“I’m okay.”
Lie.
Complete lie.
But we don’t have time.
Russ reaches the bottom level first and signals upward.
“Clear.”
We descend into a massive underground maintenance corridor beneath Ascension.
And for one horrible second—
I forget how to breathe.
The corridor stretches endlessly beneath fluorescent white lights.
Pristine floors.
Polished steel doors.
Observation windows.
Not abandoned.
Not damaged.
Operational.
Alive.
Dear God.
Gabriel stares around in horror.
“This place is bigger than some hospitals.”
Because it was never a bunker.
It was a system.
A city beneath the city.
Wu’s voice suddenly returns overhead.
Lower now.
Closer.
“You remember this level.”
I physically flinch.
Because I do.
This was where they brought children who failed conditioning.
