He took out a small data chip from his pocket and held it out. "We’ve been gathering internal security codes, thinking that one day... soone like you could make use of them."
Aylin glanced between the two, her skepticism fading slightly. "If this is real... you have to get my sister first. I’m not leaving without her."
The older guard nodded, a serious look on his face. "Lot 21. We’ve already unlocked her room. You looped the caras, right?"
She blinked, surprised by how well they were prepared. "Yeah, I set them to 40-second intervals," she replied, feeling a bit proud.
The younger guy smiled at her. "Smart move. Let’s get going."
When they stepped out of the room, the guards outside asked, "Where are you taking her?" The older one replied, "The boss called for her." The guard nodded and stepped aside to let them pass.
The Underground Auction Facility, Escape Route, was a wild scene, filled with sweat and tension. The ergency lights were flashing red, creating a frantic atmosphere. Suddenly, sirens wailed, the alarm going off way too late.
Aylin gripped her sister’s wrist as they sprinted away, flanked by two guards who had chosen to ditch Alpha to help them escape. Just monts earlier, Jax, the younger guard, had handed her a pistol.
"If we don’t make it," he said, his expression serious, "you’ve got to survive. Got it?"
They turned into a service hallway where the lights hadn’t kicked on yet. Shadows flickered along the tal walls, and they could hear the pounding footsteps behind them, dozens of boots racing after them.
"Split route coming up," the older guard said quietly. "This is where we go our separate ways."
Aylin’s eyes went wide. "No, you have to co with us!"
Jax shook his head. "We’re already ghosts here. If we make it through this, we’ll find a way to et up again. Just keep that wire safe."
He exchanged a quick nod with the other guard and then turned back to Aylin for one last look. "There are caras everywhere. They catch everything. Don’t let what we’re doing go to waste."
She didn’t want to leave them behind, but Ayla’s shaking hand squeezed hers, pushing her onward.
So she took off running. Behind them, gunfire erupted in the hallway.
In the back corridors, the sisters were sneaking through a side stairwell. Aylin had stashed the gun into her corset, gripping the railing with one hand. Ayla was weak, struggling to walk, still dazed from whatever drugs they’d given her. But freedom felt so close, so close.
Then, she heard footsteps. Fast and heavy. Two guards turned the corner, weapons drawn.
Aylin quickly shoved Ayla behind a pillar. She aid her gun at them.
Click. Click, click, click, click, she fired five shots, and then it went Empty.
One of the guards, hiding just out of sight, lunged forward and grabbed Ayla.
Ayla scread, twisting and fighting to break free, reaching for the guard’s gun. They both toppled to the ground in a wild struggle.
BANG.
Everything seed to freeze.
Ayla lay there, still and silent, blood spreading across her golden dress. Her eyes blinked a few tis before closing completely, and for a mont, her lips parted as if trying to say sothing, but no words ca. Aylin’s heart sank as she stared in disbelief.
"No... no, no, Ayla..." she cried, dropping to her knees beside her sister. She shook her gently, her hands slick with blood, warm and terrifying.
"Ayla, please wake up, please," she begged, panic rising in her voice.
The guards laughed mockingly behind her. One stepped closer, a smirk on his face.
"Did you really think you could outsmart Alpha?" he taunted.
Aylin’s fingers brushed against the cold gun still clenched in Ayla’s hand. In a rush of anger and desperation, she grabbed it and fired without thinking.
BANG.
The first guard dropped, and the second one turned to run, but Aylin was already moving.
BANG.
He fell too, and just like that, the corridor fell into silence.
Only the soft hum of distant fans broke the stillness, along with Aylin’s quiet sobs.
She pulled Ayla into her lap, holding her like she was a little kid again. Grief rocked her body, and her screams were muffled in Ayla’s blood-soaked hair.
"I promised I’d protect you," she managed to say, choking on her words. "I promised..."
It felt like ti stood still as she stayed like that, lost in her sorrow. But sowhere deep inside her, sothing began to change.
The hacker. The ghost. The daughter. The sister. Lunel was gone for good.
Now, Aylin had to save Ayla. She didn’t have a plan, but she knew she needed help. The guards who had helped her before might be able to assist her again, but she had no idea where they were or if they were even alive. She fished the device out of her corset and pressed the button several tis, but nothing happened. She waited twenty minutes, anxiously checking Ayla’s pulse every five minutes.
Aylin pressed two fingers to Ayla’s neck, and when she felt the faintest pulse, she realized she had minutes, not hours, before everything ended.
When it hit her that no one was coming, she stood up and started dragging Ayla with her. Ayla’s pulse felt weak, and tears stread down Aylin’s face, mixing with the blood on her sister’s dress. She cried silently and pulled Ayla along, feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Ayla’s knees buckled under the strain, but Aylin didn’t let go. She pushed herself to keep moving, even as her heart ached.
As she dragged Ayla through the ergency tunnel, Aylin curled her arms under her sister’s knees, feeling the coldness of Ayla’s skin against her own. The blood-soaked dress hung behind them like a ghostly veil, a grim marker of everything that had just happened.
Her hands were raw and shaking, but she refused to let go of the gun. It felt like her last line of defense after everything they’d faced, the violence, the betrayal, the loss.
She pressed her forehead against the cold wall, pausing at the junction of the hallways.
Breathing. Shaking.
"We’re not done, Ayla. You hear ?" she whispered, leaning down closer, her lips brushing against Ayla’s hair, wishing for a sign of life.
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