* * * Hayden’s POV * * *
My lungs burn intensely. I’ve never been able to feel them before, and now I wish I couldn’t. I float across a small courtyard in the water that escaped with me. I have no energy to fight the flow of the water.
It’s dark, pitch black even, or my vision hasn’t returned yet. I am pretty certain that I passed out. The last thing I remember is struggling underwater and reaching for a handle. Or maybe I’m dead and this is the afterlife.
We’re not dead. Breathe. Take slow deep breaths, Hayden.
My motion stops and I find that I am floating in a foot of water, staring up at the sky. With every breath of fresh oxygen, I find both relief and pain. My vision is returning, although it is still blurred, I can make out the enormity of the facility. From down here I can t
