Page 128 of Ember Rising

The door is all the way open now, the inside of the vault too dark to make anything out.

“How do we close it?” I yell.

“Just get in!”

I run into the open space, bright lights flicking to life. There must be a motion sensor.

An automated voice says something, but I ignore it, my shoulders sinking with relief when Evander races into the vault, turning and dropping down to one knee just inside.

“Find another keypad!” he yells. “Or a button. It may be voice-activated.”

A bang sounds, a bullet ricocheting off the ground beside Evander.

“Move!” I cry.

He stays where he is, firing a wide round of shots from the machine gun. I race to the side of the door the keypad was on, finding three big round buttons. They’re labeled.

Door up, door down, and pause door.

I hit the Door Down button, looking up and asking the Universe for one last favor.

It’s moving—but painfully slowly.

I rush over to Evander and grab a gun from his open bag.

“Get away from the door!” he barks. “It’s not safe.”

He fires another round of shots, covering the open area in front of us.

“I go where you go,” I say, holding up a shotgun.

“Dammit,” he grumbles, tossing the gun aside and getting another one from over his shoulder.

A bullet whizzes past my ear, so close I can feel its vibration.

Justin emerges from the trees, murderous rage carved into every line of his face.

His eyes are locked on me. I fire the gun at him. He stumbles, a bullet in his leg, but keeps coming.

The door is halfway down. Evander leans in front of me, trying to block my body with his as he fires from a second gun.

“Get back!”

He hits Justin in the chest, but he’s unfazed, likely wearing a bulletproof vest. Justin’s snarling at me when the door closes past his face.

Evander pushes me back behind him, moving both of us farther inside the vault. Bullets bounce off the ground and echo faintly off the heavy door.

Arms appear at one end of the opening, someone trying to crawl beneath the door. Evander fires at them and they go still.

The door doesn’t stop, crushing the body as it makes its final descent.

It’s over. Me, Evander, and the arms of the dead man are inside the vault and it’s sealed. I drop to my knees, sobbing. He sets his weapon down and kneels beside me, pulling me into his arms.

“We’re okay, sunflower. You did it.”

I sink against him, adrenaline still coursing through me.

The password worked. We won this battle. But war still looms on multiple fronts, and only one thing is certain: no one will come out of it unscathed.