The door was shut. The timer blinked. We stood there too long.
"Go!" I yelled.
We ran. Back through red halls. Past the dead Gen-2 fixers. To the crack of light at the main door. My hip burned where they cut me. Kenji limped. Caiman was just a big hurt thing moving.
Hit the cold air as the mountain groaned.
Not a bang. A deep crack. Like the world snapping. Then a rumble. Snow on the cliffs jumped. Slid. A white wave ate the door, the walls. Ground shook. We ran. Stumbled. Out on the flat ice. Turned.
The mountain ate itself. A cloud of snow and dust. Then settled. Where the door was, just a scar. Black rock. Avalanche mess. Quiet came back. The place was gone. Buried. Borealis with it.
Elena fell to her knees in snow. Not crying. Just empty.
Kenji looked at the burial. Face blank.
