Gabriel’s voice crackles through the comm in my ear:
“Hannah, once you engage the stabilizers, the reactor will vent pressure manually.”
“How long?”
A pause.
Too long of one.
Then quietly:
“…you’ll have ninety seconds to get out before the chamber seals permanently.”
My breath catches.
Because we both know what that really means.
Above me—
far above me—
Clay is shouting my name.
75
Clay
“HANNAH!”
My voice tears through the reactor chamber.
Pointless.
The alarms drown everything now.
The entire bunker is coming apart around us.
Concrete crashes from the ceiling.
Steam floods the corridors.
The core pulses brighter beneath the reactor shields like a dying star.
And Hannah is down there alone.
Russ grabs my shoulder hard.
“Clay.”
I shove him off instantly.
“I’m going after her.”
“You won’t make it back up.”
Don’t care.
I move toward the reactor ladder anyway.
