(Ruby's POV)
The door slams behind us.
Liam pulls me through the service tunnel, his hand tight around my arm. Anya is ahead, helping my mother. Mia is behind me, her breath ragged, her steps unsteady.
But my mind is still back there. With Nicholas.
Go, he said. I'll hold him off.
I want to turn back. I want to run to him, fight beside him, die with him if that's what it takes. But I can't. Mia needs me. My mother needs me. The evidence needs to get out.
So I run.
The tunnel is dark and cold. Water drips from the ceiling. Our footsteps echo off the stone walls. No one speaks. There's nothing left to say.
We burst out of the tunnel into the night air. The car is waiting where we left it, hidden behind the hill. Anya opens the doors, shoving us inside.
"Go," she says to Liam. "Drive."
He doesn't argue. The engine roars to life, and we're speeding away from the facility, from Kai, from Nicholas.
I watch the building disappear in the rear window, my heart in my throat.
