Defiant: Quantic Dreams Book 2 by Elizabeth McLaughlin (reading list txt) 📗

effort, but I found that I could pull the rungs down by myself. As the metal creaked, I glanced backwards into the corridor, half expecting Gabriel to pop up behind me. I halfheartedly wished that he would. A swift blow to my head or having the life choked from my lungs would make a quick end to this nightmare.

I put hand over hand on the spokes of the inner door and pulled them down. Some deep, desperate part of my brain screamed for me to stop, that nothing was worth this, but I ignored it. With a crack, the inner door came loose. I glanced behind me again, certain that the sound would draw some attention. Surely someone would hear the noise and come running. As my heart beat passed the minutes, no one came. If I was going to do this, I would have to hurry; it had almost been the morning when I was called to the infirmary. No doubt the early risers would be stirring and they would discover my recklessness.

With bare feet, I walked to the precipice of the world I had known my entire life. The steel of the doorway was cold underneath my feet. It felt like the very edge of a raging ocean, the chill ready to draw me under, urging me to an eternal sleep. In a strange way, it was comforting. I took a deep breath of the earth-scented air and smiled. Of all the ways to die, at least this one would be interesting. I lifted a foot, prepared to continue my final journey when I heard a shout and running footsteps. Before I could turn, I landed face first in the dirt. The breath burst forth from my lungs and I gasped as pain shot through me. Without thinking, I turned to confront my assailant and landed a solid punch against his jaw. The man grabbed me behind my neck and held tight as he cracked his head into mine. I saw stars and groped blindly for some vulnerable point on his body.

“For fuck’s sake, Grandpa-” Marcus rasped when I jabbed my hand against his throat. I immediately slammed my hands to the ground.

“Marcus.”

He grabbed me by my shirtfront and hauled me to my feet. “Are you going to hit me again?”“No,” I coughed. Short of Gabriel manifesting behind me, this was the second most unlikely thing that could have happened. Marcus shoved me back into the shelter and I fell forward, hands shooting out to catch my fall. He grabbed the door and yanked it shut with a bang. I flinched.

“Oh, did you not want anyone to hear you trying to kill yourself?” Marcus rubbed his jaw. “God damn it, you hit hard old man.”

I pushed myself to my feet. The pain from getting the wind knocked out of me was almost gone. Now my pride was the most painful thing. “Fuck you.”

He whirled on me. “No, fuck you, Jacob. What the hell was the plan? You were going to walk out into the abyss and let the elements take you? Or were you hoping that some mutated monster was going to rip you apart?”

I clenched my jaw and said nothing.

“Mom woke up in a cold sweat. She woke me up. You can thank her later. Except I’d recommend leaving out the fact that you were about to throw your fucking life away.”

The numbness that had pervaded my being an hour ago washed away and was replaced with anger. “You don’t get to talk to me about life, boy.” I shoved him away, thumping my hands against his chest. “You don’t know a damn thing about what I’ve been having to deal with. You aren’t responsible for the lives of a thousand people and you have no clue what it’s like to watch them die.”

“Allison’s dead…?” I could have smacked myself. Of course he didn’t know. Yet another in the long line of mistakes I had made this evening. Marcus stepped back and rubbed his hand over his face. He blinked hard as he noticed the dirt off his hands and shook his head. “I’m guessing that I won’t drop dead from this crap, right?”

“If you do, we’ll both be going down. I think you made me inhale a solid cup’s worth of dirt out there.” He barked a laugh. “Yes. Allison passed away during the night. There’s someone else sick, too. Sophia’s daughter, Daisy.”

“Shit. I knew things were bad, grandpa, but I had no idea they were this bad. Why didn’t you tell us? Why haven’t you leaned on us for any of it?”

“I didn’t want to trouble you even more.”

“Tough shit. We’re troubled. Instead of telling us the whole story the first time around, we’re involved. So you’re going to have to get over yourself. You and I are going to spend the little time we have before the entire shelter wakes up preparing for this, and then you’re going to tell me everything that needs doing over the next week.

Chapter Ten

Marcus and I had provided a single gown and mask per family. Far less than I wanted, but considering the exposure rate had already exploded, it probably would not make much of a difference. When we had finished, I went to the simplified terminal made for the shelter and waited. In about half an hour’s time, I was going to announce to a thousand people that they had to remain confined to quarters indefinitely. No matter the allies I had or didn’t have in this fight, this was about to go to hell.

As the clocked ticked over to 06:00 I pressed a button on the terminal that would broadcast an emergency announcement to the entire shelter. The system crackled to life and for a moment the words stuck in my throat.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is Jacob Alvaro speaking. I regret to inform you that overnight the shelter has experienced an emergency. We request that each person or family remain in their quarters. A team