As soon as he throws open the door, I toss my arm over his head, then pull him into my chest. I lock him in a chokehold and crush his trachea with everything I have. He kicks, flails, his heels seeking traction on the creaking floorboards. But it’s no use.
In a minute, he slumps to the ground, asleep. I unclip hisorange paint vial and attach it to my hoodie. Front and center.
It takes me another five panicked moments to catch up with the group ofBetasI had been following. Ones that kept saying things like, “She’s probably hiding somewhere.”
“Somewhere smart,” the other replied.
They’re looking for aspecifictarget.
When they ignore a few cryingIotasas they scurry toward a side room, I know I’m with the right guys.
We pass a room with a few shadowy figures inside. Most of theBetaskeep moving along the corridor like they know the women in there are already tagged…
But the guy bent over this woman’s body seems busy. And not in acarnalway. He gets up and creeps toward a large wardrobe on the back wall, but I pause to watch.
Something’s off.
Curling smoke hisses up from the floor, thick and white, snaking around my boots. A girl lies motionless near the center of the room, twisted wrong. Perhaps splayed out? I don’t look longer than a second…
A fewBetasat my back stumble into me. But I just stand still. The man in the room is dressed differently. Like he’s wearing a cape. It’s almost too dark to tell. Especially with my mask blocking the view.
As soon as he reaches the wardrobe, he pauses and tosses a look over his shoulder toward me, gaping from the doorway, then skirts toward a side door near the back of the room.
A sob startles me. It hits me hard enough to stop me cold.
There’s someone in there.
I’m reaching for the door when it explodes open.
She springs out like a wildcat, scratching at my neck andscreaming the house down. One of the beams from the next floor falls next to us as she thrashes. Plaster rains down. And despite my instinct to trap her, a smile crosses my lips.
I lock my arms around her, absorbing the blows. Scout fights like hell, and a part of me is grimly proud.
“Fuck, you’re such a fighter!” I grunt as she clocks me in the chest. That will leave a cute mark. I’ll treasure it.
One of theBetasgrabs her ankles, but she nails him right in the groin. He goes down as she slaps at my arms.
There’s a room at the end I can set her down in, hide, then get her to the attic. If she’d just calm down. Carrying her there, I silently beg that she’ll let me tell her who I am and cooperate.
The second we reach the door, and I kick it in, all hope disintegrates. My heart skips a beat…
It’s filled with the group ofBetasI’d been following. Maybe even more. Too many. Standing in a circle like theyknewwe were coming here.
Did they?
Do they know who I am?
I set her down on the stained mattress in the center of the room, one arranged for this very reason, I suspect. It’s lifted off the ground by a bed of cinderblocks. The walls are lined with brothers, all ready to go. To take theirturnswith her.
She continues to fight me, even as the crowd surrounds us like a looming threat.
I hold up a hand and shout, “I got this! Back off. I’m tagging her.”
Luckily, they do. For the moment, anyway. Points for being the biggest guy in the room. With the smoke, themasks, and the noise, no one’s looking too closely. Too focused on getting off. Getting her tagged. Following theirorders, which they must think I’m performing. They’re distracted, and that’s enough. For now.
This wasn’t part of the plan, but I’ll have to improvise…
No one touches her but me.