Still Breathing

Chapter 23

Into the Depths

Rose leaned against the wall, exhaustion and fear warring in her chest as she watched her friends debate their next move. They were just a bunch of kids, in way over their heads. College students, not soldiers. They had no real weapons, no tactical training, no experience with anything more harrowing than midterms and keg stands.

But they also had each other. A bond forged in blood and terror, an unshakable loyalty born of shared trauma. They had fought and bled and survived together, and that had to count for something.

Didn't it?

Sebastian stood at the center of the group, his brow furrowed as he studied the facility map. "If the answers we need are anywhere, they'll be in the central lab," he said, tapping a large room at the heart of the complex. "That's where they would have conducted the most sensitive experiments."

"Great, just one problem," Tobias piped up, his usual snark tempered by a very real undercurrent of fear. "How are we supposed to get there? We're not exactly equipped for a full-frontal assault."

He was right, Rose knew. They had a few guns scavenged from fallen security personnel, a handful of knives and makeshift clubs. But against the hordes of the infected, the unknown terrors lurking in the depths of this place...it felt like trying to hold back the tide with a broom.

"We go in stealth," Chris said, jaw set. "Avoid confrontation where we can, strike hard and fast when we can't. We're smaller, more mobile. We use that to our advantage."

Nina nodded, worrying her lower lip between her teeth. "Safety in numbers, too. We stick together, watch each other's backs. No one gets left behind."

Rose felt a swell of love and pride for these people, her friends, her family. They were afraid, battered, barely holding together...but they were still fighting. Still determined to see this through, no matter the cost.

Her gaze drifted to Margot, propped pale and pained against the wall. Her heart clenched. They needed to get her out, get her help. But the grim reality was...they might not all make it out of this. Some of them, maybe most of them...might have to pay the ultimate price to stop the spread of this nightmare.

And if that was to be their fate...Rose wanted to make damn sure it meant something. That their sacrifice would not be in vain.

She stepped forward, drawing the others' attention. "We need to destroy the lab," she said, surprised at the steadiness of her own voice. "Not just escape, not just find answers...we need to burn this place to the ground. Make sure they can never do this again, never unleash this horror on anyone else."

Sebastian met her gaze, something fierce and proud blazing in the depths of his dark eyes. "Rose is right. This ends here, one way or another."

"Uh, not to rain on the righteous vengeance parade," Max cut in, "But how exactly are we supposed to destroy a super-secret underground bio-weapons lab? It's not like we've got a handy cache of C4 lying around."

Rose bit her lip, mind racing. Max was right, they didn't have any explosives or specialized equipment. But they were in a research facility, a place filled with volatile chemicals and hazardous materials. If they could find the right substances, rig up some kind of crude incendiary device...

"The lab will have flammable, reactive compounds," she said slowly. "Ethanol, propane, strong acids and bases. If we can locate the chemical storage, improvise some kind of delivery system...it could work. At the very least, it would destroy the samples, the research, cripple their ability to remake or spread the virus."

James made a low, impressed whistle. "Damn, Barnes. Forget English Lit, you should've been a chem major with those brains."

Rose felt her cheeks heat, a welcome flush of warmth amidst the clinging chill of dread. "Nah, I just dated a lot of science nerds. Guess some of it stuck."

The quip fell a bit flat, but it eased a bit of the tension thickening the air, drew a few strained smiles and chuckles. Rose felt Sebastian's hand slip into her own, his fingers lacing with hers and squeezing gently. A silent affirmation, a promise of solidarity.

"Alright then," he said, squaring his shoulders. "We head to the central lab, find the chemical stores on the way. We get in, get the evidence we need, and then we burn it all down."

Nods all around, faces set with grim resolve. They all knew the odds, the enormity of what they were about to attempt. But they also knew there was no other choice.

This was their moment, their one chance to end this nightmare before it consumed the world. And they would meet it head-on, a united front against the dark.

Rose took a deep breath, feeling the weight of her tactical knife at her hip, the comforting solidity of Sebastian's hand in hers. She thought of her father, her friends back home, the life she'd left behind when she'd stepped onto that bus to Arkham what felt like a lifetime ago.

She would fight her way back to that life, that world. Even if she had to claw through the very gates of Hell to do it.

"Okay," she said, proud of the way her voice rang out, clear and strong amidst the shadows. "Let's go save the goddamn world."

And with that, they moved out, a battered, desperate, unbreakable phalanx against the hungry dark.

Weapons at the ready, hearts pounding in synchronicity...they marched into the abyss.

Into the heart of Project Lazarus.

To the truth...or oblivion.