Chapter Twenty-One

The thick door let off a low vibrating sound, followed by a deep clang. I yanked on the handle at the sound of the buzzer and pulled, throwing the last of my strength into it. It slid open like silk, my grunt the only sign that it weighed ten times more than it looked.

I glanced at the elevator and decided to give it a miss. The stairs would probably kill me, but I'd heard too many conspiracy theories on how the government kept tabs on where you were by locating your fingerprints at access points like these. And with the tattooed man's vendetta against me? The stairs felt like my safest option.

I pushed open the fire door with my back and started up the cement stairs, one sluggish foot after the other until I reached the second floor. My body was on fire, and everything hurt. My legs, my chest, my head, my heart.

I leant against the second story access door and scrubbed my budding tears with the back of my hand. Screw the conspiracies, I was too wasted for this. If that ma