Chapter 14: The Escape

Ava hooked her fingers around the edge of Gabriel’s cell door and pulled. The latch tore through its housing. She let go at once, startled by how easily it gave, and backed away while he stepped through.

He retrieved his mask and rifle from the abandoned guard station. The filter seal held when he tested it; the radio gave only static. They moved into the corridor as a crack travelled across the ceiling and plaster fell between them.

“Grab anything useful,” Gabriel instructed, stopping at a supply room. “We don’t know what’s left outside.”

Ava nodded, pulling open cabinets and stuffing medical kits, food rations, and water containers into a bag. Gabriel secured a small oxygen tank and a thermal blanket. “Let’s go,” he urged, slinging the supplies over his shoulder.

Ava kept looking behind them. At each intersection she waited for the others she had heard screaming. No one followed.

I left them.

Her bag struck her hip as she walked. Food, water, medical kits: things a person took because she expected another day. The weight of them felt presumptuous. Somewhere behind her were people who would never need anything again.

She checked a half-open doorway while Gabriel watched the junction. An overturned chair, an empty coat, nobody she could reach. She called once, quietly. When no answer came, she followed him, carrying supplies she had already begun to think of as theirs.

“We’re almost there,” Gabriel said. He kept scanning the path ahead, rifle stock tight against his shoulder, ready for trouble before it showed itself.

When they reached the dock, it was a scene of destruction. Broken crates and abandoned vehicles were scattered everywhere. Several transport vehicles were destroyed, their frames twisted and charred. Gabriel scanned the area desperately.

“There!” Ava pointed toward a small transport vehicle tucked into the corner.

They hurried over to it, Gabriel quickly inspecting the exterior. “It looks functional enough,” he muttered, climbing into the driver’s seat. He powered it up, relief washing over him as the engine roared to life. “Get in!”

Ava climbed into the passenger seat, clutching her bag of supplies tightly. Gabriel maneuvered the vehicle out of the dock, heading toward the frozen plains beyond the fortress.

---

Jenna had flown the rescue transport back to Haven’s Vanguard with everyone she had reached before the dock closed. Now she sat on the carrier’s bridge, watching the route behind them. The evacuated civilians waited below for medical checks.

The departure log was still open on Jenna’s console. She had entered the number of evacuees and the number of missing crew. Her own authorization sat beneath both.

“Commander,” a voice broke through her thoughts. A young medic approached, his expression anxious. “What’s the plan?”

Jenna sighed. “We hold our position for now. We can’t risk moving until we know the situation outside has stabilized.”

The medic hesitated. “Do you think they’re… still alive?”

Jenna looked away, unable to answer.

---

The vehicle bumped over uneven ground. Ava braced the supply bag between her feet, watching frost gather along the window seal.

“What’s on your mind?” Gabriel asked, his eyes on the road ahead.

Ava hesitated, staring out the window. “Do you think anyone else made it out?”

Gabriel glanced at her. “Jenna’s resourceful. If anyone could get people out safely, it’s her.”

“And us?” Ava asked, her voice quieter.

Gabriel gripped the steering wheel tightly. “We’ll make it.”

She wished he had said it less firmly. She could bear his uncertainty; she had seen him afraid in the cell and had still opened the door. This confidence left her alone with what neither of them knew.

“You can tell me when you don’t know,” she said.

Gabriel kept his eyes on the rough ground. For several moments she thought he had not heard.

“I don’t know how much fuel is left,” he said at last. “The gauge keeps sticking.”

It was a smaller answer than she meant. She accepted it anyway. At the next bump, she leaned forward to watch the needle with him.

Hours passed in relative silence, broken only by the hum of the engine. Across the frozen plain, Ava saw a bank of lights too broad to belong to their rescue transport. Gabriel picked up the radio. “Haven’s Vanguard. This is Gabriel. Two coming in from the fortress.”

“We’re close,” he said.

Ava sat up straighter, her expression a mix of hope and apprehension.

Jenna answered on the second call. She sent a team to meet them beneath the carrier’s loading ramp.

They passed through decontamination before the inner doors opened. Ava held out her hands beneath the wash until the last of the fortress blood ran off. Some remained under her nails. Survivors waited beyond the airlock, leaving a wide space around the two of them.

“Gabriel!” Jenna called, rushing toward him.

“Jenna,” Gabriel breathed, tension still laced in his words. “You’re alive.”

“So are you.” Jenna looked past him to Ava, then back toward the sealed airlock. She started to raise a hand and lowered it again.

Gabriel’s expression darkened. “You left us.”

Jenna faltered, guilt flickering across her face. “I followed protocol,” she admitted, her voice quieter now. “I didn’t think you’d make it.”

Gabriel shook his head, frustration tightening his jaw. “And that was it? You didn’t even try to find out? We could’ve been alive, trapped, needing help—but you just left.” His voice hardened, though he fought to keep his anger in check. “Protocol or not, you made that call without knowing for sure.”

Jenna looked away, her fingers tightening at her sides.

The survivors murmured among themselves, uneasy glances darting toward Ava. Whispers of uncertainty spread through the group, hushed but unmistakable. Some clutched their weapons a little tighter, while others instinctively put distance between themselves and her.

“She’s dangerous,” one of them muttered, his voice laced with fear. “I saw what she did back there. That thing touched her, and it just—died. No spores, no struggle. Just gone.”

“She walked through them like they weren’t even a threat,” another added, shaking his head. “What kind of person can do that?”

“She’s not like us,” a woman near the back said warily. “And if she turns on us? Who’s going to stop her?”

Gabriel’s jaw tightened. “You don’t know that,” he snapped, his frustration boiling over. “If it weren’t for her, none of us would even be here!”

No one answered. One survivor drew a child behind his coat. Ava looked down at the red crescents still beneath her nails.

Don’t look at my hands.

She wanted to tell the child she would not hurt her. Her mouth had already begun forming the words when she remembered the guard’s hand trapped beneath his body. She folded her fingers into her sleeves instead.

The child peered around the coat. Curious now, perhaps, or checking whether Ava had moved. Ava turned slightly to leave the way past her open. It cost her more than she expected to stand there and let them choose the distance.

Jenna stepped forward, her expression softening. “Gabriel, I—”

“Not now,” Gabriel cut in sharply, his voice brooking no argument.

Later that night, Gabriel sat with Ava in the cargo hold, away from the others. She hugged her knees to her chest, her expression distant.

“I don’t belong here,” Ava said quietly.

Gabriel frowned. “That’s not true.”

“Isn’t it?” Ava looked up at him, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “They’re right to be afraid of me.”

“They don’t understand,” Gabriel said firmly. “They didn’t see you at my cell door.”

Ava shook her head. “All I’ve ever done is hurt people.”

Gabriel leaned closer, his voice softening. “You’ve saved people too. You saved me.”

Ava pulled the thermal blanket around her. After a while, she loosened one side so Gabriel could sit beneath it too.