Chapter 18 — The Lab
1158 Words
Gunfire tore through the trees. The sounds echoed sharp, crackling bursts that split the darkness like lightning.
The forest swallowed the echo, but not fast enough. Aliyah dragged Adrian over a fallen log, breath trembling, heart ricocheting against her ribs.
“Stay with me, please.” she pleaded.
Adrian staggered, his weight collapsing into her.
“I’m... fine,” he muttered.
But she knew he wasn’t.
He could barely keep his eyes open. His hand kept slipping from her shoulder. Every few steps his knees buckled.
“Adrian—stop pretending,” she snapped, voice breaking.
“We’re past that.”
Another gunshot ricocheted off a tree trunk inches from her head.
Adrian instinctively shoved her behind him—
and nearly face-planted into the dirt.
Aliyah caught him mid-fall.
“Adrian, enough! You can barely stand!”
He gritted his teeth, chest heaving.
“I’m not letting them touch you.”
She held his face between both hands.
“And I’m not letting them take you, either.”
Their foreheads touched, a desperate brief anchor in the chaos.
Until a voice cut through the dark—
“Move, both of you!”
Rafe burst through the trees, gun firing in precise, ruthless bursts.
He grabbed Aliyah’s arm and hauled her forward.
“You’ll die if you stay in one place!”
The forest became a blur of branches and shadows.
Rafe shot his gun without looking, each pull of the trigger frighteningly controlled.
Aliyah half-dragged, half-carried Adrian as Rafe carved a path ahead.
Every time Adrian stumbled, she tightened her grip, refusing to let him fall.
Behind them, the Syndicate soldiers advanced.
Their voices boomed over radios.
“Target confirmed. Pursue!”
Adrian swayed violently.
“Aliyah…”
She snapped her gaze to him.
“What? What is it?”
His pupils were blown wide, unfocused.
“I can’t—see straight.”
Fear clawed at her throat.
“Then lean on me. Don’t you dare close your eyes.”
He managed a weak laugh.
“You’re bossy when you’re scared.”
“I’m terrified, okay! But we have to keep moving.” she whispered.
“So walk faster.”
A sharp whistle cut the air...
Then boom...
An explosion erupted behind them, showering the trees with dirt and bark.
Aliyah screamed, covering Adrian as debris rained down.
Rafe cursed under his breath.
“They’ve got grenades—this is bad.”
He grabbed Adrian’s other arm, slinging it over his shoulder.
“Come on, brother. Don’t quit on me now.”
Adrian blinked sluggishly at him.
“You… came back.”
“Don’t make me regret it,” Rafe muttered.
They ran.
Branches whipped Aliyah’s cheeks.
Her lungs burned.
Adrian’s steps grew heavier, slower, and dragging...
Until he suddenly locked his knees and pulled back.
“Wait.”
Aliyah spun toward him.
“Adrian—?”
His hand pressed weakly to her cheek.
“If anything happens… you have to run by yourself.”
“No! After everything...”
Her voice cracked like something breaking open inside her.
“I’m not leaving you.”
He blinked, stunned, as if he hadn’t expected her to say it.
As if no one ever had.
Rafe's gaze darted between them, jaw clenching.
“They’re flanking. We don’t have time.”
Then they heard a rustle behind them.
Too close.
Too fast.
Rafe swore.
“Aliyah, take him and go.”
“We have to go together! All three of us.”
He met her eyes, and for the first time... she saw fear in there.
A fear not for himself, but for them.
“You two don’t get it. You’re important. I’m not.”
“That’s not true—”
“Aliyah.”
His tone softened, cutting her short.
“I don’t get many chances to do something right.”
Before she could answer—
He stepped away.
Heading toward the gunfire.
Toward the enemy.
“Rafe!”
He didn’t look back.
He only raised his gun and shouted...
“Run!”
Adrian lunged after him only for his legs to buckle completely.
Aliyah barely caught him.
A storm of bullets erupted where Rafe had gone.
His answering shots rang out sharp and defiant.
A cry... a grunt... a fall.
Aliyah’s heart clenched.
“Rafe!”
But only silence answered.
Adrian shook in her arms, whispering, “He bought us time… we can’t waste it.”
Tears blurred her vision, but she nodded.
Because Rafe had chosen.
Because Adrian needed her alive.
She dragged him deeper into the trees, each step was an agony.
They stumbled into a clearing where the moonlit fog hung like a pale veil.
Adrian’s hand clutched her sleeve, pulling her close.
“Aliyah… there’s something you need to know.”
“Not now—save your strength—”
“No.”
His grip tightened.
“It’s about why they want you. Why I saved you.”
Her breath hitched.
“How much more information do I need to hear?”
He swallowed, eyes clouded with pain.
“I’m listening.” she sighed.
“They weren’t just testing people. They were trying to replicate something.”
“Replicate what?”
A branch snapped behind them—
but Adrian pushed the words out anyway.
“You survived a trial no one else did. You’re the only living witness to what’s in their hidden lab.”
Aliyah’s skin went cold.
“I… survived something?”
“More than survived,” he breathed.
“They altered you. You weren’t supposed to make it out alive.”
Aliyah froze.
Her lungs forgot how to work.
Her mind refused to understand...
But Adrian’s next words broke her wide open.
“I saved you once… twice... and I will again. Even if it kills me.”
Her heart cracked, because she felt the truth in every syllable.
And because she realized, with terrifying clarity, exactly what he meant to her.
She pressed her forehead to his, voice trembling.
“You don’t have to die. Not for me. Not ever.”
He didn’t answer.
His body finally gave out collapsing into her arms.
Aliyah barely caught him.
“Adrian! Adrian—stay with me!”
His eyelids fluttered.
“Aliyah…”
“Hey.”
Her voice broke on the last word.
He exhaled shakily.
“The lab… it’s underground. North ridge. Look for the vent shafts…”
Then his head lolled to the side.
His breathing went shallow.
“Adrian!”
She shook him gently, panic rising like a tide.
But he didn’t respond.
Enemies shouted in the distance, closer than before.
Aliyah lifted his weight into her arms, breath shaking.
“Okay,” she whispered.
“Okay. I’ll get you there. I’ll save you. Like you saved me.”
Her tears dripped into his hair.
And she ran carrying him toward the lab he was talking about.
Forwarding toward the truth, toward the end of everything they thought they knew.
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