The girl stares at her.
Hannah kneels carefully in front of them.
“You get names.”
“You get sunlight.”
“You get choices.”
The boy’s face cracks for the first time.
Just slightly.
Like hope physically hurts.
Wu’s voice cuts sharply through the speakers:
“They are unstable assets.”
Russ immediately fires into the camera.
“Keep talking.”
Sparks rain across the corridor.
The bunker shakes again beneath our feet.
Hard enough now the fluorescent lights flicker in waves overhead.
Gabriel checks the reactor monitor.
“Sixteen minutes.”
Sixteen.
No time left.
Russ immediately takes command.
“Listen carefully.”
Everybody turns toward him.
“You two know the freight tunnel?”
The teenage girl nods once.
“Yes.”
“You get the children.”
“Move them through Sector Twelve.”
“Get them topside.”
Fear flashes across both their faces instantly.
Because they’ve probably never been trusted with anything except violence.
