Page 100 of Stay Scared

I catch his shirt before he can give me all the space.

“Do not overcorrect.”

A strained laugh touches my mouth.

“I have no fucking idea what the correct amount of Cade is anymore.”

“Neither do I.”

The reset alarm sounds.

PRESSURE EQUALIZATION COMPLETE.

The lock releases with a heavy mechanical click. Beyond the door, the grinding machinery slows. One final impact travels through the wall. Then the compression corridor goes still.

The eight-minute cycle is over. Mark is still tied inside the theater. Evan is trapped with a medic somewhere near the north warehouse. Ash and Owen were cut off on the opposite side of the compression corridor, which means they have had eight minutes to find another route around us.

I pull back. Cade stays close without closing the remaining inches.

“The rest waits,” he says.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

His mouth curves.

“Was that disappointment?”

“You have blood loss.”

“Still wasn’t a denial.”

I give him a look. Cade smiles anyway.

Then I step back. He lets me.

The steel door waits behind him. For most of our relationship, Cade would already be standing between me and it. Instead, he turns toward the lock and waits.

I remove the founder key from around my neck.

Cade holds out his palm.

I put the key into it. His fingers close around the steel.

“No speech?” he asks.

“You have temporary key privileges. Do not get emotional.”

“Way too late for that.”

He inserts the key and turns it.

The maintenance room opens onto the compression corridor. The walls have stopped moving, but they have not returned completely to their original positions. One section remains partially collapsed, leaving a narrow route toward the service stairwell marked on Owen’s old plans.

A utility light flashes through the gap at the far end. Two short movements. Then one long sweep. Owen’s signal.

Relief moves through me before I can stop it.

“They found another way around.”