Chapter 246: Diverging Currents
The vents twisted like veins through the underbelly of the facility, narrow and echoing with every breath. I followed close behind Alexis, her silhouette cast in strips of dim light. The metal beneath us creaked with our weight, but the hum of the labs beyond the walls was louder. Equipment, movement, distant voices. The facility was alive.
And it was hunting.
We stopped at a junction where the duct split in three directions. Alexis crouched, quiet, motionless, her breathing shallow. I pressed my back against the wall of the shaft, listening.
Below us—boots. Talking. A voice I recognized: the researcher from before.
"I don’t know where the rest are," he muttered. "I did hear that Evelyn and Anthony were taken to a more secure location due to them being perceived as bigger threats. We should look for Camille and Sienna first then."
A static burst interrupted the voice. The boots faded. We stayed still.
Only when silence returned did Alexis turn her head slightly toward me. Her eyes were wide, but not panicked.
"They don’t know where we are," she mouthed.
I nodded. Then whispered back: "We just need to stay ahead and play it safe."
I waited for the tremor to pass from my fingers before moving again.
We crawled forward, careful. My body throbbed with strain. Every muscle seemed tenser than it should be. Skills kept flickering in and out, like lights on an unstable grid.