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“From my recollection. We’ll start hiding the children from dawn.”
“Alright, we get in early, get the men out, arm Aaron’s guys, and help any who need healing, then come for the women and children,” Finn said. “We’ll get all but the ones in heat out, then double back to release them.”
“Are we likely to encounter any problems with the other women?” Slade said.
Kerin shrugged. “We never see them.”
“I wouldn’t think so,” Arelia said. “They know what staying here will bring.”
“They’ll have the choice,” Hawk said. “That’s what matters.”
The kitchen was eerily quiet when we walked in. The great suffocating wall of heat was missing, the fires gone to ashes in the fireplaces, the benches all neatly wiped down, and all food and supplies put away, except for a series of baskets with the prisoners’ and the women’s meals tucked up under plaid dishtowels.
I peeled one piece of fabric back, looking at the food below. It was of considerably better quality than it was before, although still shoved into slop buckets.
“Why am I getting a ‘bite the apple, my pretty’ vibe from this?” I said.
The guys walked over and sniffed at the meals, poking through them.
“We need supplies. We lost everything when the Uldariel took the cars,” Aaron said.
“But not these. There’s carrots and other vegetables in the plots in the farms. Let’s go,” Sylvan said.
The guys looked at me, then him as he strode over to the steps that led down to the cells.
I took Finn’s hand as we descended. Not many people would have seen it, but despite the fact that his back was ramrod straight—or perhaps because it was—I could see the tension that was there. We strode into the cells, pausing for a second to check the staff had indeed gone down for the vigil. They had, as the place was empty but for the prisoners. We handed out keys so we could get everyone out as quickly as possible, but when Finn reached for a pair, I took them from him.
“I’ll open it, you stay with your dads.”
“But what if—”
“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “We’re getting out of this fucking place, getting as far away as we can, and we’re taking our people back. We’ll go to Sanctuary and develop a plan, but right now, you need some time with your dads.”
He blinked, his head dropping down for a moment before he gave me a short nod. I watched him walk down the row, then tossed keys to everyone.
“Moonie!” Johnno said, fighting to keep upright as his hands wrapped around the cell bars. Along with the shoulder injury he’d gotten from the stampede was a long gash down his leg. Smithy, one of the other soldiers, moved in to help him stay upright. “We’re getting out now, right? Tell me we’re getting out.”
The creases in the man’s face were caked in grime, almost underlining and enhancing them. It made every expression, the attempt at a joke and the flat failure of it, all the more apparent. Aaron opened the door of the cell, and his men inside just looked at it for a moment before belatedly getting to their feet and inching out. They’d only been here a few days. I looked down the cells, saw the men pacing or collapsed in the corners of them, then felt the crystal pulse in my pocket. I reached out and took Johnno’s hand. Unbidden, those green tendrils I’d seen in the darkness flared inside my mind, overlaying the gritty reality, obscuring it, then transforming it.
“Fuck,” one of the guys said, looking at Johnno in surprise. He stood straighter, rolling his neck and flexing his arms, then looked down at the healed gash on his leg.
“Thanks, Julie,” he said. “Now load us up with what weapons you’ve got, because we’re getting out of here.”
“We have a pitstop to make,” Aaron said. He met the quizzical looks of his men head on. “We’re releasing the women. They can come with us if they want.”
“Those bitches?” said one of the blokes in the nearby cells. “You’re telling me we’re spending precious fucking time rescuing them? No, no fucking way.”
“So, don’t,” Slade said. “The side gate’s open. There’s no one around, they’re all under the ground in the cavern. You wanna go? Go.”
“You gonna give us a gun?”
“No. We’ve got a mission to fulfil, and we’re going to need every one. They’re coming, the Volken. They’re going to swarm through here, through the surrounding land, and hunt down whatever they can find. You want a head start? Take it.”
The guy looked at the other bloke in the cell, and said, “Whaddya reckon, Ron? We can’t go back to Sanctuary.”
“Let’s bolt,” his cell mate said. “Whatever hero trip you’re on, I want no part in it. I just want out.”
The rest of the cells were much the same—the men either eager to be armed and help, or ready to leave the moment the doors were opened. We unlocked, healed, and dispensed weapons until they were all out. I looked around the dank room, feeling a sense of satisfaction for a moment that this was over, that there were no more of our people locked up. Then I felt the rumble below us. That seemed to mobilise everyone. The guys who were running, ran, and those who were staying, clustered around us.
