Nyx is about to bite Cai again when there’s an explosion, and the lights flicker, then turn off.

  Emergency lights flicker on just in time for Nyx to see orderlies attacking the two soldiers guarding them.

  Nyx hisses, “Goddum it!”

  Cai is already on his feet, his leg no longer numb, and he sprints to help the soldiers.

  Stun rounds fly, hitting the orderlies and a scientist.

  Children scream.

  The women who were taking care of the children took advantage of the confusion and used toys to bludgeon the soldiers on their side of the room as the soldiers focused on the orderlies.

  There is shouting in the hall and the sound of screams as she hears live rounds go off.

  Nyx panics and runs with Roxy behind a toy playhouse.

  Cai tackles an orderly trying to wrestle the rifle from a soldier, but the scientists and soldiers outnumber them by twenty or more.

  A child cries out as a stray stun round hits her.

  Roxy gasps and runs over, “Stop! You’re hitting the children!”

  There are gunshots in the hallway, and the door soon opens, two soldiers in heavy power armor walking in.

  The armor looks terrifying. She sees plates thicker than even the hull of the Az Gaper. Even the joints have armor covering every weakness. Their helmets glow with a single green laser, which scans the room in a heartbeat. They’re holding rifles with drum magazines and several more on hard points on their legs. She sees a few grenades on a belt, and a long tube on their backs.

  They shoot the remaining soldiers as the orderlies and scientists take cover.

  By the looks on their faces, the lab workers expected this as none looked surprised, and many looked pleased.

  Nyx has to cover her ears and look away as live rounds tear into the soldiers’ lighter armor, sending spurts of blood splattering wherever a round penetrates. A cry as one ricochets into an orderly moving to cover the scientists.

  The soldiers fire off a few stun rounds, but they spark harmlessly on the heavy armor before the last falls to the ground and blood pools around them.

  Cai raises his hands, “Don’t shoot. I surrender.”

  The armored newcomers turn back to the hallway, “Take the guns. We’re enacting Plan Omega now that the facility is compromised.”

  “What about the children?” One asks.

  Nyx feels her stomach drop as she imagines them gunning her down like they did her siblings.

  There’s shouting and stun rounds peppering the armored men and the doorway, “Leave them. Seal the door and use the emergency elevator. We intercepted a message saying the director has severe brain damage and the vice director was already evacuated for questioning, so we need to free her.”

  Nyx smiles, knowing she hurt the director so much. But the reality of the situation quickly quashes it.

  “So you’re in charge now, Captain?” A scientist with a narrow face and narrow eyes asks.

  No answer as both armored men turn to return fire.

  The orderlies, now armed with the dead soldiers’ weapons, turn their attention to Nyx’s group and the children.

  No one speaks, with the only sounds being frightened children, the dying breaths of a soldier, and footsteps, as the scientists rush from the room as the fighting becomes more distant as the armored juggernauts split up to, what Nyx assumes, make a safe way for the scientists to leave.

  Zone is the first to move, “Gwen! Don’t kill our baby! Please!”

  Gwen doesn’t even look back as she holds Michael’s hand.

  The door closes.

  Roxy places the stunned child on a nearby pillow and rushes to the soldier that’s still breathing, “Hang in there!”

  The soldier reaches up, “Pouch… leg…” His hand touches Roxy’s face, leaving a bloody handprint.

  Cai is there next, “Roxy, keep him awake. I’ve done simulations for first aid, so I’ll do my best.”

  Roxy takes the soldier’s hand, “What’s your name?”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “Private Daniels.”

  Nyx feels queasy as she moves next to Cai, and Twoey pokes another soldier to see if he’s still alive.

  Cai touches her shoulder, “Take off his armor.”

  Nyx’s hands shake as she fumbles at hidden clasps and buckles.

  Cai pulls a small needle from the soldier’s pouch, and Nyx’s eyes sting as images of Dr. Yang injecting serums into her eyeballs flash into her mind.

  Roxy continues, terrified, not of the blood but because she’s close to him, and Cai injects the man, who almost immediately relaxes, “Hi. I’m… I’m Roxy. Um… I’m not good at this, but…”

  The soldier’s hand falls limp.

  Cai checks his pulse, “He’s dead. Looks like one got him in the lung. I don’t think there was anything else to do other than give him the pain meds.”

  Roxy sobs uncontrollably as she kneels over the dead soldier, “Why? We were almost free!”

  Zone spits, “I’m gonna go after them. I’m not gonna let Gwen kill our kid.”

  Twoey tackles Zone and pins him, “Idiot! They’ll kill you!’

  Cai stands, “Twoey is right. We’ll need to hope Sandel’s security can stop them.” He walks to the door, “But we’re going too. Let’s find our stuff then head to the director’s room to use his console. If they have a ship, I’ll have the Donati ambush them. It should be in orbit soon if it isn’t already.”

  Nyx runs ahead and growls, “Spark yeah.”

  Roxy puts the soldier’s hands on his chest, then stands, her hands bloody and the handprint on her face looking like some brutal war paint, “Cai. Please stop them.”

  She bows.

  Twoey gives a thumbs up.

  They leave the room.

  The first thing they see are the bodies of the two soldiers they saw guarding the door when they entered. Next is the wall, its metal scuffed and dented from the pancaked bullets and spent stun rounds.

  The hallway is already eerily quiet, and they enter. The long, sterile hallways look even more uninviting.

  Roxy stops at the door, “I’m going to stay with the children. Twoey?”

  They look inside. None of the caretakers has stayed.

  Twoey’s ears droop, as does her tail, and follows Roxy back, “Yes, momma.”

  Zone leans against the door frame and crosses his arms, “You two go. I’m staying here.”

  Nyx watches him for a moment. He’s staring at the direction Gwen and the scientists went.

  She isn’t sure what to say to him, so she follows Cai down the hallway back to the storage room.

  “Well, shit.” Cai says as they pass by the director’s room.

  Nyx looks into the room. There is a dead soldier and a man that looks like a technician slumped back into the director’s chair in front of the now destroyed computer, “What we gonna be doin’ now?”

  Cai shakes his head, “We still need to get our wrist computers. If we can get out of this lab, I should still be able to contact the Donati.”

  He jogs this time.

  They round the corner and find more dead soldiers, “Goddum it…” she mutters as she nearly slips in a puddle of blood. If the soldiers didn’t have helmets and she could see their faces, she’s not sure she could handle the death she’s seeing.

  Thankfully, there’s no one inside the storage room, and they find their bags where they left them, “Let’s be gettin’ goin’!”

  She grabs their bags when Zone rushes into the room, “There’s another elevator coming! I heard it start moving.”

  Cai nods, “Thanks, Zone. Now let’s hope they don’t shoot first.”

  Nyx feels her ears fold back from fear, “You be thinkin’ they’ll be shootin’ our azes?”

  “We let them know we’re here and unarmed.” He stops and pulls the director’s antique gun from the bag. “Okay, now we are.”

  There’s shouting outside.

  Cai heads to the hallway, “This is Cai Halley! They left through a hidden elevator. I can help!”

  Nyx hesitates as she reaches the doorway, gulps, then follows him out.

  Zone climbs into an empty cupboard, “I’m not here.”

  Nyx can’t blame Zone for hiding. She thought she’d gotten to know what kind of person he was, but having a baby and finding out he was going to lose it? It made her feel sick thinking about it. She wasn’t sure when killing someone, even an unborn baby, was right or wrong, but after seeing how callously these people killed children… she found she’d rather not kill at all.

  Her hands shake as she remembers shooting the director. She’d almost killed him. Maybe she had? He’d ordered the murders of so many. He deserved it, didn’t he? But did he deserve it the way she did it? She was so angry. If she killed him, would she rationalize things to kill other people she thought were bad?

  “Freeze! Drop the bags and hold up your hands!” She hears a voice shout from around the corner as Cai rounds it.

  Cai drops the bags, his wrist computer still on his wrist, “They all left. Something about a secret elevator and maybe a ship.”

  “On your knees!”

  Cai gets on his knees, “I can help! I have a ship in orbit. If they launch, I can ambush them.”

  The soldiers take cover before rounding the corner, and aim their guns at Nyx, “Drop your bags, hands up, and get on your knees!”

  Nyx does as commanded.

  The soldiers check them with a quick pat down.

  “Commander, hallway clear!”

  A soldier with a patch that looks more important than the others, two stripes on Mars red, compared to none or one on the others she’d seen, walks up, “Cai Halley? We were told you were down here and may be a co-conspirator. Tell us what happened.”

  Cai tells them. How he’d escaped, and they’d disabled security, the robots, and the other things. The armored men. The escape.

  Finally, the commander speaks, “The two armored soldiers. They’re in the dome as we speak. Then, that means the others will be nearby. We haven’t needed live rounds in a century, so we’re having trouble dealing with them.” He offers Cai a hand, “You say you can help? Let me message command, and I’ll let them decide.”

  They both wait there as the commander enters a nearby room and talks to someone over his computer.

  He comes back, “We’ve secured the lab and found their escape route. Command has agreed to let you help. They said your ship has powerful sensors, so I’m to take you to a terminal and allow you to reconnect to it, but only if you share the feed with us and follow our orders. If you try anything, we will subdue you.” He waves them towards the elevator, “Come! You can use the one we set up on the surface.”

  Cai nods as they follow.

  Nyx pauses as they pass by the nursery where Roxy and Twoey are watching the children and sees Roxy passing out treats to the kids and Twoey.

  Cai pauses as well, “Roxy, we’re heading up.”

  Roxy gives Cai a nod and a faint smile before turning back to a crying child that won’t take the treat.

  They reach the elevator, “Hurry. They just killed a dozen of my men, and I want their heads.”

  Nyx bristles, “They were killin’ my siblings too. We’ll be gettin’ ‘em.”

  Nyx can’t see the man’s reaction thanks to his mask, but he is looking at her, then gives a single nod.

  They wait for the elevator, and several people get off. They look like technicians, and there’s a pair of what she assumes are medics.

  The captain points behind himself with a thumb, “Got a room filled with kids. Good luck.”

  They get on the elevator, and she’s finally leaving the lab.