The Arena - The Moon Trilogy - Book #2

Chapter thirty-seven:

Rachel ran after Scarlett and Alex. She hated to part with Benny so soon after finding him again, but that was too bad. They would have plenty of time to catch up once they were all safe... Safer anyways.

Thus far, the hallway had been cell doors on one side, blank wall on the other, but now, she saw a doorway. It was about the same size as the cell door openings, but it was free of bars and on the opposite side of the wide hall.

Scarlett, who was in the lead, turned into the hallway. Alex disappeared after her, and Rachel followed them cautiously. There was no way she was going to walk into an ambush.

As they ran, Scarlett had informed them that this was the medical wing—not named in such a way for any sort of medical relief they provided to the prisoners. Rather, it was given the name because it was where the monsters performed their sick little surgeries on their victims. Rachel had thought they couldn't get much worse. As usual, she'd been proven dead wrong.

When she turned the corner behind Alex, she was glad to see no waiting guards. She ran to catch up to Scarlett, who had stopped at the first door on the left of the hallway, about twenty feet in.

By the time she'd reached them, Scarlett had the door unlocked and was opening it a crack. After seeing whatever she needed to see, she flung the door open wide. She moved onto the next door, which was directly opposite the first.

That room proved to be empty too. There were only a few medical tools resting on dented metal tables. A length of chain sat in a disarrayed pile in the far left corner.

The next three rooms were equally empty. She hated to think that the cowards had evacuated.

When Scarlett opened the seventh consecutive door, a burst of gunfire flew through the opening with no warning whatsoever. Rachel jumped back on pure instinct, suddenly glad that Benny had gone with the other group. She didn't know what she would have done if he'd been standing in the path of those bullets.

When the gunfire finally stopped, Scarlett vanished. It was still a shock to see her do that, no matter how many times it had happened.

There was a chilling silence that lasted a bit too long for her liking. She shared a brief look with Alex before stepping into the doorway. She hadn't been blessed with something as useful as teleportation.

The sight that greeted her left her heart sitting in the pit of her stomach. Scarlett lie on the floor, blood oozing out of a wound on her temple. Rachel noticed a brand new white collar secured around her neck. At least ten guards had guns trained on her, while in the background, three doctors in light blue uniforms held various tools, frozen in mid-air over Xenia's barely-visible prone form.

Rachel slowly raised her hands into the air.

She hated surrendering, but she had no choice. She also hated that she'd stepped too far into the room for Alex to see her. He still had no idea how bad things had gotten.

One of the guards—a bigger one—stepped forward. Still pointing his gun at her head, he grabbed a fistful of her hair, yanking her over to where Scarlett lie deathly still, and forcing her to sit. She didn't resist. She knew that a bullet to the head would kill her where quite a few other things wouldn't.

Only a few seconds later, Alex stepped into the doorway, and his face melted into an expression of horror.

"You take one more step, and your friend won't have any brains left to blame you." The guard standing next to her growled, cocking the gun that was still pressed against her temple.

Alex raised his hands, just like she'd done.

Soon, Alex was sitting next to her, his wings, hands, and legs bound tightly. The rope securing his wings looked uncomfortably tight, and the feathers were bent and disheveled where they came in contact with the bindings.