The World Ends In 27 Days

"Are they going inside?" Jingwei asked, quickening his pace toward the main room.

His rifle knocked against his hip as he rounded the corner, and he shifted it away from the wall.

"Not yet," Shichen replied through the phone. "One of them is looking in with a flashlight."

Jingwei ended the call when he reached the doorway.

Shichen stood at the controls beneath the communications wall, his face pale in the light from the screens.

The western camera occupied most of the display. Beside it, a smaller image showed Captain Du waiting outside the gate.

Outside the damaged entrance, dust coated the soldiers’ boots and the broken concrete beneath them.

One man stood with his back to the camera while his companion crouched beside the opening. The flashlight beam disappeared beneath a slab, briefly catching a bent strip of metal.

Jingwei stopped beside Shichen. Seeing someone willingly lean into that space made his stomach tighten.

"Where does it lead?" Jingwei asked, setting his phone beside the controls. He was getting more worried by the moment. "Tell me what they can actually reach."

"They can get into the damaged approach," Shichen replied, pointing toward the darkness beneath the concrete. "There’s still a closed door between that section and the shelter. Finding a hole doesn’t mean they’ve found a way to Zhiyi."

Jingwei looked at him.

Shichen’s shoulders were rigid, but his hand remained steady against the screen.

For once, Jingwei appreciated being corrected.

"Can they reach that door without bringing more of the ceiling down?" Jingwei asked. He watched the crouching soldier brace one hand against the rubble.

"I wouldn’t send anyone through there," Shichen answered, lowering his hand. "The men outside don’t seem particularly interested in my opinion."

Jingwei glanced toward the corridor. Somewhere beyond it, Qinghe was sitting beside a bed that shouldn’t have been occupied. They had already learned what that entrance could do to a person.

Apparently, they were going to have to teach the lesson to someone else.

"Tell Hanchuan they’ve found the damaged approach," Jingwei instructed. "I’ll speak to the captain."

Shichen picked up his phone and moved a few steps away while Jingwei returned the main gate’s audio to the speakers, filling the room with the rough hum of idling vehicles.

"Captain Du, call your men away from the western entrance," Jingwei ordered. "The structure is unstable."

On the smaller screen, Captain Du turned toward the speaker.

He stood in a narrow strip of shade beside the gate, although the dark patches spreading across his uniform suggested it wasn’t doing him much good.

"Then perhaps you should open the safe entrance," Captain Du replied, wiping sweat from his jaw. "That way, my men wouldn’t need to look elsewhere."

Jingwei stared at him, his fingers flattening against the desk.

He had expected stubbornness, but what he hadn’t expected was for the captain to treat his own soldiers like pawns to win a chess match.

"That ceiling has already collapsed once," Jingwei snapped. "Your orders won’t hold it up."

Captain Du reached for his radio without answering.

On the western feed, the crouching soldier straightened and pressed a hand near his ear. His companion turned toward him, waiting.

Jingwei allowed himself a breath. Then the soldier lowered himself beside the opening again.

"He told them to keep looking," Shichen murmured as he returned to the desk. His phone remained in his hand. "Hanchuan is coming."

The crouching man stretched forward, shifting loose fragments beneath his boot. Dust slipped into the opening, and his companion caught his shoulder before he could move further.

Both men froze.

Jingwei leaned toward the display just in time to see a small piece of concrete drop from the broken edge above them, struck the slab below, and disappeared from view.

The soldier nearest the opening scrambled backward, catching himself on one knee.

The gate’s microphone carried a burst of radio chatter. Captain Du left the shade and walked toward his vehicle, speaking sharply into his radio.

"They’ve stopped," Shichen reported, although Jingwei could see it himself.

Jingwei didn’t tell him that. He had needed to hear it, too.

Footsteps sounded behind them. Hanchuan entered with Zeyu close behind, and Jingwei stepped aside so they could see the screen.

The two soldiers were retreating across the rubble. One kept looking back at the opening while the other brushed dust from his knees.

"The door behind that damage is still closed," Shichen assured Hanchuan. He gestured toward the feed before adding, "They haven’t reached it."

"Let’s make sure to keep it that way," Hanchuan replied, his voice cold. He stopped at the end of the desk, leaving the corridor clear behind him.

Zeyu remained near the doorway. His gaze settled on the western entrance, and the color drained from his face. Jingwei watched him look away, swallow, and force himself to look again.

"Qinghe?" Jingwei asked, catching Zeyu’s attention before he could disappear too far into whatever memory had found him.

"With her," Zeyu replied. He shifted his rifle against his chest. "Nothing’s changed."

The answer should have been reassuring, but Jingwei hated the fact that it wasn’t.

On the screen, the soldiers reached their captain. Du listened with his hands on his hips, then looked toward the camera above the gate. His mouth tightened before he returned to the intercom.

"We need to speak directly with her doctor," Captain Du demanded. "We’ve now seen evidence of a structural collapse. Keeping us outside under these circumstances is unacceptable."

Jingwei opened his mouth, but Hanchuan reached the microphone first.

"You were warned about the damage before your men entered it," Hanchuan replied coldly. "You don’t get to use their stupidity as permission to come inside."

Captain Du stepped back without answering. He looked toward the western side of the property again, then beckoned to the medical officer waiting beside the transport.

Jingwei watched them speak. The doctor shook his head, pointed toward the rubble, and received a short response that made his shoulders stiffen.

A moment later, two soldiers began carrying equipment toward the damaged entrance.

"They’re going back," Zeyu whispered, moving closer to the screen.

Jingwei enlarged the image. This time, the men carried supports along with their tools. Behind them, another soldier unfolded the stretcher.

Hanchuan set his hand on Jingwei’s shoulder.

"Get the captain back on the speaker," Hanchuan instructed. "He needs to understand what happens when they reach that door."