Chapter 3 - Blackout in Sector Four
"Stay down!" Kendra shouted in the dark, her hands grabbing my shoulders and shoving me and Lizzy beneath the heavy steel frame of the intake desk.
Emergency red LED strips clicked on near the baseboards, casting long, bloody shadows across the linoleum floor. In the distance, heavy fire doors slammed shut with automated hydraulic thuds, compartmentalizing the hospital into isolated sectors.
"What's happening?" Lizzy whimpered, burying her face in my coat. Her small body shook like a leaf in a gale.
"I'm right here, baby. I've got you," I whispered fiercely, pulling her tighter against my chest while my eyes scanned the dim, red-lit corridor.
My phone screen still glowed in my palm. Ian’s call hadn't disconnected; I could hear the heavy thud of his boots pacing across my kitchen floor miles away, mixed with the strange, rhythmic clicking of computer keys.
"Natalie? Are you still there?" Ian’s voice hissed through the earpiece.
"I'm here," I whispered back, ducking low behind the desk. "The hospital just went into total lockdown. The power's out."
"That's not a random power failure," Ian said, his breathing fast and shallow. "Walt’s network just triggered a remote cyber-lockout of the county grid. They do it whenever a high-asset minor slips through their custody chain. They’re wiping the local servers as we speak, and Miller is walking down the hall to your sector right now under the guise of an 'evacuation order.'"
My blood ran ice cold. Kendra was busy slamming her administrative terminal into manual override mode, trying to keep Lizzy’s digital intake file from being scrubbed from the cloud.
"Kendra," I said, grabbing her arm. "We have to move. Sergeant Miller isn't a cop—he's working with my parents. They're coming to wipe Lizzy's file and take her back."
Kendra didn't hesitate for a second. As a veteran ER nurse who had seen the darkest corners of human nature, she didn't need convincing. She ripped her ID badge off her lanyard, tossed it into a drawer, and grabbed a heavy steel chart clipboard.
"There's a service stairwell at the end of Sector Four," Kendra said, her voice shaking slightly but laced with iron resolve. "It leads down to the underground laundry dock. Delivery vans come through there at dawn, but right now it's our only way out without passing the security checkpoints."
"Move," I whispered.
We scrambled out from under the desk. I hoisted Lizzy up into my arms, wrapping my coat completely around her so her white hospital bracelet was entirely hidden from view.
As we rounded the corner toward the service corridor, heavy boots crunched against the glass shards near the waiting area entrance.
"Natalie! Mrs. Sterling!" Sergeant Miller’s voice boomed down the empty hallway, carrying a false, sickening warmth. "We got the power failure sorted! Come on out, bring the child, and we’ll get you all escorted back home safely. Your parents are worried sick!"
We didn't answer. We threw ourselves into the stairwell, letting the heavy fire door swing shut behind us with a muffled thud.
I threw the manual deadbolt on the inside of the door just as a heavy fist hammered against the exterior metal plate.
"Open up! Police!" Miller shouted, his voice dropping all pretense of kindness, turning sharp and brutal.
We bolted down the concrete stairs, flight after flight, descending into the damp, echoing subterranean bowels of the hospital. But halfway down the final flight of stairs, the heavy metal door at the bottom swung open on its own.
Standing in the doorway, blocking our only exit, wasn't a delivery driver or a fleeing nurse.
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It was Walt.
And in his right hand, he held a sleek, heavy black revolver, pointed straight at my chest.
