Chapter 14 - The Final Frequency
A shower of white-hot sparks cascaded from the overhead lighting grid as the archive’s electrical system blew out in a violent cascade of short circuits. The green-tinted computer monitors flickered once, twice, and then went completely black, plunging the room into total darkness save for the dim, glowing amber light emanating from Sarah and Lily’s eyes.
Arthur fired blindly into the gloom, the muzzle flash of his sidearm illuminating the archive in rapid, strobe-like bursts of blinding white light.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The bullets shattered the glass-walled office and punched holes into the server racks, but when the muzzle flashes faded, Sarah and Lily were no longer standing where they had been. The heavy steel security gate between Julian and the rest of the room hissed, its locking mechanisms releasing with a sharp mechanical click as the emergency backup power kicked in. The barrier slowly lifted upward into the ceiling.
Julian didn't hesitate. He rushed forward through the opening, his dark coat billowing behind him as he crossed the archive floor toward the open titanium door leading to the sub-basement tunnels.
"Sarah! Lily!" Julian screamed into the echoing darkness of the corridor, his voice cracking with pure desperation.
Arthur stumbled after him, holding his smoking weapon in one hand while pressing a tactical radio to his collar with the other. "Command, this is Agent Vance. The primary node has been breached. Initiate total facility incineration protocol. Repeat, initiate total incineration."
Julian spun around, grabbing Arthur by the throat and slamming him against the damp concrete wall of the tunnel, his dark eyes blazing with murderous fury. "You just signed our death warrant! My family is out there in these tunnels!"
"Your family died the day they walked into that greenhouse, Julian!" Arthur gasped for air, his hands clawing weakly at Julian’s grip. "The only thing left to save is whatever’s left of the world outside!"
Before Julian could answer, a low, rumbling vibration shook the entire foundation of the facility, followed by a series of muffled explosions echoing from the upper floors. The red emergency sprinklers burst to life overhead, drenching them both in freezing water that soaked through Julian’s white shirt and dark coat instantly.
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Down the long, dark corridor ahead of them, two figures stood silhouetted against a brilliant flash of blue light emanating from the master satellite uplink chamber at the end of the hall. Sarah and Lily stood side by side, their hands clasped together, their amber eyes burning like twin stars in the dark as they stepped across the threshold into the blinding light.
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