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Sure enough, the moment he had him loose, the Alpha socked the kid in the face, knocking him out.

In a fit of rage, Valdys flexed his muscles, watching the little prick climb out of his capsule. “What the fuck are you doing?” With one side of his neck chain still unfastened, he glanced over the side of the capsule, where Everett lay passed out. “Everett! Wake up!”

“Warning. Code Triage. Biohazard safety breach. Infectious patients. S-block. Lower level. Evacuate immediately. Warning. Code Triage. Biohazard safety breach. Infectious patients. S-block. Lower level. Evacuate immediately.”

“Good luck, asshole. It’s every man for himself.” The Alpha gave a salute as he passed.

Valdys gritted, shifting and flexing in his binds. “You better pray I don’t get loose.”

“I will. I can promise you that,” he said, dashing around the wall of nearby capsules and out of sight.

A crashing sound startled Valdys, and he lifted his head as much as he could against the restraints of the single chain.

The other Alpha appeared again, backing himself away from some unseen entity beyond the wall of capsules that blocked Valdys’s view.

“Let me out. I can help you fight them.”

“There must be fucking hundreds of the bastards. Feeding on them.” With a grimace plastered to his face, he snapped out of his trance and glanced around, as though searching for escape.

Valdys looked over the edge once again, where Everett lay passed out, the keys on the floor beside him. “One hand. Just give me one hand to fight them off, at least.”

The Alpha’s eyes landed on his, and jaw clenched, he strode toward the Legion guard and swiped up the keys from the floor. Everett groaned, writhing, as the Alpha tossed the keys into the capsule, where they landed on Valdys’s stomach.

Prick.

Straining against his wrist binds, he trembled, stretching toward the band that held the keys, his fingertips just grazing the metal. Loud screeching echoed out the approach of mutations, and Valdys strained with the effort of reaching for the keys.

When another pair of hands nabbed them up, Valdys lifted his gaze to Everett, standing alongside him and unlocking his first bind. Once loose, he went to work on the next, as Valdys yanked at the chain attached to his throat. It broke away from the capsule, dangling from the band at his neck.

In his periphery, something monstrous caught his attention, and he swung his gaze toward where a feral looking humanoid, its face stitched up wrong, its neck too thick for his body, teeth sharp as a mountain lion’s, stood licking its chops.

“Oh, fuck,” Everett said beside him. “I have to … I have to go. Oh, God, I have to get out of here!”

He’d only gotten Valdys’s ankle loose, leaving half his body still bound to the capsule, as the Legion officer took off running in the same direction the other Alpha must’ve gone.

The mutation didn’t run after the two of them, though.

Didn’t have to.

His next meal wasn’t going anywhere.

Valdys had fought off mutations before, but never in a wounded state, and certainly not half tethered. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he twisted toward the key that was still lodged in the lock binding his left wrist. A shadow from the corner of his eye warned of attack, and Valdys swung out with his free hand, blocking the swipe of a claw. The mutation struck again, the path of its claw leaving a wet burn down Valdys’s forehead, along his nose and across his lip. Blood dripped in his eye, as he drew back his fist and hammered a punch to the mutation’s face, but it kicked it back only a step, before it lunged again.

A slice across his arm tore through his bicep, ripping away the sleeve of his uniform, and glass rained down from the shield above him, as it caught the brunt of its swing and shattered. One-handed, Valdys volleyed a series of punches, knocking one of the sharp teeth into nothing but a crag that hung from its black gums. Still, the beastly thing wouldn’t relent. As he grabbed its throat, the thing snapped it’s jaws, the missing tooth chipping away with every clack of its teeth.

Another screech signaled the approach of a second mutation.

Exhaustion weighed on Valdys’s muscles, and stretched the wounds on his back, as he held the mutation away from him, while the second approached the capsule. He still held on, though. If they planned to eat him alive, he sure as hell wouldn’t be going down without a fight.

Thankfully, the second one abandoned him for something else, but he didn’t dare take his attention off the one hellbent on taking a bite of him. Instead, he growled out and curled his fingers into the mutation’s throat, the beast screeching as he tore through the flesh and around its gullet. With one harsh twist of his hand, Valdys dislodged its throat, and the mutation collapsed beside him.

He scrambled for the key, unlocking his wrist, as another mutation hobbled around the wall. Upon seeing him, it screeched and charged, stopped short by the Alpha that Valdys was certain had abandoned him. In his wake lay the other mutation that’d run off, its head separated from the twitching body beside it. As the Alpha fought off the next mutation, Valdys stole the opportunity to unlock his last remaining cuffs at his wrist and ankle, freeing himself in time to see his sudden ally snap the mutation’s neck.

“You decided not to be a prick?”

“I’m a man who believes in karma.” Arms outstretched, he bowed as Valdys clambered out of the capsule. “Don’t forget the keys. Apparently, that’s the only way out of this shithole room.”

“Yeah. Figured you were still a prick.” As Valdys swiped up the ring of keys to ensure he didn’t take off on him again. the severity of the wounds at his back reminded him that he was still weakened, and he stumbled forward.