Only now do I realize that we were in some kind of walk-in freezer that’s luckily enough not turned on. That explains the metal walls and floor, I guess. What kind of place have the Pit Vipers taken us to?
Blade was right. We’re in a maze of hallways leading into different storage rooms and a couple more freezers. Everything looks old and worn down, the paint peeling, metal rusted, and the flooring warped. The lights are on, but they’re bare bulbs hanging from strings. A slight breeze moves through, making them wobble and cast creepy shadows across the walls. It’s like we’ve stepped into a gigantic butcher shop in a horror movie.
I’m happy to let Blade lead the way, but I stay as close to him as I can. If your head could pop off from looking over your shoulders too much, mine would be rolling down the corridor already.
We come to an open space. Rusty metal sinks line the wall and rickety tables have collapsed next to them. In a corner is a pile of plastic crates, the kind you might display fruits and veggies in at a grocery store. They’re faded with black mold all over them. Gross. On the right, creepy hallways obscured with curtains of long plastic strips go off into darkness. Could they be a way out? Or just full of spiders?
There are voices, echoing strangely off the walls. Blade freezes, listening carefully while he puts his hand on my arm to make sure I’ve stopped. It’s hard to tell how far they are, but as we listen, one thing becomes obvious. They’re coming closer.
“Fuck,” hisses Blade.
“We have to hide,” I whisper. Blade’s lethal, but I don’t think even he can take out a whole club’s worth of bikers, and who knows how many there are?
“This way.” He yanks me after him so suddenly, I have to take a couple quick steps to keep from toppling. He’s pulling me into the closest of the scary, dark hallways, and it sends shivers up my spine.
The plastic strips that cover the entrance are so old, they’re brittle. We squeeze past, and I hope one of them isn’t going to just snap and crash to the floor. More moldy crates are stacked just inside.
The hallway’s made of metal all around, walls, floor and ceiling, and it’s a lot hotter than the room we just left. It stinks, like there’s still old food in here or something. Probably the mold. The air in here can’t be good for us, but better respiratory problems in the future than a bullet through the brain, I guess. I hunker down behind the crates, between Blade and the wall, and pray that the Vipers aren’t coming in here. I doubt it. I don’t think anyone’s touched these hallways in a decade.
“Shovelhead!” a voice yells. “Jesus fuck, what the hell is he up to?”
A second voice responds, pitched high for a man. “Probably too busy fucking the bitch we caught. Thinks being second in command gives him all the fucking rights.”
The first guy laughs, making me wince and curl up even smaller. “If he is, Crow’s going to fucking ice him. Eagle-eye’s daughter’s off limits. Crow wants the honor of making a mess of her, ideally while her old man is forced to fucking watch. Crow’s got a hardon for vengeance that’s fucking ten feet long.”
“No fucking kidding. I’ll be glad when we’re fucking done with this shit. It’s bad for business.”
“You going to fucking tell him that?”
“Fuck no. That fucker’s a savage.”
They both laugh. “But seriously. What’s the deal with Shovelhead? Do we have to go in and get him? He’s stupid enough that he might be fucking with the girl, but either way he should be answering his damn phone.”
Crap. If they find the corpse, there’ll be a full alarm. I’m about to nudge Blade, when I realize he’s already disappeared from next to me. God, he moves silently.
The first guy goes down immediately. Blade comes up right behind him before either of them notice, driving his knife into his throat. The only sound he makes is a sickening gurgle that makes me retch. I really shouldn’t have looked, and the heat and moldy smell don’t help.
“What the fuck?” And that’s as far as the second guy gets before he’s down too, leaving Blade standing over them and watching the corridors to make sure there aren’t more coming, while I crouch in the dark and whimper. I’m not cut out for this stuff. No one should be cut out for this stuff.
He must see something about me when I emerge, because he immediately turns me away from the carnage. “I’m sorry, Faith. I’ll do what I can, but if they managed to call down the rest of the club on us, I don’t know that I’d be able to keep you safe.”
I nod, keeping my eyes distinctly away from the bodies on the floor, letting Blade guide me. Yes, he’s a killer, and yes, that terrifies me, but there’s no one else I trust to keep me safe right now. And terrified or not, I know he’ll fight for me to the bitter end.
And today that requires a killer.
“Come.”
The farther away we get from the bodies, the better I feel.
We keep moving forward, trying to make sense of this place. A lot of the old walls have been knocked out, guiding us through what looks like old storefronts, though the windows are all boarded up. Sales counters and displays are still here, though now they’re empty and obviously abandoned a long time ago. Some have been repurposed as makeshift sleeping bunks, but thankfully, no one’s here.
We enter what was probably someone’s break room, with some plastic chairs and tables and an empty vending machine that’s had its glass smashed. Crumpled packs of cigarettes and empty beer cans are scattered on the floor, but still no people. The stink from the bathrooms we pass is revolting, though, which says there’re people around. We must be stuck in some kind of mall from the looks of it, but there’s obviously no cleaning crew anymore.
“Where is everyone?” I whisper. The two guys we ran into made sense, but you’d think a place like this would have more.
“No fucking idea, and I don’t like it,” Blade whispers back.
The next hole in the wall brings us into what was probably a clothing store. It’s two stories, with an escalator in the middle looking like it hasn’t moved since the nineties. But for once the doors aren’t nailed shut. I point and Blade nods, probably thinking the same thing, since he sets a course for it, pulling me with him.