Marked

Chapter Forty-Six

"Yes, Mr. Wilson. Lockdown initiated." Corina announced a few moments too late.

Shortly after, Corina zapped Rachel in the hand and she let her go with a gasp. She cradled her freshly burnt hand to her chest and looked at Nicolas's still form.

She searched his pockets, ignoring the pain in her palm. She only found a metal pen and in his second pocket, the lock of hair.

She paused when her fingers ran over it. Maybe seeing her lock of hair had softened something inside her so that she found herself feeling sorry for him. Whatever terrible things he'd done, she didn't doubt that he loved her.

But she could never love him back. She might have been able to, if he had been willing to change but that had been before she'd found out what had happened to Jed. For his death, she could never forgive him.

She stood. Corina buzzed around her quietly, seemed to watch her through the red blinking light in her center.

"Open the door." She ordered.

"Rachel Nicole Wilson. Unmarked. Access denied."

She thought it was a long shot, but she'd tried it anyway. How long did she have before Corina reported what had happened there to someone else? Or did she only report to Nicolas?

She wasn't planning on sticking around long enough to find out. She moved towards the doors, searched for a button, some type of way to open it, but her hands found nothing. Slipping her fingers into the crevice created where both doors touched, she struggled to pry it open.

"Access denied." Corina said behind her.

"Oh, shut up."

The door opened a few inches and then slammed back into her fingers. Stifling a gasp, she dug up the pen she'd taken from Nicolas's pocket.

Once again, she slipped her throbbing fingers into the door. Her hand, where it had broken before, screamed with pain.

Throwing all her weight into the task, she managed to maneuver the pen between the two plates of metal, tried to use it as leverage before it snapped in two.

In the same moment, she managed to wedge her foot between the doors. That was enough that when she put all her weight into pushing, the door flung open.

Her head swam as she took in the cylindrical shaft awaiting her. There was a metal ladder built into the wall to her right a few feet away. The ladder stretched down all the way to the bottom of the shaft, to where the light could no longer penetrate, making it look never ending.

The elevator Nicolas and her had used before was suspended about thirty feet above her head.

Which way, she thought.

She figured up was her best bet.

Ignoring the long drop beneath her, she steeled herself and stretched until her fingertips brushed the cold metal. It was a little further away than she'd anticipated.

She dried her sweaty palm against her sweatpants, made contact with the ladder and swung a leg out to catch the first wrung. Her stomach plummeted to the soles of her feet until she secured both hands and feet on the ladder and was able to relax.

Don't look down. Don't look down.

She gripped the bars in front of her as if her life depended on it. She supposed in that moment, it literally did.

Inside the tunnel, it was damp and humid, the walls all around her a washed out brown.

The space seemed to close in on her the further she climbed, though she knew it was just her claustrophobia taking hold. She tried to pretend that she was inside the compound, making her way down the secret ladder that led to her home.