Dying Light by Kory M. Shrum

all like, told you Jason
was waiting.
    Once he disappears, I turn to find
Gloria and Ally staring at me with raised eyebrows.
    “ What?”
    “ You were staring down the
hallway,” Ally says.
    “ Sorry?” If Jeremiah is
watching us through the cameras or whatever, I can’t say more.
“Let’s check your room and get out of here.”
    Outside her sleeping quarters, Ally
presses her thumb to the door and it blinks red. Access denied. She
tries a second and third time, rolling her thumb a little to be
sure it has good contact. Red. Blink, blink.
    “ Told you she wouldn’t let
us in. She’s totally on his side anyway.”
    The door opens and Nikki glares at me.
“I’m on her side too.”
    I open my mouth, and Ally
tugs on my hand. Please, she begs with her eyes. Please don’t fight.
    The look on Nikki’s face when Ally’s
hand takes mine is priceless. It makes it a lot easier to break
into a smile and whip up a chipper tone.
    “ Hi, Nick,” I say. “You
look—tall.”
    She ignores me, focusing her attention
on Ally. “Are you really leaving?”
    Ally tries to wedge past her, but
Nikki stops her with a hand. “Al—”
    “ Told you she’s his lap
dog.”
    Nikki’s glare is sharp,
but I’m not worried. I’ve never met anyone grumpier or more
sardonic than moi . No, that’s not true. Brinkley is— was grumpier than me.
    My heart flops.
    In my head, I replay the
scene. Brinkley raising his gun to shoot Caldwell, but even as he
pulls the trigger, Caldwell is already gone. Pale hands wrap around
Brinkley’s neck and— snap .
    My chest compresses tighter and the
voices in the hallway sharpen back into focus.
    “ I understand I’m putting
you in a horrible position.” Ally leans against the door jamb,
talking to Sasquatch. “I won’t ask you to do anything to contradict
his orders.”
    “ Al,” Nikki says, her
shoulders slumping. “I’m supposed to convince you to come upstairs
and talk. He only wants to talk.”
    “ Hopefully about the stick
up his ass. We really need to address it.”
    Nikki stands taller. “Why do you have
to be—”
    “ So charming? Charismatic?
Witty?”
    “— such a
bitch.”
    “ Stop.” Ally squeezes my
hand so hard it hurts. “Don’t fight. Please.”
    Nikki and I both go tight-lipped and
red-faced. Neither one of us want to be the one to upset Ally
first. I wish I could say I’m more mature than that, but Nikki and
I have been at each other like this for months. I hate her. I hate
that she’s trying to weasel her way into Ally’s life when it’s so
perfectly clear she is only doing it so she can manipulate her for
Jeremiah’s benefit.
    So not happening.
    Gabriel appears at my side. “The
building is clear. The remaining personnel are in the control room
upstairs.”
    No secret plan to sedate
us and lock us up?
    “ No.” Gabriel doesn’t have
to use the mind speak since no one can see or hear him but
me.
    “ Jess?” Ally is frowning
at me again.
    I turn and find they’re all looking at
me. The light from the hallway shines down on us, giving the
impression that I’m a stage actor who’s just missed my line.
“What?”
    “ Nikki is volunteering to
come with us.” Ally’s using her patient I -hate-repeating-myself tone. She knows I’m talking to Gabriel. She also
knows that I don’t want Nikki or anyone else to know
that.
    “ No.” I put my hand on my
hip. “She wants to spy on us for Jeremiah.”
    “ I want to help you.”
Nikki’s face is still red, but she’s fighting to keep her tone
level. “You need me.”
    “ No one here needs you,
sweetheart.”
    “ Jesse.” Ally almost
stamps her feet. “We do need her if you want to attack Caldwell
head-on. We need all the help we can get.”
    Come see me
alone , Caldwell had demanded. I hate to
admit it, but now that I’m awake and the world is coming into focus
without the blurry edge of drugs, I’m starting to see my situation
a little differently.
    I don’t even want Ally and Gloria