Rage and Ruin | 2

4 | 5

A R L O

      Jaxon locked the door behind us with a click.

      I blinked a few times. We were concealed in a dark corner of a building massive enough to fit at least three of Adiago Hundsen's lairs inside of it. As I looked up, I saw that the ceiling was so high above us that there could have easily been a second story if they'd wanted one.

      The place mostly hidden from where we were standing, but from what I could see, it was filled with machinery. Workers bustled about, working by conveyor belts putting together weapons of every kind. A great amount of them also stood at perfectly arranged rows of tables as they assembled weapons by hand. The sounds of whirring machinery, tinkering and metal on metal were deafening, especially for me.

     It was a much larger operation than I'd been expecting. If Imperium was truly getting all these weapons, then they must have had an arsenal big enough to take out an entire country by now.

     Judging by the looks on the others' faces, they felt the same way. Jake, always the human equivalent of a block of ice, turned to Jaxon, unfazed. "There should be an alarm button in the back. Sound the alarm and get ready for everyone to flee this place."

     He turned to Delphinium and me. "Once the alarm is sounded and everyone is out, we need to bar the doors. We can't have anyone coming in."

     "Got it." Jaxon disappeared and I heard his sneaking footsteps retreating.

After a very still moment, I turned to look at the other two. "What are we doing here once everyone's out?" Delphinium eyed Jake with an eyebrow raised, also wanting to know the answer. "Please tell me that we're going to blow this place off the face of the earth."

"Agreed," Delphinium said, giving the massive operation behind me a pointed glance. Her dislike of this place was very clear.

"You're in luck," Jake responded as he leaned against the wall with crossed arms. "That's exactly what we're doing."

I smiled and rubbed my hands together in anticipation. I'd been excited when Jake had forced me along on this excursion, but this was going to be even better than I was expecting.

Just then, the alarm sounded, a blaring, screeching noise. Between that and the shouting of the workers, my eardrums felt like they might rupture.

     Almost immediately, the workers abandoned their stations and ran. The doors were full of people as they struggled to escape the building. It made me wonder what exactly the alarm was for, if they were acting so terrified because of it. What in this place was so dangerous that everyone inside needed to be ready to evacuate at any time?

      "Bar the doors," Jake commanded, pushing off the wall. "Quickly."

     We went our separate ways, splitting up to cover more surface area. I made a beeline for the main door. Taking an iron rod, I shoved it through the door handles.

     When that had been taken care of, I dashed to another side door. There was no time to waste.

     But, as it often was, something was wrong.

Halfway there, I became aware of a weight in my chest. My head felt like it was filling with water. Somewhere near the door, I stopped going forward and looked down. My feet, planted on the ground, seemed to be miles away. No, now they were closer than ever. Snakes writhed in my stomach.

     The last thing I saw before the darkness was the metal scaffolding on the ceiling high above me.

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