“I was under the impression you meant nothing to each other after the separation,” Eric says, gesturing at Daniel and Lynell. “Seems my son lied, betrayed the family, and disgraced the Elysian name.”

“You disgrace it enough with your cowardice and violence.”

Lynell jumps at the sound coming from behind them. Eric’s eyes move above Daniel’s shoulder where the voice came from. She raises her head to see Zach there, holding his own gun out. It’s trained on his father, not any of the four guards.

In a second that seems to both stretch for an eternity and end in a blink, three things happen.

Eric begins yelling, the sound ricocheting off each wound on Lynell’s body. “Zachary, how dare you—”

Zach pulls his trigger and Eric jerks, blood spreading along his leg.

And Daniel is yanked backward, into the building once more.

The second ends as Zach bangs the door shut just as the shooting begins. Zach shouts, locks the door, and turns back to them, blood oozing from his shoulder. The rest of the bullets thud against the door and walls.

“Zach—” Daniel starts, but Zach just grabs him and pulls him across the gym, causing Lynell to jostle in Daniel’s arms.

“It won’t hold long,” Zach says. His words fly out fast and Lynell barely processes them, though Daniel is nodding along. “I’ll lead them this way. There’s another exit. You go back. Right. Down. Right. Run.”

“But—”

“There’s no time, go!” Zach yells, and instantly turns and starts running down a different hallway.

Daniel doesn’t hesitate and goes down the direction they came, and just as he turns right, Lynell hears the door of the gym splinter and burst open.

Daniel’s breathing quickens as he opens a door to reveal a set of stairs. They reach the bottom and see two doors, one that goes left and the other right.

Daniel turns right and pushes open the door, revealing a tunnel.

“Tricky bastard,” he mutters before he takes off running. Each step is accompanied by a small splash, and a few times Lynell thinks she can feel a few drops of something wet hit her.

The door closes, trapping them in darkness. Lynell’s chest feels tight and panic fills her bones, but she focuses on matching her breaths with Daniel’s. He doesn’t stop running, even as his breathing turns to ragged gasps and his legs shake from exertion.

Lynell tries to keep track of how long they run, but she feels her mind slipping slowly and it’s all she can do to stay conscious.

Daniel stops running at the sight of a small sliver of light and mutters, “Shit.”

Lynell looks forward. There’s a ladder that extends up to a hatch. “It’s okay,” she mutters. “I can climb.”

“Are you sure?” Daniel asks.

“I have to. Put me down.” She lets go of his neck and extends her legs. Daniel slowly lowers her, and her feet touch a stone floor covered in a thin layer of liquid. Just as she shivers, Daniel pulls his shirt off and holds it out. She nods and Daniel pulls it over her head and helps her guide her arms into the sleeves, taking care to work the shirt around her hand without touching her two broken fingers. Daniel holds his hands on either side of her hips to keep her from falling. She sways, sight going in and out of focus as she reaches out for the first rung of the ladder with her right hand. Her fingers curl around the bar and she holds on with all her strength as she raises her foot to the rung. Her leg shakes as she puts all her weight on it and she almost falls back, but Daniel keeps his hands against her back.