The cave rigged to blow.Ryan’s dying words.Less than an hour.Everywhere.You’ll never find them all.
Noah reached for the call button, but he couldn’t find it.Couldn’t focus through the panic clawing up his throat.His fingers fumbled along the bed rail.
Where was Meg?
He tried to sit up, but pain lanced through his side—sharp, immediate, very much demanding attention now.It stole his breath and made his vision gray at the edges.The monitors beside him started beeping faster.
She’s dead.
The thought came cold and certain.Everything good in his life was eventually taken away.That was the pattern.
Mary.
Penelope.
And now Meg.
He’d promised to protect her.Promised they’d get out.And he’d failed.
The beeping grew more insistent.Alarms sounded—sharp chirps that cut through the fog.
A nurse rushed in, her scrubs decorated with cartoon cats.“Mr.Wilde, you need to calm down.”Her hands were on his shoulders—firm and professional—and tried to ease him back against the pillows, but he fought against her.
“Meg—” Her name came out as barely a rasp.His throat was raw.“Dr.Lewis.”
“Sir, please, you need to lie back.Your wound?—”
The door opened.
And Meg hurried in.
“Noah, you are okay.”
For a moment, Noah’s mind couldn’t process it.She was supposed to be dead.Buried under tons of limestone.Gone like everyone else he’d ever loved.
But she was there in Chewbacca scrubs—absurdly cheerful cartoon Wookiees against a blue background—with her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail.Dark circles under her eyes like bruises.Exhaustion carved into every line of her face.
But very much alive.
Real.
Solid.
Here.
Relief hit him like a physical blow.Like someone had reached into his chest and released a fist that had been squeezing his heart.
Not dead.Not buried.Not another name added to the list of people he’d failed to save.
The tightness in his chest loosened, the panic receding like a wave pulling back from shore.The nurse said something about getting the doctor—her voice professional and routine—but it faded into the background just before she slipped out.
Leaving them alone.
The room settled into a different kind of quiet—comfortable and intimate.Through the partially open blinds, Noah could see the parking lot below, the evening sun casting long shadows across the pavement.Golden-hour light.Everything washed in amber.Somewhere down the hall, a television played quietly—the muted sounds of a game show.Normal sounds.Safe sounds.
“I’m so glad you are okay.”
Meg’s fingers laced through his, and he felt the slight tremor in them—that fine vibration that spoke of adrenaline crash and exhaustion and relief.
