Chapter 3
Maya ran.
No one asked where.
They followed.
Ruth heard the alarm pulse through the tunnels.
Slow.
Mechanical.
Almost calm.
That made it terrifying.
Maya took the first right.
Then a ladder.
Then a service corridor so narrow Soren had to turn sideways.
Anya stayed behind to lead freed prisoners toward the upper hatch.
Ruth hated separating.
There was no time to negotiate perfect plans.
Tomas remained against Maya’s chest until they reached a maintenance junction.
Then Maya stopped.
“No.”
Ruth nearly crashed into her.
“What?”
“The child.”
She was right.
Again.
They could not take him toward a purge control chamber.
Elias looked back.
“I’ll send Karim.”
One of his fighters, a young man with a broken nose, nodded.
Maya loosened the curtain sling.
Tomas woke and screamed.
“No!”
He clung to her.
Maya’s face broke.
Ruth crouched.
“Hey.”
Tomas looked at her.
“Up.”
“Yes. We’re going up.”
He shook his head.
“Maya.”
Maya closed her eyes.
Ruth looked at her.
“You go.”
“What?”
“I stay.”
“No.”
“Maya, you know the ventilation.”
“So do you?”
“No.”
“Exactly.”
Ruth turned to Elias.
“Take him.”
Tomas screamed louder.
Elias looked panicked.
“I have never held one that small.”
“Congratulations.”
Ruth placed Tomas in his arms.
The commander looked more frightened than he had facing Soren.
The child tried to climb back.
Ruth held his hand.
“You are safe with Elias.”
Elias whispered, “Please don’t promise that.”
Ruth looked at him.
“Then make it true.”
He nodded.
Karim joined him.
They headed upward with Tomas.
The child’s crying echoed.
Ruth forced herself forward.
Lena.
Thousands.
Minutes.
Maya reached a machinery room.
Locked.
Soren entered a code.
The door opened.
Elias would have hated that.
Ruth did too.
Useful monsters were still useful.
Inside, old control panels lined the wall.
Analog switches.
Pressure gauges.
Emergency wheels.
Maya stared.
“My plans were updated.”
“How?”
“These valves are military retrofits.”
Soren moved beside her.
“Purge manifold.”
Ruth turned.
“You know it.”
“I approved installation.”
Maya looked ready to kill him.
“Why?”
“Riot control.”
“With chemicals?”
“Originally smoke.”
“Originally?”
Soren looked away.
Ruth had learned to hate that word too.
Maya pulled open a cabinet.
Empty slots.
Chemical feed lines.
Ruth’s stomach turned.
“What goes in?”
Soren said, “Depends.”
“No.”
Maya snapped.
“No more ‘depends.’ What is Varga likely using?”
Soren’s jaw tightened.
“An aerosol sedative.”
Ruth stared.
“Sedative?”
“High concentration can kill.”
“Of course.”
Maya traced pipes.
“Can shut manually.”
“How long?”
“Four trunks. Maybe ten minutes.”
Ruth looked at red warning lights.
“How long do we have?”
Soren checked gauge pressure.
“Less.”
Maya grabbed a wheel.
It would not move.
Soren joined.
Together they forced it.
Metal groaned.
One trunk closed.
Alarm changed pitch.
A speaker crackled.
Varga.
“Maya Rahal.”
She froze.
“You should have stayed an architect.”
Maya looked at the ceiling.
“I should have read contracts better.”
Varga laughed softly.
“You knew.”
Ruth looked at her.
Maya flinched.
Varga continued.
“You knew the shelters were not shelters.”
Ruth stared.
“Maya.”
She grabbed the second wheel.
“Not now.”
Ruth felt betrayal cut through urgency.
“What did you know?”
“Secure detention. Not experiments.”
“You knew prisoners were down here.”
“Some.”
“How many?”
“Not thousands.”
Soren pushed the wheel with her.
Varga’s voice continued.
“Tell Ruth about Sector G.”
Maya stopped.
Ruth’s heartbeat slowed.
“What is Sector G?”
Maya closed her eyes.
“I designed medical isolation cells.”
“For Continuity?”
“I thought for epidemic detention.”
Soren said, “She was lied to.”
Maya looked at him.
“Do not help me.”
Ruth grabbed the wheel.
They forced it shut.
Two trunks.
Varga said:
“Lies are most useful when people want the contract.”
Maya’s face twisted.
That landed.
Ruth hated Varga for knowing exactly where to cut.
Maya said, “I signed.”
Ruth looked at her.
“I should have asked more.”
Another honest sentence.
No time.
Third wheel.
Stuck.
Soren kicked the locking bar.
Nothing.
Maya found a wrench.
Ruth pulled.
The bar shifted.
Warning lights intensified.
“Pressure rising,” Soren said.
“Good or bad?” Ruth asked.
“Bad.”
Of course.
Maya looked at the diagram.
“He closed exhaust.”
“Meaning?”
“If we shut intake without exhaust, pressure forces flow through lower branches.”
Ruth stared.
“Toward prisoners.”
“Yes.”
“So Varga anticipated manual shutoff.”
Soren swore.
The speaker clicked.
“General.”
Soren looked up.
Varga sounded almost affectionate.
“You always were obedient when someone shouted emergency.”
Soren’s face hardened.
Ruth saw history there.
“What did he make you do?” she asked.
“Later.”
“No.”
Soren laughed bitterly.
“Now you want later?”
Ruth almost smiled despite terror.
Fair.
He said, “Five years ago prison riots spread through South Block. Varga told me ventilation smoke would prevent deaths.”
“And?”
“Thirty-two died.”
“Sedative?”
“Yes.”
“You stayed.”
“Yes.”
Ruth stared.
No defense.
He continued.
“I stayed because admitting what happened meant admitting I authorized it.”
Maya looked at him.
“Good. You finally understand shame.”
“Do not mistake confession for redemption.”
“I won’t.”
Third trunk closed.
Maya traced exhaust line.
“Need lower bypass.”
“Where?”
“Sublevel Four.”
Ruth looked at Soren.
“Detention.”
“Yes.”
“Toward Lena?”
“Maybe.”
They ran.
The corridor opened into rows of cells.
Some empty.
Some occupied.
People shouted through slots.
Red lights flashed.
Ruth stopped.
“We cannot pass.”
Maya grabbed her.
“We have to.”
“Open cells.”
“No time.”
Ruth looked at the people.
Hands through slots.
Faces.
She saw terror.
She had promised nothing.
But walking past felt impossible.
Soren stepped to a wall panel.
“Emergency release.”
Maya stared.
“You have a code?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you say?”
“Because opening all creates crush.”
Ruth looked at prisoners.
“Can release sections?”
“Yes.”
“Do it.”
Soren entered code.
First row unlocked.
Doors clicked.
People surged out.
Ruth climbed onto a bench.
“Listen!”
Nobody did.
She shouted again.
“I am a doctor!”
That worked less than she hoped.
Soren fired one shot into ceiling.
Everyone froze.
Ruth glared.
He shrugged.
“You wanted attention.”
She turned to prisoners.
“Purge system active. Follow green pipe north toward upper level. Do not run.”
Someone shouted:
“Why trust you?”
Good question.
Ruth pointed at Soren.
“Don’t.”
That got a few laughs.
Tension broke enough.
Maya found a former transit worker among prisoners who knew upper routes.
He took lead.
Soren released second row.
Then third.
Not all.
Time.
They moved deeper.
Ruth scanned cell numbers.
B-11.
B-12.
B-13.
Her heart pounded.
B-17.
Empty.
She stopped.
Lena’s old cell.
Scratches covered the wall.
One sentence near the bunk:
RUTH STILL HATES OLIVES.
Ruth stopped breathing.
Maya saw.
“Oh God.”
Lena.
Alive here.
Recently enough to remember a stupid family fact.
Ruth touched the words.
Her eyes filled.
Soren said, “We need to move.”
She turned.
For once he was right.
They reached the lower bypass chamber.
Varga had locked it.
No keypad.
Mechanical bar from other side.
Maya stared.
“He trapped manual control.”
Ruth looked around.
“Another route.”
“No.”
Soren examined wall.
“Maintenance crawl.”
“Where?”
He pointed to a grate near floor.
Too narrow for him.
Maya crouched.
“For me.”
Ruth shook her head.
“No.”
Maya looked at her.
“You want to argue relationship now?”
Ruth almost laughed.
“No.”
“Good.”
She removed her jacket.
Crawled in.
Ruth stayed beside grate.
Soren stood guard.
Prisoners moved past behind them.
Alarm pulsed.
Then gunfire from far corridor.
Soren looked back.
“Varga’s security.”
Ruth grabbed a dropped metal pipe.
Soren handed her a pistol.
She stared.
“I hate guns.”
“Today they remain indifferent.”
She took it.
Maya crawled.
“Almost.”
The speaker clicked.
Varga again.
“Ruth.”
She looked up.
“Your sister is listening.”
Her heart stopped.
“Lena?”
No answer.
Then another voice.
Weak.
Female.
Familiar enough to break eight years open.
“Ruth?”
Ruth dropped the pistol.
“Lena.”
Maya stopped crawling.
Soren stared at the ceiling.
Ruth stepped beneath speaker.
“Lena!”
Her sister laughed once.
Thin.
“You still yell.”
Ruth started crying.
“Where are you?”
“Continuity ward.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Complicated.”
The most Lena answer possible.
Ruth laughed through tears.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
Ruth froze.
“Lena.”
“Listen.”
Varga had opened the channel deliberately.
That meant trap.
Lena knew.
“Do not come to the ward.”
“Why?”
“Because he wants you here.”
Ruth looked at Soren.
“What for?”
Lena’s voice weakened.
“Doctor.”
Ruth frowned.
“Me?”
“Blood.”
Her stomach dropped.
“What?”
Soren went pale.
Ruth saw.
“You know.”
He looked away.
“Maya,” Ruth shouted.
From crawlspace:
“Busy!”
Lena’s voice continued.
“Continuity has family matching protocols.”
Ruth felt cold.
“What does that mean?”
Soren answered quietly.
“Certain treatments require genetic relatives.”
Ruth stared.
“No.”
The speaker crackled.
Lena said:
“Varga kept me alive because you were outside.”
Ruth’s world stopped.
Eight years.
Not only Lena’s memory.
Not only evidence.
Ruth herself had been part of the calculation.
“What treatment?”
No answer.
Lena coughed.
Varga returned.
“Come to Medical Seven, Dr. Hale.”
Ruth felt rage.
“Go to hell.”
He laughed softly.
“Your sister already has.”
Then the channel cut.
Maya shouted from crawlspace:
“Got it!”
A huge metal thunk echoed.
Pressure gauges dropped.
Alarm pitch changed.
Soren looked up.
“Purge stopped.”
Ruth exhaled.
Thousands alive.
For now.
Maya crawled back out, filthy and bleeding at one elbow.
Ruth grabbed her face and kissed her.
Hard.
No discussion.
Maya blinked.
“Good timing.”
Ruth laughed and cried at once.
Then gunfire sounded closer.
Soren picked up the pistol Ruth dropped.
“Varga knows purge failed.”
Ruth looked toward the lower corridor.
Medical Seven.
Lena.
Maya stood.
“We go.”
Soren shook his head.
“He wants Ruth.”
“Yes,” Ruth said.
“Then we make him regret getting what he wants.”
They moved.
At the next intersection, a body lay on the floor.
White medical coat.
One of Varga’s staff.
In his pocket, Maya found a keycard.
Ruth found something else.
A list.
Family matches.
Prisoner.
Relative.
Status.
Her eyes scanned.
LENA HALE — donor candidate external: RUTH HALE — ACTIVE
Maya whispered, “Active?”
Ruth’s blood ran cold.
The regime had been tracking her too.
For how long?
Soren looked at the list.
Then at Ruth.
“The war was never only aboveground.”
May you like
Ahead, Medical Seven’s doors began opening.
And someone inside started screaming Ruth’s name.
