The Gender Game 2 by Bella Forrest (audio ebook reader .TXT) 📕

the aerosol spray. Immediately, the red flies swarmed me. I couldn’t feel their bites, but I could feel thousands of wings beating across my skin as they pelted against me.

I sank to my knees, struggling to smash as many as I could. Their bodies burst under my hands, as I released even more blood from their bodies into the air, encouraging the feeding frenzy. I couldn’t hear Violet over the sound of the red flies, so I had to hope that she took the opportunity I had created for her to make it to the door.

I felt my body start to give out. I began to fall over, the dizziness and exhaustion overwhelming my will to remain upright.

But something caught me before I could hit the ground. I looked up, and there was Violet, one hand on the back of my neck, her fist full of the collar of my shirt. I watched as she struggled to pull me with one hand, her hand using the other to spray the aerosol can over us.

I felt a surge of anger at her for disregarding my noble self-sacrifice. I was literally sacrificing my life for hers, and she was still risking her neck to save me.

Ironically enough, that anger helped fuel my exhausted limbs. I clung to it, using it to stand up, and start staggering to the door. Behind me, I heard Violet spraying the aerosol container, keeping the swarm at bay. The aerosol can was failing, I could make out the hissing sound of it cutting in and out.

I didn’t look back, knowing if I did I wouldn’t make it to the door. I staggered over the threshold, tripping over Ms. Dale’s unconscious body as I did so. I managed to catch myself, but I sat down hard, the dizziness making my vision grow dark.

I heard Violet shutting the massive airlock door behind us. Several red flies got in, swarming over Ms. Dale.

Violet was bleeding from several spots, blood trickling down her neck and arms. She stepped over Ms. Dale, her movements disjointed. I could only watch as she reached the other side of the small room.

I wasn’t sure what her intention was, but it became clear to me as she hit a red button that was glowing dimly on the other wall. Immediately, a white gas started pouring from the ceiling, covering us all.

And then everything went black.

20

Violet

I pulled the airlock door closed, my tired muscles straining against the weight of it. It took effort, and I was rapidly running out of energy. But we were so close to surviving, I just needed to close the door.

I succeeded, but several of the red flies had gotten in. I swiped at my arms, dislodging them, but I could make out more of the red creatures on Ms. Dale and Viggo. Viggo had collapsed on the other side of the room.

I felt a surge of anger toward him and his pig-headed need to sacrifice himself for me. It was irritating that he felt this need to save my life all the time, which had been what had fueled me to completely disregard his sacrifice and rescue him. I made a mental note to talk to him about that later—if we survived.

I staggered over Ms. Dale’s body toward the opposite wall. My limbs felt like jelly, my legs were quivering with each step I took. I could tell by the glazed look in Viggo’s eyes that he was in a similar state. His face was pale; his lips had lost all color. The blood staining his clothes looked almost black under the dim lighting.

I saw the glowing red button like a beacon and suddenly remembered where I had seen something like this before: At one of the work camps, there had been a quarantine room like this, to help remove hazardous waste and biological hazards from the workers.

Placing all of my hope in the button, I pressed it, and then allowed myself the luxury of collapsing. I wasn’t sure what would happen next, but I couldn’t kill the remaining red flies in here. If I missed even one, or passed out before I could kill them all, we were finished.

As a white gas poured from the ceiling, I heard a hiss, and my eardrums tightened. I realized the room had become pressurized. I swallowed, forcing my ears to pop.

I watched as the gas filled the chamber, obscuring everything. I heard the buzzing of the red flies as they endeavored to escape it, but there was nowhere to go. I could hear and feel their bodies falling, one by one, until the buzzing was gone.

I wasn’t sure how long the gas persisted, but the important thing was that our masks filtered out whatever had killed the red flies. Although, given the state of Viggo and Ms. Dale, the waiting would likely also cause their death. I twisted my head, looking up to the button. There was something new flashing just underneath.

I pushed myself to my knees and looked at it. There was a sequence of numbers counting down in flashing yellow. I watched as the numbers counted down from sixty, tension growing in my back. What if there was some sort of passcode I had to enter before the chamber vaporized the gas or something? I looked around for some sort of key pad or panel, running my fingers across the wall for any sign of it, but couldn’t find anything except the button and the timer. I went to the door, struggling against the massive wheel that was there, but it was jammed into place.

I turned back to the timer as it hit zero. There was a soft hissing sound, and I opened my eyes. The gas that had flooded the chambers was being sucked out. The panel under the button was now counting down again, this time from thirty. I waited this time, watching it closely.

The white gas had completely dissipated in thirty seconds, and the panel turned green,