Chapter 5 - TRAPPED IN THE DARKPanic surged through my chest as I scrambled out of the chair, throwing my weight against the massive steel door.
"Open!" I shouted, hammering my fists against the cold metal. "Open up!"
Nothing. The biometric panel was completely dead. The digital display blinked once, then went dark. I pulled out my phone to call for help—No Signal. The thick concrete walls and lead-lined insulation of the Cold War bunker completely blocked all cellular and radio frequencies.
I was entirely cut off.
"Think, Daniel, think!" I muttered to myself, forcing the rising panic down.
I clicked on my flashlight, its beam cutting through the oppressive dust motes swirling in the stagnant air. I paced the length of the vault, searching for an emergency manual release or a secondary ventilation shaft.
As the beam swept across the back wall, it caught the glint of something metallic hidden behind a row of filing cabinets. I rushed over, shoving the heavy steel drawers aside with all my strength.
There was a secondary door—a small, rusted hatch labeled EMERGENCY ESCAPE TUBE.
Without wasting a second, I dropped to my knees, spun the rusted wheel valve, and shoved the hatch open. A rush of cold, damp earth spilled into the room. It was an old drainage tunnel leading out to the lake behind the estate.
Cramming myself into the narrow, claustrophobic pipe, I began to crawl. The mud soaked through my jacket, and sharp stones scraped against my elbows, but adrenaline fueled every movement. I pushed forward through the pitch-black darkness, guided only by the faint sound of rushing water ahead.
Twenty grueling minutes later, I burst out of the tunnel mouth, tumbling down the muddy embankment and splashing into the shallow edge of the lake.
I lay there for a moment, chest heaving, gasping in the crisp night air.
Then, I looked up toward the main estate house sitting atop the hill.
My blood ran cold.
Bright red flames were licking out of the second-floor windows of the manor. Thick, billowing black clouds rose into the night sky, illuminated by the orange glow of a rapidly spreading fire.
Emily and Lily.
May you like
My mind screamed the names of the only two people who mattered in this world. Had Victoria left a contingency plan? Had her loyalists set fire to the house while I was trapped in the vault?
I scrambled to my feet, ignoring the pain in my bruised limbs, and sprinted up the hill toward the burning inferno.
