Chapter 2 They Took Me Alive

Grace's Pov

I don’t know how long I stayed on the closet floor. My legs went numb. My hand still hurt where I had bitten it.

Finally I pushed the door open a little more. Nothing moved. No boots. No voices. I crawled out on my hands and knees and stayed low.

The front door was still open. Cold night air blew in. I could hear talking outside. Men’s voices. And then my mother’s.

I crept to the wall beside the door and pressed my back against it. Through the opening I could see the porch light and the dark shapes of the men. Mom and Dad were on their knees on the front walk. Two men held them in place.

The tall one from before stood in front of them. He had taken his mask down. His face looked ordinary. That somehow made it worse.

“You delayed us,” he said. “That was foolish.”

Dad’s voice was rough. “The serum isn’t ready. You know that. Using it now will kill more people than it saves.”

Mom spoke next, voice shaking. “You already know about her. That’s why you’re here. Leave her alone. She’s not part of the work.”

The man tilted his head. “She is the work now. Her blood is the missing piece. You both knew that.”

Fear washed over me. I covered my mouth with both hands.

Dad tried to stand and got shoved back down. “If you take her, the counter-agent dies with us. You’ll never stabilize it.”

The man didn’t answer. He just raised his hand.

I heard the first shot.

BANG!

Then the second.

BOOM!

Mom made a sound that didn’t sound like her. Dad fell sideways onto the grass.

I stopped breathing.

The world went muffled around me, leaving only a piercing sound. The men moved around the bodies like they were checking packages. One of them said something about a clean site. Another mentioned a transport waiting two streets over.

I slid down the wall until I was sitting on the floor again. My whole body was shaking so hard my teeth clicked together in fear.

I wept silently, swallowing every sob as I forced myself to leave them behind.

☾𖤓☽ ───────── ☾𖤓☽

I had to move.

Staying on the floor meant waiting to be killed.

I pushed myself up and ran for the back door. My hands were still shaking so bad I almost dropped the knob. The backyard was dark. The old wooden fence looked higher than it ever had before. I grabbed the top and tried to pull myself over.

A light swept across me from the side. Then another caught me before I could run.

“There she is.”

I dropped to the ground and ran toward the neighbor’s yard.

Boots pounded behind me. I made it as far as the side gate before a hand caught the back of my hoodie and yanked me hard.

I hit the dirt face first. The air went out of my lungs. I rolled and kicked, but the man was already on me. He pinned my arms. Another one grabbed my legs.

I screamed until my throat burned. I screamed for help, for anyone, for my parents, even though I knew they could no longer hear me. A neighbor’s dog started barking. A porch light flicked on two houses down.

The man on top of me pressed something cold against my neck. There was a sharp sting.

“No,” I tried to say. “Please!.”

The world tilted. My arms went heavy. The shouting voices stretched out and got far away. I could still see the stars above the rooftops. I could still smell the grass.

They lifted me like I weighed nothing. My head lolled against someone’s shoulder. I caught one last look at my street as they carried me toward a black van with no windows. The porch light of my house was still on. The front door was still open.

Then the van doors slammed shut and everything went dark.

☾𖤓☽ ───────── ☾𖤓☽

I came back to myself slowly, piece by painful piece.

First it was the cold metal under my cheek. Then the hum of an engine. My hands were tied in front of me with thick plastic straps. A black hood covered my head. Every time the vehicle turned, my shoulder slammed against the wall.

My mouth tasted like metal and dirt. The drug still sat heavy in my blood. I tried to sit up and a boot pressed down on my back.

“Stay down.”

I obeyed, trembling as I tried to make myself as small as possible.

We drove for a long time. I counted the turns until I lost track. Then the engine noise changed. We were going downhill. Steep. My stomach flipped. The air got colder and thinner, like we were leaving the normal world behind.

The vehicle came to a sudden stop. A moment later, the doors opened.

Two men held me between them, dragging me forward as I struggled.

I heard heavy metal doors groan open, then slam shut behind us. Beneath my feet, the concrete gave way to cold metal grating.