[Aria's POV]
"Thirty seconds!" Drake Morrison's voice boomed through the megaphone. "Twenty-nine! Twenty-eight!"
Two hundred fighters surrounded us. An S-Rank leader. Weapons and powers we couldn't match.
We were going to die.
"There's a tunnel," Dr. Elena hissed urgently. "Underground. It leads three blocks away. We can escape while they're focused on the front entrance."
"You have an escape tunnel?" Marcus asked, hope flooding his face.
"For emergencies exactly like this." Dr. Elena grabbed my arm. "Aria, we run. Now. Fighting is suicide."
"But they'll level the hospital—"
"And we'll be gone when they do." Dr. Elena was already pulling me toward a back corridor. "Your life is worth more than this building."
"Twenty seconds!" Drake counted down.
I looked at the five fighters who'd come to help us. At Dr. Elena who'd saved my life. At Marcus and Vivian who'd destroyed it.
Running meant we all lived. Fighting meant we probably all died.
It wasn't even a choice.
