“He’s really dead.”
No one sounds sad about it.
Not even a little.
The bunker suddenly groans violently around us.
Chunks of concrete crash from the ceiling.
Russ immediately shifts back into command mode.
“Celebrate later.”
“We move now.”
Right.
Still underground.
Still collapsing.
Still forty-three children depending on us.
Gabriel grabs the portable drives tightly.
“I’ve got the files.”
Every facility.
Every child.
Every government connection.
Ascension dies in the light now.
The reactor chamber shakes again.
Harder.
Emergency evacuation lights suddenly activate throughout the corridor system.
Directional arrows flash toward upper escape routes.
Gabriel looks surprised.
“That’s new.”
Then realization hits me.
“The children.”
Everyone looks at me.
I smile for the first time all night.
“They triggered emergency evacuation.”
The teenage girl.
