Zone Zero: Redemption (Book 2 of 3)

Chapter 15

I take advantage of my new found freedom and head down to the dungeon. I barely get a second glance from the few vampires I pass but I still make sure that I am not seen when I turn down the corridor that leads me toward Alex.

I dont know if Cail has someone watching me but i know its best if he doesn't know this was the first place i visited.

I follow my memory of when Giselle led me this way and am surprised at how easy it all flows to my mind.

I round the corner in the darkened corridor and expect to see Alex sitting on his navy style cot amongst the darkness but instead am met by nothing but emptiness. Alex's cell is empty and instead of the once solid metal bars stretching from floor to ceiling, there is now a gaping hole where the bars have been pried apart.

I make my way closer and inspect the bars closely. It looks almost as though this damage was done by hand but I can't be sure. The only thing I can be sure about is that Alex is not here anymore.

I retrace my steps back toward the other few cells that I remember housed at least one other prisoner. Hopefully there is someone being held there that can tell me where Alex has gone.

I search each cell but they are all empty. There is no trace of anyone within the dungeons.

Suddenly, I hear the clip clop of a woman's heels coming down the stone steps. I mentally weigh up my options to stay where I am or to hide but before I can decide I am met with the beauty that is Giselle.

"Thought I'd find you down here." She says as she steps toward me making sure to leave a large distance.

I give off a half smile, not knowing what to say. Should I ask her where Alex is?

"Turn left at the end of the corridor there and open the large wooden door. You can't miss him." She smiles as she speaks and begins to turn around to head back up the stairs.

"Can't miss who?" I reply swiftly.

"You know who." She is already gone from my view when she replies.

Turning on my heel, I head the way that Giselle directed hoping that her directions take me straight to Alex. I push open the large wooden door that Giselle described and enter a darkened room with a steel cage standing barely seven feet tall. Inside, Alex sits cross legged with his back to me. The entire cage is void of any bed or seating. There is only cold, hard ground and metal walls to keep Alex captive.

"Alex." I call his name and move to him as quickly as I can.

I throw my hands onto the metal chain link style walls and quickly recoil as the metal burns my flesh instantly.

Alex is standing on the other side of the metal looking on with regretful eyes as I survey my hands.

The skin has bubbled and split to the pattern of the metal wall. As I begin to recall my first aid training on burns, I realise that the wounds are already starting to heal. Within moments, my skin begins to engulf the wounds until they are completely gone.

I search Alex's face for an explanation and am met with a tired smile.

"Silver."

His one word answer sends memories of him being chained and shackled in a smaller cell then this into my mind. Of course back then he was being held captive within the zone by humans and now he is being held by his own vampire brother.

I want to reach out and touch his skin through the metal but now that I know what will happen, I am reluctant to even raise my hand.

"I thought you were dead." Alex runs a hand through his shaggy hair and gives off a weary smile. He looks as though he hasn't slept in days as the lines around his eyes have deepened.