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The metallic smell of blood mixed with the stale air surrounding me was the only thing I could think about, making the room look smaller and smaller, and letting the darkness engulf me more and more.

My entire body felt stiff by sitting in the same position for so long. I had lost count of seconds, them turning into minutes and hours. My head felt too exhausted to process any more thoughts and paranoid questions.

I just felt numb.

"Grace!" Somebody gripped both of my arms within the darkness and I jerked up in surprise. My eyes widened and I noticed the long, dark hair framing either side of her face.

I tried to pull away slowly, but she leaned down in front of me and gave me another small shake. "Grace. Grace, are you fine?"

That's when I realized it was Alice, her dark eyes trained on my face. "Uh, yeah..."

I saw her eyes leaving my face and before I could've asked her where she even came from, I noticed that the metal grill-door was thrown open. And then I heard the faint shouts.

"What's happening?" I whispered, straightening up in my position.

Alice didn't answer my question, though. "Is...Is that Lucius?"

I opened my mouth and followed her gaze to the person beside me, though I really didn't look at his face. I couldn't have when my stomach twisted almost way too painfully.

"Is he fine?" Alice looked back at me and her eyes were still wide with panic. "What happened to him?"

I would've answered her only if I hadn't heard the sudden footsteps rushing towards us. My eyes widened in panic almost as same as Alice's.

Few men stopped outside the metal bars of the small cell we were in. I almost gripped Alice's hand in response when one of them stepped inside and came beside Alice. I recognized his face a bit quicker than Alice's.

"Fuck." Ryder breathed out, his eyes training at Luca before he leaned down on his knees. "What happened to him?" He repeated Alice's question, looking at me this time.

I scrunched back against the wall. "He's...fine. He just passed out." I spoke up, my voice sounding too scratchy and rushed. "They shot him or something, I don't know. But he's fine."

I saw Ryder moving closer towards him and I had this sudden urge to push him away from Luca.

"He's not breathing." Ryder frowned at me, as if I was stupid.

I bit the inside of my cheek and felt Alice grip my arm tightly, almost as if she knew I'd lash out at Ryder. "He's not. But he's fine. He just...needs to get out of here."

He looked like he didn't believe me and I gritted my teeth in response, telling myself not to snap at him. This really wasn't the time to start shouting at the only person who could get us out of here. Instead of saying anything more, he directed his cold blue gaze at Alice.

"We don't have much time. Take her with you and follow Keith out of this place." He instructed, giving me one last glance before moving towards Luca and helping him get up.

I almost grimaced at the sight until Alice pulled me up. I stumbled a bit, gripping onto Alice's arm in response.

"Who's Keith?" She asked.

Ryder managed to jerk his head at the other guy standing outside the opened metal door. Alice nodded and pulled me towards Jack. "Help me pull him up, Grace."

I blinked down at Jack and looked back at her. "We can't break those chains." Because really, you couldn't even pull onto them.

However, it took seconds for one of Ryder's men to pull harshly on those chains until they ripped apart from the wall. I looked at the broken chains in surprise.

How come it didn't zap him when he tugged at them?

"The power's out." Alice told me as we both took the cuffs off from Jack's wrists. "Nothing's working anymore in here. Everything's...out."

I didn't understand what she was talking about until we both had helped Jack stand up, slinging his arms around each of us, and exited that small underground cellar.

Everything was completely dark in the familiar narrow hallway. Even the dimly lit bulbs on the ceiling were all out now. Still, I couldn't help but breathe out a small sigh of relief.

I was finally out of there.

Alice and I kept on walking, following the guy -Keith- just like Ryder had told us. I tried looking behind my shoulder at the same time but failed to spot any other of Ryder's men, or even Ryder himself.

Luca.

"What's happening?" I spoke out the question again, noticing the faint shouts a bit clearly now. It almost sounded like a chaotic crowd, like people were panicking. Alice was right on the other side of Jack and I could barely see where I was even stepping.

"I don't know." I heard Alice's hushed, scared voice. "They—Cynthia took me away from that cell, where you guys were. I was mostly unconscious and I tried screaming for help, but no one listened."

I looked at her over Jack's head but failed to make out her expression under the darkness.

"But then...that guard left my door unlocked and all the other staff were hurrying out for some reason." She added. "I didn't know why until I saw him." She referred to Ryder. "He didn't tell me much except for asking me where you were. And about Lucius."

I exhaled a small shudder and kept on walking.

"I think he mentioned something about surrounding the place with heavy explosives." It was almost a whisper but I heard it. "Whatever it is, it's something bad. That's why the lights suddenly went out and those other people in white coats started rushing around in panic."

I realized that Luca was right to trust Ryder. Ryder knew how to help us; he knew the escape plan. I felt a small tug in my heart each time I thought about Luca, each time I thought about what Ryder had said.

He wasn't breathing.

We kept on walking silently until we reached the spot where the hallway ended, at the familiar door that looked a bit broken now as it lay down on the floor thrown open.

Even though I could see the other hallway beyond that door, it was still dark. All the lights were out.

Just like Alice had said.

"Come on." Alice murmured, tugging a bit on my sleeve so that I'd keep on moving. I didn't though, I just stopped there. There was this small noticeable heaviness in one of my pockets, rooting me to my spot.

"Grace—"

"I-I can't go with you." I whispered with hesitation, loud enough for her to hear it.

Alice looked at me and I saw her eyes widening in surprise. "Grace, I don't think this is the time for splitting up. Ryder said we only had few minutes to leave this place."

I shook my head again and slowly pulled away from Jack, making sure that Alice was still holding onto his unconscious form.

"Look, I need to do something." I rushed out my words, my fingers trembling as I curled them into fists by my side. "I know the way out. Take Jack with you."

"No!" Alice spoke up, stepping in my way. "Grace, we don't have time. Don't do this please."

I knew that and I wish I could've told her that too. But keeping that red stone with me was way more dangerous. I didn't want it to ruin more lives for me, I wanted to be done with it.

"I promise," I looked her in the eye. "I'll make it out."

She clenched her jaw, her eyes trained at me. She opened her mouth to probably stop me, but ended up shaking her head in disbelief. She seemed unsure, but she still spoke up, "Okay."

And I forgot how we all sucked at keeping our promises.

I left them both and exited the hallway, tracing my steps back to where I had last seen Jonathan. Except this time, there was no one in the hallway. I could hear people running around but no one was here.

I looked around once again before stopping near the familiar wall where those two colored arrows were painted. A red one and a green one. Knowing where the green one led to, I followed the red one this time.

There was definitely a reason why that arrow was there. And I was hoping it led to the only place I needed to go to right now.

Without thinking twice, since I really didn't have much time, I followed the arrow and kept on walking. There were lots of twists and turns and I felt exhausted by the time I realized that I was way underground by now. This building was huge and like Nicholas had mentioned, it had passageways even underground.

I stopped near a big opening, noticing the bright spots of light on the floor below me. I looked up and saw holes in the uneven ceiling, deep holes that channeled the light from outside. I was covered in blood and dirt, and I certainly looked like a mess.

However, I froze once again when I heard voices. Not like the faint voices back in those hallways. These voices were much nearer. I stepped towards the opening and hid behind the nearest wall.

"...I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Another voice boomed and I almost retreated my steps in fear, recognizing both of the voices.

I cautiously peeked from behind the wall and realized that I was right, it was Cynthia and a man—none other than Burner himself. He wasn't too hard to recognize with that greasy blond hair of his.

"The security was all in check." Cynthia looked a bit worried. "The guards were guarding the front but...they surrounded us."

I saw Burner pacing back and forth in the small passageway. Looking around, I noticed that the round passeway was built over something else, with metal railings all around it. It almost looked like a small underground chamber built over something very deep.

I had to stand on my toes to look over at the deep pit on either side of the passageway. The passageway was indeed built over that pit, too deep for me to actually see what it really was.

"You're telling me that the power went out by itself." Burner looked deadly under the dim light of the small chamber. "And the heavily armed explosives, they came by themselves too?"

Cynthia flinched at his harsh tone and my eyes flew towards the other people in that chamber, besides Cynthia and Burner. There were three other men in there, probably Burner's men. Ryder had surely done something bad, but I wasn't complaining.

"W-We were too busy fussing over the...red seed." She said, looking down at the floor instead of meeting Burner's gaze. "We were taken by surprise."

I took a step away from the wall, aware that they all had their backs towards me. No one would even see me. I just needed to make sure if that the dark pit below was really the hydrofluoric tank Nicholas has told us about.

And I had very little time.

"What do you say, Jonathan?" I looked up and saw Burner's gaze directed on one of those three men, on Jonathan. I froze at my spot, too surprised to see him here. "You were one of Marcus's closest friends. You must have a soft spot for his daughter."

Jonathan shifted a little under Burner's intimidating stance. I hadn't even realized that his back wasn't towards me like the others, not until he spoke up. "I was busy handling the lab research, until you called me."

Burner let out an irritated huff and started pacing again. He looked like a madman right now, and I wasn't even surprised.

Right then, before I could've taken a step behind that wall or even walked towards the railing, Jonathan's gaze flew behind Burner. At me.

I saw his eyes widening in surprise and maybe even fear too.

Just as Burner was about to turn around, to continue his pacing, Jonathan spoke up, "Or maybe...I do know."

What was he doing?

As if hearing my silent question, he gave me a discreet, pointed look, as if telling me to leave right this second.

Knowing him, he was probably saying that.

"What do you mean?" Burner did not look happy. "Are you involved with this, Jonathan?"

Unlike Cynthia, Jonathan didn't waver his gaze from Burner. Even though I was sure Jonathan wasn't encouraging this, I still took that as my queue and started heading for the corner of the passageway towards the metal railings. I couldn't help but notice how hot it was inside this chamber, and the heat mainly seemed to be coming from the deep pit. As I creeped towards it, I couldn't help but also notice the overwhelming stench in the room.

"I didn't say I was involved." Jonathan trailed off and I felt his burning gaze on me.

I returned his gaze and he almost seemed to glare at me. I would've started walking again only if I hadn't noticed Burner taking out a pistol from inside his long white coat.

"You have five seconds to explain." He directed it at Jonathan and Cynthia stepped back, trying to hide the terror from her face. "Five seconds to tell me what you know about this all."

I felt the same horror that was showing on Cynthia's face, when Jonathan glanced at me and jerked his chin ever so slightly, telling me to leave.

I didn't, though.

"I know nothing, Burner."

I felt my heartbeat coming to a halt when a loud booming sound filled my ears. I saw Jonathan falling down on his knees, his jaw clenched in pain as the wound on his leg bled.

All of a sudden, my mouth felt too dry.

"One final chance." Burner threatened him, pointing the tip of his gun right at Jonathan's head. Nobody stopped him. Nobody even cared to help Jonathan. "I'll count till three. Three seconds before you die, Jonathan."

There was just silence, and I saw Jonathan giving me one final glance before closing his eyes shut. He wasn't going to say anything.

One.

"Two." Burner's voice was low but deadly at the same time.

I would've stayed frozen there, I would've stayed quite just like Jonathan would've wanted me to. But I was just too done with that old guy killing innocent people as if he had that right.

"Three." He placed his finger on the trigger, aiming it at Jonathan.

"Stop!" I spoke up, my voice wavering a bit.

Out of surprise, all of them turned around at the same time. And I saw Jonathan's eyes widening in alarm, as if he couldn't believe I just did this.

"Grace?" Cynthia murmured with a confused frown.

Burner's men stayed where they were, although their eyes were at me now. And I'm sure it would take Burner just few words to get me killed by his men. Or, he could just use that gun in his hand.

"Ah, Ms Collins." Burner raised his brows with a small grin, as if he wasn't just about to kill someone. He totally looked like a greasy psychopath with the gun in his hand. "It's unfortunate that we're meeting under such circumstances."

I eyed him in disbelief. "You need to leave him alone."

"Grace—" Jonathan started but just within a horrifying second, Burner turned around and pulled the trigger at him again, shooting him near the stomach this time.

My eyes widened in horror as Jonathan fell to the ground, not even moving a bit this time with the blood all around him.

"What were you saying again?" Burner looked back at me with that creepy, wild grin.

"How...How could you do that?" I heard my voice raising, my eyes flickering from Jonathan's form to Burner.

Burner held out his hand towards Cynthia and she abruptly pulled out something from her pocket, handing it to him just as quick, as if she was too scared. I couldn't blame her.

I gulped heavily, my heart thudding too loudly and my insides brimming with panic and anger.

"Do you want me to demonstrate it again?" Burner asked, holding the familiar necklace in his hands. Since there was much more light in here than that stale old cellar, I realized that the small red stone inside it did look fake.

I should've realized that sooner.

"No." I whispered, still looking at Jonathan's unmoving form. I didn't even know what I felt at that particular moment. Everything felt so overwhelming at this point. And the sight of blood kept on reminding me about Luca.

Burner inhaled deeply and I saw him take few steps towards me. On instinct, I backed off and felt the hard metal railing behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and looked at the deep smoky pit. It almost seemed like a pit of fire.

"Exactly. I don't want to kill any more people either." Burner stated. "But Ms Collins, I'm sure you're aware that this place is going to blow up...any minute now."

I stared back at him, not saying anything.

Burner held the necklace in front of my face. "Where's the real one?" He demanded, and all the sweetness in his voice was gone.

"How would I know?" I asked back.

Burner glared at me before another creepy grin curved on his lips. Before I could've even comprehended anything, he turned around and pointed his gun back at Jonathan. I opened my mouth to stop him but my voice was cut off with another gunshot. And then another.

"Stop!" I lunged at him, taking him by surprise and making the gun fall down from his hands. I didn't even have to look at Jonathan to see how much of a bloody mess he was by now. "What the fuck is wrong with you, you monster!"

I saw his men advancing towards me but Burner held up a hand at them, making them stop. I pulled away from him even though I wanted to strangle him so bad.

"He's dead already." He responded with a casual shrug. "It doesn't even matter."

"It doesn't even matter?" I shouted at him, and I knew how stupid I was being. But I was so, so angry right now. "You killed him!"

"Just like your parents, yes."

I didn't even think twice before giving him a hard shove. He stumbled back in surprise but I held him by the end of his coat, pointing one finger at his face. "Don't you dare say anything about my parents."

He grinned and looked over at his men, eyebrows raised in amusement as if he couldn't believe that I might fight him.

"Well, they deserved death." He chuckled lowly, even though he knew I was seconds away from throwing a punch on his wrinkly old face. "All of them."

"No, they didn't!" I shouted at him. I heard someone flinch behind him and it was probably Cynthia. Burner, however, looked unfazed. "You took everything from me!"

"Can't say I didn't warn you, Ms Collins." He shrugged.

I didn't get any time to react when I felt two strong hands gripping my arms from behind me. I tried struggling, a small sob escaping my lips, but the person behind me was too strong.

Burner stayed in his spot, still unfazed as he straightened his coat over himself.

"You took everyone away from me!" I tried lunging at him again but the strong arms of one of his men pulled me back, the grip too painfully tight. "My parents, my brother! You even took...Luca away from me!"