ERASED : Act 2 – The Descent

Chapter 10 – Descent

The metal rungs of the ladder were cold beneath my hands as I climbed downward, the dim glow from the opening above shrinking with every step. The air grew heavier, damp, and laced with the scent of rust and something faintly metallic. The unknown yawned beneath me, swallowing me whole.

Ansel followed; his movements were quick but deliberate. The man—who still hadn’t given me a name—closed the panel above us, plunging us into darkness. A small light clicked on a moment later, illuminating the tunnel in a sickly yellow glow.

“This leads to an abandoned sector of the facility,” the man explained. “Biogen built beneath the city for projects that weren’t meant to see daylight. If your brother is still here, this is where they kept him.”

My stomach twisted. “And if he isn’t?”

Ansel’s voice was quiet. “Then we find out where they took him.”

The tunnel stretched forward, the walls lined with pipes that pulsed faintly, like veins beneath the skin of something living. The hum of distant machinery reverberated through the ground, vibrating beneath my feet. Each step echoed, amplifying the silence between us.

I turned to the man. “You said I agreed to forget him. That I made them take him instead. Why would I do that?”

He hesitated before answering. “Because they gave you a choice.”

“What kind of choice?”

He stopped walking. He turned to face me. “Your memories, or his life.”

A sharp chill crawled up my spine. “What does that mean?”

“They gave you an ultimatum. Either he disappeared, and you forgot everything, or he stayed—but you lived with the knowledge of what they’d done to him. And you chose the only way to survive.”

The words hit me like a fist to the gut. My breath came shallow. “No. I wouldn’t have—”

“You did.”

Ansel placed a hand on my shoulder, grounding me. “Whatever happened, Lydia, you’re here now. That means you’re strong enough to face it.”

The man exhaled. “We’re close. The lower sectors are still active. If he’s alive, they won’t let him go easily.”

I forced my feet forward, swallowing back the rising fear. “Then we don’t give them a choice.”

The tunnel widened into a steel corridor. Flickering lights revealed numbered doors—each sealed shut, with ominously blinking electronic locks. I pressed my palm against the nearest panel, and the display flickered red.

ACCESS DENIED.

Ansel cursed. “They’ve reinforced security. We’ll need another way in.”

The man scanned the hallway and then motioned to a vent near the ceiling. “That leads to the monitoring station. If we can override the security from there, we can open the cells.”

I followed his gaze. The vent was narrow but just big enough to squeeze through.

“I’ll go,” I said, reaching for the ledge.

Ansel grabbed my wrist. “Lydia, are you sure?”

“I have to be.”

He held my gaze a moment longer, then nodded, giving me a boost. I pulled myself up and crawled into the shaft, the cold metal pressing against my palms. Below, Ansel and the man waited, their figures minor in the dim glow.

With a deep breath, I moved deeper into the heart of the place that had stolen everything from me.

I was done running.

I was taking my brother back.

Chapter 11 – The Forgotten Cells

The vent was narrower than expected, and each movement sent a metallic groan through the confined space. The stale air carried the scent of damp steel and something faintly medicinal. Crawling forward, I forced myself to stay calm, focusing on my breathing and the task ahead.

A dim glow shone ahead—a grated opening leading into a control room. I positioned myself, peering down. Two figures stood near a console, their backs turned, and the soft glow of monitors illuminated their silhouettes.

I had seconds to act.

Bracing myself, I kicked the grate loose. It clattered to the ground, and before they could react, I dropped down, landing hard on my feet.

One of them turned, eyes wide. “What the—”

I swung before he could finish, my elbow connecting with his jaw. He crumpled. The second reached for something—a radio? A weapon? I didn’t wait to find out. I grabbed the edge of the console and slammed it into his side. He gasped, collapsing against the monitors.

My heart pounded. I had done it.

I turned to the console. The screens displayed live feeds of the cells—narrow, sterile rooms with single occupants. I caught my breath when I saw one of them.

A boy.

He was older than I remembered, but the resemblance was undeniable—my brother.

I swallowed the lump and scanned the control panel, searching for a release function. Ansel’s voice crackled through my earpiece. “Lydia, what’s happening?”

“I found him,” I whispered. “I’m getting him out.”

My fingers hovered over the keys. Security Override. I pressed it. A warning flashed—Unauthorized Access Detected—but the cell locks disengaged. A red alarm flared, filling the room with an urgent wail.

I didn’t care. I turned and ran.

The corridors blurred as I sprinted toward his cell. Footsteps thundered in the distance—guards responding to the breach. I reached the door as he stepped out, blinking against the harsh artificial light.

His eyes met mine. Confusion, then recognition, flickered across his face. “Lydia?”

Tears burned my vision, but there was no time for emotion. I grabbed his arm. “We have to go. Now.”

A voice rang through the intercom: “Intruders detected. Secure all exits.”

I pulled him forward, running as fast as our legs would carry us. Ansel’s voice was sharp in my ear. “Lydia, you need to move! Security is closing in.”

I tightened my grip on my brother’s hand. “We’re not leaving without him.”

“Then run.”

The facility roared to life around us, but I didn’t care. I had him.

And I wasn’t losing him again.

Chapter 12 – The Price of Knowing

The wailing alarms echoed through the corridors, their piercing shriek rattling in my skull. My brother’s grip on my wrist was tight, his breath heavy with exhaustion and disbelief. I wanted to stop, say something, and tell him I had spent every waking moment of my forgotten life searching for something I hadn’t even known was missing.

But there was no time.

“This way!” Ansel’s voice cut through the chaos in my earpiece. “Exit’s compromised, but I found another way. You need to move. Now.”

We turned down another sterile hallway, the overhead lights flickering erratically. The place was crumbling, and the system failed due to a security breach. That’s good. Let it fall.

Footsteps pounded behind us. More guards. More obstacles. My mind raced. There had to be some way to shake them off before they boxed us in.

Ansel’s voice crackled again. “Lydia, listen to me. They’re not trying to capture you. They’re trying to contain you.”

I skidded to a stop, my brother nearly colliding with me. “What?”

“They won’t let you leave, not with him. They’d rather—”

Gunfire erupted behind us, bullets slamming into the walls. I yanked my brother forward, my pulse hammering. “Where do we go?!”

“Left! End of the hall! There’s a service hatch that leads to the lower tunnels. I can reroute you.”

Lower tunnels. Another unknown. But I had no choice.

We ran, pushing through the dizziness of adrenaline and terror. The hatch loomed ahead, a reinforced steel door embedded into the floor. My brother hesitated, glancing back. “Lydia, wait—”

A sharp pain seared through my shoulder.

I gasped, stumbling forward. Heat bloomed where the bullet grazed my skin. My brother caught me before I collapsed, his grip the only thing keeping me upright. I could feel the panic radiating off him.

“No, no, no,” he muttered. “You’re okay. You have to be okay.”

“I’m fine,” I gritted out. “We have to keep moving.”

The guards were closing in. Ansel’s voice was a desperate whisper. “Lydia, they’ll kill him before they let him leave. Do you understand? They will make sure he disappears again.”

I clenched my jaw, my vision swimming. “Then we don’t let them.”

My brother opened the hatch, revealing a dark tunnel leading deeper into the facility’s veins—no more hesitation.

We jumped.

The darkness swallowed us whole, and the past chased after us unrelentingly.

Chapter 13 – Beneath the Surface

The air in the tunnel was thick, damp, and stifling. The further we descended, the stronger the scent of rust and decay became. Each step echoed off the narrow walls, swallowed by the darkness ahead.

My shoulder throbbed with every movement, warm blood trickling down my arm. My brother’s grip on my other hand was too tight, but I didn’t pull away. He was afraid to lose me again.

So was I.

Ansel’s voice crackled in my ear. “You’re almost at a secondary access point. If we’re lucky, it’ll still be functional.”

I swallowed hard, forcing the pain aside. “And if we’re not?”

Silence. Then: “We’ll figure it out.”

The tunnel sloped downward, leading into a cavernous opening with low, flickering emergency lights lining the floor. A rusted terminal sat in the centre; its screen cracked but faintly glowing.

Ansel’s voice came through again. “That’s the control panel. If you can access it, I can override the security from here.”

My brother stepped forward first, hovering over the screen. “Lydia, you’re better at this.”

I hesitated, then moved beside him, fingers trembling as I typed commands into the terminal. The screen flickered, then blinked red. ACCESS RESTRICTED.

“No, no, no,” I muttered. “There has to be another way in.”

Ansel’s breathing was heavy in my earpiece. “They’ve locked this section down tighter than I thought. But there’s one more option. There’s a manual override deeper in. It’s risky, but it might be the only way.”

“Where?” I asked, already preparing myself for the answer.

“The sublevel—past the containment wing.”

A shiver ran down my spine. Containment—the word alone sent a fresh wave of nausea curling through me. I turned to my brother. His expression was tight and unreadable.

“We don’t have a choice,” he said quietly.

No, we didn’t.

Taking a steadying breath, I turned back toward the dark corridor leading further into the unknown.

“Then let’s go.”

 

Chapter 14 – The Containment Wing

The hallway leading to the containment wing stretched endlessly, the dim emergency lighting barely piercing the oppressive darkness. Every breath felt heavier; the air was thick with an unplaceable tension. I tried not to let my mind wander to what had been kept down here—what might still be waiting.

My brother walked ahead, his grip tightening on the rusted crowbar he had taken from the tunnel’s wreckage. I could hear his breathing, shallow and deliberate, as we approached a heavy steel door at the end of the corridor.

“This is it,” Ansel’s voice crackled in my earpiece. “The containment wing. Whatever they were hiding, it’s in there.”

I glanced at the keypad next to the door. The numbers were faded, smudged from years of use, but the screen flickered faintly. A manual lock override would take too long. We didn’t have time.

My brother stepped forward. “Stand back.”

Before I could protest, he swung the crowbar against the panel. Sparks flew as the metal crunched, the screen flickering violently before the door clicked and slid open just a fraction. A stale gust of air rushed out, carrying with it the unmistakable scent of antiseptic and something older—something rotten.

I hesitated. “Are we sure about this?”

“No,” he admitted. “But we’re out of choices.”

With a nod, I pushed the door open the rest of the way, revealing a massive chamber lined with reinforced glass cells. Some were empty, their restraints hanging loosely, long abandoned. Others...

My stomach turned.

Something had been here recently. The glass in one of the nearest cells was smeared with dark streaks. Scratch marks, jagged and deep, marred the surface. I stepped closer, trying to ignore the chill creeping up my spine.

“Lydia,” Ansel’s voice in my ear was sharper this time. “You need to keep moving. The control override should be in the central chamber.”

I forced myself to move, stepping over broken debris and shattered screens. The further in we went, the more unsettling the space became. The walls had been lined with monitors, most of them shattered, but one still flickered dimly.

I pressed a shaking hand against the console, watching as the screen struggled to display its corrupted data. A single message blinked across the display:

SUBJECT RETRIEVAL INCOMPLETE.

I inhaled sharply. “What does that mean?”

Ansel didn’t answer right away. Then: “It means whatever they were doing here was never finished.”

My brother tensed beside me. “Then where is everyone?”

A distant clatter rang through the chamber.

We weren’t alone.

I turned, scanning the rows of glass cells. Something shifted in the shadows—just out of reach of the emergency lighting. My pulse pounded as a slow and deliberate shape emerged.

A figure, barefoot and draped in torn medical scrubs, stepped forward from the darkness.

I knew that face.

My breath caught in my throat. “Oh my God...”

It was him.

My brother.

But he was standing right next to me.

Chapter 15 – The Reflection

My brother—both of them—stood frozen. One beside me, gripping the crowbar tightly, his breath uneven. The other was clad in torn medical scrubs, his face an exact mirror, and his eyes hollow but locked onto mine.

I took a step back, my pulse hammering. “How—?”

The figure in the cell tilted his head, his movements eerily slow and deliberate. “Lydia.” The voice was hoarse and cracked but unmistakable.

My brother—beside me—tightened his grip on my arm. “That’s not me. It’s—”

“A copy,” Ansel finished, his voice sharp through the earpiece. “A failed one. This is what they were working on. Memory suppression. Cloning. They weren’t just erasing minds, Lydia. They were trying to replace them.”

The weight of his words settled in my chest like lead. I looked back at the figure behind the glass, his pale lips curling into something like recognition. Or was it amusement?

“You left me here,” he rasped.

The words cut through me. A memory—fragmented, distorted—slammed into place—a cold, sterile room. My hands gripping restraints. A voice whispering in my ear: Make the choice.

I staggered back. “No. I—I wouldn’t have.”

But deep down, I wasn’t sure.

My brother—the one beside me—shook his head. “We have to get out of here. Now.”

“And leave him?” My voice cracked. “What if—”

“He’s not me!” my brother snapped, his eyes flashing with something I couldn’t place—fear, anger, or both. “You have to trust me. We can’t save him. We don’t even know if he’s real.”

“I am real,” the figure whispered.

A deep rumbling sound echoed through the chamber. The facility’s systems were failing, alarms blaring in warning. The containment wing wasn’t stable. If we didn’t leave now, we’d all be trapped.

Ansel’s voice broke through again. “Lydia, listen to me. You have to choose. You don’t have much time.”

I turned back to the glass, my mind warring with itself. I had left him behind once, if he was real— my brother. Could I do it again?

The ground shook beneath us. My brother—beside me—grabbed my arm, his voice firm. “We go now, or we all die here.”

The clone’s eyes met mine. A silent plea. Or was it a trick?

I had to decide.

And I had seconds to do it.

Chapter 16 – The Choice

Time stretched impossibly thin as if the world itself was holding its breath. The alarms blared, and the tremors beneath my feet grew stronger. The walls groaned in protest, and metal twisted under the strain of imminent collapse.

I stared into the eyes of the clone—my brother’s doppelgänger. His expression was pleading and desperate, a flicker of something familiar, something real, twisted in my gut.

“Lydia, now!” Ansel’s voice snapped through the earpiece. “You need to move!”

My brother—the one beside me—gritted his teeth. “We don’t have time for this.”

The clone pressed his palm against the glass, his fingers splayed wide. “You left me once,” he whispered. “Don’t do it again.”

I clenched my fists. I had abandoned him if he was real—if he was my brother. But if he wasn’t…

A violent tremor rocked the facility, sending shards of glass from splintering cells crashing to the floor. Smoke curled through the cracks in the ceiling, and the overhead lights flickered wildly.

“Lydia, make a choice!” Ansel barked.

I inhaled sharply. Then, in one swift motion, I made my decision.

I reached for the emergency override panel, my fingers slamming against the buttons. The glass hissed, the locks disengaging with a final, deafening click.

The clone stumbled forward, stepping into the crumbling chaos around us. His breath hit, hed; his eyes wild as they met mine. “You—”

“Come with me,” I cut him off. “If you’re real, we figure it out later. But we have to get out. Now.”

My brother—the one I had always known—let out a sharp exhale, his hands curling into fists, but he said nothing. He turned and sprinted toward the exit.

The clone hesitated for only a second before following.

We ran.

The walls buckled, and fire erupted from shattered pipes. The hallway ahead was twisted in smoke and debris, and the path was barely visible through the chaos. Ansel’s voice guided us, his directions sharp and urgent.

“Take the next left! There’s an emergency access tunnel—go!”

I skidded around the corner, my lungs burning. The tunnel loomed ahead, a heavy metal door between us and the outside world. Ansel’s figure emerged from the shadows, his eyes narrowing as he saw the clone.

“You brought him?” he asked, incredulous.

I didn’t stop. “We don’t have time for this argument. Open the door!”

He muttered something but complied, hacking the system with rapid keystrokes. The locks hissed, then disengaged. The door slid open, revealing the cold night air beyond.

“Move!” Ansel ordered.

I shoved the clone through first, my brother at my side. The moment we crossed the threshold, the facility let out a final, deafening groan. The ground lurched violently beneath us, a shockwave of heat and dust erupting as the building imploded behind us.

We hit the pavement hard, the world spinning. For a long moment, none of us moved, our chests heaving and our hands scraping against broken asphalt.

Then, slowly, I turned.

The facility was gone.

I exhaled sharply, trying to steady my thoughts. But as I looked at the two identical figures beside me—one I knew, one I didn’t—I realised my real battle was just beginning.

I had saved them both.

But had I made the right choice?

Chapter 17 – What Remains

The silence after the explosion was deafening. The air was thick with dust, swirling in the dim glow of the streetlights. My ears rang, my body trembling from the shock. I forced myself to move, pushing off the rough asphalt as I turned toward the two figures beside me.

Two identical faces stared back.

One I had grown up with shared memories with—my brother. The other echoed something I had lost, a fragment of a past they had tried to erase.

Ansel was the first to break the silence. “We need to go. Now.”

My brother—the one I had known my whole life—pushed himself up, wiping the dust from his face. “Lydia, what the hell did you just do?”

The clone remained silent; his gaze locked onto me. Something unreadable in his expression made my stomach twist.

I swallowed hard. “I couldn’t leave him there.”

Ansel ran a hand through his hair, exhaling sharply. “You realise what this means, right? They’re going to come after us. The facility collapsing doesn’t erase the people who built it.”

I nodded, my mind racing. “We need to figure out who he is. Who he really is.”

The clone—my brother’s double—spoke for the first time. “I don’t remember everything,” he admitted, his voice hoarse. “But I know one thing. They weren’t just making copies. They were replacing people.”

A chill ran through me. “Replacing them?”

He nodded, glancing between me and my brother. “There were more like me. Others who didn’t make it. The ones who weren’t…perfect.”

My brother tensed. “And you think you are?”

“I don’t know what I am.” The clone looked at me. “But I remember you. Before they took me.”

The words lodged in my chest like a dagger.

Ansel was already moving, scanning the area for any sign of approaching threats. “We need to keep moving. There’s an old shelter about a mile from here. It’ll give us some time to figure this out.”

I hesitated. “And then what?”

“Then we decide what to do with him.” Ansel’s gaze flickered to the clone. “And what we do next.”

No one spoke as we started walking, the city stretching out in eerie quiet. The battle for my memories had ended.

But the war for the truth was just beginning.

Chapter 18 – Ghosts of the City

The city swallowed us as we moved, its vast, empty streets stretching into the distance. The only sound was the distant hum of power lines and the occasional flickering of a neon sign long past its prime. It felt abandoned, yet I knew better. Someone, somewhere, was watching.

Ansel led the way, his pace brisk but controlled. My brother—the real one—walked beside me, his movements tense. The clone lingered slightly behind, silent, his gaze flickering between us as if trying to anchor himself to something familiar.

The shelter Ansel spoke of wasn’t far. A crumbling industrial warehouse was hidden in the shadows of the skyline, its rusted exterior blending into the decayed landscape. We slipped inside through a side door, the space cavernous and cold. Dust coated the surfaces, but it was clear someone had used it recently. Supplies were stacked neatly against the far wall, and a makeshift sleeping area was tucked in the corner.

Ansel scanned the room. “It’s secure. For now.”

I exhaled, the weight of everything settling over me. My gaze flickered to the clone. “What do you remember?”

He hesitated. “Pieces. Faces. Flashes of something… but it’s all jumbled. I remember you, but not everything. I remember being taken, but not how.”

My brother folded his arms. “Then how do we know you’re not dangerous?”

The clone met his stare. “I don’t. But if they were replacing people, you must ask yourself—was I meant to replace you?”

A cold silence settled over the room.

Ansel sat on an overturned crate. “We need to lay low, gather intel, figure out what’s next. They won’t stop looking for us. We need to move carefully.”

I swallowed. “And if they find us?”

He glanced at the clone. “Then we find out just how much of a fight he has in him.”

The clone exhaled slowly. “I’ll fight if I have to. But I want to know who I am.”

I nodded. “Then we find out. Together.”

As the city loomed, I realised we were no longer running from the truth.

We were hunting it.

Chapter 19 – The Silent War

The city stretched endlessly before us, its skyline fractured by half-collapsed buildings and the occasional flicker of distant lights. A quiet battle was taking place in its ruins—one we had just stepped into.

Ansel was already moving, leading us deeper into the warehouse district. “We can’t stay here long. They’ll be scanning the area.”

The clone—my brother’s mirror—kept pace beside me. His eyes moved restlessly, scanning the surroundings with a wariness that spoke of instincts neither of us understood yet.

“Who are ‘they’?” he asked, voice cautious.

Ansel didn’t look back. “The ones who built the facility. The ones who erased you. The ones who won’t let you exist.”

A chill settled into my bones. “So, what do we do? Keep running?”

Ansel shook his head. “No. We strike first.”

My brother—the real one—exhaled sharply. “And how exactly do we do that? We don’t even know where to start.”

The clone’s gaze hardened. “Yes, we do.”

We all turned to him.

He inhaled deeply as if bracing himself. “I remember something. Not much, but enough. There’s a research hub—hidden, deep underground. It’s where they monitored me, where they kept the others. If we can get there, we’ll find answers. Maybe even others like me.”

Silence stretched between us.

Ansel studied him, eyes narrowed. “And you’re sure about this?”

“No,” the clone admitted. “But if we wait, they’ll find us first.”

My pulse quickened. A part of me knew this was reckless. But another part—one that had been buried for too long—was desperate for the truth.

I met Ansel’s gaze. “Then we go. We find this place. And we end this.”

The night air felt charged as we moved, no longer running or hiding.

We were going to war.

Chapter 20 – The Descent into Truth

The road ahead stretched into the city’s depths, the glow of distant lights barely illuminating our path. We moved quickly, our steps soundless against the cracked pavement, the tension between us growing with each passing second.

Ansel led the way, his posture rigid. He scanned the shadows as if expecting an ambush at any moment. My brother, his jaw clenched, walked beside me, his silence heavier than the night air. The clone—the reflection of the past they tried to erase—kept his distance, but I could feel his gaze flickering toward me, searching for something. Understanding? Reassurance?

“The research hub is underground,” the clone said, his voice barely above a whisper. “It won’t be easy to get in.”

Ansel scoffed. “Nothing ever is.”

We reached an alleyway behind an abandoned factory, the remnants of its former use long stripped away. A rusted metal grate covered a passageway leading beneath the city. The clone knelt beside it, running his fingers over the corroded edges before glancing at me.

“This is it. They used this access point to transport test subjects. It leads directly into the lower sector of the facility.”

I swallowed hard. “And you’re sure we won’t walk straight into their hands?”

“I’m sure of nothing,” the clone admitted. “But if we don’t move now, they’ll find us first.”

Ansel nodded. “Then we go in quiet. Fast. If this goes sideways, we pull out.”

No one argued.

The grate groaned as we pried it open, revealing a narrow ladder descending into darkness. One by one, we climbed down, the air thick with the scent of damp concrete and old metal. My fingers tightened around the rungs as my heart pounded in my ears.

We landed in a narrow tunnel, dripping water echoing against the walls. The clone moved ahead, leading us through the maze of corridors, his steps sure, as if guided by instinct or memory.

Then he stopped.

“We’re close,” he whispered. “Beyond this door.”

A steel door loomed before us, its surface covered in scratches as if something—or someone—had tried to claw its way out.

I exhaled. “No turning back now.”

Ansel pulled a crowbar from his pack, handing it to me. “Then let’s open it.”

With a deep breath, I wedged the metal into the rusted lock, the door resisting first before giving way with a sharp snap.

It swung open, revealing a darkened chamber filled with flickering monitors, cables coiled along the floor like veins. And at the centre of it all—

A single occupied containment pod.

The figure inside stirred, and as the lights illuminated his face, my breath caught in my throat.

It was another clone.

And this one was awake.

Chapter 21 – The Awakening

The pod’s glass was coated in a thin layer of condensation, distorting the man’s features inside. His eyes fluttered open, unfocused at first, then locking onto mine with an eerie familiarity.

He was identical to the clone standing beside me.

A deep chill settled over my skin. “How many of them are there?”

The clone beside me hesitated. “I don’t know. But if he’s here, that means we’re not the only ones.”

Ansel shifted, gripping his crowbar tightly. “We need to wake him up properly and fast. If he’s conscious, then so is the facility’s security system.”

A low mechanical whir hummed through the chamber the moment he said it. The monitors flickered to life, displaying unreadable code in rapid succession.

The facility knew we were here.

“Lydia, help me!” My brother’s voice yanked my attention back. He had already begun disengaging the pod’s locks, his fingers flying over the control panel.

A sharp hiss filled the air as the seals broke, releasing a blast of freezing vapour. The clone inside gasped, lurching forward as the glass slid open. His body trembled violently, his breath coming in rapid bursts.

I grabbed his arm, steadying him. “You’re safe. We’re here to help.”

His eyes darted between us, his confusion palpable. “Where… where am I?”

The clone beside me answered first. “Somewhere you weren’t meant to leave.”

A booming noise shook the chamber. The security system was no longer just aware of us—it was activating.

Ansel swore. “We need to move. Now.”

I turned back to the newly awakened clone, his skin still icy beneath my grip. “Can you walk?”

He nodded weakly. “I think so.”

No more hesitation.

I wrapped his arm over my shoulder and pulled him forward. “Then let’s get out of here.”

The facility roared to life behind us as we ran, the past chasing after us with every step.