37. Hannah
Hannah
The pipe explodes apart behind us.
The sound is deafening.
Metal screaming.
Concrete collapsing.
Water roaring like a living thing.
Then the current hits full force.
“Oh my God—!”
The surge slams into us hard enough to rip people off their feet instantly.
Miles barely keeps hold of the little girl before both of them disappear deeper into the drainage pipe.
“GO GO GO!” Russ roars somewhere ahead.
But nobody’s running anymore.
We’re being swept away.
The freezing water rises from my waist to my chest in seconds.
The current tears at my legs violently.
I lose footing—
and Clay catches me immediately.
Always him.
One arm locks around my waist so hard I can barely breathe.
“Hold onto me!”
I grab his vest with both hands as another surge smashes through the tunnel.
The pipe angles sharply downward.
Oh no.
No no no—
“We’re dropping!” Gabriel shouts from behind us.
The water accelerates instantly.
Everybody starts sliding.
The tunnel becomes a waterslide from hell.
The current rips us forward through darkness so fast my stomach lurches.
Concrete tears against my knees.
The flashlight beam spins wildly around us.
At least Eli still has hold of his flashlight.
Someone screams.
Nora.
Eli catches her hand just before another wave separates them.
“DON’T LET GO!” he shouts.
I slam shoulder-first into the side of the pipe.
Pain explodes through me.
Clay twists his body around mine instantly, shielding me from the concrete walls while the current drags us downward.
The force of it steals my breath.
Water crashes over our heads.
Ice cold.
Black.
I can’t see.
Can’t breathe.
For one horrifying second I lose Clay’s grip.
Panic detonates through my chest.
“CLAY!”
Then his hand finds mine again.
Strong.
Certain.
“I’ve got you!”
The relief almost knocks me apart.
The pipe suddenly curves hard left.
Everybody smashes into the wall together in a violent tangle of bodies and rushing water.
Miles curses loudly.
The little girl cries out.
Russ grabs Lucas before the current can pull him farther ahead.
Gabriel somehow stays upright through all of it.
Of course he does.
Former Sentinel survivors apparently came with terrifying balance under disaster conditions.
The pipe shakes violently around us again.
Then—
light.
Tiny at first.
Far ahead.
Oh thank God.
An exit.
“We’re close!” Eli shouts.
The current speeds up even more.
That is not comforting.
At all.
The pipe suddenly narrows.
The water pressure builds behind us.
My medical brain catches up first.
“Oh no.”
Clay looks down at me sharply.
“What?”
“We’re bottlenecking.”
Gabriel hears it instantly.
“Everybody FLAT AGAINST THE SIDES!”
Too late.
The surge behind us slams into the narrowed section like a battering ram.
The pressure explodes forward.
The entire group gets launched.
Literally launched.
I scream as the current rips me completely off my feet.
Clay catches me around the waist again just as we shoot out of the drainage pipe into open air.
Everything disappears.
Dark sky.
Rain.
Cold wind.
Then river water crashes around us.
The impact steals every bit of air from my lungs.
The river swallows us whole instantly.
Current.
Darkness.
Freezing water everywhere.
I tumble beneath the surface helplessly.
Disoriented.
Which way is up?
Oh God—
A hand grabs me.
Clay.
He drags me upward hard.
We break the surface together gasping.
Rain pours from the sky.
The river churns violently around us, carrying debris from the collapsed tunnels downstream.
Nearby, Russ surfaces, dragging Nora with him.
Miles emerges next, still holding the little girl against his chest.
Lucas coughs violently near a concrete embankment.
“Gabriel!” Hannah shouts.
No answer.
Panic spikes instantly.
Then—
twenty feet downstream—
Gabriel bursts from the water, dragging Eli with him.
Eli’s unconscious.
Oh no.
Gabriel fights the current hard, trying to keep Eli above water while the river keeps pulling both of them under.
Without thinking, I start toward them.
“Hannah, no!” Clay grabs me instantly.
“He’s drowning!”
The river surges violently between us and Gabriel.
Too dangerous.
Way too dangerous.
But Gabriel sees me trying anyway.
And suddenly he shouts—
“STAY BACK!”
Brother.
Not operative.
Brother.
He shoves Eli toward us through the current just as another massive wave crashes between them.
Eli slams into Clay.
Clay catches him immediately.
But Gabriel disappears beneath the water.
No.
No no no no—
“GAbrIEL!”
The river answers with darkness.
My heart stops.
Clay hands Eli to Russ instantly and dives before anybody can stop him.
“CLAY!”
He vanishes beneath the surface too.
Panic claws straight through me.
The river churns violently around us.
Seconds pass.
Too many seconds.
Then suddenly—
Clay erupts from the water hauling Gabriel upward by the back of his tactical vest.
I almost collapse from relief.
Gabriel coughs violently while Clay drags him toward shore through the current.
Together, Russ and Miles help pull everybody onto the muddy riverbank one by one.
For several seconds, nobody speaks.
We just lie there gasping in the rain like survivors dragged back from the dead.
The town glows faintly in the distance beyond the storm. Smoke and buildings burning.
Sirens echo somewhere far away.
Above us, the river tunnel finally collapses completely with a deep thunderous roar beneath the streets.
Gone.
Buried forever.
Clay rolls onto his side beside me, chest heaving hard.
Rain pours down his face.
Blood mixes with river water along his arm.
His eyes find mine instantly.
Still checking.
Still making sure I’m alive first.
Always.
I crawl toward him without thinking.
My hands grab his face.
“You came back.”
His expression softens immediately.
“Hannah—”
“You came back.”
My voice breaks completely.
Because everyone in my life before him disappeared eventually.
Parents.
Memories.
Avery.
Even Gabriel for years.
But Clay?
Clay dove into a flooded river without hesitation.
For us.
For my brother.
For me.
Something inside my chest gives way completely.
The storm rages around us.
Sentinel is still out there.
Wu escaped.
Children are still trapped somewhere underground.
But right here—
right now—
all I can see is Clay.
And the terrifying truth finally settles fully into my heart.
Wu was wrong.
Whatever I feel for Clay—
it was never conditioning.
Because nobody programmed Clay Vincent to love me like this.