Graves hesitated, then smiled. Then laughed. “So you’ve infected us all with a rage virus, have you? So we’re all mindless rage-zombies, screaming and tearing each other apart, yes? Well, that is impressive. Although I do seem to be remarkably calm for a rage-zombie, don’t I? As does everyone else here. I wonder why that is? Maybe, and this is just a suggestion, maybe it’s because you’re really not as smart as you think you are?”

“Maybe,” Tanith said. “Or maybe because I know the protocol of this place I’ve been able to anticipate every move you’ve made so far.”

Graves laughed again. “Such as?”

“Such as the lockdown,” said Tanith. “When the Sanctuary is breached, the entire building goes into lockdown mode, where corridors are sealed off and certain areas get air pumped in from new sources. And then, once the lockdown is called off, all these people in those areas who have been exposed to this air are free to roam.”

Graves was starting to look decidedly pale.

“We’re not the ones infected,” said Tanith. “But if you listen closely, I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to hear the ones that are.”

And just as if it had all been rehearsed, Vex could now hear people screaming and shouting, and getting closer.

Graves spun to the mage behind him. “Lock it down,” he commanded. “Now. Immediately. Lock everything down!”

“He can’t do that,” Tanith said calmly. “It takes twenty-three minutes for the lockdown cycle to complete. So we’ve got roughly twenty minutes to go before those doors can close again. Think you can survive for twenty minutes, Mr Graves?”

From where he stood, Vex could see the door. It was dark out in the corridor, where the screaming was coming from, but he could make out shapes. Moving fast. Moving fast.

“Get ready,” he said. “Here they come.”

26

hey came screaming through the doors, sorcerers and Cleavers fighting each other, then swarming the room. The unaffected sorcerers backed away at first, but with no other choice and nowhere to run, they started fighting back. Those the gas had affected, the rage-zombies, weren’t bothering with magic or tactics – all they seemed to want to do was get their hands on someone and tear them to pieces.

A man came at Tanith and she sent him flying. A Cleaver grabbed her arm and she stomped on his knee and shoved him into another mage. Whether they were contorted with anger or fear, all these faces were starting to look the same. She glimpsed Vex and Saracen and the others on the other side of the room, hitting whoever got close. Vex looked up, locked eyes with Tanith. She grinned at him.