Oliver Roth’s face lost its overconfident grin, and his eyebrows started to rise. Clearly the thought of a second exit had passed over his head too.

‘It’ll be locked,’ he replied. ‘It’ll be for nothing. You’re going to burn in there.’

‘Fine,’ finished Ewan. ‘Stay here and explain to Grant how you failed to get me again. Bye.’

At just the right moment, Ewan had remembered how to be manipulative. He secured the gas mask around his face, hoping he could get out of the room before it melted to his head, and leapt through the empty pane of the shattered window.

Bloody hell ! How can one room contain so much heat?

Ewan tap-danced his way across the Experiment Chamber, avoiding puddles of burning thermite on the floor, praying his clothes wouldn’t catch fire. Even the large melting pile of metal objects, presumably there to test the shield during experiments, had started to emanate its own heat. Ewan slammed himself at the nearest wall, edging around the room in an effort to find the concealed door.

He felt woozy, as if drunk, drowning and burning all at once. He knelt down to search for a richer pool of oxygen. The walls, so clean and white when he had arrived, were covered with enraged reds and oranges. At the top, but creeping down with each second, they were charring black with smoke.

Ewan found the second exit.

It was locked.

He didn’t waste his breath on shouting or swearing. Grant must have only built fire escapes for his human staff, not for those on the wrong side of the Experiment Chamber glass. He was locked in the room on both sides, and he was going to die.

Somewhere under the sound of the roaring flames, Ewan heard a buzz. He lifted his head towards the control room, and saw Oliver Roth bursting through the entrance. Perhaps he didn’t know the second exit was locked, or perhaps he wasn’t willing to gamble.

Ewan pulled the pin from the final incendiary grenade, and launched it through the empty window frame. It bounced off the control panel, and landed on the floor beneath Roth’s feet.

Roth made it through the window frame and into the chamber just before the grenade went off, releasing a set of fireballs that attacked every remaining computer, console, button, lever and filing cabinet.

Ewan West and Oliver Roth shared the same burning room, and both were armed. Unfortunately, Roth had brought a shotgun to the fight.

Ewan did not have time to draw out his handgun. Roth’s first shot barely missed him as he took shelter behind the large pile of melting test objects.

‘Your choice, Ewan!’ Roth yelled between coughs. ‘Stay low to the ground and choke slowly, or pop your head up and have your suffering ended by a nice quick gunshot!’