Page 92 of Heart’s Prisoner

"The cameras are recording everything this very moment. The video will get out." Lana tried to crawl back.

Torrence showed his teeth. "Even if it gets out, the generals will make sure it's covered. We were just doing our job. Everyone was infected and had to be exterminated." His gun rose back up to her head. "And you tried to sabotage our mission. You're not the hero in this, Ms. Hart. You are just a sad little woman who kept getting in the way." His finger tightened on the trigger.

A shadow slipped behind Torrence just as Lana braced herself. There was a loud whoosh followed by a sharp crack as something long and thin connected with Torrence's legs. The gun went off twice, releasing a blinding light and a deafening bang as the bullets pierced the metal walls beside Lana's head. Lana gasped and fell back as Torrence collapsed to the ground in front of her, his black eyes wide with confusion and shock. Blood spurted out from where his knees had once been, now shattered in half. A gurgling scream ripped from his throat just as the shadow behind him moved out from the darkness and slunk past a doorway.

Asset C looked back at Lana curiously, it's tail swinging carelessly behind it, like a thick whip. It sniffed at her and bared its fangs before disappearing out into the passage beyond. Lana stared at where it had stayed hidden and saw one of the vents in the wall with an open gash big enough for the beast to slip through. Galger's men must have forgotten to check all the vents and so Asset C had used them to its advantage.

Torrence continued to scream in agony as blood gushed from his now two stumps for legs, his eyes filled with pain and fury as he looked at her and tried to drag himself toward her. Lana backed away further, toward the other door. She stumbled to her feet and tried to blindly run, only to fall to the ground once more as another tremor shook the base.

The levels below were collapsing and so too would the rest if they didn't get out soon. Lana crawled over to the wall and lifted herself once more as sirens continued to assault the level with a piercing noise, orange lights flashing, disorienting her even more.

Shouts and screams lifted above the sirens. Then so did the gunfire.

"Xerus," Lana whispered, thinking it must be him. She stumbled again down the passage back toward the hub only to come face to face with a group of Galger's men running the opposite direction.

"Where is Officer Torrence?" one yelled in her ear as he grabbed her, his gun focused on her chest. Before she could answer, Galger appeared from the doorway of the hub.

"Get the fuck out! Get to level one all of you!" he called. In his hands he fired a long assault weapon only instead of bullets it spilled fire.

"No!" Lana screamed as the flamethrower blasted out a torrent of fire into the room. Xerus must still be inside. She tried to tug away from the soldier but he caught her firmly and pulled her the opposite direction. He brought her back with the rest of the men who began making their way to a set of emergency stairs up to the city sector. The soldier touched his gun to Lana's back, forcing her to follow them.

***

As they broke through the doors into the city sector, the men quickly disarmed the guards stationed to watch the staircase and elevators. They too had felt the tremors and hadn't expected a full out attack in the wake of all the chaos. Galger's men walked into the foyer of the city sector with guns raised. The people who had been hunkering down in various areas between the fountain and the entrance now scrambled to their feet, eyes wide with terror as the men shouted for them to all come together in the middle of the still shiny, pristine foyer.

Lana squinted her eyes and kept her head bent, the skylights above so bright compared to all the darkness she had been used to below. The drones that usually floated overhead were now scattered around the floor, shutdown or shot down, Lana wasn't sure.

"Everybody on the ground now!" shouted the soldiers. They directed everyone to sit together in the very center of the large area near the fountain which no longer sprayed water, the Lazris star no longer floating but lying on its side in a pool of murky water.

Lana too was directed to sit with them but, as she moved closer, she saw the bandaged man sitting near the edge, his eyes a pupilless black with red around the edges. She looked over the others around him and saw that some of their eyes were the same. She shook her head and backed away.

"No, no, some are infected," she choked.

"I don't give a shit. They'll all be dead soon anyway," the soldier said low, shoving her toward the crowd of pale faces and red eyes.

As she knelt on the ground near the people, Galger came through the stairway entrance with the rest of his men, a pair of which were carrying a now bandaged up and gray-faced Officer Torrence. They sat him down against a pillar by the fountain and left him as Galger ordered his men to place the remaining guards with the rest of the people and to take positions at the stairs and the elevators.

As he twisted around toward her, their eyes met. Lana could see in his face his control slipping but still determined not to fail. He took up his gun and followed over to the elevators. Lana crept to the edge of the fountain so she could watch. They were preparing themselves for an attack and Lana knew who was coming. Her heart raced waiting for Xerus to burst through one of the many entrances.

A deep tremor rocked the base and small pieces of debris fell from the ceiling. A few of the people cried out, shielding their heads.

"We have to get out of here!" someone cried out. One man shot up and tried running for the exit when one of the soldiers gunned them down.

"No one goes anywhere!" he shouted.

The others cowered away and Lana's hands curled into fists but she dared not move. Her eyes flicked back to the elevators where the men stood at the ready, some hiding behind pillars.

Minutes passed but they felt like hours as they waited with more debris falling, cracks forming in the pillars, the skylight dimming.

Beyond the dull tremors, there was a tense stillness. Then one of the elevators turned on. Then another. And another. Until all eight were lit up.

The soldiers barely moved, their guns aimed and ready.

"Steady, boys, steady," Galger called.

Some of the cars didn't even come up, likely damaged from the explosions. But a few did and when they stopped on one, the men aimed their guns toward them.

As soon as the doors opened the guns went off, bullets piercing through the metal cars, destroying the lights within. The people around her covered their ears and bent their heads in agony. All except those under Spectre's sway, who merely watched, blood spilling from their mouths. Lana too covered her ears as the soldiers didn't stop their assault on the elevators.

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