“That’s the signal. Detonation in three, two, one!” Evan flipped the safety cover up and pressed the switch. The grenades’ explosion sounded like a sneeze compared to Evan’s explosives designed to demolish an entire three-story building and the basement below.
Thunderous explosions one right after the other blended into a deafening roar. The cement walls of the hospital seemed to melt off the metal frame like a surreal Salvador Dali painting. White dust burst violently into the air causing a malevolent plume of gases and debris.
“Drive, Alik!” Evan called, as the thick dust cloud exploded and burst toward their van. Alik stepped on the gas pedal and glanced in the rearview mirror just in time to see the first of a series of jarring explosions coming from what used to be the third floor.
“Combustibles in the labs,” Sloan murmured what everyone was thinking, her gray eyes wide with a mix of shock and resolve.
The whole van shook with the force of each new chemically induced blast.
Fire licked its wicked tongue from the shattered glass windows scorching what was left of the cement walls.
The roar of the building being turned into toxic rubble echoed through the countryside, off the fifteen-foot cement perimeter walls and punched holes through the thick foliage surrounding the Facility.
With their ears still ringing from the explosions, Alik, Evan, Farrow and Sloan weren’t sure if they really were hearing semiautomatic gunfire until a few bullets ricocheted off the side of the van.
Instinctively, Farrow curled her strong body around the squirming little boy and dove to crouch on the floor of the van. Everyone else ducked, too. Everyone except Alik.
“She’s coming,” Alik said, his voice more excited and present now.
“Open the back doors,” he yelled over the gunfire to Evan who obeyed his brother without question.
Chapter 13 Not Without You
BOOM! BOOM!
Just as they knew it would, the deafening surprise explosions caused everyone to dive for the ground.
Ever the tactical advantage soldier, Creed started picking off metasoldiers one by one even as he and Meg ran to Margo’s side.
“Meggie,” Margo’s eyes were wide with fear, her face pale and lips ashen. “I’m sorry.” Her body was strewn on the ground where the soldiers had dropped her when the grenade exploded.
“You’re okay, Mom. Be still. We’ve got you now.”
“I told you to run,” she slurred, her eyes fluttering closed.
“Sorry, Dr. Winter,” Creed answered on behalf of Meg. “The only orders I follow are hers and she wasn’t leaving without you.”
Meg turned away to continue shooting defensively at the quickly recovering soldiers scattered around the courtyard. Creed took one look at Margo’s limp legs and knew something was very wrong. He reached down and scooped her up carefully, feeling her back slick with blood.
Margo grimaced once, then her soft brown eyes rolled back in her head and her body hung wilted in Creed’s arms.
Without exchanging another word, Creed and Meg ran toward the front gate with desperate determination.
“Is Alik there?” Creed called between blasts of gunfire.
Meg cringed at her gun. “I hope to God he’s there. I’m almost out of ammo.”
The two rounded the side of the far-too-contemporary fountain at the administration building’s circle drive and kept moving. The soldiers behind them were organizing, more joining in the chase.
Meg called to her brother with her heart. We’re coming, open the doors now!
“It’s there!” Creed called to Meg as he ran straight for the doors already opening for them.
He climbed into the back of the van, cradling Margo’s body against himself protectively.
Meg leaped inside and slammed the doors shut.
“Drive!” she screamed, but she didn’t have to. Alik was already stomping on the gas pedal. The white van glistened like a ghost in the moonlight as it sped out of the gates of hell and into the night.
Chapter 14 Should We Stay or Should We Go?
As Alik drove everybody craned their necks to look back at the fire blazing where the Facility’s Research Hospital used to stand. Once they were far enough away, and the firelight was just a glow on the black horizon, the focus shifted to Margo’s frail body still draped in Creed’s arms. The children were amazed at the small woman who again faced their tormentor by herself.
The moment the baby had heard Meg’s voice in the van, he struggled to reach for her, even with his eyes closed. He seemed as desperate for her as a drowning victim craved oxygen. Farrow had gladly passed the squirming baby back to Meg’s open arms.
Evan busied himself by trying to figure out how badly injured his mother was. Creed held her as though her weight was no more a burden than a small bundle of dry-cleaning in his thick arms.
“Sloan, help me,” he said, trying to control the quiver in his voice.
Shaking her head to regain focus on the here and now, Sloan crawled to where Evan was crouched.
Creed began to shift to allow Evan and Sloan a better look at Dr. Winter’s back.