Chapter 7 - The Desperate Escape
Ben collapsed onto his knees in the stairwell, clutching his bleeding side with a pale, trembling hand.
A stray bullet had managed to strike him during our desperate escape from the freezing laboratory.
I knelt beside him, frantically pressing my jacket against the wound to slow the rapid blood loss.
Ben groaned in agony but firmly pushed my hands away, demanding that I focus entirely on Rosie.
He told me that he would only slow us down and that I needed to get the twins to safety immediately.
I refused to abandon the man who had sacrificed absolutely everything to protect my vulnerable sister.
I grabbed a roll of sterile gauze from the bottom of Rosie's surgical cart and tightly bound Ben's bleeding torso.
I forced him to stand up, wrapping his heavy arm around my shoulder to support his failing weight.
We slowly pushed Rosie's rolling bed up the steep concrete ramp leading toward the hospital's underground parking garage.
Every single step was agonizing, but the distant sounds of my father's angry shouts kept our adrenaline surging.
We finally breached the heavy metal doors of the parking structure, greeted by the cool, damp night air.
The garage was dimly lit and completely empty, except for a row of parked medical transport ambulances.
I found an unlocked ambulance with the keys still sitting carelessly in the ignition.
We carefully lifted Rosie off the surgical table and secured her onto the comfortable stretcher inside the vehicle.
Ben gently placed the two tiny babies onto their mother's chest, wrapping them warmly in thick hospital blankets.
He slumped into the passenger seat, his breathing becoming dangerously shallow and erratic.
I climbed into the driver's seat, started the powerful engine, and flipped on the flashing emergency lights.
I slammed my foot on the gas pedal, tearing through the wooden exit barrier of the parking garage.
We sped out into the quiet city streets, blending in perfectly with the late-night emergency traffic.
I felt a massive surge of hope, truly believing that we had finally escaped my family's evil clutches.
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But as I merged onto the main highway, a massive black tactical vehicle suddenly slammed aggressively into the side of the ambulance.
My mother was behind the wheel of the armored truck, staring at me with a twisted, psychotic smile.
