Chapter 8 - The Awakening
As Viktor’s finger tightened on the trigger, Clara didn't scream.
She reached down, grabbed the heavy iron kerosene lamp sitting on the side table beside her wheelchair, and hurled it with both hands straight into Viktor’s face.
The glass reservoir shattered on impact, spilling burning fuel across his chest and arms.
Viktor screamed, dropping his weapon as flames ignited his tactical vest. He stumbled backward, thrashing wildly to put out the fire.
"Leo!" Clara yelled.
In the confusion, Leo broke free from his captors, grabbed the fallen pistol from the floor, and racked the slide. "Out! Move!" he shouted, firing two warning shots into the ceiling that sent the remaining operatives scrambling for cover behind the overturned sofa.
Leo sprinted to Clara’s side, grabbing the handles of her wheelchair. "Can you hold on?"
"No," Clara said, her voice filled with a strange, fierce power.
She placed her hands on the armrests of the wheelchair.
Her knees shook violently. Her muscles screamed in agony as three years of forced inactivity fought against her willpower. But as the fire from the spilled lamp began to spread up the cabin curtain, Clara planted her feet on the floor.
Slowly... agonizingly... sixteenth-inch by sixteenth-inch... Clara stood up.
She swayed, her body trembling, but she stayed upright on her own two feet.
Leo stared at her, his hazel eyes wide with awe and tears. "Clara..."
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"I'm done sitting down," Clara said through gritted teeth.
With Leo supporting her right arm, Clara took her first agonizing, glorious step forward. Then a second. Then a third. They hauled Dr. Reed between them, dragging the unconscious scientist out through the rear kitchen door into the cold night air just as the cabin blew into a towering inferno behind them.
