Is This the End?

Chapter Thirty

Nate

The icy touch of the vents clings to my bare feet, and if not for my immunity to such things I know I'd be a shivering, teeth clattering hot mess. Kind of like the noise that I can hear coming from my companion right behind me. Not to say he doesn't try to hide it with the loud clicking with his boots that gives way to the metal embedded to the bottom of his soles.

We come to a fork and I give pause, unsure of which direction is best. The air is musty and lifeless, giving no hints which path would lead to humans. A barrel of a gun gets shoved into the back of my neck and I tremble, remembering the merciless way in which he killed people who at one point had to be comrades.

"What's the hold-up?" asks the man and try as I might, I still can't get the words to slip past my lips. He gives a huff and shoves me. My limbs are still numb and weak, I lose balance and I end up on the floor with a solid thud. Turning around I catch sight of the man pulling off a glove before trailing his hand along the wall and with a sound of triumph dim lights flood the small space.

A hand fists itself into the roots of my locs and snatches my head back. I follow the grip as it moves, being dragged along behind it. He comes to a stop and once more trails his fingers along the wall before a panel pops out. The man presses several times before the whole thing lights up blue and a door melts out from the wall.

He releases his grip and strides off with no hesitance in his step into a large empty. The man glances back at me and raises an eyebrow. I roll my eyes and being moving out of the shadows when a voice calls out.

"Marcus," yells a man. I crouch trying to hide my figure though it's hard with these bright ass white clothes. Glancing at my chest, I ignore the dark spots still fanning out across my abdomen. "Man it's been a minute, everybody's been going on about you leaving but I was like 'no way not good old bloodthirsty Marcus."

"Of course not, I hate to disappoint people," Marcus responds, voice neutral but somehow cheerful at the same time.

"So what are you doing down here," the stranger asks. He's staring at something behind the man, Marcus. Marcus sighs before stepping back as the stranger attacks him with a knife. Gunshots sound off and watch as they just barely miss their intended target. The stranger attempts another strike and my heart drops when the sweet smell of blood floods the room.

Drool coats my fangs and I slam them. Shaking my head, I bring up a sleeve to cover my nose before creeping towards the shooters. Marcus slams into the stranger knocking the guy

on his ass. He kneels on the guy's chest before taking the gun out and executing him with a single bullet in the forehead. The body, of what used to be a NTSCU goon, falls limp with a thump.

Rushing forward I the shooter, a lone person lurking in a wide gate way. A fresh breeze hits my face and, it encourages me to hurry up. My leg goes high in a kick that would've made my big sis proud and watch as the gun skids across the cement. The agent gets up and tries to tackle me but I clumsily dodge at the last second.

Trying to get this over with, I get behind them and bring one arm across their neck and use my other arm to lock the position. The shooter stomps on my feet in an attempt but after a few seconds, they start to fall limp. I loosen my hold only to completely shove them away as my side suddenly feels as though it's caught fire.

Looking down I see that a knife is dangling from my side. Yanking it out, I stomp towards the NTSCU that was slowly trying to crawl. Lifting my foot I kick them over and promptly sit on their chest. Snatching the mask off their face I catch sight of a girl about Vanessa's age, our age.