Chapter 2 Safe Room Sirens

Natalie POV.

The alarm tore through the house like a blade.

I dropped the plate. It shattered on the tile.

"Amelia!"

She was already running. I caught her in the hallway, one arm around her waist, and lifted her off her feet.

"Safe room," I said. "Now."

I slammed into the door with my shoulder and threw it open.

Inside. Both of us. My hand on the wheel lock.

I turned it. Hard. Once, twice, until it wouldn't turn anymore.

Then the bolts. Top. Bottom. Middle.

My hands knew the sequence. I'd practiced it. I'd practiced it so many times that my body moved without me.

That was the only reason we made it in.

The safe room was ten by ten.

Concrete walls. One bulb. Shelves with water, canned food, a first aid kit, a radio.

And a vent near the floor. Six inches tall. Enough to see through.

I pulled Amelia down beside me and put my back against the wall.

"No sound," I whispered. "No light."

"Why-"

"No sound."

She pressed her face into my chest. I felt her tears soak through my shirt.

The alarm kept screaming.

Then it stopped.

The silence was worse.

I crawled to the vent and looked through.

The hallway was chaos. Wolves running. Doors slamming. Someone shouted a name I couldn't hear.

Then a man ran past the vent.

He was one of the eastern guards. I knew him. He checked my ID at the gate every morning for a year. He always said morning, ma'am like he meant it.

Something hit him from behind.

He went down hard.

I saw the hand that did it. Just the hand. A blade. Quick. Precise.

He didn't get up.

I pulled back from the vent.

"Nat." Amelia's voice was barely a breath.

"Don't look."

"What-"

"Don't look."

She didn't.

I counted breaths.

That's what I did when I couldn't do anything else. One. Two. Three. Four.

The hallway went quiet.

Not empty quiet. Finished quiet.

I crawled back to the vent.

Two bodies now. The guard. A woman from the laundry crew. Both still. Both facing away.

And the gate. I couldn't see it from here, but I knew.

The gate was open.

I sat back against the wall and made myself think.

A raid from outside meant enemies. Enemies I could understand. Enemies I could hate.

But this wasn't a raid.

The guards were dead at their posts. That meant the posts were known. The schedule was known. The alarm was triggered from inside.

Someone had walked in.

Someone who knew the layout.

Someone who knew the safe room.

I stood up and checked the room.

Shelf one. Water. Canned food.

Shelf two. First aid. Radio.

Shelf three. Nothing.

I crouched and pulled the metal box from the corner.

The keycard was gone.

I stared at the empty box for a long second.

The keycard opened every door in the packhouse. Every armory. Every supply closet. Every exit.

It was supposed to be in the safe room. It was supposed to stay locked in the box until the threat passed.

It was gone.

Someone had opened this room before the alarm. Before the deaths.

They'd taken it.

They'd left the door cracked so I'd see it was open.

They wanted me to know.

A sound came from outside the door.

Footsteps. Slow. Steady. One set.

Then a voice.

"Natalie."

I didn't move.

"I know you're in there."

The voice was calm. Almost gentle. Like we were old friends.

"I'm not here to hurt you."

Amelia's fingers dug into my arm.

"I'm here for the baby."

I put my hand over her mouth. Light. Just enough.

"Open the door," the voice said. "And nobody else has to die."

I looked at Amelia.

She was five. She was shaking. She was mine.

I didn't move.

The voice waited.

Then it laughed.

Soft. Low. Not unkind.

"You always were stubborn," it said.

Footsteps. Moving away.

Then nothing.

I let myself breathe.

Then the intercom crackled.

A speaker in the corner of the safe room. Old. Wired. Supposed to be dead.

A voice came through.

Thin. Wet. Broken.

But I knew it.

"Nat."

My chest stopped.

"Nat, it's me."

I stared at the speaker.

"Open the door. Please."

Maribel.

End of Chapter Two