Nobody knows what to say to that.
Because there is nothing to say.
Clay brushes wet hair back from my face carefully.
Gentle.
So gentle it almost undoes me.
“You remember now,” he says quietly.
Maybe.
But remembering feels like drowning.
Russ suddenly raises a fist.
Everybody freezes instantly.
Movement ahead.
Far down the tunnel.
Flashlights.
Multiple.
Mason swears softly.
“They followed us.”
Of course they did.
Wu won’t stop until every witness is dead.
Gabriel kills his flashlight immediately.
Darkness swallows the tunnel whole.
Only distant water echoes around us now.
And somewhere ahead—
boots splash slowly through shallow water.
Searching.
Hunting.
Clay pulls me carefully behind one of the rusted steel doors while Russ, Lucas, and Mason quietly spread into defensive positions.
My heartbeat pounds so hard I’m terrified they’ll hear it.
The approaching lights grow brighter.
Closer.
Then—
