Phantom Rider - The Reckoning | Book 2

#29 | Emptiness

Mila's POV

We carved our way through every corridor, leaving bodies piled behind us. My gut twisted-I knew he was watching, my father, likely slouched in his luxurious office, fingers steepled, smiling at the spectacle of us tearing through his facility like complete fools. No patients. No staff. Just a labyrinth of guards designed to stall us, not stop us. Something wasn't right.

Ahead, Bill moved with that infuriating calm, the kind he always had, even after what had just happened between us. I couldn't breathe properly, my mind was still spinning. How could he act like nothing had happened? No one else noticed my flushed face or the way my hands trembled on the gun. Keep moving. Stay alive. That was the only priority here. I forced my mind back into line, burying everything beneath layers of ice.

We regrouped in one of the former hospital rooms-no, worse than a hospital. This was a torture chamber. Bloodstains clung to the walls, and the air felt thick with trapped screams. We set up our base, sending out pairs to comb the endless corridors. But Bill avoided me, teaming with Tom instead. Was he already shutting me out?

My chest tightened as I watched him talk with that stone-cold focus, as if I were just another soldier. I reminded myself he was doing this for Tom, not to hurt me. But it didn't stop the sting.

"Pull it together, Mila," I muttered under my breath, feeling the familiar weight of my mask falling back into place.

Gustav and I took the third floor, sweeping the dead-silent halls again. The hours melted into one another , and somewhere in the relentless quiet, I could swear I heard faint, phantom cries. We were going in circles. No. They were hiding something from us. A secret room, a corridor we hadn't found yet. I could feel it. If guards were there , then there was something to protect.

Back at base, Tom and Bill returned just as Gustav and I arrived. Tom's face was ashen, his gaze hollow. His usual cocky defiance had been replaced by a dreadful vacancy. This wasn't Tom; this was someone I didn't recognize .

"Nothing?" I asked, not even looking at Bill.

"Nothing," Tom muttered, his voice almost a whisper. "Maybe we were wrong. Maybe they're not here." The look in his eyes was so unlike him-shaken, defeated, as if he were already surrendering to a horror he hadn't even faced yet.

"Hey, Tom!" I stepped closer, making him meet my eyes. "You don't get to give up now. We're going to find them, understand? You have to hold on."

For a long moment, he just stared, as if my words barely registered. Then he gave a short nod, though his eyes looked empty, distant. A cold sense of dread crept over me. He was destroyed. Tom. The Tom. If he was giving up, we had no chance at all.

"That's it!" I snapped, pivoting toward Sergei. "Could there be another level below ground?"
Sergei didn't hesitate. "Mila, not only could there be-there is." He shoved the map into my hands, pointing to an unmarked area. "It's mostly tunnels , escape routes. They haven't been used in years, not since."

"Since what?"

"Since your mother... Kathrin. She used those tunnels to sneak children out." Sergei's eyes flicked to Bill, and I felt the temperature in the room drop a notch. "You were one of them, Bill. You were too young to remember, but Kathrin saved you through those very tunnels."

Bill stepped closer, stone-cold. "I remember... pieces of it."

"Then let's go. You could be of some help," I said, trying to show him that I was also steady in this.

"Bill, Georg-come with me. Tom? Get yourself together. Mila, you stay here with Gustav and Tom." Sergei's voice was sharp, decisive, and in an instant, Bill and Georg were moving.

As they filed out, I hung back, watching Tom. He was standing against the wall, his arms crossed, staring at the floor.

"Tom?" I asked, unable to keep the concern out of my voice. "Are you alright?"