Subject Seven

Chapter Twenty-nine
Kyrie Merriwether

Cody frowned. “I think somebody knows we’re here.”

Kyrie looked toward where he was facing and saw the men climbing from the dark car. They were dressed in military fatigues, but the color was wrong. They all wore black.

“Guys. We have a problem.” Her voice was clear.

Completely ignoring her, the voice of Joe Bronx continued on. “You are currently sitting in what was the head-quarters of the Janus Mask Company. Officially they make props for movies and sell Halloween masks. But they also ran the program designed to make all of us. They were responsible for Project: Doppelganger.” Once again he was starting to stand up. “The woman in charge is Evelyn Hope. Or at least she’s someone high up on the list of bosses.”

Kyrie looked at the soldiers coming closer. No, not soldiers. At least one of them had a beard, and that was against military dress code, wasn’t it?

“Seriously, guys, we have a problem.”

Cody was already standing. Gene looked toward her, annoyed by the interruption. “What’s wrong?”

“Soldiers.” Kyrie and Cody both pointed.

Hunter reached for the tape player and hit the eject button. “So let’s get ready to run.” He closed his eyes and his face twitched for a second, the stress finally getting the best of him. He let out a small noise and Kyrie would have asked him if he was okay, but the soldiers moved.

One of the men outside pulled at the door, and when it opened, he pushed it closed again very quickly.

“They know we’re here.” Kyrie’s voice shook. Her head was starting to throb.

Gene shook his head. “No. They know someone is here. Not who.”

Hunter made a noise and almost doubled over.

“Well, maybe they do and maybe they don’t, but either way, we aren’t supposed to be here.” That was Tina, coming to her rescue, which was a little weird because Kyrie wasn’t expecting help.

“Whatever.” Cody stood; his voice shook even more than Kyrie’s. “Whatever. We need to go now. Is there another way out?”

Kyrie opened her mouth to answer him but stopped when the noise exploded in her head. Not just hers either. All of them reeled from the sound. Two words, but so loud, so thunderous that they made her eyes ache in her skull.

WAKE UP!!!!

The sound was familiar, but so close now, so overwhelming that even as she tried to stand she fell to her knees.

And the darkness came for her again. Kyrie pushed the night away through force of will, looking at the people she’d just met. She needed to know if they felt it too, if they heard the noise.

WAKE UP!!!!

She could see Gene’s legs. He was standing up, but he was shaking violently, like he was in a hurricane-force wind. As the darkness started moving in again, she felt pain lashing through her muscles, her bones, and heard words coming from her throat again, in a voice that was not hers.

“About damned time!” Her throat, she could feel the vibrations, but the words belonged to someone else. “Let’s get this over with-”