Connor and Vince fight their forbidden attraction as they attempt to rescue themselves and fellow residents of the underground Refuge facility from a toxic breach.
*****
Conn...
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Tamara's big, round eyes behind her gas mask reminded me to put on my own. The officer lay unmoving at the bottom of the staircase, only the sound of heavy breathing and snoring came from his disheveled mask. I quickly built the courage to drop my guard and secure my mask on my face.
Tamara stepped over the officer's unconscious body and ascended. "They're coming to stop us." She pointed to my firearm that lay on the step near my feet.
I took her cue and picked up the rifle. "Then go back," I ordered, but of course she didn't listen. Who was I to tell her what to do? Surely not a leader. Besides, if she had tried to stop me, I wouldn't have listened either.
"Go. I got your back." She gently pushed me up the few empty steps with her hands on my lower back, returning my attention to my personal mission.
Vince.
As soon as the person ahead of me forced his way past people and through the threshold of the opened door an eeriness came over me.
On the tenth floor landing, a mysterious fog cloaked us in the darkness of the crevice. Seeing beyond its density proved difficult, even with the help of the slowly blinking red emergency lights positioned at even distances on the ceiling. I gripped the stock of my rifle more securely. Although the mask was snug on my face, I imagined the the fog was dense, murky, and as off-putting as the levels of hell.
Stepping out from the staircase and onto Ten, suddenly the space opened up. I lifted my weapon, forefinger next to the trigger. I anticipated a swarm of crazed people rushing me and pushing me back into the stairwell, but instead, in the distance, the bright spark of bullets projecting from the barrels of guns in the darkness grabbed my attention. The noise was disorienting, and the unstable blinking of red emergency lights further confused me. It was similar to being in the dark, open space outside Earth's atmosphere. A mysterious, unfamiliar void, where only the brief flicker of light reminded you of your actual position, when you start to believe you were in the pits of Hell itself.
Dreamlike.
The claustrophobic tightness of the gas mask strapped to my head, the blinding fog, the loud screams and intense pop-pop-pop of firepower-shots leaving their guns and violently hitting their targets-all contributed to my confusion.
"Connor."
My name echoed around in my head. I positioned my aim to the direction of the voice. Tamara stood just inside the staircase, directly in my sights. I immediately lowered my weapon.
"They're not coming up because they're gonna seal Ten." Her voice came out a bit muffled and panicked. "They're warning everybody over the earpieces, and I hear them yelling it downstairs. They ordered everybody to stay clear of the stairway, and for those inside to return. We've got sixty seconds. We gotta go."
"But Vince."
Tamara's eyes widened at something behind me and she fumbled with her firearm.
I spun as a dark figure rushed me, the powerful force knocked the breath out of me and I hit the floor. My weapon crashed to the ground at my side with a crack from impact. The heavyset figure stood over me as I twisted around. The red light above flashed on, and before it went off again, I took a good look at my attacker. The man's gaunt face twisted in rage as a thick crimson liquid outlined his sharp features.
