Arachna

Chapter 22: A Loss Too Great

Kaela gawked at the manhole cover. All of that, just for those two idiots to get lost in a sewer.

"Is everything okay?" Derek asked, knocking her out of her trance.

Kaela didn't look at him, but the concern was evident in his voice. "Yeah... just wondering why Lance decided to go down there with him."

He'd probably decided to go down there at the last minute, a chance to be alone with Eric, to discuss her attempt at getting information. She shook her head. No—no, she trusted Lance. If he couldn't tell her now, he had a reason.

Still, she rolled the thoughts around in her head as she tapped her knuckle on the back door of the Rose. Whatever they were hiding, it had to be bad. Or embarrassing. She wrapped her arms around her shoulders, shivering as the cold air settled in her bones. Derek leaned against the wall next to her, looking out at the street.

Kaela knocked again, and this time, she listened.

Nothing.

Derek's eyes swam with worry as they shared glances.

Kaela rested her hand on the doorknob and pushed.

It swung open easily.

Time froze. The color drained out of the world, all melting together into nothing but gray.

She was on her knees. She was screaming, but it was muffled like she was underwater. Her screams were loud and piercing, but not enough to break through the cotton in her own ears. She only stopped to breathe, each gulp of air twirling her stomach in circles. Derek was at her side, his arms around her. She wailed louder than she knew she could, screamed for the bloody bodies scattered across the floor to get up and tell her they were pretending.

Blood had pooled everywhere, soaked into the carpet, and the bodies—some were riddled with bullets, others torn apart or crushed.

She cried and screamed. She couldn't stop. As hard as she tried, the sirens in her heart went off, over and over. Derek dragged her out of the Rose, but she kicked and screamed.

"You have to snap out of it," he said.

Kaela couldn't stop screaming. She could only hear the shrieks bouncing around in her own head, overpowering Derek's attempts to calm her down. They were in the alley again. Her back rested against the cold brick.

"If you keep screaming, they'll hear us."

Her screams turned into sobs.

Derek removed his hand from over her mouth, and her sobs regained their clarity.

"It's my fault," she cried over and over, trying to stay quiet. "It's my fault. It's my fault."

"No, it's not," Derek said.

Between every attempt to calm her down, Derek's eyes darted in every direction, as if scared that Caleb's men would burst through the walls. At any moment, they could come barreling in to kill them. She couldn't let that happen, so she closed her mouth and swallowed the screams that kept banging at her throat, demanding to be released.

Kaela tried to stand, only to fall to her knees. Her heart raced, and her stomach turned. The ground swayed beneath her. She had to get control of herself. She could mourn once Caleb was dead at her feet, she told herself. But the sobs still came, and Derek wrapped her in a tight embrace.

"I'm so sorry," he said.

She shook her head. "I can't... I can't do this."

"We should get out of here."