Chapter 5
The metal chute was narrow, slick, and terrifyingly steep. Elena went first, pulling Lily tightly against her chest, wrapping her own trench coat around the little girl to protect her from scrapes and sharp welds in the steel. With a final, silent prayer, Elena pushed off from the lip of the opening, plunging into the warm, rushing darkness of the laundry shaft.
Gravity took over instantly. They slid downward at a dizzying speed, the roar of wind filling their ears as floors rushed past them in a blur. Lily buried her face in Elena’s shoulder, her small arms locked around her mother’s neck with desperate strength. The bruised arm throbbed against Elena’s chest, but Lily made no sound, holding back her cries through sheer willpower.
With a sudden, jarring thud, they collided with a massive pile of canvas laundry bags at the bottom of the chute. The impact knocked the wind out of Elena, but she immediately scrambled to her feet, pulling Lily out of the tangled mountain of damp sheets.
They stood in the basement sorting room of Saint Jude Memorial. It was a vast, cavernous space dominated by industrial washers, sorting tables, and towering stacks of white linens. Fluorescent strips buzzed overhead, casting an eerie, clinical light over the concrete floor.
"Are you okay, Lily?" Elena whispered, frantically checking the girl over for injuries.
"I'm okay, Mom. Just... dizzy," Lily breathed, wiping a smudge of soot from her cheek.
Heavy footsteps echoed from the far end of the sorting room. Two security guards in dark uniforms were walking between the rows of industrial washers, chatting lazily while holding heavy metal flashlights.
"Check the loading dock doors," one guard said, his voice carrying across the concrete expanse. "Dr. Harrison said they might try to slip out through the service bays."
Elena grabbed Lily’s hand, ducking behind a massive canvas hamper filled with hospital gowns. They crept along the shadows of the machinery, moving toward the heavy metal roll-up door that led to the delivery bay. A lone delivery van idling outside with its engine rumbling offered a glimmer of hope.
Through the wired glass of the loading door, Elena saw the driver outside, smoking a cigarette while tossing boxes into the back of the truck. If they could time their dash with the driver stepping back inside, they could slip into the cargo hold unnoticed.
"When I say run, you run straight for the back of that van, Lily. Don't look back," Elena whispered, her eyes locked on the smoking driver.
May you like
Lily nodded fiercely, her grip tightening on her mother’s hand. The driver tossed his cigarette butt to the ground, crushed it under his boot, and stepped up into the cabin of the truck. The door slammed shut.
"Now!" Elena hissed.
