Chapter 5 - The Ascent
David violently pushed the two women and the child flat against the cold concrete wall of the stairwell, gesturing frantically for total, absolute silence.
The heavy, threatening footsteps of the armed mercenary echoed down the metal stairs, growing terrifyingly louder with every passing agonizing second.
Clara clamped her trembling hand tightly over her own mouth to desperately muffle the sound of her terrified, ragged breathing.
Elena pulled little Lily tightly into her chest, completely wrapping her oversized hospital gown around the girl to hide her entirely from sight.
David quietly unhooked the heavy metal fire extinguisher from the rusted wall bracket right beside his shoulder.
He stood perfectly still right next to the handrail, waiting patiently until the mercenary's black combat boots came into clear view on the landing above.
As the armed man carelessly rounded the corner, David swung the heavy red cylinder with absolutely every ounce of his remaining adrenaline-fueled strength.
The solid metal tank crashed brutally into the mercenary's chest, instantly sending him tumbling violently backward down the steep stairs.
The man dropped his tactical shotgun, which clattered noisily against the metal railing before falling uselessly into the dark abyss of the ground floor.
David didn't hesitate for a single second; he aggressively grabbed the stunned man by his tactical vest and tightly bound his hands with a medical tourniquet.
"We have to keep moving up before he wakes up and calls for backup," David whispered urgently, quickly ushering the terrified group up the stairs.
They climbed three steep flights in agonizing, breathless silence, their muscles burning painfully from absolute fear and physical exhaustion.
They finally reached the fourth floor, which safely housed the specialized pediatric intensive care unit where the tiny twins were securely resting.
Clara cautiously pushed open the heavy door, nervously peeking out into the deserted, dimly lit hospital hallway.
The emergency backup generators had finally kicked in, casting an incredibly eerie, blood-red glow across the sterile white medical walls.
They rushed frantically into the ICU, finding the two tiny babies sleeping peacefully inside their protective, climate-controlled incubators.
Elena burst into quiet, relieved tears, pressing her trembling hands lovingly against the warm plastic glass of the machines.
She quickly confessed to David and Clara that the babies were actually Richard's biological children, created for a deeply sinister purpose.
She explained through her tears that Richard's incredibly wealthy family suffered from a rare genetic curse, and they routinely used illegal surrogate mothers to breed healthy heirs.
Once the innocent babies were born, Richard brutally planned to harvest their healthy organs to save his own dying, older children.
Elena had accidentally discovered the horrific, monstrous truth and bravely fled in the middle of the night, taking the twins to protect them from slaughter.
Suddenly, the digital monitors attached to the smallest twin began to beep frantically with a terrifying, high-pitched warning alarm.
The tiny baby's fragile chest completely stopped moving, and its little lips began to rapidly turn a terrifying shade of dark blue.
Clara desperately checked the incubator's readouts, absolute panic flashing instantly across her highly experienced face.
May you like
She looked up at David with wide, utterly terrified eyes that communicated the grim reality of the situation without a single word.
The central oxygen line to the room had been maliciously severed by the lockdown protocol, and they had exactly two minutes to manually intubate the child before total brain death occurred.
