Chapter 43 · Give me your hand

He pushed.

The grate bent upward with a shriek. Orange light flooded the shaft. Cain shoved again, and the lock snapped.

He climbed onto the surface and reached down.

"Give me your hand."

Lila took it.

The creature slammed into the bottom of the shaft.

Cain pulled her up. She rolled onto the ground, and he landed beside her just as the grate crashed shut.

For one second, they lay shoulder to shoulder, gasping.

Then the surface alarm began to howl.

Lila pushed herself up. "Where are we?"

Cain sat slowly, pressing his good hand over his wounded shoulder.

They had emerged inside a narrow service yard surrounded by broken walls and dead neon signs. No open sky showed above them. The walls rose high on every side, crowned with wire and rusted sensors.

"A trap," Cain said.

"You could have said that before we climbed."

"You would have stayed below."

"Correct."

Cain stood and pulled Lila up with him. His knees nearly buckled.

She caught his waist. "Don't fall."

"I wasn't going to."

"Your knees disagree."

"My knees are unreliable."

"At least something about you is honest."

A speaker crackled above the yard.

Silas's voice returned, smooth and calm.