The Last Echo

Chapter 2 – The Last Echo

The air in the hidden basement was thick, like it hadn't been breathed in years. Cold concrete pressed against Sapphire's bare feet, and the silence felt unnatural—oppressive. Her pulse thundered in her ears, but her body refused to move.

She was staring at death.

Her parents—her strong, brilliant parents—were sprawled across the floor of their safe room like discarded dolls. Her father slumped in his chair, blood painting the back wall in brutal arcs. Her mother's body lay near the desk, eyes closed, lips parted in a frozen whisper that would never be heard.

Sapphire's stomach churned. She wanted to scream, to cry, to collapse.

But there was no time.

Heavy footsteps echoed faintly above her. Voices—unfamiliar, sharp. Men. Soldiers. Mercenaries. They were still in the house, searching, moving toward this very room.

Her parents had tried to protect her. And now they were dead.

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, then forced her legs to move.

Her father had built this room as a last resort. Everything they needed to vanish was here—if she could move fast enough.

She stumbled toward the desk, almost slipping in the blood. Her shaking fingers found the hidden compartment under the drawer. With a quick twist, it popped open.

Inside: a loaded pistol, a satchel packed with emergency rations, a burner phone, a flashlight, and a black metal flash drive—unmarked. She didn't recognize it.

She took them all.

She had never held a gun before, but her fingers curled around the grip like it had always belonged to her. The cold steel steadied her breathing. Somehow, she knew how to handle it.

She didn't want to think about what that meant.

A sharp click broke the silence. She turned, heart leaping into her throat. One of the motion sensors had activated near the hidden wall panel.

They know.

She didn't wait. Sapphire sprinted to the far end of the room where a reinforced trapdoor was set into the floor. Her father had only mentioned it once—the storm drain exit. No one else was supposed to know about it.

She yanked it open and dropped down, her knees jolting as she hit the metal rungs of the ladder below. The door slammed shut above her just as a distant shout pierced the quiet.

They were too close.

Sapphire climbed down into darkness, the air growing colder and damper with every rung. Finally, her feet splashed into ankle-deep water. She turned on the flashlight—its beam cutting through the thick black ahead.

The drain tunnels twisted under the property for hundreds of feet. She followed the route she remembered from her father's crude blueprints—east, toward the woods.

The rain had started again aboveground. She could hear it pounding the grates overhead.

When she finally reached the rusted exit grill, she used a wrench from the satchel to pry it loose. Then she climbed out into the open air—soaked, shivering, alone.

She didn't look back.

There was no home to return to.

Sapphire tucked the gun into her waistband and slipped the flash drive into her robe pocket. Somewhere in that drive was a reason. A secret. Maybe even the truth.

She would find out who had done this.

And she would make them pay.