Chapter 53 · The Tower Goes Dark

"Get down!"

Lucas hit me hard enough to knock the breath out of my lungs.

The breach bomb tore through the doorway and bounced across the metal floor.

"Lucas, move!" Nora screamed.

"I'm trying!"

He shoved me under the broadcast console, then rolled over me. His coat covered my head just before the bomb exploded.

Heat slammed into us.

Metal shrieked. Glass burst overhead. The floor jumped beneath my palms, and Lucas crushed the air out of my lungs.

His hand found the back of my neck.

"Evelyn. Look at me." His voice cut through the ringing in my ears. "Are you bleeding?"

"Get off me."

"Answer me."

"I'm alive. What about your ribs?"

He lifted his face. Dust streaked his cheek. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth, but his eyes stayed locked on mine.

"Still attached," he said. "You?"

"Ask me after you stop lying on top of me."

His mouth almost curved.

He still didn't move.

Another blast hit the outer door. The console rattled above us.

Nora shouted, "The feed's still running! But we've got maybe forty seconds before they cut the tower!"

Lucas raised his head.