Free Web NovelChapter 221: Chapter 221 - A Trap
"Come on," Marybeth said, pulling her back as Iyisha stumbled with her, her lips trembling while she glanced at the rooms ahead one last time before turning away.
Hands were still pressed against the glass, faces close, eyes fixed on them as they moved back, some following along the inside with their palms dragging across the surface.
They were calling for help.
Cena could still be there just a few more rooms and just a little more but her steps kept moving back as the chance slipped from her.
They had no choice but to regroup.
Iyisha turned and saw the others as they pulled away.
Some still hitting the glass and shouting names, others stepping back and raising their guns with shaking hands as they faced the soldiers, while a few stood frozen, caught between the people behind them and the line closing in.
Behind them, the noise kept rising, voices breaking into cries and pleas as people begged not to be left, some sliding down the glass while others kept striking it again and again, watching as the distance grew between them.
Iyisha’s tears fell as everything came crashing down.
After everything they did, they were leaving them behind.
If they could even get out.
Iyisha turned and saw Malcolm, Lance, and Aljun waving them over while guards moved in from the front and back and formed lines with shields raised and rifles aimed as their boots struck the floor in a steady rhythm.
They had nowhere to go.
"No one shoots," Arnulf said as his voice strained. The group getting in tight circle as they close in.
She knew that if they fired they would all die there.
"Malcolm..." she whispered as he pulled her behind him and raised his gun while placing himself between her and the guards.
Marybeth held her arm and Iyisha felt her shaking as her hand tightened around hers.
Iyisha did not know if they would be taken or killed where they stood.
Shields hit the floor with a heavy thump and the room fell still except for the muffled cries behind the glass.
"Put down your guns," a voice called from the guards.
Iyisha lifted her head and looked past Malcolm and saw nothing but the line in front of them while behind them the glass shook under desperate hands.
"Arnulf, what do we do?" one of them asked, his voice trembling.
Arnulf looked at them, and for a second his eyes dropped before he forced himself to meet their gaze again.
There was something in it.
Not fear.
Something heavier.
Like he already knew how this ends.
Iyisha’s eyes caught a woman behind the glass as she pressed her hands against it and cried while hitting the surface and keeping her gaze locked on the man in front of her.
She was scared for them rather than for herself.
Iyisha bit her lip hard as her legs trembled.
"Put your guns down," the guards repeated as their rifles stayed fixed on them.
Arnulf lowered his gun and let it hit the floor, and the sound made everyone stiffen.
"Arnulf, what the hell are you doing?" someone asked.
"Put it down," Arnulf said. "Now."
They looked at each other before lowering their guns one by one.
Iyisha held Malcolm’s arm tight as he dropped his weapon, and she followed, letting hers fall as the rest did the same.
The soldiers stepped forward and picked up the guns while others held their line, rifles still trained on them.
From the back, Iyisha saw a man in a white lab coat moving toward the room where the massive subject had been.
"Get down," the soldiers said.
Iyisha watched as one of them spoke to the man in the coat, and he gave a small nod before stepping closer.
Rough hands forced them down, and Iyisha dropped to the floor and placed her hands behind her neck.
"Don’t move," a soldier said. "We won’t hesitate."
Iyisha kept her eyes on the man in the lab coat.
Is he the one in charge?
The soldiers shifted and gave him space as he walked toward them.
He looked older, his hair uneven and streaked with gray, his glasses large enough that his eyes seemed bigger behind them.
"Greetings," he said as he stopped in front of them. "My name is Dr. Frank Stein."
He smiled faintly. "Before you say it, yes, my parents had a sense of humor."
Iyisha’s heart dropped.
Frank Stein.
Dr. Frankenstein.
The name hit her hard as the memory snapped into place, the reports, the bodies on the Route, the ones without heads, the ones no one could explain.
This is him.
The one who made them.
Beside her, Marybeth went still and glanced at her, their eyes meeting for a second as the recognition passed between them.
Her breath caught as she looked back at him, the weight of it settling in all at once as everything they had seen finally had a face.
"Please... let us go," one man said.
Others followed, voices breaking as they pleaded.
The doctor raised a hand and smiled. "Oh no, no, no," he said, wagging a finger as he spoke. "Don’t waste your breath, people, because you just became heroes for mankind."
He looked over them like he was inspecting something he liked. "I have work for all of you." freewebnøvel.coɱ
"Why?" a man shouted, his voice shaking. "Why did you take them?"
The doctor tilted his head and pointed at him.
A soldier struck the man with the butt of his rifle.
"I said you’re going to be a hero," the doctor said, frowning. "And that’s what you ask?"
"What do you want from us?" Iyisha said, her voice low.
The doctor’s face lit up. "Bingo," he said, stepping closer. "That’s what I want to hear."
He bent forward and looked at her up close, his eyes wide behind the lenses. "Ah," he said softly. "You’re the Clarcke, aren’t you?"
Iyisha leaned back as he came closer.
Malcolm moved.
The soldier beside him drove a headbutt into him, but Malcolm caught him and turned the motion, forcing the man down and bringing the gun up, aimed straight at the doctor.
"Hey—Ryan!" the doctor shouted, both hands lifting. "This one’s trying to kill me!"
The soldiers snapped their guns toward Malcolm.
Iyisha moved fast and wrapped her arms around Malcolm from the front.
"Wait," the doctor said quickly. "That one is valuable."
Malcolm held still.
Iyisha looked up at him, her eyes wide.
"Put it down," she said. "Please."
He looked at her for a second.
Then he lowered the gun.
"Clarcke," Dr. Frankenstein said with a grin. "Your sister was my favorite, you know."
Iyisha moved before she could stop herself, pushing up from the floor. "You fucking crazy doctor!" she shouted as she lunged forward.
Malcolm caught her and pulled her back hard.
Guns snapped toward her.
She didn’t care.
The doctor laughed and bent down in front of her, leaning in close, his eyes wide behind the glass. "You look so alike," he said, smiling. "Same temperament too."
He straightened and walked a few steps away, looking up at the ceiling like he was thinking.
A soldier dropped beside her. "You want everyone dead?" he said, his voice low and sharp.
Iyisha turned and looked at him, her eyes hard.
"If you don’t calm down, I start with one of you," he said.
Iyisha clenched her jaw as tears slipped down her face, her breath uneven as she forced it to slow.
She counted.
Then she lowered herself back to the floor.
She looked at the doctor.
"Where is my sister?"
The doctor stopped and looked at her, then glanced back toward the room they had seen earlier.
"Where’s my sister?" Iyisha asked, louder now.
He looked at her and smiled. "Yes..." he said. "You’d be good data." His eyes lit up. "Ryan." He walked back.
"Wait..." Iyisha cursed as the doctor walked away without answering her, and she clenched her fists as the urge to lunge at him rose hard in her chest but she held it back.
She looked around instead and saw Lance staring at them with panic in his eyes while Marybeth stayed low behind Malcolm, close enough to grab him if anything went wrong.
They were all scared.
A man stepped in front of them as soldiers moved forward with syringes in their hands.
"Take this and hope to be released," he said. "Or refuse and die now."
The group looked at each other, and Iyisha felt Malcolm’s hand tighten in hers as her eyes burned with anger while she stared at the line of soldiers in front of them.
He didn’t move, and she knew why as she followed his gaze and saw the numbers, the rifles, the distance, and the way they were boxed in with no cover and no exit.
If he tried, they would all die before he could take even a few down.
She hated it.
She saw one of the men get injected, and he dropped at once with his body going limp while a pulse still beat at his neck.
"Malcolm..." She whispered looking at him. "Take it. I need you alive." She pleaded. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
He looked at her for a second, his jaw ticked, then gave a small nod.
A soldier stepped forward and pressed the needle into Malcolm’s neck while another grabbed Iyisha and drove the syringe into hers.
Her breath caught as the room tilted and her vision blurred, and she tried to hold on as her eyes found Malcolm, still upright and still looking at her, before everything went dark.
