Closest point to the unstable core.
Maximum radiation.
Maximum heat.
No guarantee of escape.
Russ looks toward the glowing reactor below us.
Then toward the countdown timer.
00:03:41
Not enough time.
Not enough anything.
Wu starts laughing weakly from the floor again.
Broken now.
Delirious.
“You’ll sacrifice someone after all.”
No.
No we won’t.
Hannah suddenly moves toward the ladder to the lower chamber.
And my heart stops.
74
Hannah
“No.”
Clay grabs my arm so fast it almost hurts.
Absolutely terrified.
Absolutely furious.
“You are not going down there.”
The reactor chamber shakes violently around us.
Warning sirens screaming.
Steam flooding the air.
Concrete collapsing from the ceiling.
And beneath it all—
Ascension Core pulses brighter.
