Chapter 7 - The Inferno of Truth
"I'll do it," Elena said softly, stepping toward the lever. "I built this place, Maya. I let Langley turn my science into a weapon. This is my responsibility."
"No!" Maya grabbed her sisterâs wrist, pulling her back. "You spent five years in a freezer! You are not dying in this pit today!"
"Maya, look at me!" Elena grabbed Mayaâs shoulders, staring into her eyes with desperate intensity. "You are a nurse. You are strong. You kept Ethan alive. Take him, run to the boat house, and don't ever look back!"
"I am NOT leaving you again!" Maya roared.
Suddenly, a gun blast echoed through the hallway.
Dr. Langley stood at the far end of the corridor, blood streaming down his face from where the fire extinguisher had smashed his nose. He held a high-powered tactical shotgun, his eyes wild and maniacal.
"Nobody is leaving!" Langley screamed, racking the shotgun slide. "If I lose this research, if I lose the Caruso fortune, none of you leave this mountain alive!"
He raised the shotgun and aimed directly at Ethan.
BANG!
Maya dove across the floor, tackling Ethan beneath a heavy steel lab table as the shot shattered the glass instruments above them.
Before Langley could fire a second round, a bloody figure emerged from the shadows behind him.
It was Dante Caruso. His chest was soaked in blood, his face deathly pale, but in his hands, he held a heavy titanium bone-saw from the medical cart.
With a final, desperate surge of strength, Dante shoved the spinning blade directly into Langleyâs power-unit backpack.
Sparks erupted in a blinding flash! Langley screamed as electric current surged through his body, setting his tactical vest ablaze. He stumbled backward, falling directly onto the high-voltage electrical grid powering the lab's main servers.
A massive explosion of blue lightning ripped through the server racks. Fire erupted instantly, spreading across the alcohol-soaked lab tables.
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"GO!" Dante roared, holding down the emergency manual lever with his dying weight. "TAKE THE CHILD AND RUN!"
Maya didn't hesitate. She grabbed Elena with her left hand, scooped Ethan into her right arm, and sprinted through the slowly closing steel blast doors just as the entire laboratory erupted into a wall of roaring fire.
