00:00:45
Then the ceiling groans.
A deep, guttural sound ripples through the chamber, steel screaming as concrete fractures. The vibration runs through the water, through my bones, through what’s left of this place.
The crack comes without warning.
Concrete shears away in jagged chunks, dust and debris raining down as a thick, rusted steel support beam drops like a guillotine straight into the corridor.
Straight down onto me.
The impact crushes the air from my lungs as the beam slams across my body with a sickening crunch. Pain detonates, blinding and absolute, driving me down into the water.
The sound echoes.
Louder than the chaos.
Louder than the screaming.
Louder than my own heartbeat, roaring in my ears.
“Pres!” City crashes toward me through the water, grabbing the beam, muscles straining as he tries to lift it. “Fuck. Fuck!”
I grit my teeth, the pressure unbearable, my ribs screaming as blood pulses hot through my fingers where my hand clamps over my side.
I don’t scream.
I won’t.
The beam doesn’t move.
Locking in my fate.
My jaw locks so hard it shakes. I reach up weakly, shoving at City’s chest, trying to push him back even as my vision swims.
“City… there’s… no time,” I growl, breath tearing in and out of me. “L-listen to me—”
“I’m not leaving you, you fucking cunt.”
“You d-don’t have a choice,” I bark back, my voice cracking despite my effort to keep it hard. “There’s a fuckin’ b-bomb. It’s still t-tickin’.”
I see it hit him—understanding, horror—the reason I stayed behind. The reason I wouldn’t move.
The realization gutting him. “We can get you out. We just—”
“You’ve got fuckin’ seconds, City,” I cut in, my breathing shallow, every inhale stabbing like a knife. “She was rigged. The bird. She had a vest. When I killed her, the timer started. I’d say you guys have ‘bout thirty seconds. Maybe less now.” His face fractures with the realization. “I need you togo!”
The world tilts around me while the water rises higher, cold creeping up my chest. The women are still climbing. My brothers are still moving, still fighting.
This was always how it was going to end.
I turn my head toward the ladder, toward the last of the women being hauled up, toward my brothers getting out alive.
This was the mission.
I reach for City’s hand with mine, blood slick between our fingers.
“Go, brother,” I tell him quietly. “Take care of ‘em. Take care of Kaia. Take care of my k-kids…” My throat tightens. My eyes burn. “Even if I didn’t meet ‘em yet,” I add, voice rough, breaking despite myself. “They made me whole.”
