For so long the color red had flooded my vision, since waking in utter chaos to nearly getting my head blown off. Then I entered the hole in the wall and was immediately flooded by white. The dull light blinded me even when viewing it through the visor of my face mask, and for a second I lost sight of Vince and Tamara. As we passed the floodlight that lit the small entryway, they entered my sights in front of me. Each were escorted by a large man who had their hands pinned behind their back.

The man who fisted my wrists kept quiet mostly, except for the occasional grunt or huff as we trekked over chunks of concrete that had crumbled from the blasted hole. It was obvious that the hole was how they gained access to level Ten, but the question remained-where did they come from? The only possible answer seemed to be up.

Further ahead, the space narrowed as it led to a wide wooden ladder fixed to the wall, extending up into the darkness.

Vince called out, "Where are you taking us?"

"Just shut up and walk." His escort shoved him forward, causing him to stumble, especially when he put his weight on his injured leg. He would have fell if he didn't put his arms out to balance.

A growl rattled my vocal cords. "His leg is injured, asshole. I don't see you pushing around someone who could better defend themselves."

A rough push from behind sent me to the ground, but I was lucky to have placed my hands in front of me just in time to break my fall. My heartbeat quickened and my breathing grew shallow as my fight or flight response kicked in.

Tamara's voice rang throughout the tightening enclosure. "Leave him alone. What's wrong with you guys? They're hurt enough already."

Although my gaze was fixed on the debris around me, the shuffle of her feet as she struggled with her captor was prominent. My captor's footsteps approached from behind, probably to pull me back onto my feet and into his grip so he could force me to the ladder.

"Connor!" Tamara's screech took my attention from my racing thoughts. "On your right. Peroneal, shoulder level, now!"

My mind searched for the meaning behind her code. She was saying something important, something familiar. Why didn't her words register? They were orders she was yelling, but my mind was too jumbled to make any sense of them.

"Now, Connor." Her frustration caused her commands to come out frantic and desperate.

Instead of trying to figure it out, I gripped a large chunk of concrete that lay beside me and swiveled on one knee until I faced the crotch of my captor and slammed the concrete at his lower abdomen. He grabbed his groin with both hands and dropped to my eye level before writhing on the floor.

Vince took the opportunity to perform a similar move on his captor while the man was distracted by the commotion I'd caused. Vince twisted and kicked his captor in the side of the knee.

Tamara crouched, and when her captor bent forward to pull her up, Vince's fist connected with his jaw. The man stumbled back in a daze, and for a long second we all stared at each other as if debating what to do next.

Then suddenly all eyes were on me.

I tilted my head to the side where I stared down the barrel of a gun. Déjà vu hit me.

"Take that gas mask off your face." The disfigured woman who had appeared at my side placed both hands on her rifle. Her thin but muscular frame displayed her athleticism and strength, and her calm but direct words showcased her smarts. There was no getting out of this.

With one hand, I reached across my face.

"No, Connor." Tamara's distraught voice rang in my ears.

"You too." The woman tipped her head to Tamara. "Take them off."

"Don't do it, Connor," Tamara pleaded. "You might still have a chance."

The woman scoffed. "A chance at what? Making it back down to your families? I'm sorry, little lady, but you have absolutely no chance. You can thank Randolph for that."

She knows Dr. Randolph too?

"What do you know about my father?" Vince scowled, the anger lines between his brows deepening.

"Your father, huh?" Curiosity lingered in her words. Vince had said too much, linking himself to Randolph before we could get more information from our opponents. "Take off the masks or one shot of this and poof the masks are gone." She lifted the gun, bringing attention back to the threat.

I slipped my fingers under the edge of my gas mask, the wetness on the side of my face allowed my fingers to easily breach the plastic. I pulled it off, ignoring the pain in my head, and dropped it to my feet. I locked eyes with her, waiting for her next command.

She didn't say anything other than, "Hmph." And I couldn't make out much facial expression to hint to me what she was thinking.

Tamara followed suit, tearing the mask from her face and dropping it to the floor. "There. You happy now?"

The woman glanced over Tamara and then at Vince, but her gaze soon landed on me again. The more she stared at me in silence, the more curious I became. Her gaze traveled back and forth from my left breast to my face.

What was going through her mind?

She cocked her head toward the ladder and lowered the firearm. "Get upstairs. We'll treat your wounds and figure all this out." She looked to my captor, who was now kneeling on the floor. "Come on. Get up. Get moving. We don't have a lot of time."

He stood. "After what they just did? We're still gonna treat them?"

The other man stepped forward. "Yeah, we're low on supplies as it is. And you want us to use what's left of them? They tried to kill us earlier. They killed so many already. John, Cletus, Malik-"

"Upstairs." She pivoted, exiting back through the dark hole.

Reluctantly, we complied, making our way to the ladder. The stagnant air surrounding us was dense and dank as it entered my nostrils. My fear of becoming contaminated with toxins wasn't as intense as it was before entering Ten. If I hadn't seen delicate Baby Malcom alive and well-and the baffled look on his mother's face when asked about the air-I would have never entertained the thought of the area being free of contaminates.

Be it clear of toxins or not, it was too late now anyway.

I followed Tamara and Vince to the sturdy ladder. I looked up into what seemed to be eternal darkness as the wooden steps faded in the grim blackness above. Two by two, Tamara and her captor went ahead, climbing and disappearing into the darkness. A mechanical sound echoed from above a few minutes later and then again before Vince and his escort ascended. And as my captor and I waited for our turn, my mind raced with questions.

Where were we going? Why were they going to treat us instead of kill us? Who are these people and why did they look so unkempt and emaciated? Where were the toxins we were warned about? How did they know Dr. Randolph? Where did a baby come from? And most importantly, who was the disfigured woman? She clearly called the shots, but why did she choose to let us live, and why did she stare at me that way?

Several minutes later, the sound returned.

"Move it." A hard nudge in my ribs urged me to climb. With each step up the sturdy rungs, I neared a wooden platform. That must've been where the mechanical noise was coming from.

The eeriness surrounded me like the dense fog that had blanketed the floor below me, but grew denser the higher I climbed.

Once near the platform, the ladder ended, so I reached out to grip the ledge of the wood and climb aboard. My escort joined me, and with the yank of a thick, braided cord extending from a pinprick of light directly above, the platform slowly began to ascend.

Before me, in the glint of light shining from above, the grim scenery took my breath away. Large pieces of concrete that scaled upwards of twenty feet and the twisted and warped steel that once held it all together were piled atop one another in disarray. The dislodged pieces settled on what should have been the eleventh floor. As we continued to ascend, it was obvious where the debris had come from-the partial collapse of level eleven and the complete collapse of level twelve.

What could have caused such devastation within the purported indestructible sphere? And not only how but when? Why wouldn't this extensive damage compromise the integrity of the sphere as a whole? Looking out over the destruction, a glint of stark white caught my eye. When I stared at the area between the smaller pieces of rubble, the shape of a human skull lodged within the crevice came into focus.

I glanced to my captor for an explanation, but he stayed mummed. My heart raced, causing my breathing to quicken.

Finally, the lift stopped a few feet under the landing of the thirteenth floor. I gripped the edge and pulled myself up and over the lip to peer over the edge, where dozens upon dozens of scared, gaunt faces stopped me in my tracks.

~~~

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