The Gender End by Bella Forrest (the giving tree read aloud TXT) 📕

subvocalizer, and the mist broke enough for me to see him working away at his handheld. That’s insane. They can’t just stick random data chips in it and see if it’ll work. They’ll set off the alarms!

As though his words had been the cue, a klaxon alarm began screaming out overhead, loud enough for me to clap my hands over my ears and frantically search for the source of the sound so I could silence it.

You had to say it, Amber muttered through the link. There was a howling snarl from behind us, and I pushed Violet ahead.

Thomas, Violet, Owen, get in that cavern and get that door open, I ordered as I moved back down the line. Try to disarm them if you can, but there might not be time. Priority is the door. Tim and Ms. Dale, you’re with me. Tim and Ms. Dale stayed behind as everyone surged forward.

I heard Violet’s voice, her subvocalizer turned off, ringing out in the cavern, ordering Maxen to stand aside and let them open the door.

And then one of the monkey-like creatures bounded out of the mist, heading right for me. It happened so fast that I almost tripped in my mad scramble to get away, and Ms. Dale and Tim both opened fire at it. It soared over me, missing me by inches, and landed behind me, its black body quickly turning back around. I didn’t know how it had gotten out—but I had a sinking feeling that whatever chip Mark had inserted into that door, it had done more than set off a klaxon alarm.

The beast lifted its lip, revealing the jagged teeth again, and I fired right at its head. I expected it to drop—I’d hit it right between the eyes—but it just looked at me, long tail twitching. We were frozen for a long moment, staring at each other. Then it surged forward, teeth snapping. I rapidly backed away, looking for something—anything—I could use to kill this thing. And suddenly Tim raced between us.

He tossed something dark from his hand, and the wolf creature’s tail snatched it out of the air. For a heartbeat, I thought it was going to throw it back, but then it opened its mouth and snapped it up, swallowing it whole. Tim seamlessly adjusted his trajectory, spinning around and coming right back for me. He tackled me just as the creature’s head exploded with a loud, messy bang that reverberated through the caves. I landed hard on my back, the breath coming out of me in a giant whoosh.

I panted, and then gently pushed Tim off of me and stood up, looking at the bloody mess that was all that remained of the creature’s body and trying to shake the ringing out of my ears. I looked down and realized I was covered in blood and charred bits of the creature. I grimaced.

How’d you think of that? I asked, and Violet’s brother shrugged.

“Someone feeds… it catches.”

I chuckled, and reached over to rest my hand against his shoulder. Thank you.

Save your thanks, Owen said. Door’s open and creatures are getting out in the lab. Move it.

Ms. Dale, Tim, and I exchanged a three-way look as a long howl sounded from behind us, just close enough to a human wail to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. A chorus of similarly eerie howls joined it, making a bizarre harmony, and we took off down the corridor, following it around as it curved. The tunnel ended in the small chamber I’d first seen Maxen in, barely five feet across, with a door just off-set from the tunnel on the right.

It hung open, Owen with his hand on the inside wheel, urging us in. Inside, Morgan, Amber, Vox, and Violet had all their various weapons trained on Maxen and his team, while Thomas was fumbling with his gear, clearly the one responsible for the open door.

I got inside first and immediately turned to help Owen close the door. Tim slid in after me, followed closely by Ms. Dale, and I heard the sound of teeth clacking together as something tried to get her by her ankle, narrowly missing. Owen and I heaved, and between the two of us, the door swung quickly inward.

Something made for the gap, trying to find its way in, but got caught in between the door and the wall. There was a yelp, like a child’s shriek, as the door bounced back outward a few inches, and then Owen and I slammed it shut, spinning the handle as fast as we could and sealing all of us in. The door thudded violently, jerking slightly in the frame, and Owen took a slow step back.

The room immediately began to decompress, but over the hiss of the air I could hear whatever was on the other side slamming against the door, trying to get in. The door began to shudder near the hinges that held it together—it was clear that the creature was targeting the weakest part of the door. How would it know to do that? I wondered, alarm racing all over my body.

“Open the door,” Violet loudly ordered Maxen and his group as the hissing sound of the pressure equalizing died down, and I heard the hand wheel of the opposite door spinning as the group opened it up. Everyone stepped through quickly, and Owen and I brought up the rear, swiftly closing the interior hatch door and sealing it.

One thing was immediately apparent: the air here was clear. No sign of the cloying mist. I ripped off my mask and sucked in a deep breath of air, and then switched off my subvocalizer and nodded to everyone.

“Air’s clear, but keep an eye out for dangers in this room.”

Then I stared head-on at Maxen, never taking my eyes from his face as he slowly took off his mask, my hand curling into an involuntary fist.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I demanded.

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Violet

I tore off