Chapter 7 - The Blood Key
The shockwave of the blast threw Hale backward like a ragdoll.
He crashed into a heavy wooden beam, the air driven completely from his lungs.
Olivia had managed to dive behind a thick steel filing cabinet just before the explosion tore the room apart.
Flames licked at the splintered walls of the lumber mill, casting an eerie orange glow over the carnage.
She scrambled over the burning debris and grabbed Hale by the collar of his uniform.
"We have to go now!" she screamed over the roar of the fire.
Hale groaned in pain, clutching his left side where a piece of shrapnel had torn through his uniform.
She pulled him up, supporting his weight as they stumbled out of a shattered back window.
They disappeared into the dense, rain-soaked forest just as more Apex mercenaries swarmed the burning building.
They hiked blindly for hours, the freezing rain masking their tracks in the deep mud.
By dawn, they reached the outskirts of a small, desolate industrial town.
Hale collapsed against the brick wall of an abandoned warehouse, panting heavily.
Olivia checked his wound, relieved to find it was a shallow graze and not a fatal puncture.
"Why did Vance try to extract your blood?" Hale asked, wincing as she applied pressure to the cut.
"My father did not just survive the parasite," Olivia explained softly.
"He weaponized it into an airborne strain called the Ares Protocol."
"But the weapon is locked in a subterranean vault in Chicago."
Hale looked at her, the pieces of the puzzle finally falling into place.
"The vault has a biometric lock," Hale realized.
"It only responds to the unique genetic marker created by the parasite."
"Exactly," Olivia nodded.
"My father cannot open it because his DNA mutated too aggressively."
"I am the only person left with the exact blood key required to unlock the weapon."
They needed to get to Chicago before Apex could capture her and force her to open the vault.
They sneaked into an underground railyard and found a massive, automated freight train scheduled for Chicago.
They climbed into an empty boxcar just as the heavy metal doors began to slide shut.
The train lurched forward, slowly building speed as it left the station behind.
Hale leaned back against the cold metal wall and finally closed his eyes to rest.
Olivia sat near the front of the car, watching the landscape blur past through a small crack in the door.
Suddenly, a hidden flat-screen monitor mounted on the wall of the boxcar flared to life with static.
The static cleared, revealing the scarred, smiling face of Commander David Mitchell.
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"Hello, Olivia," her dead father whispered through the speakers.
"I locked the doors from the outside, sweetheart, so enjoy the ride."
