“There is a man trapped in here, a man Rye is using for his experiments.” Maybe trying to be a hero wasn’t the smart thing to do right now, but the words tumbled out of her mouth as she thought of Adaym chained up.
“Fuck.” He looked around the room, his whole body standing rock solid. “You’re my priority. I’ll send my crew out here to try to get them out. But you are my concern right now. I’ll try, Neeka. I can’t make any guarantees. My mission was to rescue you, not an unidentified male. Go. Hide now. And if things get fucked up, you leave out that window, understand?”
She nodded and searched for a place to bunker down, and when she turned around he was already out the door. She heard gunshots being fired, shouts ringing out, and she glanced at the rope. Could she really climb down a building?
She moved over to the window, knowing she should listen to him, but afraid to stay in this building, afraid they’d catch her again. Her heart was thundering, her palms sweating, and her body shook.
That’s like, twenty feet down.
More shots rang out.
Jump or die.
How could she leave him after he just saved her life? And before she could react the door splintered open, wood spraying everywhere. Neeka was thrown against the wall. She threw the shards of wood off of her, feeling the warm stickiness of her blood start to slip down her arm. She brought her fingers to the wound, adding pressure.
She stood, looking at her rescuer as he fought with several guards. She wanted to help him, but he was holding his own, and the look he shot at her spoke volumes.
Get the fuck out.
“Neeka, stop.”
She turned to see Rye in the hallway, guards surrounding him as they trained their guns on her. She gave one last look at Gage, his face set hard as he slammed his fist into a guard’s face before shooting him in the head. She didn’t think, just grabbed the rope and swung out of the window, hoping the nylon held.
Her hands burned as she slid down the rope, gravity taking her all the down. Finally reaching the ground, she took a look up at the window, and then ran toward the fence.
Her eyes grew wide, and panic started to set in as she noticed how high the fence was, and the barbed wire that was coiled atop it. Dirt wafted around her, the wind blowing slightly and brushing it against her legs. She turned around and looked at the front of the building. There were several bodies of dead guards, and she held back her cry of shock.
She wore a hospital gown, Rye having taken away her clothing until she “learned how to behave”. Her feet were bare, and the pebbles in the ground embedded themselves in the soles. She didn’t care, though, because the thought of being captured again was a horror she didn’t want to relive. Neeka couldn’t help thinking about the man who had rescued her. She wondered if he was still alive, fighting Rye’s goons, or if they had killed him, or even worse, kept him for experimenting on.
That thought alone was enough to make her stumble, but then she remembered the fierce look in his eyes when he’d told her to leave. She ran harder, faster, looking for an opening that would allow her to escape.
The front of the gate was made of chain link, the same as the rest of the fence, but it didn’t have the barbwire lining the top of it. It also didn’t look like there were any openings in the dilapidated fencing, not that she could see anyway.
Neeka made a beeline for it, deciding she would climb it, even though it wasn’t in the best location since it was out in the open and obviously visible. She didn’t stop to see if guards were following her, but the sound of gunshots rang out, loud and distinct. Tripping, Neeka caught the fence before she face-planted in the dirt.
She started to climb, looking over her shoulder when she heard a man shout for her to stop. A guard ran toward her, gun trained high. Her heart beat fast, her palms starting to get sweaty at the thought of getting caught again. He grabbed her ankle, pulling down so she stumbled, her leg scraping against the lock on the fence and tearing her skin open.
She cried out and gripped the fence harder, kicking at him with her other leg and slamming her foot into his jaw. He cursed and tightened his hold on her ankle.
Her hands gave out, and she fell backward, flailing her arms as she hit the ground hard. The breath left her in a whoosh, stars dancing in her vision as she groaned. The guard stared at her before slapping her across the face, not very hard, but hard enough that it snapped her out of her haze.