there’ll be some scientists up there that we can take one from.”
“Hopefully?”
“I’m not fucking psychic, Oscar. I’d say there’s a good chance, but if I’m being honest, I don’t have a fucking clue what we’re going to find in this building. We have nothing but a baseball bat and an axe on us. Your leg’s fucked and I’ve inhaled lungfuls of smoke. We could be walking straight into hell.”
The glint returned to Oscar’s eyes, almost as if the prospect of chaos excited him.
“All I know,” Rhys said, “is that I have loved ones who need rescuing.” Another check of his watch. “We don’t have long before this place goes up like a lit match to petrol. So are you ready, or do you want to spend what little time we have left complaining?”
Oscar locked a penetrative stare on Rhys. The heat returned to Rhys’ cheeks. He’d seen Rhys’ lie about the rooms at the end. He must have worked it out.
“Right,” Rhys said and clapped his hands together. “Let’s fucking do this.”
The building may have looked different from all of the others in Summit City but the card reader on the outside looked exactly the same. When Rhys swallowed, it hurt, and the taste of molten plastic still sat in his throat. He couldn’t smell a thing since he’d left Dave’s tower other than smoke. He removed Vicky’s card and his hand shook worse than before. He took another deep breath and swiped it through the reader.
The second the red light turned green, Oscar shoved him aside and barged through.
Hopefully he’d believed Rhys. Hopefully he’d go for the room on the right.
Chapter Nineteen
The second Rhys stepped into The Alpha Tower, he drew an involuntary breath. Tall and wide, the foyer took up what could have been the first five floors had they chosen to utilise the space. The Alpha Tower seemed to be the only place in the city where efficiency bowed down to beauty.
The floor, as large as a football field, looked like it had been made from one piece of marble. The walls had been made from the same material, and like the floor, Rhys couldn’t see the joins. Several grand black leather sofas had been placed on the floor. Everything that could have a trim, had been outlined in gold.
“Talk about luxury,” Rhys said. “This place looks more like a swanky hotel than an office building.”
Rhys had to squint to see to the other end of the vast room. Two gold doors lay flush with the far wall. They stood side by side, separated by a strip of green marble about a metre wide. Each door had a small round call button next to it and nothing else. Two letters had been inlaid into the marble halfway up the wall. Gold, like every other trim in the foyer, they stood about ten metres high and five metres wide. They read ‘AT’.
Like Rhys, Oscar looked around the room. Unlike Rhys—who stood limp jawed with his arms flopped by his side—he had his axe raised, ready for use.
Rhys finally snapped out of it and looked for danger. Another good reason to have Oscar around; the man remained permanently vigilant when Rhys could only gawp like an awestruck child.
Rhys leaned close to Oscar and said, “See anything?”
“No, it looks—”
The roar of the diseased echoed through the cavernous reception area. The shrill call bounced off the hard walls, which made it difficult to pinpoint its origin. Rhys spun on the spot and his heart pounded in his neck. Although he swallowed, his throat remained dry. “Where the fuck did that noise come from?”
The darkness shifted to the left, and six diseased burst from the shadows. The group consisted of four women and two men.
They sprinted on the edge of their balance as if they’d fall face first on their next step. Their arms slashed the air in front of them and they snapped their teeth. The top halves of their bodies leaned forward, but instead of watching the floor, they lifted their faces and glared at the pair through bloody eyes.
Rhys
“Hopefully?”
“I’m not fucking psychic, Oscar. I’d say there’s a good chance, but if I’m being honest, I don’t have a fucking clue what we’re going to find in this building. We have nothing but a baseball bat and an axe on us. Your leg’s fucked and I’ve inhaled lungfuls of smoke. We could be walking straight into hell.”
The glint returned to Oscar’s eyes, almost as if the prospect of chaos excited him.
“All I know,” Rhys said, “is that I have loved ones who need rescuing.” Another check of his watch. “We don’t have long before this place goes up like a lit match to petrol. So are you ready, or do you want to spend what little time we have left complaining?”
Oscar locked a penetrative stare on Rhys. The heat returned to Rhys’ cheeks. He’d seen Rhys’ lie about the rooms at the end. He must have worked it out.
“Right,” Rhys said and clapped his hands together. “Let’s fucking do this.”
The building may have looked different from all of the others in Summit City but the card reader on the outside looked exactly the same. When Rhys swallowed, it hurt, and the taste of molten plastic still sat in his throat. He couldn’t smell a thing since he’d left Dave’s tower other than smoke. He removed Vicky’s card and his hand shook worse than before. He took another deep breath and swiped it through the reader.
The second the red light turned green, Oscar shoved him aside and barged through.
Hopefully he’d believed Rhys. Hopefully he’d go for the room on the right.
Chapter Nineteen
The second Rhys stepped into The Alpha Tower, he drew an involuntary breath. Tall and wide, the foyer took up what could have been the first five floors had they chosen to utilise the space. The Alpha Tower seemed to be the only place in the city where efficiency bowed down to beauty.
The floor, as large as a football field, looked like it had been made from one piece of marble. The walls had been made from the same material, and like the floor, Rhys couldn’t see the joins. Several grand black leather sofas had been placed on the floor. Everything that could have a trim, had been outlined in gold.
“Talk about luxury,” Rhys said. “This place looks more like a swanky hotel than an office building.”
Rhys had to squint to see to the other end of the vast room. Two gold doors lay flush with the far wall. They stood side by side, separated by a strip of green marble about a metre wide. Each door had a small round call button next to it and nothing else. Two letters had been inlaid into the marble halfway up the wall. Gold, like every other trim in the foyer, they stood about ten metres high and five metres wide. They read ‘AT’.
Like Rhys, Oscar looked around the room. Unlike Rhys—who stood limp jawed with his arms flopped by his side—he had his axe raised, ready for use.
Rhys finally snapped out of it and looked for danger. Another good reason to have Oscar around; the man remained permanently vigilant when Rhys could only gawp like an awestruck child.
Rhys leaned close to Oscar and said, “See anything?”
“No, it looks—”
The roar of the diseased echoed through the cavernous reception area. The shrill call bounced off the hard walls, which made it difficult to pinpoint its origin. Rhys spun on the spot and his heart pounded in his neck. Although he swallowed, his throat remained dry. “Where the fuck did that noise come from?”
The darkness shifted to the left, and six diseased burst from the shadows. The group consisted of four women and two men.
They sprinted on the edge of their balance as if they’d fall face first on their next step. Their arms slashed the air in front of them and they snapped their teeth. The top halves of their bodies leaned forward, but instead of watching the floor, they lifted their faces and glared at the pair through bloody eyes.
Rhys
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