A Fox Among Wolves

Chapter Twenty-Three

Steadying myself on the wall, I walk out of the room on trembling legs, barely managing to keep myself upright. The door that leads outside seems like a terrible option, especially since I can hear more of the creatures outside the building. All there is left to do is walk further into City Hall. Hope that I can find another way out and that Dr. Greene won't be attacked by ones of the creatures roaming around.

The halls are eerily quiet, making my breaths sound like foghorns in the still air. An occasional scream comes from further away in the building, usually followed by a roar of some kind. But I try to ignore it, not having enough energy, physically and mentally, to pay attention to anything other than what is directly in front of me.

Crying is coming from the right of me, and I can't seem to stop myself from walking in that direction. Slowly, the crying becomes louder, but between the sobs, I can hear two voices talking. My heart picks up speed when I hear them because I recognize them.

Turning the last corner, I see two dark shadows, sitting beneath a window, which allows for some moonlight to fall on them.

"Lena?" I croak, stumbling over to her as quickly as I can on trembling legs. "Oh my god, Lena, you're alright."

I all but collapse on her, and she catches me, her arms tightening around me as she buries her face in my neck. Wetness appears on my skin, and pulling back slightly, I see that Lena is crying.

"W-what's wrong?" I say, my thumbs wiping away some of her tears. "Why are you crying?"

Her mouth falls open, but words don't come out, only another sob. She buries her head in my chest, and I hold her tightly against me, rocking her back and forth in an effort to comfort her.

My eyes drift over her, landing on the still form lying behind her. The dress looks familiar, and when my eyes trail up to the hybrid's face, my breath catches in my throat.

Lottie doesn't move a muscle, her skin startlingly pale. Blood is splattered across her skin, oozing out from a wound on her neck. Unwinding an arm from Lena, I place my fingers under her jaw, feeling for a pulse.

It takes a second, but I feel something. A very weak beat of her pulse.

"Lena, she's still alive," I say, quickly pulling off the light cardigan I am wearing and pressing it against her neck.

Lottie twitches slightly at the movement but makes no other indication that she is bothered by the pressure. Something on her skin catches my eye, and bending down, I see that there are dark veins spreading out from the wound. They are growing too slowly for me to notice, but I know they have to be spreading. Some sort of an infection, then, spreading from the wound.

Turning my head, I look over at the still crying Lena. "What the hell happened?"

She licks her lips, seeming to have a hard time forming words. "I-I don't know." She shakes her head staring at the ground. "When the lights went out, Lottie managed to find me, told me she knew this place like the back of her hand and could find us a way out of here. The others were with us at first, but we got split up when one of the creatures came out of nowhere." She looks up at me, new tears starting to fall. "It jumped straight at me, but- but Lottie pushed me out of the way. It bit her before someone had a chance to kick it off of her."

"She was bit?" I whisper, looking back down at Lena. "That explains how she got infected."

Lena scoots closer to me. "What's going to happen to her, Henley?" She looks up at me with wide, desperate eyes. "I can't lose her."

"I don't know," I say, shaking my head. "I have no idea what those things even are, much less if what they have is contagious." Biting my lip, I look over at her, dreading my next word. "But I have a feeling it is."

"What?" Lena whispers, her bottom lip wobbling. "No, no, no. She can't become one of those things."

"She might not," I say, doubt heavy in my stomach, but I am not going to just sit here and wait for something awful to Lottie. I've already been responsible for one death today. I don't want to add more names to that list.

"Come on," I say, tying my cardigan around her shoulder so that it will help with stopping the blood flow while my hands are busy doing something else. Standing up, I pull Lena up as well. "Grab her shoulders, I'll get her legs."

"Where are we taking her?" Lena says while doing as I said.

Slowly we start moving down the hallway, back the way I had come. "Dr. Greene said she would come back for me, so we are going back to the room I came from."

"Your mentor saved you?" Lena says, looking up at me in confusion.

"Yeah, I have no idea why she didn't just run or why she is risking coming back to get me, but she is. Maybe she can do something to help Lottie."

A look of determination comes over Lena's face, and she pulls her mate closer to her, picking up her pace. "Let's hurry."

Despite my not wanting to go back to that room, I know we have to. That is the only way I know to get out of here, and if Dr. Greene is waiting out there with her car, we should be able to get out of here safely.

"Do you think the others made it out?" I ask, worry in my tone. It makes me physically ill to not know what is going on with them, especially with Lottie being hurt. One of them could be hurt as well.

Lena shakes her head, looking up at me with wide eyes. "No idea. Before we got separated, Link had managed to get his hands on one of those axes that are placed around the building. You know, the 'in case of emergency' ones that firemen use?" I nod my head. "He managed to kill one of the creatures with it, but then they went upstairs while we went down to escape another creature."

At least they have a weapon. I just hope they managed to stay together and were able to get out.

We make it back to the room I had run away from, and police sirens are audible on the other side of the door. Dr. Greene is pacing the room, her heels clacking against the hard wood flooring.

She turns around when she hears us come in, her lion ears twitching in agitation. "Jesus, Henley, I thought one of the infected had gotten to you."

Her eyes leave me, landing on Lena before moving slowly to Lottie. "Oh no."

"She was bitten," I say, moving closer to Dr. Greene. "Not that long ago."

A look of indecision comes over Dr. Greene's face, and she finally lets out a long sigh. "If it hasn't spread to her brain, there might be something I can give her to stop the spread of the infection, but if it already has..."

"Alright, so let's get out of here," I say, motioning towards the door.

Gunshots start ringing through the building, making both me and Lena jump. Dr. Greene doesn't seem fazed by them, though, just pursing her lips at the sounds.

"Yes, let's go, before the issue a quarantine."

And with that, she leads us over to the door, holding it open for us while we maneuver Lottie through the narrow space. Together, we are able to get her to the car, and Lena slips in beside her while I get into the passenger side.

"This is just the beginning," Dr. Greene says. "The war is just starting."

"The war on who?" Lena asks, running her fingers through her mate's hair.

"All of us," Dr. Greene says, her hands tightening on the wheel. "And it is only going to get worse from here."