Chapter 93

Chapter 93

The sunlight looked unreal.

After years of underground facilities.

Steel corridors.

Observation rooms.

Bloodstained laboratories.

The distant patch of gold at the end of the tunnel felt like something from another life.

Something none of them were meant to reach.

And yet

It was there.

Waiting.

“Twenty meters,” Hale said, glancing at the damaged scanner in his hand.

Seraphine didn’t slow down.

“Then keep moving.”

The tunnel shook violently again.

A thunderous roar echoed behind them as another section of the facility collapsed inward.

Dust exploded through the passageway.

Heat chasing them.

The entire underground complex was dying.

Good.

Let it die.

Luca tightened his hold on Cassian and pushed forward.

Cassian’s head rested weakly against his shoulder now.

Far too still.

Far too quiet.

Luca hated it.

“Cassian.”

A faint hum.

“Talk.”

Cassian opened one eye.

“You've become weirdly demanding.”

Relief hit Luca so hard it almost hurt.

“Good.”

“Bossy.”

“Still talking.”

“Unfortunately.”

Damon looked over his shoulder.

“I've never seen anyone get bullied into consciousness before.”

“It's working,” Luca replied immediately.

“That is not how medicine functions.”

“It's working.”

Mira smiled faintly.

For the first time in what felt like forever, it reached her eyes.

The tunnel brightened.

Daylight growing closer.

Real daylight.

Not artificial facility lights.

Not sterile laboratory illumination.

The sun.

The simple realization felt overwhelming.

Because so much of their lives had happened in darkness.

Cassian looked toward the light weakly.

“Huh.”

“What?”

“It's brighter than I remembered.”

The words struck Luca unexpectedly hard.

Because Cassian hadn't spent much time outside either.

Not really.

Most of his life had been missions.

Training.

Containment.

A weapon stored until needed.

And suddenly Luca hated that.

Hated all of it.

The stolen years.

The stolen childhoods.

The stolen futures.

Not anymore.

They were getting out.

The tunnel shook again.

Harder this time.

A crack raced across the ceiling overhead.

“Move!” Hale barked.

Everyone accelerated instantly.

The exit was only meters away now.

Sunlight flooded into the tunnel.

Warm.

Golden.

Beautiful.

Then the world exploded.

A deafening roar erupted behind them.

The reactor finally failed.

The shockwave slammed through the tunnel like a living thing.

The ground lurched violently.

“DOWN!” Seraphine shouted.

Everyone hit the ground instinctively.

Luca twisted sharply.

Shielding Cassian with his own body.

Concrete rained from the ceiling.

Dust swallowed everything.

The tunnel screamed around them.

For a horrifying second

Luca thought they wouldn't make it.

Thought the facility would bury them alive after all.

Then

Silence.

Not complete silence.

Just the absence of collapse.

The absence of explosions.

The absence of screaming alarms.

Gone.

All gone.

Dust drifted slowly through sunlight.

Nobody moved.

Nobody spoke.

Then Seraphine coughed.

“Please tell me we're alive.”

Damon groaned from somewhere nearby.

“Unfortunately.”

“Good.”

Mira laughed.

A small sound.

But real.

The first genuine laugh anyone had heard from her in a very long time.

Luca slowly lifted his head.

Sunlight poured through the collapsed tunnel entrance.

They had made it.

Somehow.

Against every probability.

Against every expectation.

They had escaped.

For a moment

Nobody rushed to leave.

Nobody celebrated.

Because they all understood something.

An era had just ended.

The facility was gone.

The archive was gone.

The program was gone.

Everything that had shaped their lives for so long

Gone.

The realization felt strangely terrifying.

Because what came after survival?

What came after revenge?

What came after freedom?

Nobody knew.

Mira slowly stood first.

Sunlight touched her face.

She closed her eyes.

And smiled.

“They're really gone.”

Not grief.

Not fear.

Peace.

Damon moved beside her immediately.

“You okay?”

She nodded.

“Yeah.”

A pause.

“I'm okay.”

The words nearly made him cry.

Because for the longest time

She hadn't been okay.

Maybe none of them had.

Seraphine climbed to her feet next.

Looking toward the distant horizon.

The world stretched endlessly before them.

Mountains.

Trees.

Sky.

Freedom.

“Well,” she muttered.

“What now?”

Nobody answered immediately.

Because that question was bigger than all of them.

Then a weak voice spoke from Luca's arms.

“Hospital.”

Everyone looked down.

Cassian was staring at them.

Clearly exhausted.

Clearly in pain.

But alive.

“Preferably before I die.”

Damon immediately pointed at him.

“See? That's the most sensible thing you've said all week.”

“Thank you.”

“Not a compliment.”

Cassian ignored him.

Luca felt something dangerously close to relief.

Cassian was still talking.

Still annoying.

Still alive.

For now.

Then Cassian frowned slightly.

“Wait.”

Luca's stomach dropped instantly.

“What?”

Cassian looked around.

“Are you still carrying me?”

Dead silence.

Seraphine immediately looked away.

Damon made a strangled noise.

Mira covered her mouth.

Cassian stared at Luca.

Luca stared back.

“Put me down.”

“No.”

“Luca.”

“You can't walk.”

“That doesn't justify this.”

“It absolutely does.”

“Damon.”

“Nope.”

“Seraphine.”

“Not getting involved.”

“Traitors.”

Mira giggled.

Actually giggled.

And for one perfect moment

Nobody was afraid.

Then Hale stepped out of the tunnel behind them.

The mood vanished instantly.

Because while the facility was gone

Some ghosts remained.

And Hale had something on his face that made Luca immediately uneasy.

Concern.

Real concern.

“Hale?” Damon asked.

The older man's eyes moved toward Cassian.

Then toward the distant smoke rising from the destroyed facility.

And finally he said the one thing nobody wanted to hear.

“The collapse didn't kill Vale.”

Silence.

Then Cassian groaned.

“Oh, come on.”