like a good way to get trapped.” Yolanda shook her head emphatically, her mouth trembling.
“Yeah, why the fuck would we squeeze ourselves into some tiny space?” agreed Cormack.
Kara tilted her head back, staring fearfully at the ceiling. “If you don’t want to be seen, don’t go where they can see you. They can follow your every move out in the hallways. You know there’s cameras up there. If the killers have access to the cameras . . .”
“We have to take that risk,” Poppy cried. “I’m with Yolanda and Cormack. I’d kill myself before being strung up on that wall again. You don’t know what I was forced to watch in that room. I need to get out . . .”
I wanted to grab her hand and run with her, but images of Gray and my girls flashed through my mind and crowded all else out. Kara and Richard were right. The cameras would see our every move. It was better to try the hidden passages.
I whirled around to Richard and Kara. “I’m with you.”
They both nodded.
“Fuck, I’m with you lot, then,” said Cormack.
“You can’t just leave us.” Yolanda’s eyes grew huge, her dark skin looking ashen.
“Please come,” I offered, then shot Poppy a pleading look.
But Yolanda and Poppy shook their heads, backing away. Louelle, Hop, Yolanda and Thomas started away down the hall—Thomas now steady enough on his feet to run by himself. Poppy stood by herself, trembling.
“Hey, popsicle,” cried Richard to Poppy. “I just carried your ass out of there. The least you could do now is be grateful and try to live. You get here, now.”
She’d only taken one step towards us before Richard had run back and grabbed her hand. I exhaled hard in relief.
We sprinted to the alcove with the hidden passage.