Miranda walked over and drove the heel of her shoe straight down onto the back of my hand.

"You're just a grease monkey. What makes you think you're some kind of savior? Leon, don't waste time talking to him. Lock him in solitary. We'll deal with him after the alarm stops."

I looked at the timer on the wall. Seventeen minutes left before the core blew.

"If the core blows up, none of us will make it out alive!" I shouted at Leon, spit hitting his boots.

Leon wiped his boots off with a look of disgust and slapped me across the face.

"The shelter doesn't depend on one mechanic. Cole is already on his way." He turned to his guards. "Take him."

They dragged me down the hall like I was a pile of trash.

People lined the corridor, pointing at me. Someone even spat in my direction.

"Disgusting! I can't believe he tried to kill us for a room."

"I used to think Zach was a decent guy. Guess you never really know someone."

I watched in despair as the steel door to the core section slipped farther and farther away.

The red glow from inside had already flooded half the hallway.

-

The solitary room was cold and damp, lit by a single dim bulb.

They cuffed my hands behind the chair. I sat there, burning with urgency.

Time kept slipping away, second by second.

I looked up at the vent in the ceiling. The vibrations coming through it were getting stronger.

That was the core, crying out.

The door opened. Miranda stepped in in her high heels, calm and composed. She held a half-eaten chocolate bar in her hand, one of the shelter's restricted supplies.

"Not feeling so great now, huh?"

She leaned against the table, looking at me in contempt.

I forced myself to stay calm and met her eyes.

"Miranda, what do you want? What do you gain by stopping me from fixing the core?"

She took another bite of chocolate, smiling as if she had already won.

"What do I gain? Plenty."

She leaned in closer, lowering her voice.

"All the scarce supplies in the core district warehouse are under my name now. If you went in there and saw half the antibiotics and canned food missing, how do you think I'd explain that?"

My whole body went rigid. I stared at her, stunned. "Are you out of your mind? You stole strategic reserves?"

"Stole?" Miranda let out a cold laugh. "Leon runs the guard. What he says goes in this shelter."

She tossed the chocolate wrapper onto my face.

"Cole is an old fool. He won't dig into anything. He just follows procedures. Once he lowers the pressure, I'll fix the records. No one will ever know."

"He can't lower it!" I shouted, panic breaking through. "The pressure spike is from thermal backflow. You have to seal the cracks with nano repair compound! If he tries to vent it, the core will blow instantly!"

Miranda curled her lip, unimpressed.

"Stop trying to scare me. You think I don't get it? You just want credit. You want that private room. Zach, as long as I'm here, you're never getting anywhere."

Right then, the entire room jolted hard. The light overhead swung violently, dust shaking loose from the ceiling.

Miranda screamed, nearly losing her balance.

That was the sound of a partial collapse.

"What was that? Didn't they say Cole was already there?"

Her face went pale, a flicker of panic breaking through.

I slammed my body against the chair, desperate.

"He messed up! He must've opened the secondary pressure release valve! Quick, take me to the comms room. I need to guide him. If that valve doesn't get shut, we're done!"

Miranda steadied herself. Her eyes flickered, then hardened into something colder. She walked to the corner and yanked the internal comm line straight out of the wall.

"Guide him? Sounds more like you want to trigger the explosion remotely. Zach, a terrorist like you doesn't get to talk."

She dropped the severed wire, turned, and ran out, locking the door behind her.

"Miranda!" I roared. "Get back here! You're gonna kill everyone!"

I shouted until my throat tore raw, but the only thing that answered me was dead silence.

The clock on the wall ticked on.

Eight minutes left until the expected explosion.

Heat began to rise through the floor beneath my feet. The energy from below was already pushing through the insulation.

I stared at the cuffs around my wrists and pulled with everything I had.

Skin split. Blood ran down into my sleeves.

I couldn't feel the pain anymore, just a hollow, sinking dread.

Were 30 thousand people really about to die because of one selfish woman?

Suddenly, a deafening blast tore up from deep underground.

The steel door of the cell warped, the walls cracking open with jagged splits. A wave of scorching air surged down the corridor.

The impact threw me off the chair, dragging it down with me as I hit the ground.

Boom!

Then came the chain of explosions, one after another.

Screams echoed through the structure. People crying, shouting, the sound of debris crashing down.

The east sector of the shelter was gone.

Not long after, the cell door was forced open.

Several guards, covered in dust and soot, rushed in and hauled me to my feet without a word.

"Move. Commander Norris wants to see you."

By the time they dragged me into the central plaza, it had already turned into a wreck.

The air reeked of burning and blood.

On the giant screen, Miranda was somehow still in the safe zone, recording a message.

Tears streamed down her face as she spoke to the camera.

"Don't be scared, everyone. We've already secured the poisoner, Zach. The core is damaged, but Captain Garrett will protect everyone."

I stared at her face, sick with anger, wishing I could tear that act apart.

Shelter commander, Russell Norris, stood in the middle of the plaza, his face pale, his body trembling slightly.

Beside him, Leon was speaking in a low voice, reporting.

"Commander Norris, this is all Zach's doing! He broke into the core sector and poisoned it, triggering the explosion."

Leon pointed straight at me, his voice sharp with intent.

Russell turned, his deep-set eyes locking onto mine. "Zach, what do you have to say?"

I hadn't even opened my mouth before Leon drove a kick into my stomach. "Talk. Where did you hide the rest of the poison? You got accomplices?"

Pain folded me over. I gasped for air.

"Commander Norris… The explosion…was caused by Cole's mistake… Miranda stopped me from fixing it…"

"Stop lying!" Miranda rushed forward from nowhere, pointing at me as she shouted. "You're insane! You're about to die, and you're still trying to drag me down with you? Commander Norris, don't listen to him. He's a killer!"

Russell ignored her. His gaze shifted past us, landing on a pile of rubble nearby.

A strip of red fabric stuck out from beneath it.

His personal guard captain ran over, picking it up, his voice breaking.

"Commander Norris… This belongs to Ms. Cheryl… She was touring the core sector… We can't find her."

Russell's body swayed.

Cheryl Norris was his only granddaughter.

"Don't stop looking! Find her!"

His roar cut across the entire plaza.

Seeing that, Leon immediately drew his pistol and aimed it at my head.

"Commander Norris, this animal got Ms. Cheryl killed. I'll take him out right now and make him pay with his life!"

His finger trembled on the trigger.

I knew why. He was afraid of the truth coming out.

The crowd around us started shouting along.

"Kill the murderer!"

"Kill him! Make him pay for the family members we lost!"

I looked at their furious faces, and all I felt was cold, empty despair. They had no idea the real killer was standing right in front of them, taking credit.

Just as Leon was about to pull the trigger, Russell spoke.

"Wait."

He stepped toward me, slow and deliberate, his eyes colder than ice.

"Zach, I'll ask you one more time. Why did the core explode?"