Gabriel immediately pulls up lower facility maps.
“There’s another dormitory level under the reactor sector.”
Russ studies the schematics.
“One exit?”
“No,” the girl says quietly.
Everyone looks at her again.
Fear flickers across her face for speaking out of turn.
But she keeps going anyway.
“There’s an emergency freight tunnel connected to the old subway system.”
Hope sparks instantly through the corridor.
Gabriel moves closer fast.
“Where?”
The girl points shakily toward the far maintenance wing.
“Sector Twelve.”
Wu’s voice cuts in instantly:
“That tunnel collapsed years ago.”
The girl’s breathing quickens.
“He sealed it after the fire.”
Fire.
My stomach drops.
I remember the fire.
Smoke filling lower dormitories.
Children trapped behind locked doors while alarms blared.
Ascension called it a containment failure.
But now—
now I think it was punishment.
The girl keeps talking softly.
“Part of the tunnel still works.”
Russ looks toward me.
“You trust this?”
