Chapter 27 · Don't Leave Me Here

"Grace." His voice cracked. "Go."

"Shut up." I yanked my hand free and grabbed the medical kit off the table. Three explosions. Three breach points. The whole fortress was flooding with spores right now, and he wanted me to run.

"That's an order—"

"You're delirious." I shoved a mask over his face, the last clean one I had. "And you don't get to die on me after that speech."

Jingchuan stumbled through the door, face white. "The vents. All of them. The entire south wall is—"

"I heard." I was already moving, dumping the contents of the kit onto the floor. Bandages. Needles. Two vials of the failed antidote batch. Nothing that would stop a full spore assault.

Huo's hand caught my wrist. Weak grip, but steady. "If you stay, you'll die here."

"If I leave, you die." I met his eyes through the mask. "That what you want? To guilt me into running while you choke on your own lungs?"

He didn't answer. Just held on.

Outside, someone screamed. Then another. The sound cut off too fast.

"How many vents?" I asked Jingchuan.

"Five that we know of. Built into the old water channels.