Escape - Chapter 9.2
Chapter 9.2
‘Well, maybe she needs time to gather her thoughts. Adeline is in shock.’
Luce pictured her face, pale and drained of color at Damian’s news. Allowing an off-duty guard into the armory was strictly forbidden. But there were exceptions to every rule.
Damian had saved Luce’s life, even sacrificing his own. And he’d done it in the depths of hell, a place where it was hard to feel anything but terror. So, the least he could do was help retrieve his last belongings.
Thinking of Damian brought a wave of self-reproach and guilt. Luce grimaced, burying his face in his rough hands. He looked up again a moment later, when unfamiliar footsteps filled the corridor.
“Lieutenant Luce Gradel?”
The sound of military boots drew Luce’s attention. A dozen military police officers were walking toward him from the end of the hallway. Luce, momentarily confused, belatedly saluted.
“Yes, Luce Gradel. What brings you all here at this hour?”
“Your shift ended hours ago, Lieutenant. Why are you still here?”
The curt question came back as a reply. The military policeman’s face was stern. Luce swallowed nervously.
“I believe I left something behind, and I was looking for it.”
“Left something behind? In the armory?”
“Yes. My colleague is inside right now.”
“Is this colleague, by any chance, Lieutenant Adeline La Graciel?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
He was bewildered. How did they know Adeline was here?
Luce desperately tried to come up with an excuse. Allowing an off-duty guard into the armory would result in disciplinary action, at the very least.
But the policemen were faster. Click. Weapons moved with a menacing sound. In an instant, a dozen gun barrels were pointed at him.
Luce’s eyes widened. He raised his hands in alarm. It was definitely a disciplinary offense, but not something he’d be arrested for. Pointing guns at him for this? What was going on?
Luce opened his mouth to speak. That’s when it happened.
Click. Creeeaaak.
The tense silence was broken by the slow opening of the armory door. Click. Simultaneously, the menacing gun barrels shifted from Luce to the open door.
And then, thud, something rolled out through the gap. Luce, closest to the door, saw it first. That was…
“A smoke grenade!”
As soon as someone shouted, smoke billowed from the object. It was instantaneous. The surroundings were filled with a white haze.
He heard the policemen cursing and shouting.
‘What? What’s going on?’
In the midst of the chaos, Luce stood frozen until someone grabbed his arm.
“Shut up and follow me.”
“Adeline?”
The whispered voice in his ear was incredibly calm. He instinctively let himself be pulled along by the firm hand.
He didn’t know why, but they were being chased. Animal instincts are strongest when hunted. Luce silently followed, suppressing his presence. He could find out later why they were being pursued by the policemen.
The hallway was wide, but so were their pursuers.
“It’s no use. We’ll be caught soon.”
Adeline, who had been walking along the edge of the corridor, stopped abruptly. “Well, we don’t know that yet.” After a moment, she started walking again—in the opposite direction of the exit.
“Hey, are you serious…?”
With their vision obscured, the policemen had limited options. The safest was to seal the exit. Trapped, Adeline and her companion would be easy to apprehend once visibility returned. Yet, instead of trying to escape, Adeline was going deeper.
“If there’s no exit, we’ll make one.” Before the words fully registered, Adeline pulled something from her bag and removed a safety pin with her teeth. Without hesitation, she hurled it at the far wall.
One second, two seconds, three seconds, four seconds, five seconds.
Boom! The deafening roar left no time to cover their ears.
Crack! Boom!
“…Crazy.” Luce gaped, stunned. Dust rained down as the ceiling crumbled, revealing the ground floor beyond the hazy cloud.
‘Who throws a grenade in the headquarters?’
As if reading his mind, Adeline muttered cynically, “Who throws a grenade? Me.”
The woman beside him was no longer the grieving widow. This was Adeline, his ‘crazy’ former classmate, the one who’d stop at nothing to complete a mission. With her sharp judgment and icy composure, the capable soldier who’d earned the rank of lieutenant upon graduating the academy, outsmarting a dozen officers was child’s play. Now he saw she was fully armed. Her request to open the armory hadn’t been about retrieving lost belongings.
A chilling premonition gripped Luce.
‘Something’s wrong. Terribly wrong.’
“What are you waiting for? Run!” Her scream snapped him back to reality. He ran without question. Seconds later, they reached the “gate” of District 13, panting.
They stood before the first gate, a massive structure resembling a castle’s entrance. It was the only passage to the corridor, the only escape route from District 13.
