They passed a few meters more when they stumbled upon a guard crawling on the floor. Others lied motionlessly among the blown apart body parts, fluids and fragmented items.

"Faster," the guard hissed to his communicator. "They escaped. The alarm... was late. They..."

Hefri silenced him with a shot at his neck. She tensed her ears to inspect her surroundings. The steps sounded distant. She estimated that the group isn't too large. The main defence forces still weren't here. When they arrive, she would have a huge problem.

"Guns!" called Erilaz, pointing upwards.

Hefri raised her head.

An automatic cannon slid out of the hole in the ceiling. It didn't move. Neither did Hefri. The alarm screeched, but she still could hear a rapid pulse in her head. It was her heart that pumped warmed-up blood like an engine at full throttle. She held her breath until her lungs ached. Only then she took a slow sip of air. It soothed her lungs, but her whole body trembled with anticipation. She stared at the cannon all the time, but it took her a few seconds to notice one thing. The diode over the cannon was off.

"At the next intersection..." Andvari swung his hand, leaning against the wall. "There was the triangle."

Hefri twisted her mouth and shook her head. After these few seconds of passivity, her muscles and tendons trembled with anticipation to fling her into the fight. The cannon seemed to ignore her. Without waiting any longer, she threw a bomb. Erilaz did the same. Two explosions blasted in the distance and the sound of steps fell silent.

"There is a lot of hatches," said Erilaz and ran after his friends.

"But... they had a triangle," Andvari gasped out, tensing his fingers around his hand and narrowing his eyes. "Are there any other... green triangles?"

Hefri covered him, shooting at the approaching guards. He sent a bomb towards the corner of the corridor.

When the rumble and its echo quietened, Andvari added, "No? Good. The choice is simpler now."

"Are you su..." began Hefri. She took another bomb when the ceiling cannons fired. They worked with a thirty seconds delay, devastating the corridor far behind Hefri's back.

"Go!" called Erilaz, looking around. Since the ear-splitting alarm began to wail, the Vardir Commanders couldn't depend on their ears. Now they just fired short rounds to slow the guards down and threw the bombs.

Hefri rushed ahead. The blare of cannons approached them with every second. As the distance between her and the corner of the corridor shortened, the goosebumps on her skin grew larger. It reminded her of her childhood, when she hunted dangerous creatures. The adrenaline, fervour and the sense of jeopardy felt the same and gave her the same satisfaction. She didn't pay much attention to one difference–now she was the prey.

A grenade rolled from behind the corner. Engulfed in the fighting zeal, Hefri focused on the hidden enemies, who could fire at her at any moment.

"Hefri!" yelled Andvari and charged towards her.

Hefri glanced behind. Andvari leapt forwards, gathering momentum. He kicked the grenade where it came from. The power he put in this strike sent him to the floor. He collapsed on his side, and ignoring the breathtaking pain in his whole body, he rolled away from the intersection.

Hefri spun on her heel and sprinted towards Erilaz. Their Murderberries were no match for the guards' grenades. The explosion knocked her off her feet and pierced her ears. She hit the floor, amortising the impact with her hands. Sharp pain pierced her bones and the searing skin on her palms turned red as if she grabbed a melting iron barehanded.

The guards learned their lesson. Despite the disruptions in communication, they changed their strategy. Instead of blindly rushing forward, they fought the jailbreakers from a distance.

Hefri instantly picked herself up to a kneeling position. The roaring of the alarm sounded distant in her mind. She narrowed her eyes and tensed her ears. Erilaz shouted something, but she couldn't understand him. He pointed at her leg. A short but thick piece of metal stuck in her calf muscle. A thin, red circle began to form on the fabric around it.

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Hefri ignored that. Gasping and wincing, she got up and picked her guns. Her little bombs scattered all around her, but she had no time to collect them. She sprinted forward but when she tried to move to the lead, Erilaz leant over her.

"I'll go first!" he yelled into her ear.

Hefri nodded and ran after Andvari, shooting at every guard that survived the explosion. Running past a lift shaft, she noticed a movement. The mechanisms inside worked in full flow. The defence forces were getting closer with every second. Since they were reaching the lower levels, all upper decks had to abound with the armed to the teeth defenders.

The hatch with a green triangle loomed a dozen or so meters away. The Vardir Commanders raced past the mass of charred flesh and melted fabrics.

In the epicentre of the explosion everything was black and brown. Bones resembled scorched boughs and fragments of clothing formed puddles of dark slime. Further away the tangle of corpses began to take shape. They recalled Celestians' bodies and the black sticks looked more like guns. Even Erilaz, who physically suffered the least, narrowed his eyes and tightened his lips. All he wished for was his helmet which filtered the air.

As he looked back, he quickly forgot this thought. The cannons activated one by one, battering the floor with giant bullets. A dark silhouette flashed by behind the corner, firing a few times. Erilaz narrowed his eyebrows and bared his teeth when five bullets swished around him. He reached into his shallow pocket. When he didn't feel any bombs, his eyes widened and the dread struck his stomach.

"I'm out of ammo!" he cried.

At that moment a Murderberry flew past his head.

"Here it is," said Andvari, panting with effort. He smiled but his almost completely white face and weary eyes revealed his exhaustion. "My last but one berry."

The bomb exploded but there were no screams of pain. Andvari's weak throw didn't reach the guards. Erilaz grabbed a second gun from the floor and began to blindly deluge the guards with lead to at least keep them hidden.

"We're close!" he called and glanced back. "Hefri, come on!"

"Don't worry," she gasped out, trotting with a limp. "Just run."

A whizzing noise reached her left ear. Another two swishes made her right ear tremble. She hissed and wrinkled her nose. The red stain on her trouser leg grew wider than her fist. Whenever her calf muscle tensed or relaxed, a sharp, searing pain tore her leg from ankle to groin. She couldn't just rip the shard out of her tissues and risk a huge blood loss.

Hefri involuntarily slowed down, even though she was sure she races ahead like a hunting hawk. The itching of her palms and the piercing ache in her leg forced her to breathe heavier. She recalled the memories of her childhood hunting expeditions again. The wounded animals were first to be caught and eaten.

She felt Erilaz's hand grabbing her arm. He tugged her forwards, forcing her to speed up.

"Come on! Ten steps!" he shouted, firing short rounds towards the corner of the hall.

These words slightly soothed Andvari. Cold sweat covered his hands and back, and the dark shapes he saw grew larger and more chaotic. Every neck movement gave him a headache and made him stagger. He gasped with his mouth open wide, struggling to get as much air as possible. His throat dried, and every breath of the suffocating air and filthy smells forced him to grunt or cough. He still suffered a cramp in his lungs but the heavier he breathed, the less stable he felt. Even though his legs became fainter with every step, he still pushed forward.

"Just a few meters..." he whispered to himself.

At that moment he stumbled and plummeted down on the floor. He landed on his knees. The world around him spun, and the sounds of alarm, shots and screams merged into one ear-ripping cacophony. He tried to prop himself with his hands but the pain shot through every one of his bones. Clenching his eyelids and baring his teeth, he hissed and gasped. He knew he can't give up just a few meters before the longed-for hatch. He wanted to take a short break but the bullets flying over his head reminded him that this is not a training exercise.

"Come on, not both at once!" shouted Erilaz, grabbing Andvari's collar and dragging him forward.

The corridor in front of Andvari's eyes swirled again. Despite this, he felt a new surge of adrenaline. It fueled his will to live. He raced blindly after Erilaz, narrowing his eyes and wrinkling his nose.

Erilaz pushed the square hatch with all his momentum. As the door opened with a loud bang, he almost plunged inside the chute with his head forward.

Wow, he thought. They opened...

He stepped back and looked around. "Hefri, come on!" he called, shooting towards the guards.

Wincing with pain, Hefri hung on Erilaz's arm and slid her legs inside the shaft. She took a deep breath and let go of him. Bracing her feet against the bottom of the chute, she slipped into the darkness.

Staggering, Andvari approached the hatch too. When he lifted his leg up to step inside, loud voices in the corridor outshouted the alarm. He guessed it had to be the defence forces. Goosebumps covered his skin, and the surge of adrenaline let him forget the dizziness.

"Go!" cried Erilaz, his eyes widened with panic.

Andvari threw his last bomb towards the voices and jumped inside the shaft. As the hatch closed behind him, Erilaz picked up another gun from the floor. Shooting blindly with one hand, he shoved his legs into the chute. While his head was still outside, he saw a group of guards darting out from behind the corner. Instead of typical bulletproof vests, they wore thick armour on their chests, arms and legs. Each of them carried a large machine gun, and their belts were festooned with grenades. As they noticed Erilaz's head, they fired in full flow.

"Close the chutes!" called one of them in a muffled voice, trying to outshout the white noise in his communicator. "Do you read me? Chutes!"

Clenching his teeth and narrowing his eyebrows, Erilaz let go of the door and plunged inside the shaft.