The Road to Nowhere

The car hurtled down the winding mountain road, its headlights slicing through the inky darkness. Raj gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles white, while Elena cradled Sophie in the backseat. The girl's breaths came in shallow rasps, her feverish skin glowing like embers in the dashboard's faint light.

"We need to find a hospital," Elena said, her voice fraying. "She won't last much longer."

Raj shook his head. "Hospitals are the first place Langston will look. There's a clinic in Redwood Falls—small, off the grid. We'll go there."

Elena nodded, her eyes never leaving Sophie. Outside, the forest pressed in like a living thing, branches clawing at the windows. Every shadow felt like a threat, every turn in the road a potential ambush.

They drove in suffocating silence until dawn tinged the sky with bruised purple. Raj pulled into a derelict gas station on the outskirts of Redwood Falls, its neon sign flickering like a distress signal.

"Stay here," he said, grabbing a crumpled wad of cash from the glovebox. "I'll get supplies."

Elena watched him disappear into the dimly lit store, her pulse throbbing in her ears. Sophie stirred, her eyelids fluttering.

"Mommy… where's Alex?"

Elena's throat tightened. Alexander's face flashed in her mind—his gun raised, his voice a snarl. Go. Just go.

"He's… catching up," she lied, smoothing Sophie's hair. "Rest now, baby."

Raj returned with a plastic bag of painkillers, bandages, and a burner phone. "No antibiotics. They wouldn't sell without a prescription."

Elena crushed a pill into water, coaxing Sophie to drink. "It'll have to do."

As the engine roared back to life, Raj hesitated. "Elena… what if Langston's tracking the car?"

She froze. The thought hadn't occurred to her. "Pull over. Now."

They searched the vehicle in frantic silence. Under the rear bumper, Raj found it: a magnetic GPS tracker, its red light blinking lazily.

"Son of a—" He ripped it off and hurled it into the woods. "They've known where we are this whole time."

Elena's stomach dropped. "How long until they regroup?"

Raj checked the burner phone. "Depends how far back their team was. We've got maybe an hour."

Sophie whimpered, her tiny body convulsing. "Mommy… can't breathe…"

Elena's hands shook as she checked her daughter's pulse—thready, erratic. "Forget the clinic. We're out of time."

The Redwood Falls Clinic was a squat concrete building with bars on the windows. A faded poster on the door read Closed for Renovations, but light seeped through the cracks.

Raj kicked the door open. "Help! We need a doctor!"

Inside, an elderly man in a stained lab coat looked up from a stack of files. His name tag read Dr. Elias Grant.

"You're trespassing," he said flatly.

Elena shoved forward, Sophie limp in her arms. "Please. She's dying."

Dr. Grant's eyes narrowed, then flicked to Sophie. A beat passed—then he gestured to a rusted exam table. "Put her there."

The doctor worked in silence, hooking Sophie to a heart monitor and administering a shot of epinephrine. The machine's steady beep filled the room.

"Sepsis," he muttered, adjusting the IV. "From untreated infection. She needs antibiotics, strong ones."

Elena's knees buckled. "Do you have any?"

Dr. Grant hesitated. "Black market stock. Expensive."

Raj slammed a fistful of cash on the counter. "Whatever it takes."

As the doctor disappeared into a back room, Elena leaned against the wall, exhaustion dragging at her bones. Raj paced, his eyes darting to the windows.

"We can't stay here," he said. "Langston's men will track the clinic next."

Elena nodded, her gaze fixed on Sophie. "We'll move as soon as she's stable."

A crash echoed from the back room.

"Doc?" Raj called. "You okay?"

Silence.

Elena's breath hitched. "Raj—"

The shot rang out before she could finish.

Dr. Grant's body slumped into the doorway, a bullet hole smoking in his forehead. Behind him stood a woman in tactical gear, her gun trained on Elena.

"Hello, Dr. Carter." The woman's voice was honeyed, familiar. She peeled off her balaclava, revealing sharp features and icy blonde hair.

Dr. Harper.

Elena's blood turned to ice. "You're supposed to be dead."

Harper smirked. "Reports of my demise were… exaggerated. Thanks to you, Langston needed a scapegoat. But I'm not one to hold a grudge."

Raj lunged, but Harper fired—a bullet grazed his shoulder, slamming him into the wall.

"Ah-ah," Harper tutted. "Let's not be heroes."

She stepped closer, her gun hovering over Sophie. "Hand over the files, or I finish what the gene therapy started."

Elena's mind raced. The files were their only leverage, but Sophie's face was ashen, her lips tinged blue.

"You'll kill her anyway," Elena said, her voice steady. "Just like you killed those patients."

Harper's smile faded. "This was never personal. But you? You made it personal."

The heart monitor screamed—Sophie's pulse spiked, her body seizing.

"Mommy!"

Harper glanced at the machine, distracted.

Elena moved.

She grabbed a scalpel from the exam table and lunged, slashing Harper's wrist. The gun clattered to the floor. Harper snarled, tackling Elena against the wall.

"You bitch!"

They grappled, Harper's nails raking Elena's face. Across the room, Raj crawled toward the gun, blood pooling beneath him.

Sophie's wail cut through the chaos. "Stop! Please stop!"

Harper froze—just for a second—but it was enough. Elena drove the scalpel into her shoulder. Harper screamed, stumbling back.

Raj seized the gun. "Don't move!"

Harper clutched her bleeding shoulder, laughter bubbling from her lips. "You think you've won? Langston owns this town. You'll never make it out alive."

Elena stood, her voice cold. "But you won't be here to see it."

The gunshot echoed like thunder.

Harper collapsed, her eyes wide and unseeing. Raj lowered the gun, his hands trembling.

"We need to go," he rasped. "Now."

Elena scooped Sophie into her arms, the girl's breaths labored but steady. The antibiotics were working—for now.

As they fled into the dawn, the clinic's heart monitor flatlined behind them.