Chapter 23 THE SACRIFICE

Chapter 23 THE SACRIFICE
Sera's POV

Twenty minutes to save 10,000 people.

Fifteen minutes just to reach Thorne's office through guards.

And Kade was dying on the floor in front of me.

I looked at Ryker. He was pressing his hands against the stab wound trying to stop the bleeding. His hands were covered in Kade's blood.

"How bad?" I asked.

Ryker's face was white. "Bad. The blade hit something vital. He needs surgery. Now. Or he dies in maybe ten minutes."

Ten minutes.

The math was simple and horrible.

Save Kade or save 10,000 strangers.

Choose the man I loved or choose humanity.

My hands were shaking so badly I could barely hold the weapon.

"Sera," Kade whispered. His voice was weak. "Go. Get the code. Stop the plague."

"I'm not leaving you," I said.

"You have to," Kade replied. Blood bubbled at his lips. "This is what I trained for. Sacrifice for the mission. Let me do my job."

"Your job isn't dying," I shot back. Tears were streaming down my face. "Your job is surviving. Coming back to me. We had a deal."

Kade tried to smile. "Deals change."

Nova grabbed my arm. "Sera, we have nineteen minutes. If we're going for that code, we need to move now."

I looked at everyone in the room. Lila. Nova. The surviving Wardens. All of them waiting for my decision.

All of them knowing what the right choice was.

All of them knowing I didn't want to make it.

"Ryker," I said. My voice was breaking. "Can you save him?"

Ryker looked at Kade's wound. At the blood pooling on the floor. At the pale color of Kade's skin.

"Maybe," he said quietly. "If I operate right now. If I have the right equipment. If I'm lucky. Maybe."

"Then do it," I ordered. "Save him. Please."

"Sera, the plague—" Ryker started.

"I'll get the code," I interrupted. "I'll reach Thorne's office. I'll stop the dispersal. You save Kade."

It was an impossible promise. But I said it anyway.

Because watching Kade die while I ran away was something I couldn't survive.

Nova was already moving. "You heard her. Ryker stays with Kade. Everyone else with me. We're getting to that office in fifteen minutes or dying trying."

Lila grabbed medical supplies from the lab. Handed them to Ryker. "Don't let him die. Please."

Ryker just nodded. His hands were already working. Already trying to save the man who'd become more than just an assigned partner.

I knelt beside Kade one more time. Kissed his bloody forehead.

"Don't you dare die before I get back," I whispered. "We still have a revolution to finish."

Kade's hand found mine. Squeezed weakly.

"Win," he breathed. "For all of us."

Then Nova was pulling me toward the door.

We ran through corridors filled with smoke and gunfire. Thorne's remaining guards were everywhere. Defending their master's office. Defending the system they'd served their whole lives.

Nova's team moved like a machine. Trained. Efficient. Deadly.

But people were dying.

Our people.

Every floor we climbed, we lost someone.

"Twelve minutes," Lila said. She was running beside me. Not a fighter but refusing to stay behind.

We reached the top floor. Thorne's office was at the end of a long hallway.

Between us and it stood twenty guards.

"We can't fight through that many," one of our Wardens said.

"Then we don't fight," I replied. "We run."

I grabbed Lila's hand and sprinted down the hallway.

Gunfire erupted. Bullets hit the walls around us. One grazed my arm. Pain exploded but I didn't stop.

Nova and her team covered us. Fighting. Dying. Buying us seconds.

We reached the office door. Lila worked the lock while I returned fire with a weapon I barely knew how to use.

The door opened.

We stumbled inside.

The office was massive. Expensive. The room of a man who'd ruled the world and wanted everyone to know it.

And there, on a desk in the center, was a secure terminal.

"That's it," Lila said. She ran to it. Started working.

"How long?" I asked.

"Five minutes to break the encryption. Maybe less if I'm lucky."

I looked at my watch. Nine minutes until lethal dispersal.

We'd made it. Barely. But we'd made it.

I turned to help Nova's team at the door.

That's when I saw him.

Damon.

Stumbling down the hallway toward us. Covered in blood. Barely standing.

But alive.

"Damon!" I screamed.

He collapsed at the office entrance. I caught him before he hit the ground.

"Held them," he gasped. Blood ran from a dozen wounds. "Held them as long as I could."

"You're okay," I said. "You're going to be okay."

Damon's hand touched my face. Left a bloody smear across my cheek.

"Liar," he whispered. But he was smiling. "You were always a terrible liar."

"Don't," I said. "Don't you dare do this to me. Kade's already dying. I can't lose both of you."

"You won't lose anyone," Damon replied. His voice was getting weaker. "Because you're going to stop that plague. You're going to win. Just like Kade said."

"Damon, please—"

"Tell them," he interrupted. "Tell Kade and Ryker. Tell them they were right. About everything. About choosing you. About fighting back. About love being worth it."

His eyes were closing.

"Damon!" I shook him. "Stay awake. Just a few more minutes."

"Got it!" Lila shouted from the terminal. "I'm in. I can see the dispersal controls."

"Stop it," I ordered. "Stop it right now."

"I'm trying," Lila said. Her fingers flew across the keyboard. "But there's another layer. Another failsafe. I need the master code."

I looked around the office frantically. Where would Thorne keep it?

"Six minutes," Nova called from the doorway.

Think. Where would a paranoid dictator hide his most important code?

My eyes landed on the desk. On a picture frame. Thorne with a young girl. His daughter. The one he'd said died from the plague he created.

I grabbed the frame. Turned it over.

There. Engraved on the back. A series of numbers.

"Try this," I said. Read the numbers to Lila.

She typed them in.

The terminal beeped. Accepted the code.

"I'm in," Lila breathed. "I have full control. I can stop the dispersal."

"Then do it," I said.

Lila's finger hit the button.

The terminal showed DISPERSAL HALTED.

We'd done it.

Saved 10,000 people with four minutes to spare.

I should have felt relief. Victory. Something.

Instead I looked at Damon unconscious in my arms. Thought about Kade bleeding out floors below. Thought about all the people who'd died getting us here.

And I felt empty.

"We need to get back to Kade," I said. "Now."

Nova helped me carry Damon. We ran back through the Citadel. Past bodies. Past destruction. Past the evidence of what rebellion really cost.

We reached the lab where we'd left Kade and Ryker.

The door was sealed.

I pounded on it. "Ryker! Open up!"

No response.

"Lila, can you override the lock?" I asked.

She worked the panel. "Something's wrong. The entire room is on medical lockdown. That only happens when—"

She stopped. Her face went white.

"When what?" I demanded.

"When someone inside is dying."

The door opened.

Ryker stood there. His hands were still bloody. His face was streaked with tears.

Behind him, Kade lay on a medical table. Perfectly still.

"No," I whispered.

I pushed past Ryker. Ran to Kade's side.

His chest wasn't moving.

His eyes were closed.

The monitor beside the table showed a flat line.

"I'm sorry," Ryker said. His voice was broken. "I tried everything. But the damage was too severe. He crashed three minutes ago. I couldn't bring him back."

The world stopped.

Kade was dead.

The man who'd kissed me like he was drowning. Who'd fought beside me. Who'd finally learned to trust.

Gone.

I grabbed his hand. It was already getting cold.

"No," I said again. "No, this isn't how this ends. We won. We stopped the plague. We exposed Thorne. We were supposed to win."

"We did win," Ryker whispered. "Kade made sure of it. His last words were asking if you'd gotten the code. If you'd saved everyone. I told him yes. He smiled. And then he was gone."

I collapsed over Kade's body. Sobbing. Screaming. Falling apart.

We'd saved 10,000 strangers.

But we'd lost the one person who'd made me believe we could actually survive this.

Lila's hand touched my shoulder. "Sera. There's something you need to see."

"Not now," I said.

"Now," Lila insisted. She showed me her device.

It was a message. From Nova. Time-stamped two minutes ago.

"Councilor Thorne escaped during the chaos. He's gone. And he took something with him. The backup dispersal mechanism. A mobile version. He can activate the plague from anywhere in the city. And he just sent a broadcast. He's threatening to release it unless you surrender yourself to public execution. You have one hour to decide."

I looked at Kade's body. At Damon unconscious. At Ryker broken.

We'd won the battle.

But Thorne was still alive.

Still threatening.

And now he wanted me dead in exchange for not killing thousands.

The same impossible choice.

All over again.