Trapped

chapter 46

The escape tunnel appeared to stretch on with no end in sight inside the pitch blackness, making it not possible for Lily to decide how far she'd traveled or if she was even heading in the proper direction anymore. Her lungs burned with exertion, every ragged breath feeling like shards of glass in her throat.

She tried her best to move quickly yet carefully, hands skimming along the rough walls for guidance while avoiding any unseen obstacles. The last thing she needed was to take a wrong step and end up sprawled on the ground, injuring herself or the baby.

The sounds of the assault against the villa still reached her even through the thick concrete - distant explosions and shouts echoing like the muffled rumblings of a coming storm. Each faint reverberation made Lily's heart stutter with a fresh spike of adrenaline, driving her stumbling footsteps onwards in blind desperation.

At some point, her palm grazed across a metal rung set into the wall at hip-height, nearly making