Chapter 8 - The Escape
The secondary exit led out into a narrow drainage tunnel that emptied into the rocky gorge a quarter-mile below the main facility.
I dragged Julian through the wet, freezing tunnel as the mountain above us began to shake violently. The shockwaves of the internal explosions rattled the concrete walls, dropping showers of dust and heavy stones onto our heads.
"Keep moving, Julian!" I barked, feeling his weight becoming heavier as his consciousness slipped away again. "Don't you dare quit on me now!"
"Vic... I can't... my legs..."
"I don't care about your legs!" I roared, hooking my arm under his knees and scooping him into a full fireman's carry. "I didn't bury you six years ago, and I'm not burying you today!"
I burst out of the mouth of the tunnel into the blinding white snow of the gorge just as the entire mountain ridge behind us groaned and collapsed inward.
A massive plume of fire, black smoke, and pulverized rock erupted into the winter sky as the Blackwood Ridge facility imploded, burying Arthur Sterling, the Apex mercenaries, and every secret of Project Lazarus under fifty feet of burning rubble.
The shockwave knocked us both into the snowbank.
I scrambled up, coughing dust, checking Julian's pulse. It was faint, rapid, but steady. He was still breathing.
I lifted him once more and trekked through the deep snow toward the hidden interceptor parked down the ridge.
It took forty grueling minutes to reach the vehicle. I laid Julian across the heated back seat, wrapping him in heavy thermal blankets, and immediately hooked him to a portable oxygen canister I kept in the trunk.
I jumped into the driver's seat, fired up the powerful engine, and slammed the car into gear, tearing down the mountain road back toward the city.
The blizzard was beginning to break. Long streaks of dawn light—pale pink and cold gold—were cutting through the grey clouds on the eastern horizon.
I pulled out my encrypted radio and keyed the frequency to the safe house.
"Maya," I said into the mic, my breath coming in heavy, exhausted ragged gasps. "Maya, do you read me?"
Static hummed over the speaker for three terrifying seconds.
Then, a tiny, trembling voice broke through: "Victor? Are you there?"
A massive weight lifted off my chest, so heavy I almost slumped over the steering wheel.
May you like
"I'm here, kiddo," I whispered, a smile breaking through the dirt and blood on my face. "I have him. Your father is coming home."
Over the radio, I heard the little girl let out a breathless, sobbing laugh, followed by the loud, joyous bark of a half-starved stray dog.
