"Who's on the line? Identify yourself." The man's voice was big, bold, and held curiosity in his tone.

I placed the earbud snug in my ear. "This is Connor Nichols. Number seven-one-six from level seven."

"How and why are you calling from the upper hemi?"

"Randolph's son, Vince Moore, is up here with me along with Tamara Arnold, my mother Emily Nichols, and hundreds of other survivors." I didn't allow him to respond, afraid of answering questions that would further prevent us from getting to the point, even though I knew establishing trust was necessary to execute my plan. "You need to stop Randolph from detonating the explosive on Ten."

"Uh, can you repeat that. I'm not sure I heard you correctly."

Tick, tick, tick.

I exhaled forcefully. "Listen, the upper hemi isn't contaminated. Hundreds of people will die if you detonate that explosion. Randolph is not telling you all you need to know. Just ask Dr. Smith."

"One second. We're connecting with Randolph."

"No!" I gripped the edge of the panel. "Wait. Please. Just listen." I scrolled though commands, looking for the communication log.

"What do you need?" Em was at my side.

"The recording from Dr. Smith." I looked into her eyes, pleading without using the words.

"I hope you know what you're doing." She pressed a few controls and the recording played through the speakers.

The sound of Dr. Smith clearing his throat blasted from the speakers. "This is Dr. Samuel Smith... It's confirmed that the three missing cadets-Tamara Arnold, Vincent Moore, and Connor Nichols, your son-are the cadets in your custody. Randolph is well-aware that they are up there, but has no idea they are still alive. He has not yet made the public aware that they slipped through, that you or the hundreds of people are alive and sound, or that there is no real contamination threat-which I doubt he ever will reveal-and he has not yet decided to take action to retrieve or rescue them. I'll keep you posted. Please continue to keep them safe."

"Thank you, Samuel." Em's voice ended the audio only for it to repeat.

"This is Dr. Samuel Smith...

"Control? Please. Trust me and get Dr. Smith." I tapped my fingers against my chin in anticipation. We needed their absolute cooperation.

"We're required to pass this kind of information on to Dr. Randolph, and Dr. Smith has been detained, so-"

A different voice came through my earbud. "Hello? This is Jim. I'm friends with Dr. Smith. What exactly are you requesting?"

"This is our last resort. These people don't belong up here, and they don't deserve to rot up here either. If only everyone was aware of what was really happening and what they're really fighting for. Otherwise, this is murder, Jim. And you know you couldn't live another fourteen years with the suffering and deaths of hundreds of innocent people on your conscience."

"Unfortunately, Dr. Smith has been arrested." His voice shook as he spoke. "And if Randolph knew we were talking to you, he'd have us killed, but you're right, we can't go on like this. And frankly, this is the chance we were waiting on, the perfect circumstances to set things right."

"What are you going to do?" I held my breath awaiting his answer, sensing that my plan and his were the same.

"I'm going to do what we should have done hours ago. I'm going to broadcast Dr. Smith's message to the entire facility. Dr. Smith and I are prepared for whatever consequences we'll face. Be safe."

The call dropped.

I turned to Vince and Em. "I need to get weapons. Gather all the available fighters and get down there. As soon as everyone hears Dr. Smith's message, there will be hesitation. I have to be down there when they all come to their senses or to somehow make sure they do."

She nodded. "Quickly, go down and I'll do the rest." She turned back to the control panel.

I gave Vince a look and squeezed his shoulder. He knew not to try and stop me. I doubt he would've tried, knowing the hell the facility was in.

I stormed out of the room, through the hall, and down the stairway toward my destination. A few minutes later, I approached the makeshift lift. A few men were already there with blades and firearms. They must have been some of the uninjured fighters who had stayed or returned to the level to guard the lift with their lives.

I prepared to board the platform. "I'm going down. I'll need someone down there with me to watch my back."

A man stepped forward. "We'll go with you."

I looked to the others and they all nodded, and seemed to be just as ready to fight.

"Try to disarm them if you can." I made eye contact with each man. "They're only following orders. They have no idea that they're not helping but harming the facility. Slow them down, stop them, or disarmed them, but just don't kill them. Most of them are young and harmless."

One of the men glared. "It's more than they ever done for us."

I nodded. "Sure, but remember, until recently no one knew you existed. Everyone down there has been lied to, but I'm trying to fix that."

"We'll do our best." The man turned to the others. "Let's go. Two by two."

The first two men urged me out of the way and jumped down onto the platform, while a third man stayed up top to turned the hand crank until they were no longer in sight. While I waited for the yank of the rope that signaled for the empty lift to return, the sound of lopsided footsteps coming down the hall from behind us caught our attention.

I glanced back just as Vince limped around the corner, holding onto the wall for support. "I'm coming with you."

I glared at his wounded leg. Was he serious? "I admit, you've had better ideas."

"You can't do this alone. You need me." He moved closer, determination in his eyes. He was serious.

"I know you're confident and tough, but your leg, Vince. You can't fight with your injuries."

"Sure I can." He stood directly in front of me. "Just not physically." He gave me a look. And as much as we used to speak in puns, using words with hidden meaning, he didn't have to say anymore for me to understand what he was implying.

I narrowed my eyes, considering his proposal to switch our roles as alpha and beta. "You up for that?"

He transferred his weight onto his good leg. "I'm your partner. Squad Titan, remember? Have I ever let you down?"

"Never. But..." Saying it aloud might help him understand my hesitation. "You're the body, the physical, the muscle. I'm the mind, the thinker, the guide. We've never trained any other way."

He blinked, unmoving, still exuding that attractive confidence. "Well, now it's your turn to trust me, isn't it?"

The certainty in his eyes took my doubt away. Because I knew, deep down somewhere inside, he cared for me enough to never allow me to get hurt. I put my hand out for him to grab and I squeezed it in my palm.

"Let's do it." Taking his words and a bit of his confidence, I stepped onto the platform and he followed.

Down we went in silence, other than the creaking of the recycled wood of the platform beneath our feet. We traveled through the darkness and passed the upper hemi ruins I'd grown familiar with.

Nearing the end of our decent and the beginning of the ladder, the subtle sound of Dr. Smith's voice echoed throughout the tenth floor and through the hole in the wall.

"...hundreds of people are alive and sound, or that there is no real contamination threat-which I doubt he ever will reveal..."

The lift came to a halt, but before I could step foot on the ladder, Vince stopped me by grabbing my forearm and pulling me to him in an embrace. I wished I could have melted into his comforting warmth, blinked my eyes, and woke up in those arms, but the hit of reality was stronger than any daydream.

His voice in my ear set my mind at ease, but his words touched my heart. "If anything happens to us, I think you should know..."

I pushed him away. "We're not saying our last goodbyes. Not today."

"Connor..." He reached for me. "I need to say this-"

"If it's so important, tell me later, after this is all done." I stepped over the edge of the lift and placed a sturdy foot on the first rung of the ladder. As Vince prepared to do the same, he tugged the rope, signifying our removal, and carefully stepped onto the step.

The lights from above grew bright at full power, the beam powerful enough to light up most of the surrounding area and its hellish environment.

While making our descent, Vince called down to me. "You think they sent power back to the upper hemi?"

I leaped from the last step and waited for Vince to join me and the other men while we waited for more from atop to come down and follow. "If so, that means Em can get the steel door in the western staircase open since the eastern staircase is destroyed, which will really piss Randolph off. If he's as angry as I imagine, you need to be prepared for the result of his rage."

He scoffed. "The best thing he's taught me was how to be angry. We got this."

While waiting for the lift to return and deliver more men, the rolling sound of many terrified voices roared in the distance.

The familiar man near me lifted his firearm toward the exposed hole in the wall that led into the corridor. "Sounds like they opened the seal. I'll check it out." He moved closer, slow and steady.

I mimicked him and followed. "We'll all go. Safety in numbers." One of the main lessons we learned as cadets.

Stepping foot over the debris around the large hole and the broken floodlight that used to illuminate it, we moved slowly. In the hall, the bright lights overhead revealed the scattered bodies of some of the fallen men from both sides of the fight. For a second, I wished the red lights would return and wash out the crimson puddles that stained the once white linoleum floor.

The further into the hall we went, the louder and clearer the voices became under the sound of Dr. Smith's voice over the P.A. system. We moved closer toward the west stairwell, where the noise originated. I made out the words coming from a female voice.

"Why does that message keep playing over the speakers? What does it mean? Will someone answer me?"

More loud voices overlapped each other with more questions and shouts of confusion. "Is what Dr. Smith saying true? We can't set off the explosive until we know for sure. Right, Dr. Randolph?"

"Yeah, who's up there? What does he mean 'hundreds of survivors'?"

Randolph's voice was distinctive. "Listen. Now, listen to me." The voices settled down enough for him to be heard. "Some terrible persons are trying to take me down so they can replace me and my role as a leader in this facility. They'll do and say anything to make you fall for their drivel. You have to stand with me and we have to stop them from succeeding. You need to understand that before we can continue."

One of the men crept into the stairwell as a familiar male voice spoke. "Something crazy is going on. I saw it with my own two eyes, but I still don't know what I heard or saw." The more he spoke the easier it was to recognize Ralph Thomson's voice. "There's a hole this wide that goes behind the walls of Ten, and the wall goes to a ladder that someone made. The ladder goes all the way up through the barrier of Eleven and probably up into the darkness. Someone's been living up there for longer than the few days it takes for toxins to kill. Much longer."

The fighter returned from the stairwell and put his mouth next to my ear. "There are a handful of armed men guarding the bottom of the stairway."

As my concern rose, downstairs more commotion rang out, but Vince turned to me. "You gotta use me."

I absorbed the seriousness from his golden eyes. "How so?"

"He says there are a handful of higher officers guarding the bottom of the stairway. They were probably instructed to stay off of Ten in expectation of the explosion. The only way down safely is if you use me. And down is where we need to be. Everyone, all the cadets, need to see that we survived. They need to see our faces."

"What if seeing us won't stop them from obeying your dad's orders and they execute us on the spot?" Although I was willing to try my chances, I had long considered that possibility and had prepared myself for that outcome, but had he?

"He won't hurt us." He shook his head with confidence.

I moved closer so he could see the concern in my eyes. "Randolph's trying to convince everyone to go along with detonating the explosive to trap us in here, which will kill us eventually if not instantly. He's more than likely to shoot us point blank if given the chance."

"Why do you think he's trying to convince them to go along with the explosion?" He gestured toward the staircase. "If he sets off the explosive without their understanding and full support, he might as well invite a new leader to take his place. He doesn't want rebellion, remember? Rebellion's the beginning of the end for someone hell-bent on holding his position as leader."

I nodded. "So what do you suggest?"

"If he shoots us point blank in front of everyone-especially me, his own son-he'll lose their trust, especially if they know we're not effected by toxins or dead, as he wanted them to think." His lip quivered and he turned away to keep me from witnessing his pain, but it was too late. I sensed it in his tone.

I squeezed his shoulder, gulping to ease the stinging in my chest. "You really think this can work?"

He cleared his throat, meeting my gaze. "Either way, however this goes, we have a good chance of getting the cadets on our side. I'm willing to take the chance. You?"

He was ready to go head first into whatever fate had in store at the bottom of those stairs. Thankfully Tamara was still up top, helping Natasha and Baby Malcolm, otherwise she would've dived head first too. I couldn't handle her willingness to sacrifice her life too. Suddenly, my confidence in our plan faded. "If that means possibly losing you..."

"Positive thinking, Connor. We can do this." He smiled and brought his hand to my chin. His thumb caressed my bottom lip, reminding me that our future together was what we were fighting for.

I pulled him close until our foreheads met and closed my eyes, replenishing my courage and confidence. "Let's do it." Twisting him so his back was against my chest, I hooked my arm around his neck and held him in front of me as a shield.

He grunted as he bore his weight on his injured leg, but he didn't urge me to let up. No words escaped him as we entered the stairwell and went down with the men following close behind, weapons raised.

~~~

Only TWO more chapters till the end! What are your initial thoughts on their plan? Do you think the plan will pay off? Thanks for reading and voting as always.