EMMA
"Move! Out! Now!" I screamed, the sound tearing through the frozen air as the countdown on the tablet bled from forty to thirty-nine.
I didn't wait for Bastien to process the thermal crosshair. I grabbed him by the tactical vest and shoved him back toward the hatch. We dropped into the bunker like stones, the metal lid clanging shut above us.
"Everyone out! Through the service tunnels!" I roared into the pitch blackness.
The calm "Blackout" evaporated. Panic, sharp and musky, filled the air. I reached for Gabriel in the dark, my fingers finding his hand. The Silver Thread was a frantic pulse. I felt his heart rate climb—and with it, the distant thud-hiss of the geothermal rams in the basement accelerated. My own heart was a drum in a cage.
We scrambled into the ancient drainage t
