Chương 136

Workers scattered. Some ran toward shelters. Others ran toward vehicles. Soldiers appeared from behind the fuel sheds, pulling helmets on and shouting for crews, ammunition, and drivers. The Black Hawk team abandoned the ladder and slammed panels back into place. Someone dragged a tarp off a heavy machine gun mounted on a flatbed truck. Another man carried two belts of ammunition across his shoulders. Louis looked toward the laundry annex, but the yard fence and buildings blocked everything.

"Collins!" Maeve shouted.

"Get inside the barn! Now!"

"No! I'm not leaving them!" He moved toward the fence. Maeve ran after him.

"You fucking idiot—" She grabbed his arm. He turned and pushed her away. She stumbled back and raised her hand to her belt. He did not stop. He reached the fence and grabbed the chain links. He started to climb. The drone alarm kept sounding overhead. He pulled himself up, the metal cold and sharp against his palms. A pistol shot cracked behind him. He flinched. The bullet hit the post beside him. He looked down. Maeve stood below him, breathing hard, the pistol pointed at him.

"Get down or I will shoot you!"

"I have to save them!"

"You will die if you cross this yard!"

"Then let me die trying!" She lowered the pistol slightly. She kept it raised for another second, then swore under her breath.

"For fuck's sake," she hissed.

"Stay there." She turned and ran toward the trucks. Louis clung to the fence. His heart was beating hard. An explosion hit somewhere beyond the buildings. The ground shook. Smoke rose behind the buildings. He still could not see the laundry annex or the mill. He tried to pull himself higher, to see over the roof, but the fence shook under him. He held on and kept staring at the smoke. A truck engine roared. He looked down in time to see Maeve behind the wheel of a flatbed.

She reversed fast, turned hard, and brought the truck under the fence. The truck stopped below him. Maeve leaned out of the cab.

"Get the fuck down here now!" He let go of the fence and dropped onto the flatbed. The truck lurched forward before he found his balance. He fell to his knees and grabbed the side rail. Maeve hit the gas. The truck sped across the yard, bouncing over broken pavement. The alarm kept sounding. Louis looked back. Smoke covered the buildings behind them.

"Where are we going?" he shouted.

"Picking up your friends!" Maeve shouted back.

"You owe me!" She steered hard around a corner. The truck rocked hard. Louis held on. They drove through the gate and into a street full of people running. Maeve hit the horn, swerved around a cart, and kept going. Louis saw the laundry annex ahead. The door was open. Workers were pouring out. Then he saw Savannah in the crowd, alive and running. The next explosion hit behind her, and the street disappeared in smoke. Louis jumped over the side of the flatbed before the truck had fully stopped.

He landed hard and stumbled. Savannah saw him and shouted his name. He pushed through workers and soldiers toward her. Savannah reached him first and grabbed his arm.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Rescuing you." He pulled her toward the truck.

"Where are the others?"

"Inside!" She turned toward the building.

"The building is falling apart!" Louis turned as part of the wall broke away and crashed onto the sidewalk. People screamed.

"With me!" he shouted.

"Now!" He ran for the doorway with Savannah at his side. Maeve leaned out of the truck cab.

"Get in! We move to the shelter line!" Louis ignored her and ran into the laundry annex. Debris covered half the hallway, and dust filled the air. Maeve ran in after them with her pistol drawn.

"You two are fucking suicidal!" she yelled.

"Follow me!" Maeve looked toward the entrance just as a bomb exploded beside the flatbed. The walls shook, and dust fell from the rafters. Heat and debris blew through the open doorway. Louis threw himself sideways, dragging Savannah with him. Maeve ducked behind a steel table. The shock wave hit the room and threw the hanging cloth toward the back wall. For several seconds, Louis could see only dust. His ears rang. He lifted his head. The street outside was filled with smoke and burning debris.

The flatbed had rolled onto its side. The cab was crushed, and the rear wheels were still turning. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Maeve rose from behind the table, coughing. Her face was streaked with dust.

"Shit," she said. Louis stood and helped Savannah to her feet.

"We need to find the others." She nodded once and coughed into her elbow. They went farther into the annex. Torn sheets and broken glass covered the floor. A fallen rack blocked half the sorting room. Behind it, Angelique had both hands against a heavy door that had jammed halfway open. Her gray jumpsuit was wet at the cuffs. Her hair had come loose on one side. Willa was trapped beyond the door, trying to squeeze through the gap.

"Help!" Angelique shouted.

"Willa is stuck!" Louis ran forward. He put his shoulder against the door beside Angelique and pushed. The door moved a few inches, then caught again. Savannah and Maeve joined them, and all four pushed. The door screeched and opened farther. Willa stumbled through the gap, and Louis caught her arm.

"Thank you," she gasped.

"Louis!" Gladice came through the far service passage, dragging Donya by the wrist. She had a cut on one cheek, and her jumpsuit was torn at the shoulder. Donya carried a bundle of bandages under one arm and kept looking back toward the service passage.

"Where is Cherish?" Gladice asked. Louis looked around the room. Cherish was not there.

"She was in the kitchen," Angelique said.

"We need to get to her." Louis turned toward the exit, but dust and smoke filled the hallway. Maeve looked toward the hallway, then pointed to a side corridor.

"Boiler passage. It runs behind the mess hall. Follow me." They followed Maeve into the boiler passage. The corridor was narrow with a low ceiling. It ran behind the laundry, past pipes and maintenance rooms. Steam leaked from a valve, and moisture covered the walls. The floor sloped down and then rose again. Maeve led with her pistol drawn. Louis stayed close behind her with Savannah beside him. Angelique and Willa followed, while Gladice kept Donya behind her.

A bomb exploded behind the laundry annex as they entered the passage. The lights went out, leaving only the red alarm strobes. Louis thought of Cherish and remembered Nicholas's face, Rita's hands on her shoulders, and the light in the barn. He hurried and nearly ran into Maeve.

"Slow down," she said.

"You will kill us all." He did not slow. Maeve kicked a metal door twice before it opened. They came out at the back of the mess hall. Most of the tables were empty. People had left their trays behind and knocked over benches as they ran for shelter. Coffee had spilled across the floor. Another order came over the loudspeaker.

"All labor groups to shelters. Repeat, all civilians and support personnel to shelters. Defense squads hold forward positions." They ran across the mess hall. Outside the kitchen doors, two kitchen workers were hurrying toward the shelter corridor. Maeve grabbed one by the front of his apron.

"Where's the Nowak girl?" The man blinked at her.

"Who?"

"The blonde church girl! Where is she?" He looked past her toward the kitchen.

"I thought she went with the dish crew." Maeve cursed and ran into the kitchen. Louis and the others followed. The kitchen was dim. One ceiling light had gone out. The hanging pots knocked together whenever the building shook. Gray water filled one of the sinks. They stepped around a fallen bucket, broken plates, and cabbage leaves. Through the open back door, Louis could see smoke in the yard.

"Cherish!" Louis shouted. Cherish did not answer. They spread through the kitchen. Donya searched the dish area while Willa checked dry storage. Gladice kicked open the pantry door, and Angelique went into the back hall calling Cherish's name. Another explosion hit somewhere beyond the mess hall. White light filled the windows, and then dust blocked the view outside. The hanging pots swung hard, and one fell near Donya's foot.

"Cherish!" Donya shouted. Louis heard a faint whimper beneath the sinks. He dropped to one knee.

"Cherish?" Cherish was curled beneath the industrial sink behind stacked buckets and a crate of soap powder, her arms around her knees. Tears ran down her face. Her lips moved without sound. He reached in.

"Come here. We have to go." She looked up at him, terrified.

"I heard the bombs. I hid."

"It's alright." He held out his hand.

"I'm here." She took his hand, and he pulled her out. He helped her to her feet. She was shaking hard. Savannah came over and put an arm around her shoulders. Maeve pointed to the service stairs behind the pantry.

"Shelter is below. Go." A man wearing a red armband came to the kitchen entrance with a rifle.

"Comrade Fyres! Why are you here?"

"I am taking these detainees to the shelter," Maeve said.

"Move aside." He hesitated, then stepped back. They moved past him. Maeve led them down the narrow stairs into the dark. It was colder below, and Louis smelled coal dust. They descended single file. The stairwell ended at a low tunnel with pipes along one wall and old cables clipped to the ceiling. Red emergency lights glowed every twenty feet. The floor was wet in places. Another explosion shook the passage. Underground, it sounded duller, and they felt it through the floor and walls. Cherish flinched.

Louis turned back.

"I'm here," he said. She nodded, but her fingers tightened around Donya's hand. They reached a steel door at the end of the tunnel. Maeve pounded on it with her fist.

"Open! East access!" A viewing slot slid back. Someone looked out through the slot.

"Classification?" Maeve leaned toward the opening.

"Fyres, vehicle crew. Seven detainees. Move your ass." The person behind the door counted them. Another impact shook the tunnel. The slot closed. Locks turned, and the door opened inward. The shelter beyond was crowded and loud. Hundreds of people filled the concrete space. Some coughed or cried while guards shouted orders and people moved through the shelter. Benches lined the walls beneath exposed pipes. A medic station had been set up near the far wall, where two wounded men lay under blankets.

Maeve pushed them inside.

"Stay together." An officer with a red armband came toward them with a clipboard.

"Why are D-Class coming through east access?" Maeve took one step toward him.

"Because the west entrance was buried under your fucking incompetence, so unless you want to send them back up to get blown to hell, shut up and give us a space." The officer opened his mouth to argue, but another explosion sounded above them and the lights flickered. He turned away to shout at a group blocking the aisle. Louis checked the group. Savannah stood beside him, alive, with soot on her face and one hand still on his sleeve. Angelique was breathing hard but still standing.

Willa had a cut across one knuckle and was already checking the exits. Gladice kept one hand on Donya's shoulder and watched the guards. Donya held Cherish against her side, and Cherish had buried her face in Donya's sleeve. Maeve stood just outside the group. Her pistol was holstered, her hair was loose, and she was breathing hard. When she noticed him watching, she straightened.

"Thank you," Louis said. She turned away at once.

"Don't make me regret it." The shelter door slammed shut behind them. Another distant impact shook the shelter. No debris fell from the ceiling, and the lights stopped flickering. Louis moved the group toward a clear space along the wall. He counted them again. They were all there, and they were all alive.