“It’s a person.” The word hung in the damp, subterranean air like a drop of poison. My hand froze on Elias’s forearm, my fingers digging into his leather sleeve. My brain, already circulating from the trauma of the gunshots upstairs, tried to process the information. A person locked behind biometric overrides. A person hidden in a sector Silas had explicitly f*******n me from entering. I stared at Elias, lost in deep thoughts. That must have be the person who had been screaming earlier but I needed to be sure. "Who?" I whispered finally, my voice bouncing hollowly off the rough concrete walls. "Elias, who is kept on Level Four?" Elias looked exhausted already, like he regretted opening his mouth at all. He cleared his throat, a nervous gesture that looked completely foreign on him.

