Back at the lighthouse, Ryan had Eleanor pinned against the distillation chamber with her wrist slit over the intake valve. The blood mixed with the bone powder and concrete, and the machine displayed now:
SYNTHESIS IN PROGRESS
"You'll kill thousands," Eleanor spat.
Ryan adjusted the flow rate. "Just those who poisoned them."
A gun cocked behind him, and Tom swayed in the door frame. He was soaked through from Matthew's bite wounds. "Phase Two's already loaded in the tunnels."
The machine beeped; DISTILLATION COMPLETED.
Ryan dived for the release valve.
Tom shot.
The bullet grazed Ryan's shoulder, causing the antidote vial to smash against the bricks with a sickening sound, the neon-blue liquid pooling across the floor, mingling with Eleanor's blood.
Matthew crawled into the light from the darkness, his broken fingers closing around the largest glass shard.
"No more tests," he whispered, and plunged the shard into Tom's femoral artery.
As Tom crumpled, the lighthouse door burst open. Lena staggered in, the newborn wailing in her arms, Sophie USB dangling from her teeth.
Ryan's gaze locked on the baby. "Is that...?"
"Ours," Lena gasped. "They took her from the records room. Sophie buys us some time."
Eleanor laughed, a wet, choking sound. "Too late. Phase Two releases in-"
The flood sirens of the town cut her off.
A new liquid surged through the tunnels-thick and iridescent as oil.
Matthew grabbed the rest of the antidote vial and jumped into the flooding stairwell, with his final words echoing up the shaft:
"Tell Sister I'm sorry."
The explosion rattled the lighthouse down to its foundations.