The tunnels cracked open behind them, whole sections of the ceiling collapsing, sparks shooting from broken generators. The lights flickered like strobe flashes. Metal shrieked. At one point, a whole train car dropped from the ceiling like a meteor and skidded across the lower tracks, taking out another platoon.
This time, speed mattered, instinct mattered, but luck mattered the most.
And speed was the only thing Xavier had plenty of.
Heroic forces pushed him forward through a broken maintenance shaft that rattled with every step they took. The whole shaft shook like a dying animal, the steel beams creaking overhead, dust falling into their faces. They climbed the side ladder, emerged onto one of the upper rail bridges, and immediately had to jump aside as a half-collapsed passenger train slid past them before crashing into a support pillar.
AstraNova grabbed Xavier's wrist again. "Don't stop. Keep moving. The moment we hesitate— we die."
He didn't argue.
