Just not hard enough yet.
We reach the infirmary Olivia mentioned.
Steel door.
Keypad lock.
Lucas glances toward me.
I raise my weapon and put two rounds through the control panel.
Sparks burst across the wall.
The lock clicks open.
I shove the door inward.
Two kids jerk backward instantly into the far corner.
Tiny.
Terrified.
Alive.
Relief punches through my chest hard enough to hurt.
“Hey.” I lower my rifle immediately. “Easy. We’re getting you out.”
Neither moves.
Can’t blame them.
Lucas crouches slowly beside me, voice gentler than I’ve ever heard from him.
“We’re not with them. You hear me?”
The little girl shakes her head hard, eyes huge in the dark.
“They said that before.”
That lands ugly.
For half a second, nobody says anything.
Because yeah.
That explains a lot.
“We’re not them,” I say quietly. “Nobody here is gonna hurt you.”
Her gaze drops toward the rifle hanging at my chest.
“You’re soldiers.”
“Yeah.”
“You hurt people.”
