BOOM.
The blast tore through the tunnel like a beast unchained.
Concrete cracked. Lights blew. The world spun sideways.
Lilly hit the ground hard, unmoving—blood trickling from her temple. Sam's ears rang like a scream underwater. She blinked through smoke, coughing, vision blurry, skin scorched by fire and fear.
"Lilly," Sam gasped, dragging herself to her knees. "Lilly—no, no, no—"
She crawled, arms trembling, fingers reaching for Lilly's hand. The breaker panel—tucked in Lilly's pack—was the only thing they had. Everything else had turned to ash.
Somehow, Sam got her footing, slung Lilly's arm over her shoulders, and dragged her toward the exit, boots skidding across fractured floor, lungs burning.
They stumbled into the open, the cold air outside hitting like a slap—
And that's when she appeared.
The woman in white.
Waiting.
Perfectly calm.
Ava was gone. Of course. Like always. Vanishing just before the knife gets twisted.
Sam froze, still clutching Lilly's limp body.
The woman's voice coiled from the dark like smoke from a gun barrel.
"You look just like your mother did," she said, eyes locked on Lilly.
Sam stiffened.
"She screamed the same way, too. When she begged me to spare her little girl."
Sam's heart stopped cold. "What the hell are you talking about?"
But the woman in white didn't look at Sam—only at Lilly.
"Don't worry," she whispered, stepping closer. "I'm not done with her yet. Not even close. This… this is unfinished business. She was born into a war she was never meant to survive."
She smiled then.
A slow, chilling, dead-eyed smile.
"You just made a very big mistake bringing her back to life."