Chapter 18

My eyelids were growing heavy, but my two companions had no interest whatsoever in calling it a night and going to bed. I couldn’t blame them. I, too, had wanted to stay right next to my Nightmare the minute I’d found out he was crossing over. We’d brought in a table and three chairs for Julia, Riley, and me to sit in front of the two holding cells where the Walkers were forming at an impressively fast pace.

It stroked my ego that they weren’t forming as quickly as my Zain had. My man had completed his transition in the record time of five hours and twenty-six minutes. We had passed that mark a little over ten minutes ago with these two. Nevertheless, Merax and Letho were definitely ahead of the curve according to the average total birth time of ten to twelve hours that Thomson had reported for Transients born in the wild. By my estimate, they should awaken in the next hour, tops two. A part of me wondered if being in a completely safe environment drove them to expend more energy to form faster. Normal Transients might have gambled with taking a longer time to save as much energy as possible to sustain them while looking for their creator.

Although sleeping quarters had been prepared for both Riley and Julia, the silly man had begged and pleaded to have a camp bed brought into the room so that he could sleep next to Merax’s cell. Riley was determined to be right there when his Nightmare first woke up. To my dismay, Agent Peters had managed to get two beds in here, one for each of my companions.

But where Riley awaited the birth of Merax with the eagerness of a lover impatient to be reunited with his partner after a long separation, Julia waited with the gentle patience of the devoted mother of a child with special needs. I had never even imagined the possibility of such a scenario. It was my hope that with time, a genuine affection would develop between them instead of this relationship based on guilt, duty, and dependence.

After Zain had left us to go back to assessing the candidates’ Walkers, I’d spent the first hour or so catching my companions up on what had happened during my first month here. In between anecdotes, I’d walked them through the training program they would have to follow with their respective Mistwalker. In retrospect, it blew my mind to realize what a long way Zain had come since that first night he’d been hellbent on terrifying me.

While I didn’t go into too many intimate details about my relationship with Zain, I gave them some insights about defining the terms of our interactions, my hard and soft limits, and making him understand that the confused child that had spawned him had evolved into a woman with different needs.

“All right, you two,” I said, fighting back a yawn. “This chick needs to get her butt to bed. You should do the same as well. Tomorrow will be a busy day.”

“You just want Mr. Gorgeous and Grumpy to yank you into dreamland to play naughty,” Riley said teasingly.

“Mr. Sexy As Fuck is busy hunting in the Mist,” I retorted, despite the heat creeping on my cheeks. “I’m going to pass out in bed and dream of rainbows and unicorns.”

“And he’ll ditch all of those Beasts to chase your fluffy tail the minute he feels you falling asleep,” Julia said in the same mocking tone.

I chuckled and shook my head. “You’re both perverts,” I said with a false air of despair. “Now, you two get some Zs. Otherwise, you’ll regret it in the morning. It’s already midnight!”

“Yes, Mother,” Riley said with a long-suffering sigh.

I barely resisted the urge to ruffle his hair. Getting up, I cast one last look at the two Nightmares in the final stages of their human birth then left the room. I had just started walking down the long hallway when a shrill, but muffled cry of a Beast nearly made me jump out of my skin. Startled, I turned around to look at the opposite side of the hallway from whence it had emanated. Granted, the cells were located at the end of the L-shaped corridor, but the holding area was perfectly soundproof, even when their outer, reinforced doors were opened.

This time, a vicious roar resonated from the same area, but much louder.

The door to the Nightmare’s birth cell jerked open, startling me again. A very worried Riley poked his head into the corridor. He cast an inquisitive look towards me. I shook my head to indicate I didn’t know what was going on. Raising one finger to tell him to hang on, I ran down to the end of the hallway towards the secured area. At the L-shaped intersection, I glanced at the large, reinforced doors with the ‘restricted access’ label on them. My blood ran cold at finding the doors ajar, and at the sight of red lights blinking all around the frame.

Just as I was going to turn around and hightail it, the doors fully opened with a clanking sound and a hiss. I nearly fainted at the thought a Beast would come charging out of there, but it was Agent Tate’s tall silhouette that came walking out.

“Tate!” I said with a sigh of relief. “What the fuck is going on?”

But even as the words left my lips, a wave of unease washed over me. It took a second for my conscious mind to rationalize the red flags that my brain had picked up. Why was Tate still in the holding area at such a late hour? Why were the wires from the doors control panel all hanging out like the security system had been gutted? Why was he nonchalantly strolling out of there, tools still in hand, like he didn’t have a care in the world? Why was he smiling like that?

Zain’s brand on my chest began throbbing at the same instant I noticed the white smoke of the Mist slithering on the floor behind him before pouring into the hallway.

The base had been breached.

“Miss me?” Tate asked. A malicious grin stretched his lips, and dark, shadowy tendrils began swirling around him.

“Darryl,” I whispered with dread.

The sadistic expression that descended on his face confirmed I’d rightly guessed.

“We have a score to settle, you little cunt,” Darryl said, continuing his slow advance.

“I banish you!” I shouted. “You are not welcome in this base. I banish you!”

For a split second, I feared I didn’t have the authority, like it had been the case with Zain during our first encounter here. But Darryl hissed and flinched, taking a couple of steps back. Thankfully, this place had all but been my home for the past month. However, Darryl didn’t flee. With the Mist catching up, then passing him, it overrode my banishment. Wherever the Mist could enter, so could its dwellers. Darryl’s grin returned, and he resumed advancing towards me in that terrifying, casual pace of the stalkers in slasher movies.

He burst out laughing when I turned on my heels and started running. If not for the Mist’s slow advance, constraining him, there was no doubt in my mind Darryl would have given me chase.

I need to alert the agents!

But even as that thought crossed my mind, I realized it would be suicidal for them to confront Darryl without Zain. But Zain was in the Mist, and Merax and Letho were both still being born. If Darryl got to them…

The loud screech of a Beast resonated behind me, turning my blood to acid.

“What’s going on?” Riley called out as he saw me running towards him.

“Get back in!” I shouted while barreling down towards him.

At the same time, Agent Peters and Agent Richmond came running from the other end of the hallway which led to the cafeteria and the private quarters. Disheveled and still adjusting their clothes, they’d clearly been dragged out of bed.

“Darryl is inside!” I shouted to them, stopping right in front of the holding cell where the Nightmares were being born. “He let the Mist in! We need to lockdown the base!”

I looked over my shoulder just in time to see the first plumes of the Mist slithering on the floor, turning the L-shaped corner to flow into the main corridor I stood in. Peters cursed and gestured with his head for Richmond to get going. Without a word, Richmond turned around and headed back from whence they’d come. Peters rushed to me, his hand cradling his injured ribs.

His eyes widened when Agent Tate finally emerged in the corridor we were in. His steps faltered at the sight of the sadistic expression on the face of his long-time colleague and friend.

“It’s not Tate! It’s Darryl,” I said, my heart pounding into my throat.

Peters ran inside the room, and we shut the door behind us. Julia and Riley approached us with the same panicked expression on their faces. The agent tapped a few instructions on his phone, and the alarm went off. He then used his device to connect to the base’s intercom system.

“To all members of personnel, this is not a drill,” Peters said in an urgent but controlled voice. “The base has been breached. Darryl is inside, and the Mist is flooding the facility. Immediately initiate all lockdown measures. Do not, I repeat, do not let the Mist enter your secure sector. Remain confined until further notice. Be warned that Darryl has returned with the appearance of Agent Tate. I repeat: Darryl has taken the appearance of Agent Tate. Do not let him approach you. Do not open the door for him. He is to be handled with extreme prejudice.”

A frightening thought crossed my mind as Peters spoke those words. Whipping out my own phone, I called Agent Tate.

“Hello,” Tate answered at the second ring.

To my utter relief, there was no sound of sirens in the background of where he was answering from, confirming he wasn’t the Nightmare lurking in the base.

“It’s Naima. Where are you?” I asked.

“I’m driving back. I’m still thirty to forty minutes away,” Tate said, worry creeping into his voice. “What’s that noise? Is that the breach siren?”

“Yes,” I replied with a tensed voice. “Darryl is inside, and he has taken on your appearance.”

“WHAT?!” Tate shouted.

“He’s let the Mist in and released the Beasts from the holding areas,” I continued while trying to rein in the fear that threatened to choke me. “I banished him, so he can only stay within the areas that the Mist can access. Peters is locking down the base to try and contain him.”

“Good thinking. Where is Zain?” Tate asked.

“He’s hunting in the Mist. I need to go get him,” I said, glancing at the beds Peters had brought in for my companions.

“The Nightmares?” he asked.

“Still about an hour to go before they wake,” I said heading towards one of the beds. “When you get here, make sure to contact Peters first to avoid friendly fire.”

“Will do. Be there soon,” the agent said before hanging up.

As I sat down at the edge of the bed, a terrible thought crossed my mind, and I stared suspiciously at Agent Peters.

“Darryl disabled the alarm,” I said to him. “How did you know something was going on?”

Peters didn’t flinch or recoil and held my gaze unwaveringly.

“Before he left, Thomson said there might be a breach. He didn’t want to know what measures we would take but only said to account for that possibility,” Peters replied. “I activated the backup security system and only informed Richmond. That system is silent and is triggered the minute anyone tampers with the base’s lockdown system.”

That alleviated some of my worries. Then again, he had weapons, and we didn’t. If he’d meant to harm us, he’d have already done so. The thumping sound of a Beast’s heavy steps in the hallway and its growl reminded me that time was of the essence.

“I’m going to get Zain,” I told my three companions. “Whatever you do, don’t let Darryl in, I added before lying on Julia’s bed.

I closed my eyes and prayed that Zain would pull me in.