The smell that reached him first. Death.
"No," he heard Val whisper. She dropped to the ground.
Her sobs wracked her whole body as she wrapped her arms around Peter.
It was too late. The vision of the Dean, dead in the grass, burned into his brain.
Apollo neared the scene, and he swallowed hard. The boy had been cut multiple times. Running like he had only made the blood pump more.
"We need to get back," he said, the harsh words almost like acid in his mouth.
Val stared up at him. Tears streamed down her face.
"He's gone," she whispered.
Apollo nodded. He would mourn later and had a feeling there were more dead than he cared to think of at the moment. The important thing now was to make sure more of their people weren't killed.
"Rem and Jenna need us," he said quietly.
Peter turned toward him. His face had lost all color. No emotion registered on his face as he stood, but Apollo couldn't think about that at the moment.
Val followed, and they moved toward the road.
"Remus!" someone shouted in the distance as they made their way toward them.
Apollo frowned as Rem looked around.
"It's time, Remus," another man shouted. "Your brother is waiting."
Apollo clenched the gun in his hands as they neared the street.
Two men came into view, not Glycon but not quite hybrid as well, definitely more bestial than human, their eyes glowing. They lacked the pale coloring and white hair of Romulus. Apollo grimaced at the idea that they perhaps had overcome both the Pale Man's disadvantages and the simple mindless brutality of the Glycons.
Apollo watched as Rem eyed the men.
"He certainly took his time, Nero," Rem said.
Jenna inched closer to him as more Glycons stalked forward. Out of bullets, she tossed the gun to the side.
The other man laughed at their situation. They were clearly outnumbered.
"Oh, now, Remus, you know how he is," the man said.
Rem gave a bitter laugh. "I do."
The second man offered him a wide smile.
"Bring the snack, and let's go," he said.
Rem looked over to Jenna, who was shaking, her eyes wide with fear.
"Eh, not my type," he said and moved ahead of her a little.
"Good," Nero said and nodded to the door. "Let the pets have her, and let's go."
"No," Val whispered.
Apollo could hardly believe it himself. All this time, and he had been right. Rem smiled and flirted, but the bastard had been with the Horatius Group all the time. He would kill the fucker. He would gut him for his part in all of this. He raised his gun. He couldn't let that asshole get away.
Gunfire suddenly ripped through the air from multiple directions, and Apollo pushed Peter and Val to the ground, wincing as a bullet struck his leg.
He watched in horror as a Glycon made a grab for Jenna.
Rem shot the creature in the head and yanked her away. He strolled through the bullets and stopped five feet from their position.
"I'm sorry," Rem whispered to Jenna and pulled her in for a hard kiss.
When he pulled away, he shoved her hard toward their position on the ground.
In the distance, several soldiers popped up above a sedan they were using as cover to fire a few shots at the Glycons and other soldiers near the gate. For some reason, they all had their left sleeves rolled up.
"Move out!" the beast named Nero shouted as Rem crossed over to their side of the field.
They loaded into cars with some of Carter's men and slammed back out the gate in their stolen cars, still under fire from the apparently loyal soldiers.
Apollo tried to keep his eyes open, but the wound on his leg had lost too much blood. His eyes slipped closed, and he sighed as familiar shouts surrounded them.
* * *
A machine beeped in the distance, and Apollo really wished they would just shut it off. All he wanted was a few more minutes of sleep.
Pain tore through him as he tried to move, and the horror of what had happened slowly made its way back into his mind.
"I just can't do this," he heard a woman say.
His eyes blinked open, and he stared at Val, who sat quietly beside him. Her eyes were trained on something else.
Apollo looked around and found Rachel trying to talk with the nurse.
"Paige," Rachel said frantically. "We can't lose you right now. There are so many who need your help."
The pretty nurse shook her pale face.
"This is just too much," she said, raising her hands. "I tried, but I can't be here if it's like this. I'm sorry, but I don't want to die."
The room grew quiet as she walked to the door without anything further to say.
Rachel scanned the room and paused when her eyes met his.
"Good," she said with a smile. "You're awake." It didn't quite reach her eyes, and he knew things were worse than he could have ever thought.