Chapter 7 - TRAPPED LIKE RATS
Gas began hissing from vents near the vault's high ceiling.
"Toxic fumes!" Sarah screamed, covering her nose and mouth.
"Marcus, we can't breathe this!"
Leo began coughing violently, his lungs burning from the sweet-smelling gas.
Marcus desperately searched the concrete walls for any weakness.
"Stand back!" Marcus ordered, drawing his sidearm.
He fired three rounds directly into the hinges of the steel vault door.
Sparks flew, but the heavy reinforced metal refused to budge.
"It's three-inch ballistic steel!" Sarah cried out, falling to her knees.
Leo collapsed against the safe, gasping for air.
"Officer... I'm sleepy..." Leo whimpered, his eyes fluttering closed.
Marcus felt his own head spinning as oxygen depleted rapidly.
He looked at the iron safe—it was anchored into an old ventilation shaft.
"The back of the safe!" Marcus realized out loud.
He grabbed a heavy iron crowbar from a tool rack on the wall.
Using all his remaining strength, Marcus jammed the crowbar behind the safe's metal lining.
He pulled with everything he had, screaming in exertion.
With a loud crunch of tearing metal, the back panel gave way, revealing a narrow concrete tunnel.
"Get in! Move!" Marcus yelled, dragging Sarah and Leo toward the opening.
They crawled blindly through the cramped, dusty tunnel as the gas filled the vault behind them.
The tunnel sloped upward, leading toward an old sewer grate near the riverbank.
Marcus kicked the rusted grate open, and cold night air rushed into their lungs.
They collapsed onto the muddy bank of the river, gasping hysterically.
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In the distance, the iron foundry burst into a massive fireball.
Vance thought he had just burned them alive.
