Chapter 13

Tilly

Having taken two long naps during the day, by the time bedtime rolled around, I was wide awake and feeling caged in by these four walls. I had to get out of here. Fairly certain it was nighttime, I wondered how many people were actually awake.

I got up and went to the door. It was even easier to open this time.

I crept out into the hallway. Most of the lights were off this time, but I channeled my dingo vision and could see clearly.

With silent footsteps, I ventured away from my room, but was sure to leave the door cracked should I need to get back to it quickly.

To the left were the labs like the one with the metal table I’d been strapped to. To the right I knew was the room of cages and the mystery room Helen had avoided. So, I turned to the right. I needed to get the hell out of here.

I went straight to the door and pushed my ear against it to listen. When I didn’t hear any voices, I gently pushed the handle and cracked the door open.

My stomach dropped and I started to gag.

The room was filled with piles of bodies. The only light coming from a fire on the other side.

Panic filled me and I couldn’t force myself to walk through that door.

Behind me a small child wailed.

The cages.

Heavy footsteps sounded down the hall and my heart raced.

There were children there and someone was heading this way.

Would they kill them too?

I knew I couldn’t take that risk.

No longer worried about being discovered myself, I said a little prayer, then pushed open the door and walked inside.

Cages were lining the walls higher than I could reach. This was where I’d awoken after my kidnapping. I could still remember the fear of being trapped inside a small cage with no room to move, stuck in a fetal position.

It had been horrifying.

I stretched just because I could. It was as if somehow that little action helped me in overcoming the crippling fear just the sight of those cages brought me.

You can do this, Tilly.

“Shh,” the mother of the child said.

Fear had her doing whatever it took to quiet the boy down.

I understood that kind of fear and I was sick and tired of being afraid.

“It’s okay,” I told her. “Do you know how these cages open?”

“Who are you?”

“Just one of you hell-bent on getting out of this place.”

“Really?”

“Yes, now help me. How do the cages open?”

“There is a panel on the wall. You can activate by cage number or a whole row at a time using the levers.”

“Got it.”

I started pushing up on every single lever I could find and soon every cage door on that side of the room was open. People began waking and jumping out of their cages. It broke my heart to watch but I was grateful to be a part of their rescue too.

“Hey, what about us?” Someone across the room yelled.

“You can’t leave us here,” said another.

“There aren’t anymore levers.”

“Over here. There’s another panel over here,” a woman cried out.

“Please. Help us.”

“You can’t leave us here,” a man repeated.

It wasn’t easy to force myself through the crowd as they pressed forward.

“We have to move fast,” I told them. “I think there’s an exit door across the hall, but it’s really disturbing in there. I just want to warn everyone. Shield the children’s eyes.”

“What’s in there?” someone asked.

“A crematorium,” I said, thinking that would be the easiest way to describe it even though I knew nothing would prepare them for the reality of it.

Still, hearing ‘crematorium’ caused immediate panic as hundreds of people took off in every direction.

“Over here,” the woman desperately said again.

I saw the panel and pushed my way through it.

Chaos ensued.

As fast as I could, I hit every lever, freeing the remaining shifters.

They worked quickly helping each other down before moving as a group to the door.

“Stay together. We’re safer in numbers,” someone yelled.

I had to believe that was true and stayed with the group.

I was happy to see the majority did heed my warning though and walked across the hall and into that awful room.

“There’s a door over here,” someone yelled just as a gun fired.

“Stay together. They can’t take us all,” someone else hollered.

There was only one man working the night shift and his hand was shaking badly as he fired off shots until we overwhelmed him and disarmed him of his weapon.

“Let’s go! Hurry!” a large man instructed as he held the gun in the air and motioned people outside.

Hundreds of us poured out into the parking lot behind the room with the dead bodies and the bay doors.

There was a sense of excitement in the air.

We were free!

So many came by to thank me, but the truth was, none of us had any idea where we were or where to go next. We just stood around or ran off just to get away from this place with no real direction in mind.

It was mass hysteria.

I found out later that a human nearby pulled out their phone and livestreamed it all.

Soon after cops filled the area wanting to take statements that no one wanted to give.

We were shifters. We never wanted to draw human attention like this.

Across the pavement I saw him standing there, watching me.

“It’s Egan Bridger. He’s behind all of this. Him and his mother, Helen,” I screamed pointing to Egan.

“Ma’am? Can I take your statement?” an officer asked.

“Not until you place that man into custody for the torture and death of so many.”

Egan looked around, panicked for the first time, and then turned to blend in with the crowd. It was almost as if he’d just faded away, nothing more than a figment of my imagination.

Unfortunately for him, others took notice too and then even more until a group of ladies tackled him to the ground and sat on him until the police had him in handcuffs. Suddenly everyone wanted to make a statement just to ensure that arsehole went away for good.

“Thank you,” said the woman with the little boy who had helped me with the cages.

“There’s no need to thank me. I wanted out of there as much as the rest of you.”

“But you were the only one brave enough to make it happen. Now look at us.”

She gave me a hug and ruffled the hair of her son.

As I turned the corner of the building, I caught a glimpse of a furious Helen fade away. Looking around I realized it was too late. She was going to get away.

I started towards a cop, but Helen raised her hand and hit some sort of button in her hand. The whole building exploded.

I hit the pavement and did my best to shield myself and a few others nearby from flying debris.

It took a few minutes for the initial blast to subside.

My ears were ringing, but several of those around me were safe and unharmed.

There was a sting from my leg and took me a few minutes to get oriented enough to understand I’d taken a hit from shrapnel and was bleeding.

For a moment I had a flashback of watching Aaron bleed out on the floor. Some of his blood still stained my clothes.

It took a while for me to rein in my emotions as I sat there on the pavement in the middle of it all. It looked like a really bad action film set all around me, or at least how I’d imagine one being. But this wasn’t fiction. This was real.

Once I regained control of my emotions and wasn’t quite so dizzy from the blast, I stood up. An officer ran over to assist and check on me.

Just to be sure they knew about Helen, I made him take my statement. It was the least I could do for Maxine, Aaron, and so many others who had lost their lives at the hands of these maniacs.

When the cop moved along, I just stood there, alone and unsure of what to do or where to go next.