Tons of concrete and twisted steel screamed downward, smashing into the flood with explosive force. The impact sent a freezing black wall of water exploding upward, slamming the family against jagged wreckage. The roar of collapsing stone mixed with the deafening rush of the ocean, while sharp concrete dust and brine burned throats and eyes.Damien twisted mid-surge, shielding Hope with his body as shards sliced across his back like hot razors. Icy water flooded his mouth, choking him with the metallic taste of blood and salt. “Hold on! Everyone surface—now!”Mia burst through the waves beside him, coughing violently, one arm locked around a carrier pod. Saltwater stung every open cut like liquid fire, her lungs burning from the cold. “Hope, flare the light wider! The newborns are sinking—the cold is crushing them!”Hope gasped for air, her wounded leg throbbing with white-hot agony as blood trailed in dark ribbons through the black water. The pressure squeezed her ribs like a vice, e
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