RJ dropped the last of the soldiers just as the Warden made a left turn and ducked into another corridor. I was about to go after him, but I had barely taken three steps in his direction when armed guards came pouring out of the woodworks like termites, flooding the corridor ahead of us and blocking the path.
“Oh… shit,” I said, instantly throwing a wall of magic up to protect us from their bullets.
“Relax,” RJ said, “We got this.”
“No, I’m sure you do, but where’s the Warden going?”
“Probably to get the Horseman,” Seline said.
“Fat chance of that,” came a voice from behind. It was Sanchez, the guard who had told her men to drop their guns.
I turned to look at her. “Why do you say that?”
“Because the Horseman’s out of commission right now. Anyway, I put a ward up by the door to his quarters. It’ll take the Warden a little while to knock it down.”
“Thanks… but why are you helping us?”
“Like I said. This place is going to hell. People are dying, some friends of mine. We aren’t all assholes in here, some of us just don’t have a choice but to work in this place.”
“How long will your wards last?”
“Not too long. I can take you to D-Block so you can get your friends out of here.”
“No,” Seline said, “I want the Warden.”
I looked up at her. “We can get Six and go.”
“And allow this place to continue doing what it does?” she asked, “You heard him. The Order already declared war against the Coalition. I want him gone, Izzy.”
I looked at Sanchez. “Can you take us to him?”
“I can,” she said, “We’ll have to take the long way around. But what about them?”
“You go,” Aaryn said, “RJ and I will deal with these guys.”
I glanced at RJ, and he nodded. “Go. We’ll make sure these guys don’t follow you. Get Alexa back.”
“Don’t get killed,” I said.
RJ and Aaryn stepped past my forcefield, and as soon as they did, the gunfire started. I didn’t stick around to watch. Sanchez immediately led Seline and I away from the fight. Seline was right; we needed to find the Warden and deal with him, because while Harrowgate stood, nothing would change in Devil Falls.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The cavern gave way to a familiar, dark corridor, and I knew we were headed in the right direction.
“Why are we back at the prison?” Alexa asked.
“In my dreams, this is where I see it,” I said, “This is its lair. It has to be around here, somewhere.”
“And if it’s not?”
“It’s here. Trust me. Just be careful, and stay close to me. I don’t want us splitting up.”
“You think we can get lost in here?”
“This isn’t the real world. Anything’s possible.”
I couldn’t see the beast up ahead. I couldn’t hear it. I couldn’t smell it. There weren’t any dead bodies in the corridor, the red emergency lights weren’t on, and as I passed by the door to D-Block, I noticed it was closed. It felt like I was in my recurring dream, but the details were different.
“Can you hear anything?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
“Nothing. It ain’t here.”
“It has to be somewhere.”
“You think your guy has gone to sleep now that we’re here?”
“I really don’t know. I think so. I don’t think the thing can hunt while the Horseman is awake, which is probably why it doesn’t attack in the middle of the day.”
Alexa scoffed. “You’d think the Horseman would take a few days of no sleep if it meant avoiding killing people.”
“I don’t think he has a choice. This thing is a curse, one he’s as scared of as he is ashamed of. If he could control it, I think he would.”
“Makes you think, huh? He has such a banging outside. He’s the Horseman, you know? Anybody mentions him, and it’s like you’re talking about this fearless, unkillable boogeyman, and it turns out he’s scared of himself as much as everyone else is.”
“He’s never let anyone get close to him, he never asks for help, and he’d never admit that something was wrong.”
Alexa rolled her eyes. “Typical. Maybe if he did, we wouldn’t be in this mess right now.”
“I wondered that exact same thing, but now isn’t the time to look back. Right now, we need to look—” the emergency lights at the end of the corridor turned on with a thunk. A second later, the next set of lights turned on, and then the next, and the next, until a wave of red light was racing toward us.
I made my claws appear, flexing my fingers and willing my fingernails to extend.
Alexa brought her hands up; they were already covered with luminous sigils.
“It’s alright,” I said, as the light washed over us. “It’s okay.”
“What does that mean?” she asked. “Is it here?”
“I think it knows we’re here… now we just have to lure it out.”
She looked at me. “And just how you intend on doing that?”
I watched for signs of movement at the end of the corridor, and when I saw none, I slowly crept over to the door to D-Block. “The old-fashioned way,” I said, and I started banging on the door with my palm.
Alexa’s eyes widened like she thought I was insane. She rushed over to me, but I stuck one hand out and kept banging on the door with the other.
“Hey!” I yelled, “I know you’re in here! How about you come out and get us, you hairy asshole?”
“Yo’, I don’t think it’s a good idea to insult it,” she hissed.
“Insulting it is exactly what I want to do.”
“Azlu said draw it out, not antagonize it!”
“How else do you suggest we lure it out of its hole?” I turned my head up. “We’re not going anywhere, you hear me? You’re gonna have to get up off your bed and come after us!”
“Will you cut that shit out?”
I grinned at her. “What’s the matter? Scared of the Horseman?”
“I ain’t scared of no one, but I’m not trying to get killed in here either.”
A low, pained sound issued out from around the corner at the end of the hall. It was a long, drawn out moan, like the cry of an injured animal, or the angry moan of one we’d just woken up from a nap. Either way, something was happening. I had to keep it up if I wanted to lure it out.
“You don’t like that we’re in here, do you?” I yelled, “How does it feel to be the one dragged into a fight for a change?”
Another groan, this one louder, and more forceful. I thought I could see a shadow playing on the wall across from where we were standing. Seeing it made my heart start to race, but I didn’t let it break my composure. I needed to keep my cool at all times if I was going to get through this, because this time I wasn’t trying to wake up from a nightmare—I was trying to go deeper into one.
“I think I see it,” Alexa said, grabbing my shoulder. “It’s fucking down there, isn’t it?”