"Casey?" Derek whispered.

I tensed, glancing back to find Derek and Thomas standing directly behind me.

"Damn. Don't do that!" I whisper yelled still holding onto the knob. Frankly, I was afraid if I let go the maniacs would swarm out and shout for their friends.

Derek was at my back, carefully taking the two extra guns from me.

"Hey, you're hurt. I can carry those." I wondered if his eye hurt as bad as it looked.

"I'll be fine." Derek handed the second gun to Thomas.

Thomas wiped the blood off his brow, which appeared to be slowly streaming from his hairline. Thomas grabbed the gun from Derek like he'd held a gun a million times before.

They made eye contact and nodded at each other. What was going on?

"How are we getting out of here?" I whispered, breaking up their little moment.

Derek gently pulled me away from the door, pressing my back to the wall. Thomas moved to take my position at the door.

Derek pulled my attention back to him when his hand grasped my waist and he pressed his cheek to mine. His lips hovered just over my ear. "No matter what you hear, please stay out here."

I shook my head. "No. That's what you said earlier and..."

He pulled his head back just enough to look me in the eye. His expression was grim. "I know, but this will be fast."

My lips found his ear as his hold on my waist tightened. "Please don't kill them."

I mean, yeah, these people were total cowards, but killing them in cold blood had to be the worst possible thing. That made us like them, didn't it?

"I can't promise that, Casey," Derek whispered. "They won't let us just walk out of here. There's more just like them inside the building. All it takes is one yell for help across the warehouse, and we're all dead. These guys are trained. They killed people here, Casey. They were going to kill us." He let out a soft chuckle. "You know what they told us?"

Our cheeks caressed one another when I shook my head.

"They said they were beating us up because they were bored and wanted to work on their hand to hand combat skills. They handcuffed us before they started kicking the shit out of us. I need to get you out of here alive. Just wait a couple minutes, please." Derek's voice was shaky. He needed to do this.

My shoulders dropped. I knew it. These people were trained killers. They'd done a lot more than abduct children and beat up my friends. "Okay. I'll wait two minutes."

When he pulled back, his lips made slight contact with my cheek. "Thank you for saving us. Now I want to save you."

His one good eye stayed on me to make sure I was listening to him. He wanted me to stay out of that room no matter what. When he saw the understanding in my eyes, his focus moved to his gun.

Thomas held the gun up like he was Rambo, looking me up and down. "If I forget to say it later, you one badass bitch, Sweetheart."

I smiled as my cheeks warmed.

Thomas gave me the small black backpack. "Protect this with your life."

I nodded.

"Ready?" Thomas mouthed.

Derek's body stiffened as he nodded.

Thomas whipped the door open. "Well, well, well... what do we have here? What do you got there? A knife. I'll be taking that."

Derek shut the heavy door.

Four gunshots later, Derek and Thomas finally emerged from the room, closing the door behind them.

"Oh, my God. Did you kill them? They were really loud and then everything went silent." I stopped pacing.

Thomas smirked as he shook his head. "Nah, we didn't kill them, but they're going to hate that we left them alive when they wake up."

I let out a breath. At least they were still alive. Killing was the last thing I wanted to do.

Derek grabbed my hand. "Come on. There's a way out through here."

I squeezed his hand as he led me to the door I'd already tried. "It's locked."

"Lucky for us, I got the key." Derek grinned, dangling his keys. "This is the main security room. They have an emergency exit for situations like this."

"Is the other security guy inside? I heard someone in there earlier, but they never opened the door."

Thomas and Derek both gave me a look like I was crazy.

"I only saw one security guard. And he's... in there on the floor." My thumb jabbed toward the break room.

"Danny and Jon are both dead, Casey." Derek stuck the key in the lock. "Danny was over by pharmaceuticals when those guys charged in."

Danny was dead. Jon was dead. That didn't change the fact I knew someone or something was inside this room. I grabbed Derek's arm before he pushed the door open. "Someone's in there."

They must've heard the fear in my voice because they hunkered down on their guns before Derek slowly opened the door.

The odor hit me first as I examined our surroundings. High-tech equipment riddled the room. Large flat screens flipped through real-time security footage from multiple cameras around the property. My skin crawled as I glimpsed the two trained men searching through some boxes somewhere in the warehouse. Thank goodness they were oblivious for now.

The security room was rather large. There was an oblong table with a few chairs around it. Something knocked two cans of soda over, ruining a messy pile of file folders. Three more doors surrounded the area. One being the exit, another being a restroom, and the third was unmarked.

I couldn't take my eyes off the chairs. It was one of these chairs I'd heard before.

Thomas moved around the area and shook his head. "No one."

Oh no. I wasn't giving up that easily. "I'm telling you. I heard something bump against the wall and move one of these chairs."

"When things are tense, sometimes our mind can play tricks on us." Derek moved toward a door in the corner labeled "Restroom."

I lifted my gun. I didn't know who was in here, but I knew they had to be hiding.

Derek opened the door, and nothing was inside. "See? Empty."

What the hell? Maybe my hearing was messing me under stress, and perhaps the odor was lousy plumbing.

A low grunt came from somewhere.

The unmarked door.

Thomas perked up at the low groan. "Nap room."

Nap room? Okay, that was a question for another day.

I held the gun steady. If someone crazy was here, I had to be ready.

"Slow and steady," Derek whispered, preparing his weapon.

Thomas didn't have to turn the knob since the knob wasn't fully latched. He pulled the door open, releasing the most god-awful stench I'd ever smelled in my life. It was so overpowering, it took all my willpower to hold the gun steady rather than protect my nostrils.

The light wasn't on, but from what we could see, a man was on the floor hunched over someone. We could only see his back. The room was just large enough for a bunk bed and several lockers.

The man's bald head was shiny as I noticed that he wore a black security uniform like Jon's, but that didn't really matter at this point. I was more concerned with what he was doing to the person sprawled on the floor, motionless. They were wearing tennis shoes and a white uniform.

The determination in the man's movements reminded me of the little boy in the Hummer.

Strange wet, smacking sounds echoed before the man let out a weird groan.

"Mike," Derek whispered.

Thomas squinted. "Candi?"

Mike stopped moving, and we all held our breath until he went back to what he was doing.

Something was way, way off here. I couldn't stand here and watch this anymore. I didn't want to believe it, but Mike was probably eating Candi. I stepped forward and flipped the switch, illuminating the truth.

Mike's skin was blotchy, and blood stained his neck and shoulders. His reflective head whipped around when the light flickered to life. He spun, awkwardly, until he saw us. We all gasped.

I hate being right.

Instinctively, we all backed up.

Mike's blood-red eyeballs honed in directly on me as he fumbled to stand. Everything he touched left bloody streaks behind until he was fully upright, then his hands stretched out in front of him and grasped at air. This was real. Mike was a...

"Mike!" Derek shouted with desperation. He was probably hoping Mike would snap out of it, but looking at this dude, I'm not even sure that was a possibility.

Thomas kept his aim on Mike as he nudged me aside. "Get behind me."

Mike moaned like he was trying to speak before his gaze shifted over to Thomas.

Mike's face was covered in Candi. No pun intended.

Pieces of his latest meal peeled from his face and hands, plopping to the tile. God. That smell. They'd both been in here when I tried to get in.

For whatever reason, Mike had gotten sick and had fallen asleep in the nap room. Candi had probably been hiding. Mike would've looked like he was simply sleeping. Poor Candi had been easy for the picking, hiding from the maniac gun squad. Candi wouldn't have known she'd chosen to hide alongside a monster until Mike decided he wanted to eat her.

"Mike, I don't wanna have to shoot you, man," Thomas's voice was shaky.

Unwilling to wait any longer, Mike took off at a sprint toward Thomas.

Derek's gun went off, and Mike faltered as the bullet hit his chest, but Mike came at us again.

When Mike's hand connected with Thomas's gun, Thomas kicked Mike back and pulled the trigger. His aim was impeccable because Mike's skull exploded and brains splattered across the ceiling and wall. Mike's body slumped to the floor, dead.

None of us could speak. We all just stood there staring at Mike and Candi.

"Holy shit!" Derek staggered back until he hit the wall. "What the hell was that?"

I cleared my throat. "I'm not trying to be insensitive, but this smell will kill me if the rest of those trained men don't. Can we talk about this on the way back?"

Thomas didn't respond. He stood, frozen and distraught, with his gun still up, ready to shoot.

Softly, I stepped forward and whispered to Thomas. "Thank you."

He let out a long, ragged breath as his shoulders eased.

"Let's get out of here." Derek patted my back.

I waited until Thomas moved with us. His face was so pale I would've thought he was sick if he hadn't just killed someone. When his eyes found mine, Thomas scrunched his eyes closed. I couldn't tell if Thomas was forcing tears back or if he was about to throw up.

"We need to stay alert. Those guys could be outside." Derek was all business. It was impressive how he could compartmentalize what had just happened. "Thomas, you still with us, brother?"

Thomas opened his eyes and gazed back at his female coworker. "Yeah... but what about Candi?"

"I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure she's dead." Derek looked over to Candi. Her throat had been ripped out, and Mike had been eating her neck, face, and shoulders. I would never sleep right again. Playing zombie games and watching zombies on T.V. will never prepare you for a sight like that. And Mike had been eating her like an all you can eat buffet at Red Lobster.

I swallowed, hard.

Thomas let out a loud disgusted groan as he spun around and opened the exit door. He raised his gun and started down the stairs. Derek and I made eye contact. He shook his head and jutted his chin toward Thomas. There was nothing to say. We'd all just witnessed something we believed to be fictional. I fell into step behind Thomas.

Getting out of there was unexpectedly easy. We moved in a single file line as we made our way around the warehouse. I guess the last two members of the maniac gun squad still had no clue we'd escaped because getting back was easy peasy. Everything was just as I'd left it.

"I stole a bag full of guns from those jerk faces, but it was so heavy I couldn't lift it into the truck," I said as we ran toward the vehicles.

"Damn, Sweetheart. You're my hero." Thomas was back to his old self. "Der, if you ever give this one up, I call dibs."

His change in mood made me laugh before I saw the little boy behind the tinted window. I ran to the Hummer, and the guys followed.

Derek stopped beside me, completely oblivious to what had caught my attention. "We gotta go, Casey. They could come out any minute."

"There's a little girl in there, too," I whispered. "They're both chained up like animals."

Both guys locked eyes on the boy. From where we stood, it was impossible to see the reality of what was inside.

"What the hell?" Thomas lifted the gun and scoured the parking lot. "Get them out."

Derek cupped his eyes to see through the heavily tinted windows. "The girl's still asleep, but she's sick. Damn, she can't be over four."

"Three." I corrected.

"Fuck!" Derek fell back from the window. "The boy... he's..."

"Yeah, I know." I didn't want to see the boy's arm again.

"What?" Thomas yelled.

"Shh!" I held up my gun and pointed it at the warehouse entrance. "Just look for yourself."

Hesitant, Thomas cupped his eyes and took his turn. "My God."

He stepped back and glanced around before he booked it toward our truck.

"What about the little girl?" I ran after him, clutching the black bag and gun.

"There's no time. Get your asses in the truck now! We have families to help. And you better pray they don't wake up like that." Thomas ran to the bag of guns and Derek opened the truck's bed. Together they lifted the duffel into the bed.

"That bag is heavy as hell, Case. How'd you get it over here?" Derek asked he climbed into the seat beside me.

I threw my arms in the air. "I have no idea. I just did what I had to do."

The truck revved to life as Thomas scoffed. "Nice of you to leave the keys in the ignition for me."

"Shut up!" I swatted his arm as we left the warehouse.

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