(Ray)
The car rammed into the Deathless and jerked to a halt, sending the woman hurtling to the ground. Ray quickly lowered the window and yelled, "Get in! Quick!"
Rody immediately jumped down from the balcony and rushed over. He swung open the back door of the car and leapt in before slamming it shut.
"I'M IN!" he called out.
Ray stepped on the accelerator and swerved past the Deathless he had rammed into. He then turned right and headed straight for the exit ramp. It lead directly towards the main gate. They were just a short distance away from their salvation. Hope started building up inside Ray once again.
'Just a bit more.' he thought to himself, 'Just a little bit more…'
"Wait, dude!" Rody said suddenly, "We need to go to A Block."
Ray jerked his head around in surprise, "What? A Block? Are you crazy or something? That's in the opposite direction! Why do we need to go there?"
Rody shrunk a bit in the backseat as he answered, "Samantha is alone in her flat. She won't be able to escape on her own."
"Where's her mom?" Ray asked.
"She went out to buy groceries." He answered, "She should be coming back soon but I'm getting really worried seeing the state of this place. Prime is getting swarmed by these things and I don't think she can stay safe until her mom arrives."
Meghan and Ray exchanged uncertain looks.
Neither of them were very close with Samantha. In fact, Ray even got annoyed by her behavior more often than not. He wasn't very keen on risking all three of their lives to save someone he didn't particularly like.
But then again, she was Rody's girlfriend (much to Ray's dismay). He couldn't just refuse. It would have been cold-hearted and inconsiderate.
"Alright, she can come with us." Ray said reluctantly, "You said her mother is coming back to get her?"
"Yeah, that's what she told me."
"We'll meet with her midway and drop Samantha off. That should be fine, right?" Ray asked.
"Yeah man, that's fine. Thanks." Rody said.
Ray didn't respond.
Instead of going down the exit ramp like they had first planned, he took a right and started driving along the path leading to A Block.
Ray noticed Meghan looking at him skeptically. He gave her an acknowledging nod to indicate that he knew what was on her mind. She raised her eyebrows and tilted her head towards the main gate as if asking whether it was really a good idea to not escape from Prime while they still had a chance. Ray merely shrugged his shoulders lightly and shook his head. He wasn't very happy about the sudden change in plan. But he couldn't deny the fact that Rody was instrumental in helping them get to the car safely. If it weren't for him, Ray would have had to take other drastic measures which could possibly have ended badly for them.
There was no question in his mind that they owed a great deal to Rody. This was Ray's way of repaying him for his help.
A short drive later, they reached the front side of the apartments. They got a brief glimpse of the main gate before their view was obscured by the club house in the middle of the complex.
"Were either of you able to see the gate properly?" Ray asked.
"Yeah, kinda" said Meghan.
"Ahh, no. I wasn't looking…" Rody replied.
"How's the situation at the main gate?" he asked Meghan.
"Didn't seem too bad," she began, "there are a couple of Deathless around but not that many of them. We should be able to drive out without any issues."
"Good," said Ray, "Rody, tell Samantha to come down. We're almost reaching A Block."
Rody nodded and called her number.
"Yeah, hey…" he spoke into the phone, "we're almost at the A Block entrance. Can you come down?"
There was a short pause as Samantha replied. Ray couldn't hear what she was saying but for some reason he knew it wouldn't lead to a favorable situation for them.
"Uhh—so you want me to come up?" Rody asked.
"What?" Ray intervened, "No dude, we don't have time for you to go all the way up and bring her down. Tell her to take the fire exit. It should be safe."
Rody passed on the message but didn't get a positive response in return.
"She says she's scared to come down alone." He relayed.
"We'll make sure the A block entrance is clear." Ray insisted, "All she has to do is run down the stairs."
Once again, Rody conveyed his words to her, acting as a weird sort of intermediary between the two.
"Ahh—dude, she isn't listening…" Rody said in a soft voice.
'God dammit!' Ray cursed internally. 'It's always something with this girl…'
It looked like she wasn't done yet either. She went on to say a lot more to Rody that the rest of them couldn't hear clearly. At the end of it, Rody said "Ahh—yeah, okay. I'll come. No I will. In like two minutes. Fine… bye."
There was tension in the air the moment Rody disconnected the call. Ray glared at him through the rear view mirror.
"Rody, we're short on time man! We can't stay here any longer than we need to."
"Yeah, I know" he said apologetically, "But dude, she's scared. There could be more of these things on her floor. It is better that I go and get her."
Ray shook his head and sucked at his teeth.
"I don't like this." He muttered to himself before speaking to Rody again, "We can't park in front of the building and wait. If we don't keep the car moving, we'll easily get surrounded. So, once we drop you off, we'll take one full round of the apartment. You both better get your asses down by then."
"Yeah, we will. Don't worry." Rody assured him.
"It's hard not to worry," Ray gave a snide remark.
"Don't take the elevator." Meghan told Rody, "The fire exit should be the safest option. We used it to get to the basement and didn't run into any Deathless."
"Can't believe you're actually calling them that." Rody said.
"Rody! Focus!" Meghan snapped at him.
"Right, fire exit." He repeated, "I'll keep that in mind."
"You got a weapon on you?" Ray asked.
"I have this hammer I swiped from the toolbox." Rody replied.
"I'll give you one of my knives too. You might need it. But pray that you don't. It isn't a fun experience going face-to-face with one of them."
It was then that they reached the entrance to the A Block building. There were a few Deathless following them but they weren't close enough to be a threat.
Ray stopped the car and pulled out one of his knives before handing it over to Rody.
"Alright, Go! Get back as soon as you can." Ray said, "Also, call us when you reach her flat and keep us on the line till you make it all the way down. It'll help us sync our timing a little better."
"Yeah man, I'll do that. See you in a bit." Rody said as he threw open the door and jumped out of the car.
He quickly whipped the door shut and took off into the building.
Ray wasted no time. He immediately took his foot off the brake and started to drive.
"You really think this was a good idea?" Meghan asked him.
"It's a terrible idea," Ray confessed, "But she's important to Rody and we wouldn't have made it this far without him."
Meghan agreed but then said, "I just hope this doesn't come back to bite us in the ass."
A sudden chill went down Ray's back as she said those words.
"Me too…" he replied grimly.