The air was chaos — flashing muzzles, smoke, screams muffled under the thick wail of alarms.
Jayden tightened his grip on Sophia's hand as they sprinted through the twisting metal corridors of the Iron Fortress, the others covering their retreat.
Behind him, Wendy was a specter of death — sharp, efficient — dropping enemies with surgical precision.
Jeff barked directions through the comms, leading them toward a secondary exit.
Elias — wounded but relentless — covered their backs.
They had minutes.
Maybe less.
---
As they rounded a corner, a whirring sound sliced through the madness.
A hulking figure stepped into view — not fully human anymore.
It was one of the experiments Matilda had warned them about: gray-skinned, eyes dead and cold, wired muscles twitching unnaturally.
Sophia gasped and stumbled.
The creature lunged.
Jayden shoved Sophia aside, taking the brunt of the blow.
He crashed against the wall, ribs screaming.
Elias unloaded a full clip into the thing's head.
It staggered, howled — but kept coming.
Monsters.
Not just a word anymore.
---
Somehow, they fought their way past it, dragging Jayden, half-limping, through maintenance tunnels toward a rusted steel door marked "Service Exit."
Jeff slammed a shoulder into it.
The door groaned open.
Fresh air.
But it wasn't salvation yet.
Outside, an army waited.
Black SUVs. Armed guards.
Searchlights stabbed into the stormy night.
A net closing around them.
---
Jayden looked at Sophia.
Her body trembled. Her skin was slick with sweat.
He could see it in her eyes — the programming was kicking in.
She clutched her head, sinking to her knees.
"No—no—stay away from me—" she sobbed.
Jayden's heart shattered.
Wendy knelt beside Sophia, whispered urgently:
"Jayden, if they activate her... she'll kill you. She'll kill all of us. You know what they did to her."
Jeff's voice crackled in the comms:
"Jayden. We can't save her like this. We have to end it."
A gun was shoved into Jayden's hand.
Heavy. Cold. Final.
Jayden looked down at the girl he loved.
Sophia stared up at him through the iron mask, tears streaming from her one visible eye.
"Please…" she whispered. "Don't let them use me…"
The world went silent.
Just the rain.
And the sound of his heart breaking.
---
Jayden pulled her into his arms, cradling her like something too fragile for this brutal world.
And then —
He pressed the gun to her temple.
Whispered:
"I love you, Sophia. You're free."
BANG.
---
The world spun.
Wendy screamed something.
Jeff grabbed Jayden's shoulder, dragging him to the escape route.
Jayden couldn't feel anything anymore.
He stumbled after them, Sophia's blood staining his clothes, her final breath still lingering against his chest.
---
Hours Later…
They were safe.
But Jayden sat alone by a dying fire, the iron mask clutched in his shaking hands.
In the flames, he saw the life they could have had —
A life stolen by monsters.
By cruelty.
By fate.
Tears slid down his cheeks silently.
He had saved her.
But he had lost her forever.
---