"If you drop that hammer, Liam, you put a bullet straight through Julian's heart."The voice cut through the roaring rain like jagged glass, freezing my finger against the shotgun trigger."Who the hell is out there?" I screamed, my dislocated shoulder screaming in agony as I swung the barrel toward the pitch-black treeline. "Show yourself!"A tall figure stepped out from the shadows of the pine trees, the rain soaking through a dark wool coat that looked entirely out of place next to the armored tactical gear of the sector guards."Lower the weapon, kid," the man said, raising his hands slowly into the blinding glare of the cruiser's headlights. "I am the only person left alive who can get you into Ward Four without a toe tag.""Don't listen to him, Liam!" Rhett yelled, crouching behind the overturned transport truck with his glass shard ready. "It is a trap! Look at the guards, they aren't even shooting at him!""Why aren't they firing?" I demanded, my knuckles turning ghost-white a

"Cover his throat or he bleeds out in thirty seconds!"The figure in the smoke didn't hesitate, driving the butt of a tactical rifle straight into Major Reyes's temple.Reyes went down hard, her body crashing against the metal medical cart, sending trays of surgical tools clattering across the slick, bloodied floor tiles. The black remote slipped from her fingers, sliding across the floor until it bumped against my boot."Julian!" I shrieked, ignoring the smoke burning my eyes as I threw my weight over his chest, pressing both of my hands hard against the gushing wound in his neck. "Julian, stay with me! Do not close your eyes!"Blood pumped warm and fast between my fingers, soaking through my sleeves, but his hazel eyes stayed locked on mine, wide and terrified."Liam..." he choked out, his voice a wet, ragged whisper under the screaming alarms. "The... the remote...""I have it! I have it!" I sobbed, reaching down with a trembling, slick hand to snatch the black plastic controller o

"If you think a perimeter fence is going to stop me from getting him out of this hellhole, Nolan, you don't know me at all."Julian’s growl rattled deep in his broad chest, his heavy hand tightening over my hip until I could feel the absolute, unyielding heat of his palms through my thin shirt."Look at the damn map, Julian!" Nolan yelled, slamming his open palm against the concrete floor. "They didn't just string up some razor wire! Reyes activated the high-voltage seismic grid along the entire eastern ridge three hours ago!""I don't care if she turned the whole mountain into a graveyard," I spat, wiping the dried blood off my collarbone with my good hand. "We fought through three sectors, survived an avalanche, and pulled a chip out of his neck with a scalpel! You think a fence scares us?""Liam, listen to him for once," the stranger barked from the dark doorway, his tactical rifle clicking as he swapped in a fresh magazine. "The seismic grid detects weight over forty pounds. The s

"Keep that beam steady, Nolan, or I start shooting into the dark blind."My hand gripped Nolan’s sidearm so tightly the cold steel bit into my palm, but my eyes never left the pitch-black corridor stretching deep into the mountain. Beside me on the cold concrete floor, Julian’s heavy chest rose and fell in ragged, shallow lifts, his skin still burning hot against my leg."Hold your fire, Liam!" Nolan barked, his flashlight beam wavering as he stepped over a rusted iron pipe. "Look at the floor dust! Nobody has walked through this tunnel in at least five years!""Dust doesn't make a scraping sound, brother," I spat, my voice tight and raw from inhaling smoke. "Something moved down there. I heard it.""It was just the thermal expansion of the ventilation pipes," Vance growled, stepping past us with his tactical rifle raised. His squad formed a tight defensive arc near the sealed vault door, their boots crunching on loose gravel. "The outer mountain face is cooking at a thousand degrees

"If anyone comes out of that floor hole, I am putting three bullets into their skull."I squeezed my eyes shut for a brief second, then rolled off the narrow mattress onto the cold concrete floor, keeping my body low to shield Julian. My hand snatched Nolan's heavy black pistol off the side table, my index finger resting flat against the metal frame."Liam, stay behind me," Julian growled from the bed, his voice a low, gravelly rasp as he tried to force his long legs over the edge."You stay down!" I snapped, my eyes locked on the rusty square hatch opening right beside the bed frame. "Your back is torn to shreds! Let me handle this!""I am not letting you fight alone," he barked, wincing as his jaw locked in pain. He dragged his broad, bare upper body off the mattress, his heavy muscles straining as he dropped his weight to one knee beside me.A dirty, leather-gloved hand reached out of the dark hole, grabbing the iron lip of the floor hatch."Don't shoot!" a sharp, frantic female vo