Talon turned and, seeing the open door, scooped Kev up. He bounded up the stairs, two at a time, and used his shoulder to push against the solid wooden wall at the top. As it swung open, the private billiards room came into focus.
Talon, still moving, tossed Kev onto the pool table. He turned and shoved the bookcase shut again, the sound of someone yelling up the stairs cut off as the heavy secret door sealed itself against the wall with a soft click.
Kev scooted himself off the table and ran to the main door, his hands fumbling with the lock. Once he confirmed that it was secure, he looked over and saw Talon back at the bookcase, his legs straining against the floor, his face a mask of panic.
Kev looked around the room, his eyes landing on the end of the pool table. It took every ounce of his strength, but he managed to lift and pull the massive oaken table, its heavy legs giving an angry squeak against the polished floor. Kev fell back into Talon when his grip slipped. Talon grunted, still desperately trying to keep the secret door shut, a faint sound of someone pushing on it from the other side now audible.
Kev crawled forward and pulled himself up by the table. With another grunt, he managed to get it another couple of inches closer, but it was too much. Talon watched him. "Use your legs, not your back."
"It's fucking heavy!" Kev yelled, his muscles screaming in protest. He strained himself again, pulling the pool table, but it was like trying to move a boulder. Kev fell back onto the ground again, defeated.
Talon closed his eyes and said, his voice grim, "Get ready to run, Mr. Kev."
Kev couldn't move, the wind knocked out of him from the fall.
"Caw!" Talon screeched in frustration. "Get up!"
Kev rolled and coughed. He dragged himself up on one of the armchairs. His eyes landed on one of the pool cues, and he reached for it.
"No, Mr. Kev," Talon said, his voice strained. "You cannot fight."
Kev stumbled over to Talon and wedged the pool cue into the bookcase's shelf and against the floor. He leaned into it and said, "Get the table!"
"That won't hold!" Talon said desperately.
"It will hold long enough!" Kev yelled. "Do it now!"
Talon dove forward, his wings spreading out as he vaulted over the pool table and landed on the other side of the room. Quickly turning, he pushed the pool table right at Kev, its legs screeching loudly against the floor.
Kev felt the pool cue bend the moment Talon stopped holding the secret door. It snapped as Talon pushed the table, sending splinters through the room. Kev raised his hands, and the door flew open, knocking him over. The unfortunate enforcer, who had been pushing from the other side, did not expect the pressure against the door to suddenly disappear. With their legs on the staircase, their upper body fell forward into the room.
Talon, however, did not slow down. The pool table squealed into the bookcase and pushed it shut again, knocking the enforcer back down the stairs with a sickening thud.
Talon and Kev panted heavily, both staring at the bookcase and the pool table now pushed up against it.
"There should be a lock for these doors," Talon said, sprawling onto the green felt, utterly spent.
Kev rubbed his arm where he'd fallen onto it. He was going to have a pretty good bruise there tomorrow, but his heart was racing so fast he still didn't really feel it. He lurched to the patio door and made sure it was locked, looking outside.
Talon shambled over and looked outside as well. "I think we can make it to the trees," Talon said, his voice a low, panting rasp.
"We can't see around the side of the building," Kev countered, his voice tight with anxiety. "They could be at the pool, or..." He stepped back and sat in one of the armchairs. "...they might spot us from the windows as we're running across the lawn."
Talon stepped back and sighed, sliding down to sit on the floor against the wall. "This is not the best place to hide."
"I don't know if it's 'hiding' when they know where we are," Kev said grimly.
"Do you think that enforcer will be able to find this room?" Talon asked.
Kev leaned back, his mind racing. "I don't know."
"How did you know how to get here?" Talon asked, looking up at Kev. "Have you been exploring when I'm asleep?"
"No," Kev said, "but I knew this room was at the end of the mansion in the east wing. Cindy's office was an end room too, but under the west wing."
Talon nodded. "That makes sense."
It was just as much luck, Kev thought, his heart still hammering. I wasn't even thinking about anything other than wanting to get away.
With the adrenaline wearing off, Kev found himself sinking deeper into the armchair while they waited, a heavy, leaden feeling spreading through his limbs. The only thing Kev could do was check his watch. One, two, four, ten minutes passed. After another five minutes, the doorknob rattled.
Kev and Talon looked at each other, their eyes wide. The door rattled again as someone tried to open it, and then there was a loud, insistent knocking.
Talon slowly stood. "You should run," he said, his voice a low, urgent whisper. "I won't let anyone stop you."
"And where could I even go?" Kev said, his voice tight. His legs no longer felt like jelly; they felt like cement blocks. Kev wished they felt like jelly.
"You..." Talon looked out the patio door window again, his mind racing. "You can find Mr. Barry and Ms. Kaiote. In the IT department."
The doorknob rattled again, and there was muffled speaking from behind the door.
Talon stuck his head out the patio door. He pulled himself back in quickly and said, "They are by the pool."
Kev's legs shook. He was going to get dragged away. He was going to get put into a cell in a beastman prison, and when they couldn't identify him, what would happen? Would he get put into some museum? Would he get sent to some medical school to get studied? Would he get put in a zoo? The horrific possibilities swirled in his mind, a dizzying vortex of fear.
Talon grabbed the darts from the dartboard. "You can run," he insisted, his voice a fierce whisper. "You said you can run."
Kev didn't know what to do. He stepped out onto the patio, the bright sunlight a jarring contrast to the dim, trapped feeling of the room.
Kev looked to his right and could now see around the corner. A pair of large, furry men in blue uniforms stood by the pool, their backs to him, their attention focused on something on the far side of the lawn. He looked around. Could he really outrun a beastman? If they chased him, Talon would almost certainly try to fight them and get arrested too.
The faint sound of yelling pulled Kev from his spiraling thoughts. Before he could focus on it, Talon was beside him, his voice a low, urgent hiss. "Go now."
Kev took a step forward onto the grass, his mind a frantic mess of calculations. If I can get to the perimeter road, I can find the IT department, but if someone sees me, I might be exposing Kaiote and Barry. If I run through the woods to the park, I might just get robbed by some punks.
… And who is that yelling? he thought, his head turning, trying to pinpoint the source of the muffled, angry shouting. As Talon began dragging him across the patio, he realized whose voice it was.
"Wait," Kev whispered, planting his feet and pulling Talon to a halt. "Wait. We can go up. Up to your apartment." He pointed straight up at the balcony directly above his head.
Talon looked up, then around. His sharp eyes glanced back inside the billiards room and saw the interior door begin to open. As he grabbed Kev, the darts clattered uselessly to the ground.
Kev could only grunt as Talon grabbed him around the chest and lifted him off the ground. With a shaky lurch, he felt Talon take a few steps and jump. With a second, powerful bound off the retaining wall surrounding the patio, Talon flapped his wings hard, struggling to ascend with the additional weight.
They were facing the wrong direction. Talon was beating his wings furiously, the loud whump-whump of the air bound to draw attention. Kev pulled one arm free from Talon's embrace and grabbed the balcony railing, pulling both of them into it. Talon's back hit stone with a solid thud, and his wings flapped uselessly against the wall, pulling both of them sprawling backwards onto the balcony.
"...and it's my time of the month, you know? I can't even feel it or anything because I'm so crippled," Sabrina's voice was audible even through the closed balcony door. "You sure you don't want to stay longer? I'm gonna need help wiping soon."
Kev was stunned, laid out on his back on the balcony. Talon had practically suplexed him when they fell. Talon was stunned too, his wings, arms, and legs all somehow sticking up in the air like an overturned beetle.
"No, we are sorry for bothering you, ma'am! Have a good day!" a deep voice called from inside.
"Oh, please! I don't wanna have a poopy butt!" Sabrina squawked.
"Please just leave us alone!" the voice said, and then there was the sound of a door slamming shut.
Kev took deep breaths, not wanting to cough and give away their position. He could hear Talon rasping beside him, doing the same. There were no yells, no shouts from the enforcers by the pool. Had they escaped unnoticed?
When Kev opened his eyes again, he saw Sabrina staring at him and Talon through the glass balcony door. She quickly spun her chair around. He watched, horrified, as she wheeled back to the apartment door. "Hey, dumb-dumbs! I found your suspect! Come on back and arrest his ass!"
Oh no, Kev thought. What the hell are you doing, Sabrina?
"Look, we're sorry for bothering you," the deep voice could be heard faintly from the hallway. "Stop harassing us."
Sabrina squawked angrily and slammed the door shut. She turned to look at Kev and Talon again, her beak set in a deep frown.
Talon managed to right himself and crawl to the door. Sliding it open, he basically rolled inside. Kev was close behind him and pulled the door shut just as Sabrina began to yell, "Who said you could come back in my apartment?!"
"Please, sister," Talon rasped, now lying on his back again, his wings splayed awkwardly. "This is important."
"Important? Important?!" Sabrina yelled. "What could be more important than seeing the hottest guy in the club shake his ass?"
"Sabrina, please, shut up," Kev said, holding his neck as he pushed himself up to sit against the kitchen counter.
"Shut up?! Oh, I'm gonna roll over your leg so hard!" Sabrina began aiming her chair.
"The enforcers are trying to arrest Kev," Talon said, the words a strained gasp from the floor.
"What? For looking like a weirdo? He's still a mammal, brother." She turned and backed her chair up to Talon, one of the large wheels lightly pushing on his side.
"He's..." Talon looked over at Kev.
"I'm like an... endangered species or something," Kev said, the lie feeling flimsy but necessary.
"What? All this just for that?" Sabrina scoffed. "Have you not jerked off in a cup this month or something?"
"SABRINA!" Talon yelled. He pulled himself up, using her chair for support.
"I'm not registered in the city," Kev said, trying to steer the conversation away from his reproductive habits. "They'd probably not believe me when I told them why I'm working here."
"Not registered?" Sabrina questioned. "What, were you not born or something?"
"Or something," Kev murmured, pushing himself up.
"Sister, please, let's be quiet for a while." Talon slumped to the door and locked it.
Sabrina glared down at Kev. "I'm not forgiving you."
Kev sighed. "I'm sorry for not telling you about Rex dancing."
"Ugh, fine, I forgive you," she said, putting her beak up in a haughty gesture. "But it better not happen again."
Talon slumped down on the couch that was now sitting halfway in front of the door, just enough room for Sabrina to navigate around it. He was too tired to move it back against the wall. "Sister, please do not barricade the door."
"Hey! That's the only thing that kept them out long enough for me to ditch the joints," Sabrina said. "They even said they smelled it, so I told them that the blindfold is tricky and I-"
"Please don't bully the enforcers," Talon said, cutting Sabrina off.
Kev pulled a few cups from the lower cupboard and filled them with water. "Talon, you saved me. Thank you."
"You did not listen," Talon took the offered glass, "but... we worked together."
"What? Did brother tell you to sprint uphill backwards on your hands to get away while he karate-chopped some enforcers?" Sabrina laughed loudly. "I bet he just carried you around."
"Kev knew some of the secret staircases," Talon stated, defending their escape.
"Oh, shut up about those! Tell me about the secret elevators."
Kev was distracted. Now that the mood in the room had calmed and his heart was no longer pounding in his ears, he could hear someone talking again, outside. "Hey," he said quietly, "there's someone talking out there"