He grabbed the manual release lever on the inside of the door and pulled it down.

The heavy metal door clicked open.

Andrew lunged into the black smoke, grabbing my upper arms.

“Elila, I’ve got you,” he said, his voice rough and coughing.

He pulled me out into the hallway, his boots crunching on the glass.

The heat behind us surged as another chemical container exploded in the lab.

The force of the blast threw us both to the hard tile floor of the corridor.

Andrew quickly scrambled up and shielded my body with his own.

“Are you hurt? Is the baby okay?” he asked, his hands trembling on my shoulders.

“I’m okay, just dizzy,” I whispered, holding up the metal casing of the hard drive.

“We have to go, now,” he said, lifting me up by my waist.

I leaned against him, my legs feeling like lead.

We stumbled down the long, red-lit hallway toward the emergency exit stairs.

The alarm kept wailing, its high-pitched scream echoing off the concrete walls.

My lungs burned with every step we took.