Chapter 7 - The Blast Radius
I violently kicked the laundry room door open and dove frantically out of the confined shaft.
The ticking explosive detonated with a deafening roar just milliseconds after my boots cleared the doorway.
A massive wave of scorching heat and debris blasted me across the tiled laundry room floor.
I slammed hard against a heavy washing machine, fiercely protecting Noah from the flying shrapnel.
The entire foundation of the massive mansion groaned dangerously under the force of the interior explosion.
Thick, choking dust filled the dark basement, making it nearly impossible to breathe.
I pulled my shirt over Noah's tiny face to filter the toxic air from his fragile lungs.
"Emily!" I shouted desperately into the suffocating darkness, coughing up blood and dust.
There was no answer, only the terrifying sound of the mansion's massive support beams beginning to crack above me.
Suddenly, a heavy steel access door swung open on the far side of the ruined laundry room.
Emily stumbled through the doorway, covered in gray soot and bleeding heavily from a nasty cut on her forehead.
She had managed to escape through a secondary laundry chute just before the mercenaries dropped the bomb.
"We have to get into the sub-basement storm drains before the entire house collapses," she wheezed painfully.
I limped forward, leaning heavily on her small shoulder as we hurried down a narrow spiral staircase.
The storm drains were supposed to be completely dry, acting as an emergency overflow for the coastal property.
But as we reached the bottom of the stairs, freezing seawater splashed brutally against our ankles.
The violent hurricane outside had caused a massive storm surge, pushing the ocean directly into the drainage pipes.
The water was rising incredibly fast, swirling with mud, debris, and freezing coastal temperatures.
We waded deeply into the dark, echoing tunnel, the freezing water quickly reaching up to our waists.
Noah began to shiver violently in my arms, his tiny body losing heat at a dangerously rapid pace.
"He cannot survive this freezing water for much longer," I panicked, holding him high above my head.
Emily pulled a waterproof flashlight from her pocket and shined it down the long, flooded tunnel.
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At the very end of the pipe, a massive, rusted iron grate completely blocked our only exit to the ocean.
And the rising black water was only three feet away from entirely flooding the ceiling.
