At first, the halls we travelled were empty, silent as a tomb. We seemed to be in some kind of maintenance corridor, or at least a route that was meant for staff, not guests. Gail’s instructions had us avoiding the public areas as much as possible, even when it took us a bit out of our way. That wasn’t surprising, crowds were dangerous. More chances to run into someone Gail would rather I not interact with. And, as long as Jessica was with me, I would do it her way. We were winding our way through the labyrinthine corridors when, several feet down the hall, a small group of people in maroon and gold uniforms burst through a doorway and rushed towards us, likely heading for the emergency exit. The man in the front of the group looked startled when he saw us approaching, he slowed as we approached, and locked his eyes on me.

“Ma’am, the building is being evacuated, there has been a bomb threat. You should come with us; we can lead you out.”

I smiled in a way I hoped was reassuring,

“It’s alright, we are here to help with the evacuation. You go on and get yourselves to safety.”

It wasn’t exactly a lie, and the whole truth would take much too long to explain. Still, he hesitated, eyeing me suspiciously.

“Are you with emergency services?” he raised an eyebrow. “You aren’t exactly dressed for it.”

I resisted the instinct to look down at my rumpled, torn clothing. I was probably long overdue for an outfit change, at this point. Now wasn’t really the time for that, though. So, instead, I laughed.

“Well, that’s what I get for coming in on my day off, without changing. I was helping a friend move, so admittedly these aren’t my finest garments. But it is an emergency, after all,” I shrugged helplessly.

The man still looked unconvinced, but the woman behind him put a hand on his shoulder.

“Devon, come on, we need to get out of here. Just… let them handle their own business, ok?”

“What if they are involved in this whole thing, Vera?” Devon asked his companion.

“Even if they are, what are you going to do about it? Hit them with a catering tray?” the woman replied tartly. “Leave this to the professionals and let’s go!”

The rest of their group had already resumed their journey, passing us, and running off down the hallway. Devon narrowed his eyes and looked us over one last time, then shook his head and went with Vera, jogging off after the rest.

“I think I could describe them to the cops,” he noted as they left. “If they really are part of this, then maybe…”

“Shut up, Devon! If they really are dangerous criminals, don’t you think saying that right in front of them might be a bit risky?”

“Oh, that’s a good point.”

I watched him glance back at us with a worried expression before they ducked around a corner and disappeared from sight. The whole thing was so absurd I couldn’t help but laugh. I hoped the kid didn’t run into anyone truly threatening on his way out, he had guts, but not much sense. As we continued on down the hall in the opposite direction, Jessica asked,

“Why aren’t they going to the safe rooms?”

“For anyone who isn’t being directly targeted, the safest place they can be is far away from here. Frankly, you would have been safer far away from here,” I gave her a reproachful look.

“I know. I’m sorry. I just… couldn’t go back to Steve. Not like this. And I didn’t know where else to go,” she dropped her eyes to the ground.

I sighed,

“I get it. Wait, no that isn’t fair, I don’t completely get it. I know that. But I can understand why you are nervous about returning. I just… don’t want to see anyone else get hurt.”

Jessica’s step faltered and she paused for a moment,

“I’m sorry. I didn’t even think… Going on about my own problems. Do you want to talk about it?”

“Nope. Let’s just get you somewhere secure, ok?”

I redoubled my pace as we passed through a more public section, where guards were ushering people out of the event space in orderly lines. Well, orderly might be too strong, it was at least a controlled chaos.

“Wouldn’t it have made more sense to evacuate earlier?” Jessica had to raise her voice to be heard above the noise of the crowd.

“They couldn’t risk tipping off the Domini before they found all the explosive devices. Fortunately, Gail and her team were very efficient, they seem to have cleared the building with some time to spare. Of course, even if they aren’t 100% sure, at this point they just have to chance it anyway. Let’s hope they found everything.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Jessica shivered at the thought. That would be an ugly way to die, as a medical examiner she knew that better than most. We ducked into another deserted hallway and the noise faded behind us. I kept my eyes to the left, looking for the door to the stairwell. When I spotted it, we began ascending to the second floor. We were nearly there now, just another hallway, across a mezzanine over the main concourse and then down the hall to the left and we would be at the room Gail had directed me to. As we climbed the stairs, Jessica cleared her throat.

“We must be getting close, right?”

“We are. Don’t worry, not much farther.”

“Right. That’s good, I suppose,” she sounded a bit anxious.

“What’s wrong?” I turned to her, her face was pale, and her eyes darted around the stairwell.

“I guess it’s just that, earlier you reminded me the only people in these shelters will be VIPs. Powerful, important people. That doesn’t really describe me, does it? Don’t you think there might be questions about who I am, why I am there, how I merit a spot? What am I supposed to say?”

“I think you are overthinking this. I doubt anyone will wonder at all, and if they do, then tell them the truth, Jess. It’s all about to come out anyway. In fact, if they do have questions, it will probably be about the ubarae, not you. They will likely be grateful for someone with some expertise. Remember, this is all new to them, and probably rather frightening,” I bit my lip. “Do you remember what it was like, when you learned about the ubarae, for the first time? How you felt about it?”

Jessica thought for a moment.

“It was scary, of course, but a bit exciting, too. You know what I mean? I wanted to know everything about them. It’s a shame so little information was actually available to us.”

“That might change, you know. The Pact is broken, new arrangements will need to be made. You may finally get your wish, see studies and research done.”

A little of the old spark returned to her eyes at that, and a small smile blossomed on her face,

“That would certainly be a silver lining, wouldn’t it? So much about them is still a mystery, even to us. Imagine what we could learn.”

“Quite a lot, I’m sure,” I thought back to everything Simon had told me, even in the short time since all this had started. They kept a lot of secrets from us.

“Perhaps I could even be involved in the research.”

“Is that something you would be interested in? After everything, you would still want to work with ubarae?”

She paused,

“You know, I hadn’t really thought about it. I suppose it might be difficult, at first, but hopefully that will get easier, with time. I know that the Domini are to blame, here, not the ubarae as a whole.”

“Let’s hope everyone will be as understanding.”

“What about you? I am not the only one who is going to need to find a new place in the world, after this. What will you do?”

“I think I’ll retire,” I laughed. “Lead a quiet life.”

“Impossible. You couldn’t handle ‘quiet’.”

“I don’t know, Jess, I’m tired. Not sure I have it in me to do this anymore.”

“I give it two weeks and you’d be climbing the walls. You would be bored out of your skull, if you had nothing to do all day.”

“That’s what liquor is for, Jess. I’d manage.”

The doctor tsked, scoldingly,

“That isn’t a healthy attitude.”

I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help but smile. She hadn’t been nagging me much about my life choices since this all started. I took it as a sign that she was feeling more like herself.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s just focus on getting through this, shall we?”

We stepped out onto the mezzanine, which overlooked a large central concourse. The bulk of the remaining evacuees were concentrated here, moving through on their way out of the building. I glanced over the railing at the crowds, if there were any infiltrators, they were likely to be here, where they could blend in, and where they would be hard to spot on camera. There was no time to linger now, but once we got where we were going, I would double back and see if I could spot anyone. The view wasn’t bad from up here. I checked my watch, there wasn’t much time before the end of the world as we knew it, so I needed to hurry.

“Not much further now. Let’s pick up the pace.”

Jessica nodded and hurried after me. We crossed the mezzanine and were nearly to the other side when I heard a gasp,

“Is that…?”

I paused, about to turn so I could see what had upset her, but before I could, the sound of footsteps rang on the tile and spun to find her already several feet away, running back the way we had come, towards the main stairs down to the concourse. Cursing, I sprinted after her, but she was quick and she had a head start, so she reached the crowds below before I could stop her, plunging into the throng. I pushed and jostled through the crowd, trying not to lose sight of her. I couldn’t be sure what had spooked Jessica, but whatever this was, it couldn’t be good. I had to get to her. Moving through the crowd was like swimming upstream, people surged through the space, all trying to get out, and they were not happy with me for shoving through and disrupting the relatively orderly movement. Still, I was closing on her, just a bit further and I would be able to grab her. I reached out and my hand grazed her sleeve, but at that moment she cleared the crowd, pulling away from me and ducking into a deserted corridor. I broke free from the crush myself an instant later and ran after her, finally catching up and grabbing her arm just as she rounded a corner.

“Jess, what the hell?”

“Let me go! I have to go!” she tried to pull away, but I held her wrist.

“I think you are bothering the lady. Release her.”

My head snapped up and for the first time I looked around the corner and down the hallway we had just entered. Carmine smiled from a short distance away, his hand out and beckoning to Jessica. She tried to go to him, but I pushed her behind me and held her firmly in place.

“I don’t think so. But I am glad to see you, Carmine. I was hoping we would get to meet today.”

“Me too,” Carmine grinned broadly. “I was so concerned that after all the trouble I went to with you, I wouldn’t be able to savor the effects myself. It would be like slaving away over a four-course meal, just to see it eaten by the dog. A terrible waste. But instead, here you are, just as I had hoped.”

“I’m afraid your ability to savor anything is going to be short lived,” my hand was already on my gun. “If you surrender, I’ll take you in alive. That’s the best I can offer.”

“Don’t be absurd, Rayna.”

“Do you really think you can get away from me?”

“Perish the thought,” he spread his hands, innocently. “I don’t have any need or desire to run from you.”

“I am done playing games with you, Carmine.”

“I know,” he nodded, a little smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

I pulled the gun from my holster, but before I could finish sighting him, I felt the prongs of a stun gun dig into my ribs from behind, followed by a sudden jolt of electricity. As my knees buckled and I collapsed to the floor, all I could think was that I probably should have seen that coming.