Amplified by Alexia Purdy

time and managed a nice frown as I focused back onto Christian through the tears that I fought to restrain. I had the urge to damage that pretty face of his like I’d stabbed up his stomach. One day, I promised myself, that would be on my to-do list, right at the very top.
    “We ’re still in the same facility. We’ve quarantined off the area where Blaze’s group is. Don’t worry. They can’t get in here like we could get in there. They’ll never find the way in. They’re trapped there. There’s no way out from that quad. It was a way to trick them into closing themselves in. They fell for the false sense of security.”
    “Bastard.” I close d my eyes, feeling a bit better, but my head was still aching fiercely.
    “April, let ’s not be so harsh. It’s for all our good that we did this.”
    “Fuck you, Christian.”
    A haughty laugh echoed from behind my head. I couldn’t see him, but I knew it was Mercer.
    “My, my. She is a feisty one. Just like you said. You lucky bastard.”
    “Go to hell, Mercer.”
    His hot breath flared across my cheek, and his face appeared right next to mine.
    “Come on, Mercer, back up, ” Christian said, looking annoyed.
    “Listen here, precious. I don’t care if he’s your mate or not. I’ll still kill you with the first wrong step you take. And for your information… we’re already in hell, if you haven’t noticed, bitch!”
    “Back off,” Christian said again. He put his hand on Mercer’s chest, throwing him a look of warning.
    “Temper, temper, ” I said, laughing at how quickly they had begun to bicker. Maybe I could use that against them. I let my head rest against the flat pillow under my head. “I need to pee.”
    “Pee yourself.”
    I laughed again and shook my head. “What? Afraid this little drained human is going to beat you up? Aww….”
    Mercer stomped away, cursing under his breath. Feeling a tickle at my feet, I looked down to find Christian undoing the restraints.
    “Sorry, he ’s sort of insensitive.”
    “No kidding.”
    “Come on. I’ll take you to the showers. There’s a toilet, towels and fresh clothes there. You stink, by the way.”
    “You smell like a rose, too.” I scrunched up my nose up and eyed him straight on. “How long was I out?”
    “A full seventy-two hours.”
    “Geez… .” I let my head drop back as he slid over to undo my wrist restraints. “Is that true? Can the others not get out?”
    “Oh , they can get out. It’ll take them forever to do it, but it’s possible. This place took years to complete. It was built before Vida was.”
    He helped me sit up, and I rubbed my sore skin. The grime under my nails and my cracked skin made me frown. “How do you know of all these secret projects?”
    “I used to work for the government. It was my job to oversee the labs and chemicals being shipped into these places. There ’s dozens of fortresses, all across the country.”
    “ You’re kidding, right? Do you think humans made it to them at all?”
    He shifted on his feet, still bent at the bedside. He stared hard at the cement floor. His long, dark red hair framed his features, making his eyes shine in the dark.
    “I don ’t know. Probably. Quite a few made it to the ones here in Vegas, surprisingly.”
    I stood up and wa ited. He stretched up before me. His height was always impressive.
    “ All right, then,” I said, looking up at him, “lead the way.”
     
     

Chapter Ten
    Where All the Things Meet
     
     
     
    Rick was tinkering with an assortment of vials and liquids bubbling over Bunsen burners. In his protective glasses, lab coat and gloves, he was the epitome of a chemistry teacher, lost in concentration and every so often jotting down notes in a notebook splayed open on the counter nearby. Slipping onto a stool the next table over, I watched him with curiosity as he mixed the chemicals, siphoned drops out and dropped the fluid into trays filled with other fluids and gel.
    This lab was much smaller