Chapter 2 NO WAY OUT

CHAPTER 2 – NO WAY OUT

Gunfire followed them into the forest.

Ethan didn't look back. Looking back got people killed. He ran low, boots pounding damp earth, branches whipping his face, the sounds of engines, shouting, and gunfire fading into layers of trees. Dr. Mara Vale stayed close, moving faster than he expected. The child she had carried earlier was gone-left safely with others who had escaped in the opposite direction.

After five minutes, Ethan slowed. After ten, he stopped.

He raised a fist. Mara froze instantly. Good instincts.

They listened. Only the wind. Insects. Distant thunder that wasn't thunder at all. Mortars.

Ethan crouched, scanning the underbrush, rifle raised. The forest felt alive, waiting for the next death to fall.

"You didn't answer me back there," he said quietly. "Why are you here?"

Mara swallowed, dirt streaked across her cheek, her eyes steady. "Because Kandara wasn't supposed to turn into this."

"That doesn't answer my question," Ethan said, glancing over his shoulder, scanning for shadows.

She hesitated. Then reached into her jacket and pulled out a slim, laminated ID card, cracked at the edges.

UNITED NATIONS – SPECIAL MONITORING DIVISION

Ethan exhaled sharply. Figures.

"I was embedded as a humanitarian observer," she said, "unofficially tracking Orion."

His eyes narrowed. "You knew he was here?"

"Yes. And you weren't the first team sent to get him."

"How many?" Ethan asked.

Mara didn't answer immediately. That was answer enough.

Ethan stood and started moving again. "Where is he?"

"An old water treatment facility. Underground. About eight kilometers east."

"That's a long walk."

"We won't make it on foot," she replied, urgency in her tone.

Ethan stopped, glaring. "Then you better have a better idea."

She pointed through the trees. "There's a supply road. If we can intercept a vehicle-"

A burst of automatic fire cut her off.

Ethan shoved her down as bullets ripped through the trees where their heads had been seconds earlier. He rolled, fired twice with precision, then pulled her up and dragged her behind a fallen tree.

Three militia fighters emerged from the smoke, spreading out, rifles raised, scanning the forest.

"They're sweeping," Mara whispered.

Ethan nodded, calm now, focused. "On my mark."

The first fighter stepped too far. Ethan fired, and he fell silently. The second turned, startled, before a shot found its mark. The third barely reacted, but Ethan was already moving, sprinting through the underbrush.

They didn't stop running until they reached the dirt supply road, the setting sun casting long shadows between twisted trees. Dust rose behind them, but for a moment, it seemed the forest had swallowed their trail.

Mara's hand gripped his sleeve. "You realize," she said, voice low, "once we reach Orion, there's no extraction coming for us."

Ethan didn't answer immediately. His mind raced-every scenario he could imagine involved blood, betrayal, and impossible choices. "Yeah," he finally said, "I figured that out when they left me to die."

A battered pickup rattled into view along the road, kicking up dust. Ethan raised his rifle instinctively. Mara grabbed his arm.

"Wait," she said. "If we take it, they'll know. It's too risky."

"They already know," Ethan replied. He stepped onto the road. The truck screeched to a halt. Inside, armed men stared at them, calculating, unsure.

Ethan counted in his head. Three seconds. Two. One.

Then, almost imperceptibly, he moved, pushing Mara behind him. The men hesitated, just long enough for him to fire a shot through the windshield. Chaos erupted. Tires squealed, bullets ricocheted, and in the confusion, Ethan and Mara slipped into the cab, throwing the driver out and taking control of the vehicle.

The pickup surged forward. The forest blurred. The air was thick with gunpowder smoke, dust, and the smell of burnt engine oil. Mara clung to the dashboard. "I can't believe you just did that," she whispered.

"Believe it," Ethan said. "Or die trying."

Night fell hard, swallowing the land around them. The road stretched like a ribbon through a valley of shadows. Somewhere in the distance, the mountains loomed-silent witnesses to the chaos unfolding below.

Hours passed. They drove in tense silence. Mara finally spoke. "I need to know why you're doing this. Why you care about Orion. You don't even know him."

Ethan didn't answer immediately. He kept his eyes on the road, every shadow a potential threat. "I don't care about him," he said finally. "I care about the people who will die if he's caught. That's enough."

Her eyes softened slightly. "Then we're the same. Kind of."

They didn't speak again. Not yet. Not while the sound of distant artillery punctuated the darkness.

At 2 a.m., they stopped in the dry bed of a small creek to rest. The truck hidden under overhanging branches. Ethan kept watch while Mara scouted the perimeter. Every shadow felt alive. Every crackle of the underbrush a warning.

Then Mara returned, face pale. "We're not the only ones headed for the facility," she said. "They know he's still alive. Everyone wants him."

Ethan exhaled slowly, loading another magazine into his rifle. "Good. Then we'll beat them there."

The forest around them whispered. Somewhere, a lone howl split the night. Ethan thought about his team, about the helicopter, about everything he had lost.

And he thought about what they would face tomorrow-the facility underground, the secrets it held, the power it could unleash.

He tightened his grip on the rifle.

"Tomorrow," he said, voice low but steady, "we make sure no one dies who doesn't have to."

Mara nodded. For the first time that night, there was something like trust in her eyes.

The war was far from over. But at least, for now, they had a plan.

Above, the stars struggled to pierce through smoke and ash. Somewhere in Kandara, a secret powerful enough to change the world waited. And Ethan Cross was determined to reach it first.