Page 309 of Primal

Twenty feet out.

Another camera at the roof’s edge. I wait—three breaths—until it pans left.

Back door’s too exposed.

Up it is.

The fire escape groans under my weight, rust flaking off. My shoulder pulses as I climb. One rung at a time—until my boots scrape gravel.

The roof hatch isn’t even locked. Idiots.

I wedge my fingers under the edge and pull. Metal screeches. Pain sparks down my arm—the stab wound still bitching.

Pitch black below. No ladder. Just a four-foot drop onto supply boxes.

Pain slams through my knees. One hand hits the wall, the other braced as boxes shift under me.

Five seconds.

Ten.

Silence.

This whole plan’s fucked six ways from Sunday.

Payton’s out there alone, playing bait. Should’ve dragged her behind me. Blade out, carving through anything in our way.

But no. Had to be tactical. Had to be ‘smart.’

The hallway ahead is camera-covered, feeds still rolling on backup power. Even with the generators humming, it’s too quiet—this place should be bustling with the usual night shift noise. Instead, it’s tomb-still. Which means Derek’s already been busy.

There—the conduit snaking along the ceiling. Individual feed running back to the hub. No time for subtlety.

I saw through the wire with my knife. The red LED dies mid-pan.

Thirty seconds before the bastard notices.

Break room’s to my left.

A microwave, door ajar. Overturned chair.

I step over a shattered phone and blood smear. Past the second body—some girl in a cropped CREW hoodie, her throat yawning wide.

Derek’s signature work.

Deeper in, the hallway branches. Right leads to storage—mop buckets overturned, bleach pooling around a single work boot. Left curves toward the control room.

“Kristy!”

Payton’s voice. Real terror, not the fake stuff we planned.

Fuck stealth. Fuck tactics.

I abandon all pretense and run. Agony lances through my shoulder, blood soaking the makeshift tourniquet.

Round the corner and Payton’s there. Wrenching at the door handle.

I yank her back by the hood, just enough to see through the glass fogged with her breath.