Chapter 9 - The Final Escape
The automated countdown echoed mercilessly throughout the massive facility.
Ryan burst into the stairwell, grabbing Mia into his arms while Chloe held tightly to Leo's hand.
"We have exactly ninety seconds to reach the ground floor," Ryan shouted, practically jumping down entire flights of stairs.
The concrete walls around them began to groan as the building's automated lockdown doors sealed shut.
They reached the lobby just as the countdown clock hit thirty seconds.
The main glass doors were completely covered by thick, impenetrable steel security shutters.
"We are trapped!" Chloe cried out in absolute despair, pounding her fists against the cold metal.
Ryan frantically scanned the lobby, his eyes landing on a massive, heavy marble statue in the center of the room.
Parked right next to it was a maintenance forklift left behind by the fleeing workers.
"Get behind the reception desk and keep your heads down!" Ryan ordered his family.
He jumped into the driver's seat of the forklift and slammed the ignition key.
The engine roared to life, and Ryan drove the heavy machine directly at the marble statue.
He used the steel forks to lift the incredibly heavy statue off its base.
With exactly ten seconds left, he hit the gas pedal and drove the forklift at maximum speed toward the steel shutters.
He dove out of the moving vehicle at the last possible second, sliding across the slick marble floor.
The forklift crashed into the shutters, using the heavy marble statue as a massive battering ram.
The steel buckled and tore open, creating a gap just large enough for them to squeeze through.
"Go, go, go!" Ryan screamed, pushing Chloe and the kids through the jagged opening.
They sprinted across the front lawn, diving behind a thick concrete retaining wall.
The countdown hit zero, and a deafening, earth-shattering explosion ripped through the night.
The entire pharmaceutical facility collapsed in on itself, a massive pillar of fire reaching toward the sky.
Ryan covered his family with his own body as debris rained down around them like a violent storm.
When the dust finally settled, sirens could be heard wailing in the distance.
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They had actually survived.
But as Ryan helped his wife to her feet, a dark figure emerged from the smoke holding a silver pistol.
