Chapter 7 - The Water Cell
The helicopter tore through the violent storm, lightning flashing across the dark horizon.
Hayes pushed the engine to its absolute limits, ignoring the blaring warning alarms in the cockpit.
Through the rain-streaked windshield, the massive concrete structure of the municipal dam finally appeared.
"Put us down on the lower spillway!" I shouted over the roar of the rotor blades.
Hayes banked hard, slamming the skids of the chopper onto the wet concrete with a bone-jarring crunch.
We leaped out into the freezing downpour, sprinting toward the heavy steel maintenance doors.
Carter attached a breaching charge to the lock and blew the door inward in a shower of sparks.
We flooded into the dimly lit subterranean facility, sweeping our weapons across the empty corridors.
The roar of millions of gallons of rushing water echoed through the concrete walls.
I checked the live video feed on the tablet, mapping the background pipes to our current location.
"She's in the primary overflow chamber, level three!" I yelled, leading the team down a rusted spiral staircase.
We kicked open the control room doors and found the massive glass chamber suspended over the main turbines.
Emily was inside, her broken legs cast in heavy splints, strapped tightly to a metal medical bed.
The freezing water was already rising past her shoulders, and she was crying out in sheer terror.
I ran to the thick glass wall and slammed my fists against it, screaming her name.
She looked at me, her eyes wide with relief, but the water was rising too fast for her to hear me.
I turned to the main control console, searching frantically for a release valve or an emergency stop button.
The entire electronic board had been violently smashed to pieces with a heavy sledgehammer.
Cameron Voss had destroyed the controls before retreating deeper into the facility.
The water reached Emily's chin, and she tilted her head back, gasping for the last pockets of air.
"Shoot the glass!" Miller yelled, raising his assault rifle.
"No!" I commanded, pushing his barrel down immediately.
The glass was heavily reinforced, and the impact of the bullets would cause it to shatter inward in massive, jagged chunks.
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If we shot the glass, the intense water pressure would drive the deadly shards directly into Emily’s body.
We were completely out of time, and the water finally crested over her mouth.
