𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄─𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞¹ (𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠)

83. now or never

You know that cheesy saying "one moment can change everything"? Yeah, turns out it's true. Because in the one moment that our last bomb was destroyed, the entire fate of all of our friends was altered.

The three of us were at a loss for words, everyone trying to think of a plan. I stood closest to the door, my gun still in hand. We all knew that within a matter of minutes the place would be swarmed by dozens of Mountain Men. So we either needed to think of something right away, or we were all done for.

Wick paced behind me, Raven sitting on the steps in front of us, no one saying anything. That is until Raven spoke, "Wick, stop!" she demanded, not looking back at him.

He paused, giving her an incredulous look that she couldn't see but I could, "I'm not doing anything!" he argued.

Raven spun around, her eyes shooting dagger in his direction as she fired back, "Exactly."

The two continued to argue back and forth, each of them blaming the other. I remained on watch, waiting for our impending fate. I did my best to think of some kind of solution, but I knew anything I suggested, Wick or Raven would have already thought of it and discredited it.

It was only when Raven yelled a word that I barely recognized that hope was struck, "Redundancy!"

I spun around to face her, "What?" I questioned, watching as she began pulling wires from the control panel in front of her. Wick stood over Raven's shoulder, watching her every move.

Raven didn't take her eyes off the task at hand as she answered me, "They built more wind turbines than they needed. We blow the other four, this won't take the load. Surge protectors will ramp it down to keep it running-"

"--To keep it from blowing up!" Wick interjected.

"Yeah. We need to blow this turbine, Wick."

Raven turned back to him with a smile, one in which Wick returned with a shocked look, "Catastrophic failure...that's your plan?"

Raven's face fell, "Okay well when you say it like that it doesn't sound like such a good idea..."

Wick, knowing we really had no other options, gave in, "I'll set the detonators."

I tightened my grip on my gun, "I still have no idea what any of this means so I am just going to keep watch." I announced, motioning toward the door.

"Stay close," Raven instructed, "When these things blow the three of us have to get as far as we can as fast as we can."

My heart was pounding in my ears as Raven and Wick put the plan into motion. My hands were covered in a nervous sweat, my eyes locked on the door. It felt like it had been too long, they would be here soon.

Another couple of minutes passed, still no Mountain Men, the turbines still running.

One more minute passed, now I could hear voices from within the corridors, "Guys!" I yelled over my shoulder, "They're here!"

"Avery, get over here!" Raven called, summoning me to where she was crouched half hidden behind a wall.

I wasted no time in rushing over to her just as Wick was doing the same. "Press the damn button, Raven!" he screamed, his voice being mixed with those of the Mountain Men.

And so she did.

Four explosions went off behind me just as Wick and I ducked down beside Raven. All three of us looked up in anticipation, waiting to see if Raven's plan was going to work.

Raven's eyes were wide as she looked on, "We're too close." she exclaimed, grabbing Wick and I, pulling us along with her. We were stopped after only taking a few steps.