Chapter 71: The Last Train

Zariah

For a moment, I thought Richard had lost his mind.

An underground train beneath the city sounded impossible, but then again, everything about tonight had been impossible. A dead brother had returned, my sister had appeared out of the woods, my mother had called from somewhere I still didn’t know, and the government was outside demanding that someone hand me over like property. Compared to all of that, a secret train built beneath Atlanta barely felt like the strangest part.

Darius stared at Richard like he was trying to decide whether to laugh or curse. “You built an underground transport tunnel under the city and never thought to mention that earlier?” His voice carried disbelief, but his hands were already moving over the blueprint, searching for the hidden route Amara had pointed out.

Richard didn’t look offended. If anything, he looked tired. “The fewer people who knew about it, the longer it stayed useful.” His gaze shifted toward the monitors showing the military units surrounding the estate. “And considering the circumstances, I’d say that decision just became the reason any of us might survive tonight.”

Malik stood beside me, silent and tense. His attention moved between Richard, the monitors, and the hidden section of the blueprint. I could see the calculation happening behind his eyes. Every route, every risk, every person in the room. He wasn’t only thinking about escape. He was deciding who might not make it onto that train.

The thought made my chest tighten. “You said it was built for Eden,” I said, looking at Richard. “What does that mean?”

Richard’s expression softened in a way that made him look less like the powerful man everyone feared and more like someone carrying too many regrets. “It means the system was designed to recognize only two passengers as priority access.” His eyes moved from me to Malik. “You and him.”

The room went painfully quiet.

I felt Malik stiffen beside me before he spoke. “No.”

Richard sighed. “Malik—”

“No,” Malik repeated, sharper this time. “If you think I’m getting on that train while everyone else stays behind, you don’t know me at all.”

A sad smile touched Richard’s face. “I know you better than you think. That’s exactly why I’m telling you now instead of waiting until the last second.”

The bunker speakers crackled again before Malik could answer. The military officer’s voice returned, colder than before. “Three minutes. Surrender Subject Eden or we breach the lower structure.” The words echoed through the walls, and for the first time, I felt the bunker less like protection and more like a coffin waiting to close.

Alicia’s voice came through the satellite phone, fragile but steady. “Zariah, listen to Richard. Please.”

My grip tightened around the phone. Hearing my mother beg me to run when I had only just heard her voice again felt cruel in a way I couldn’t explain. “Where are you?” I asked, because suddenly that mattered more than the train, more than Genesis, more than the soldiers above us. “Tell me where you are.”

Silence followed.

Then she whispered, “Not close enough.”

The answer almost broke me.

Amara stepped beside me, her face softening as if she understood exactly what those words had done. “We’ll find her,” she said quietly. “But first, we have to get you out of here.”

I looked at her, this sister I had only known for minutes, and felt something complicated twist in my chest. She was a stranger, but she looked at me like family. Like I was someone she had loved long before I knew she existed.

Adrian laughed softly from across the bunker. He had been quiet for too long, and the sound of his amusement made every weapon in the room shift slightly toward him. “Touching,” he said, his eyes moving between us. “All of you still believe escape changes the outcome.”

Malik turned toward him. “You’re welcome to stay behind.”

Adrian’s smile widened. “I intend to.”

The statement settled over the room with unsettling calm. Evelyn stared at him, her expression unreadable, but Amara’s hand curled into a fist at her side. Whatever history existed between them ran deeper than I understood, and I had a terrible feeling it was nowhere near finished.

Richard moved toward the far wall and pressed his palm against a section of concrete that looked identical to every other part of the bunker. For two seconds, nothing happened. Then the wall split down the middle with a deep mechanical groan, revealing a narrow passage lit by blue emergency lights. Cold air rushed into the room, carrying the faint metallic smell of old rails and machinery.

Darius exhaled. “I’m going to stop being surprised now. It’s bad for my health.”

No one laughed, but the comment loosened something in the room for half a second.

Then gunfire erupted above us.

The first shots sounded distant, muffled by layers of concrete and steel. A second later, the entire bunker shook as something heavy struck the upper structure. Dust fell from the ceiling, and the monitors flickered violently. The military wasn’t waiting for the countdown to finish.

“They’re breaching early,” Gabriel said.

Richard nodded once. “Then we move now.”

Everyone began moving at once. Darius grabbed a hard drive from the console. Evelyn gathered several folders that had survived the archive purge. Amara took my hand without asking, and for a moment, I let her. Her grip was firm, warm, and strangely familiar.

Malik stopped at the entrance to the passage and turned back toward the room. His eyes landed on Gabriel first. Then Richard. Then Adrian. I understood the look immediately. There were too many people, too many secrets, and not enough certainty that everyone planned to leave.

“Don’t even think about staying,” I said.

His gaze snapped to mine.

I stepped closer, ignoring the explosions above us. “You told me to stay with you. That goes both ways.”

For a moment, the chaos around us faded. Malik looked at me like he wanted to argue, like every protective instinct in him demanded he put me on that train and deal with the consequences afterward. But something in his expression shifted when he realized I meant it.

Finally, he nodded.

Once.

Not a promise spoken aloud, but close enough.

We ran into the passage as the bunker shook again behind us. The blue lights flickered overhead, leading us deeper beneath the estate and toward whatever Richard had hidden under Atlanta. I didn’t know where the train would take us. I didn’t know whether my mother would still be alive when we found her. I didn’t even know what Eden truly meant.

All I knew was that the life I had before was gone forever.

And the only way forward was underground.