Thicker Than Blood (15 page)

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” I said. I did as he instructed, crouching down and holding out my hand.

I heard Jaq crunching forward in the snow and then the hum intensified for a moment before the strand snapped and disappeared.

“I think that worked,” I said.

“It did. We can see it now. It’s just broken wire on the ground,” Kira said.

“Stand up and do the same with the middle,” Jaq said.

We repeated this for the middle and top strands. The grey world I was in grew darker again as the fence died. I peered into what I thought was ahead of me and picked up very faint traces of light in a direction that might have been down. As I said. Disorienting as fuck.

“Nothing is coming to kill us and I don’t hear any alarms, so we’re probably good,” Kira said.

“I think I see the mines or traps or whatever they are. And I think I’ll hear them as we get near. We’re going to have to do this really slowly.” I took a deep breath.

“We can’t be too slow,” Kira said. “Not to rush you or anything, but the sun is setting. It’s going to get dark and your spell will break, yes?”

“FML,” I muttered.

“Do you see another fence?” Jaq asked.

“No,” I said. “I think if there was one, given how far off I saw this one from, I’d see it. How far is the crest of the hill from us now?”

“Three hundred feet? Like a football pitch.”

“We call it soccer and fields in ’Murica,” I said.

“You call it wrong,” Kira said. “If there are no more fences, Jaq, you should go to the RV. We’ll need you more there than here.”

“All right,” he said, reluctance obvious in his voice. “Good luck, Jade.”

“You too,” I said. “And thank you.”

I listened to him crunch away through the snow. After a moment Kira spoke again.

“Okay, like before. We line up. Ladies, step only where Jade steps. Fortunately, with this snow, we’ll be able to see that pretty clearly.”

“Time’s up,” I said as much to myself as to them. “Let’s do this.”

“At least we had chicken,” Kira murmured behind me, making me smile.

I might blow us all up or even worse by missing a mine, but at least I’d die among nerds. It was something. I took the first step forward through where the fence had been.

“Am I facing toward the top of the hill?” I asked.

“You are good to go,” Kira said. I felt cold air on my ears as my hood was pulled down, and then tug on my braid. I realized it was her hand. “Is this okay? You don’t have a belt I can grab.”

“Yeah, just don’t yank.” I could deal with cold ears. My hair was loosely braided, so it covered the tips at least. I wondered what Alek would think of the situation. Me, walking blindly through a minefield with his sister holding my hair like a leash, and a giant jaguar following in my footsteps. I hoped he was safe, but I couldn’t think about him now. No distractions.

Whatever magic was in the mines was strong enough that I could see it with my spelled eyes. It glowed and hummed like the fence.

“Okay, there’s sort of a grid pattern, but it’s hard to make out since I can only see the ones near me,” I said. “The circles are about six to eight inches across and some of these are only a few feet apart, so I’ll try to step right between. Don’t weave behind me. This could get really hairy.”

At least I could see my own feet. That would have made shit really exciting. I had no idea why I could see myself when I wasn’t invisible, but that’s the thing with magic. It makes its own rules.

Step by step, heel to toe, I walked across the field. The mines hummed in warning as we moved around them, their silvery glow muffled, like LEDs stuffed in a pillowcase. Sweat beaded on my forehead and ran down my spine from the tension only to freeze in the winter air. The mines seemed to stretch into forever, new ones appearing ahead no matter how many I walked past.

“Adjust left if you can,” Kira said. Her own tension radiated enough to feel, tangible heat prickling the back of my neck.

“There’s a big cluster that way, but I think I can get through them.”

I shifted to the left. Another few steps and it felt like we were definitely traveling uphill. My thighs burned and the snow had gotten deeper, making the lights dimmer and soaking my jeans to the knees.

“Not too much further,” Kira said soothingly. “Relax. We’re doing great.”

She really shouldn’t have said that.

My foot caught something beneath the snow and I stumbled forward. Kira jerked on my braid, pulling me back but it was too late. I overbalanced and did a full sideways sprawl into deep, icy snow.

Right onto a humming, glowing mine.

It didn’t explode. The light extinguished with a hiss.

“I just fell on one,” I said, trying not to panic as I climbed to my feet. “What’s happening?” Obviously I hadn’t exploded.

“Nothing,” Kira said, her voice tight with worry.

The jaguar snarled.

“Strike that,” Kira said. I heard a scraping noise and then the crack of a gun going off.

“What do I do?” I said. My voice came out in a shriek and I made myself take a deep breath. I couldn’t see shit except for the other mines around us.

“Come back toward my voice,” Kira said.

I walked the couple steps back until she put a hand on my shoulder.

“What is it? What did you shoot?” There. My voice was way less panicked. Kinda.

Ladies snarled again, very close to me now.

“Zombies, I think.” Kira’s gun went off again, two shots this time, in quick succession. My ears started ringing. “Climbing out of the ground. We need to go. Fast.”

“Which way?” I said. All I saw was mines, but from the glow, I thought I could tell which way was uphill. Not well enough to trust it.

Kira grabbed my arm and turned me in what I guessed was the right direction. “Fast zombies, seriously. Go.”

I went far more quickly than I was comfortable with, but fighting undead wasn’t an option for me. I tried to navigate the remaining mines without stepping into any lighted circles, praying to the Universe that my friends could keep up and follow my path. Gunfire rang out just behind me, shot after shot. An animal screamed, though more in anger than pain.

Gasping for air, my thighs burning, I passed through the last ring of lights and felt the ground flatten out.

“Clear ahead of me,” I called back.

Something slammed into my side, knocking me over. I curled instinctively and kicked out, my boots connecting with something hard that shrieked on impact. Gunfire, this time sounding like it came from ahead of me, cut through the air.

Hands grabbed my shoulders, and before I could react, I was being dragged across the snow and then pulled upright. Icy crystals caught in my hoodie and slid down the back of my neck. I tried to punch upward.

“Jade.” Salazar’s voice came from above me. “It’s me, come on.”

“I can’t see,” I said. “Get me inside.” I hoped that would break the spell.

Salazar picked me up as though I weighed nothing and carried me for a few terrifying strides. Then he set me down, pushing me to my knees.

“Just in front of you is the opening. There’s a ladder on the left.”

I flailed out with my hands as I heard him clear a gun and start shooting again. My fingers met a metal rim and I scrabbled around until felt the first rung. Closing my eyes, I crawled into the hole and started climbing down.

When I opened my eyes, I could see.

The hatch opened into a small room with copper walls. There was a single closed door at one end that looked like something I’d seen in submarine movies, with a big lever handle. I moved quickly out of the way of the ladder as Kira came sliding down like a total badass, her feet on the sides instead of the rungs.

“Jump,” she called up to someone.

The jaguar came next, the twins diving in head first and landing with a heavy thud as they shoved off the ladder with their back feet.

“Sal,” she yelled up.

More gunfire and then he was there, sliding down the ladder much the same way Kira had.

“Button,” he said, gasping. “Close the hatch.”

I looked around wildly and saw a panel near the door with the lever. It had two buttons on it that both looked exactly alike. I dashed toward it and hit the top one.

The hatch started to slide shut with a grinding protest. Something ugly and misshapen, its form backlit by the grey sky, stuck its head in. Kira shot it right between the glowing red eyes and it reared back. The hatch stopped grinding and slid shut with a clang.

“Holy fucking shit,” Kira said.

“Nice shooting,” Salazar said. He leaned against the ladder, still panting, his gun dangling in his hand.

“I’ve spent lot of hours playing
Left 4 Dead
.” Kira grinned. “Never thought it would translate to real-life zombie killing though.”

“Alarms are going, we have to move,” Salazar said. He pulled a white keycard from his suit pocket and held it out to me. “This is yours. The room you want is in the blue section, number forty-two. Can you remember that?”

“Life, the universe, and everything, blue. Got it,” I said, talking the card. My hands were shaking, my fingers numb with cold and buzzing with adrenaline. I was soaked from my spill into the snow and starting to feel the cold.

“God that’s a horrible sound,” Kira muttered. She checked the clip in her gun and nodded to Salazar.

“I don’t hear anything,” I said.

“Alarms are pitched for the shifters that patrol the corridors. Come on.” Salazar moved past me and opened the door.

The door opened into a wide hallway that stretched to the left and right, curving away. The wall had a green stripe painted on it. From Salazar’s diagram, I had pictured a single hall running in an infinity sign. This corridor was wide, but had other openings in it, hallways that led off to wherever. It was more like a strand of DNA, I guessed, than a real figure eight.

“Jade, this will lead you to the blue corridor. Go right, then hang left when it turns. Find the hallway opening with the blue stripe. Good luck.”

“Thank you,” I said. I hesitated, looking at the three of them.

A shout rang down the hallway and I heard boots slamming down on metal.

“Take care of my brother,” Kira said, giving me a somber nod. “Time to go make some noise.”

They took off running to the left. I turned my back on them and started up the hallway to the right. I unzipped my wet hoodie and pulled out my dagger. I had no idea how to use it, but it seemed like a better option than the possibly-not-exploding spell notes I had folded in my jean’s pocket. I was quite sure the blood ink had been damaged by me face-planting into the hill. My clothing was soaked. Small consolation that the spell probably would have failed.
No sour grapes here, nope
.

The blade was warm and pulsed in my fingers. Its weight was comforting, though I knew that must be magic or psychosomatic illusion. I had no idea how to use a knife, not really. A few lessons with Alek did not a master make. Being able to see again was also comforting. I hadn’t quite realized until was over how nerve-destroyingly awful being blind like that had been.

I turned the corner. The hallway I was in bent in a wide turn, continuing left. The roof and walls were the same copper-looking metal the room had been, but the floor was made of metal grating, like the kind you see on a footbridge. Faint blue light glowed up from under the grates. I tried not to wonder too much about it. No time. Three halls opened off it to the left. I sprinted down the corridor, looking at each side passage as I went by. First one was red. No go. The second was painted a dark purple.

Boots on metal rang out ahead of me. Putting on the last bit of speed I had, I bolted for the third hall. The paint was blue, the color of sky and hope and everything good. At least at that moment.

I hung a hard left and started looked at the doors. Salazar was right: they weren’t cells, but rooms like in a hotel, complete with a keycard reader on them. Only with a bulletproof glass window in each door. A Stephen King type of super-creepy hotel.

This hall stretched on forever, it seemed, though the light was dim here, making it difficult to read the numbers. Thirty-two. Thirty-three. On and on. I heard a shout somewhere behind me but didn’t dare to glance back.

Forty-two. I reached the door and shoved the card into its slot, swiping it so quickly I got an error and a red light for my trouble. I did glance down the hall and saw a large wolflike creature glide past the opening to the green corridor. It didn’t seem to see me. I swiped again, more carefully.

The light flicked to green and the door slid open like a barn door on a track inside the thick wall. I dived into the room and pulled it shut behind me, dropping down below the level of the window as it closed.

My heart in my throat and my lungs threatening to go on strike, I leaned against the cool metal and looked around. The room was about ten feet by ten feet, with a toilet and sink in one corner opposite me. On the right was a television bolted into the metal wall. A bed stretched along the left wall with a small side table bolted to the floor next to it.

The only light in the room was from a soft yellow bulb above my head. There was enough to of it to illuminate the figure asleep in the bed. I crawled to the side and stood up, still pressed against the wall, hoping I was out of sight in anyone looked in. I doubted they’d be searching the rooms, but I had used a card. They might notice this door had been opened.