Page 106 of The Executioners Three
“Libérez-nous.”
Tighter, tighter. Laina’s fingers squeezedtighter.
Libérez-nous.The words scraped inside Freddie’s skull. Meaningless, yet inescapable. And also undeniably pleading. There was a desperationin that voice and an ancient sadness in the fathomless, flame-fueled eyes.Libérez-nous.
Suddenly, the pressure at Freddie’s windpipe released. An abrupt influx of air, air,air.A heartbeat after that, the weight on Freddie’s chest leaped free.
Laina was gone. The shadow was gone.
Divya’s face swam into view. She was there—right there—and trying to help Freddie rise.And Cat too,Freddie thought, as a second face materialized from the darkness.
“Get up,” Divya and Cat were saying in voices that sounded too far away. Like Freddie was in a swimming pool and they were shouting from the opposite end. “Get up, Freddie—youhaveto get up.”
So Freddie got up. Somehow, with limbs made of ice and a brain made of fog—and with hands still bound by zip ties and a dangling set of handcuffs—she got up. Only to find Kyle and Luis by the archives.
Luis held a baseball bat and he was yanking at it while Laina clutched the other end in her hand. It was as if he’d swung it at her, and she’d stopped it midair. Effortless. A Super Strong Muscle Machine that Luis could never win against.
Flames licked off the bat’s edge, but that wasn’t what made Freddie gasp.Thatwas Kyle, dangling from Laina’s other hand as easily as a doll. She held him around the throat, and already, his movements grew weak.
“No,” Freddie tried to yell. Except that the word came out as garbled as the night—painful too, her throat having just been shredded by hands that had been way too strong.Supernaturally strong?her brain tried to ask, but she elbowed that thought aside in favor of surviving this moment.
“Let him go, Laina!” She stumbled forward. Laina’s back was to her; Freddie would attack if she had to.“Let him go!”
Clang. A bell tolled. Piercing, distant, yet also thrumming straight down into Freddie’s gut.
Laina’s head snapped toward it.Clang.She released Kyle. He crumpled to the snowy ground, coughing and sputtering.Clang. She released the baseball bat and bolted. A streak of fire-tipped shadows. Of unnatural speed and the stench of putrid flesh.
Then the last echoes of the bell ended, and Laina was gone.
For several seconds, no one moved. Not even Kyle, crouched andclutching at his throat. It was like everyone was afraid to breathe. Afraid to even think about what had just happened.
Until Kyle started coughing, and suddenly everyone was moving. Luis and Cat reached for Kyle. Divya grabbed for Freddie’s bound hands.
“Oh my god,” Divya said. “What happened to you?”
“No time.” Freddie’s vocal cords were shredded. “We need… to get in there. In the archives.” She didn’t know why the bell had rung again, and she also still didn’t knowfrom where.But three tolls meant the Disemboweler was hunting—human or maybe otherwise—and Freddie didn’t want any of her friends to be outside a moment longer.
“You’re tied up.” Divya held fast to Freddie’s shoulders. “How did you get here? What happened?”
“I’ll explain inside, Div. There’s a phone in there. Luis? The window—break it.”
“Yep,” he said as he tugged Kyle to his feet. And seconds later, with Cat to prop up Kyle and Divya still holding Freddie, Luis had his bat ready. “Hey, batter, batter,” he murmured.
The window didn’t stand a chance. Glass shattered in a sound that was bothmagnificentandway too loud. Heat rolled outward.
Luis swung again. Again. Until enough of the glass had fallen out for him to reach through and unbolt the door.
Freddie was the first to shove inside. “Come on, guys,” she called, hugging her left wrist to her chest. “And lock the door behind you.”
The handcuffs attached to Freddie’s zip-tied wrists clanked as she climbed down the ladder into darkness. Every movement sent pain through new bruises, new scratches, and above all, her left wrist.
She tumbled off the ladder and grabbed at the light switch. It was a risk, turning on the light. But then, it wasn’t as if being in the dark had kept them safe. At least now, there were walls.
Flip.Light bathed outward, fluorescent and searing. Freddie squinted into the bunker-like space stretching ahead. Grunts behind signaled Divya had arrived too. “It’s so warm. Thank god.”
“Phone” was all Freddie replied, and she launched toward the central support beam with its legally required emergency gear. (Although she would betmurderersweren’t the emergency anyone had ever planned for.)
Freddie laughed. A weak, hysterical laugh as she aimed for the central pole. She yanked down the first aid kit. “Scissors,” she told Divya, shoving it toward her. “I need to cut these zip ties.”
