Page 75 of Bad Moon Rising
“There’s an elevator,” Flynn pointed.
“I don’t think so,” Roman muttered. “Death boxes.”
Nova shrugged to Flynn and followed him to the stairs.
Flynn said, “If he says no on the elevator, you have to believe there’s a reason.”
As they descended, the cold increased, but it went beyond actual temperature. It was a visceral sensation. Stabbing pain hit her stomach and left her numb. She rubbed at her wrists and up her arms, ineffectual at alleviating their ache.
“Anyone else feeling this?” she asked.
Roman paused on the stairs and held up his hand to signal for all of them to stop. He examined the entire space through the coin with a hole in the center. Then announced, “It’s not a spell.”
A sense she needed to retreat hit her.Leave.“This isn’t right. Feels like a trap.”
“I get that, too,” Flynn said.
“Felt it since we entered the building,” Roman said. “But I have to see what’s at the bottom. I feel it in my soul. I don’t think whatever is down there is in itself casting magic. I think…” Roman jogged down to the lowest subbasement floor exit and pushed through. Automatic hallway lighting lit up a row of doors all the way down. Each door had a small metal number tacked in place.
Looked like a secret prison, but it smelled like a hospital. The walls were spotless and painted a sickly green. A human might be fooled into thinking it sterile. Nova could smell the truth beneath the disinfectant in the air. There was sweat, piss, puke, and blood—the aroma of torture. Beyond that was a smell of starvation, the smell a body emits when it begins to digest itself—ketosis. How she recognized that, she didn’t want to dwell upon.
She followed the boys, peeking through the first window into a clean, closet-like room with a single bed, a sink, and a toilet. Silver chains with manacles were fixed to the walls. From the depths of somewhere in her mind came the certainty the chains allowed enough leeway to make it to the toilet and sink, but not the door.
That meant she might’ve been in one of these or something similar. Chills slithered through her shoulders.
Hoarsely, she said, “They’re cells. I think I’ve been housed in one like this before.”
A flash hit her brain with an image of a cell splattered with blood from one end to the other. So much pain. Was the image from her past or someone else’s?
She fell to her knees, holding her head.
Roman touched her back. “Can you make it out of here? You want me to carry you?”
Flynn opened one of the doors and stuck his head inside. “Beyond the stench I detect…lycan? Why the hell would it smell like one of our kind was in here?”
“Maybe it was Ky.” Roman sniffed. “Not Ky, but it was lycan. More than one.”
“If he got free, where is he?”
Roman snapped upright. “This is a death trap. Someone lured us here. We have to get out. Go!”
He helped her to her stand and lifted to carry her to the stairwell. A few seconds after they entered, an explosive detonated behind them, throwing all of them against the far wall.
“Up!” Roman ordered as he caught her arm and lifted her to her upright.
Ears ringing, she stumbled up the stairs in front of him. Three turns and up to Level One; the door was locked. No re-entry allowed, at least it said so on the sign. He rammed the door several times, but it didn’t budge. “Up!”
Flynn leaned over. “Smoke coming upward. We have to get out of here.”
Roman led up to the next level and shook the door. He rammed it, which did nothing. “It’s reinforced. It won’t budge. This isn’t a normal door. I should be able to push it off its hinge. This is designed to keep someone like us inside.”
“Let me try.” Flynn rammed all his weight into the door several times.
Roman pivoted to peek over the edge of the rails and dramatically sniffed. “That’s not smoke. That’s gas.”
Nova coughed. Her lungs burned as if she’d inhaled fiberglass. Each movement of air stung. Her eyes watered and vision blurred.
Flynn rattled the door, pushing again with all his strength. He fell to his knees coughing. “Gas…shouldn’t affect…us.”
