The Battle of BioBridge, Part Two

WILLOW

The moment screams rang out from the front line, my feet moved before I could think twice.

I sprinted past the fence with a gun strapped to my hip and my coat flapping behind me. I clapped a hand over my mouth, but the mist still coated the inside of my throat. It made the scars on my skin prickle.

Wolves convulsed on the ground all around me as they shifted back to human form. Their eyes were wide, and foam spilled from their mouths in frothy white blossoms.

Connor had warned them. I had warned them. But they hadn’t believed it would come to this. They hadn’t believed ~me~.

~Maybe now they’ll believe ~in~ me~, I thought before running straight into the wolfsbane mist.

The sting hit instantly. Fire raced across my skin, a thousand needles pricking at once. My breath caught, but then it quickly leveled out. My body remembered; my blood remembered.

My pace didn’t slow.

Naked men and women writhed, some still alive, some already too still. Soldiers closed in on us. I raised my gun and started firing.

The world was madness: gunfire, snarls, screams, shrieks of pain, and metal.

But I pressed forward, untouched. The mist even seemed to part around me as if it recognized me.

Ahead, the BioBridge building loomed, cold steel and dead windows. And the double glass doors, they were so close, only yards away.

A body slammed into me from the side, sending me crashing to the ground. His weight crushed down on me like a gravestone. But instinct quickly kicked in. I bucked, thrusted, and slipped free—only to be pinned again.

He crawled on top of me, his knees trapping my arms before his hands wrapped around my throat. He squeezed, and I couldn’t draw breath. Panic shot through me while I thrashed beneath him, my legs flailing uselessly while his grip tightened.

Just when my vision began to dim, his head exploded in a red mist.

Heat sprayed my face, and he toppled sideways, one leg still draped over my hip.

~Fuck.~ I lay stunned until the wolfsbane mist began curling around me. It hurled me back to my feet. Blood trickled down my face. No time to wipe it. I sprinted toward the sliding doors. Raised my gun. Fired three shots.

The glass spider-webbed but held. Without slowing, I lowered my shoulder and barreled into it. It gave way with a thunderous crash. Shards exploded around me as I tumbled inside, hitting the floor hard.

~How do I turn off the mist?~ I thought after I rolled to my feet. ~Where’s the shut-off?~ I spun in a circle, scanning the walls, looking for control panels, switches, anything. ~Fuck!~

That was when I saw it: the round red button beside the door that Amy had pressed.

~That must be it!~ I darted over and slammed it.

The hissing stopped, the sound that had been a constant backdrop for minutes—gone. And with it went the mist.

But I wasn’t taking any chances. I grabbed the fire extinguisher from the wall mount, raised it high, and brought it down hard on the green button beside the red one. I hit it again and again until it was nothing but twisted metal and shattered circuits.

The firefight still raged outside, but I continued into the building.

The dark foyer triggered flashes of unwelcome memories, and I shook them away. I tried to sharpen my senses, reach for that wolfish edge, but the wolfsbane had ripped it all away.

Movement to my left. I swung the gun toward it. The shadow resolved into a figure, and my world tilted on its axis. I was staring at myself.

A clone. Here. Real.

“Don’t shoot, please!” she pleaded, her voice a perfect echo of mine but panicked, desperate. “I want to help.” She raised her hands in what looked like genuine surrender, but I couldn’t shake the doubts crowding my mind.

The gun trembled in my grip, threatening to betray how lost I felt. So, I locked my elbows to keep it steady.

“I’m Clara,” she said softly. “I know where the kids are. They’re prepping them for cell and egg harvesting. Same thing they did to you.”

“Why should I trust you? You’re working with them! I should shoot you where you stand,” I spat out, stronger than I’d expected.

“I didn’t know about any of this.” Tears gathered in her eyes. “I thought I was helping, but then I saw…” She sniffled and wiped her nose. “I can’t let this happen to those kids. I won’t let them do this!” Determination filled her eyes before her hands balled into fists.

Something inside told me to trust her, so I did, but I kept the gun aimed at her chest. “Where are they?” I demanded.

She gave me a tight smile and a single nod. “Seventh floor. We still have time to save them. Come on!” She ran, but instead of heading toward the staircase on the other side of the turnstiles, she went left, staying on this side of them.

“Where are you—”

“There’s a fire escape over here,” she said. “The guards and lab techs will be using the main stairwell. We’ve got to avoid that!”

When Clara turned the corner, I stopped thinking and let my gut take over. I sprinted after her as she shoved open an emergency exit and bounded up the fire escape at the rear of the building.

We bolted upward, our feet hammering the metal steps with the cadence of war drums. Below us, the thunder of boots echoed through the foyer before the closing door cut off the sound.

The seventh floor arrived in a matter of minutes, leaving us gasping for air. My hand shot out for the door handle, but Clara stopped me, her warm hand closing over mine. She pressed a finger to her lips before pointing to her ear. We paused, listening.

Muffled voices carried through the door—orders being barked out on the other side.

Clara leaned in, whispering, “There’s more security on this level than the rest. And they’ll send even more. We need to be smart about this.” Her gaze flicked to my gun. “Make every round count.”

I nodded, acknowledging what we both knew had to happen. The pistol suddenly felt heavier, but my grip remained steady.

From far below, the sounds of battle drifted up to us. Howls of pain echoed through the air. The crack of gunfire punctuated the noise. It was the chaos of war unleashed. The fight was coming, inching closer, crawling up the building like a beast with blood on its mind.

No more time to think.

Clara and I exchanged a quick nod. With a swift motion, she yanked open the door, and we were off, charging into the unknown as if born for it.

We caught the three guards flanking the door by surprise. In the few seconds it took them to react, I dropped the two on the right with clean headshots, while Clara slammed into the one on the left with a force that belied her slight frame.

I continued right, my hands steady despite my pounding heart. Clara joined me, and we moved down the empty corridor together.

Up ahead, two open doorways faced each other across the hallway. We slowed as we neared, preparing ourselves to face more soldiers. Clara raised a gun—one she must’ve taken from a guard—and I tightened my grip.

Then, a bullet cracked past my ear, from behind. Clara and I spun around just in time to glimpse a soldier’s boot disappearing into a doorway at the far end of the hall. Before we could react, another shot rang out, this one from ahead.

I whipped back around to see a second soldier burst from the left-hand doorway, his gun raised. Clara didn’t hesitate. She fired, and he stumbled backward into the room. She charged in after him, a force of nature. And I couldn’t help but feel a flicker of pride.

More bullets flew past me from the direction we’d come, and I dove into the room on the right. I rolled to my feet immediately, raised my gun, and swept the room for targets.

But there was no movement.

Not even from the four small figures lying in the beds.

Before I could take a step, the building convulsed in a violent dance as an explosion rocked through it, deafening and absolute.