Flee or Finish?

The morning sky was barely beginning to shift from a charcoal gray to the faintest hint of pale blue. Smoke still choked the air behind them, rising in ominous plumes from the ruined Chronos facility they had just escaped. Scattered about a cramped loading yard, Elias, Lucy, Sofia, and the remaining rebels struggled to catch their breath—each cough laced with ash, each heartbeat pounding from the sheer panic of the recent firefight.

Anna, the rebel leader, crouched behind a toppled crate, her eyes trained on the horizon.
“We need to keep moving,” she whispered urgently, though her voice wavered with fatigue. She pointed toward the chain-link fence that enclosed the yard. “Ivanov’s soldiers won’t let this go. They’ll storm out any moment…”

Elias pressed a hand to his ribs, bruised from earlier blows, and scanned the group. His daughter Lucy leaned against him, her chest heaving as if she’d just sprinted a mile. Even at a glance, he could see how drastically she had aged—her face drawn, her posture stiff, her once-childish cheeks now showing angles that belonged to an adult. She was physically around twenty years old now, but the fear in her wide eyes still belonged to the little girl he’d tucked into bed all those years ago.

“Dad…” Lucy’s voice cracked. “I’m—” She rubbed at her eyes, blinking back tears she refused to let spill in front of strangers. “I’m so tired.”

Elias placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I know, sweetheart. Just hold on a little longer,” he murmured, keeping his tone as soothing as he could manage. “We’ll find a place to rest.”

Sofia, clutching the half-finished module Oméga beneath her jacket, cleared her throat. Her own chest rose and fell with wheezing difficulty—too many hours spent inhaling smoke and dust. She cast a glance at the battered data pad in her hand, the same one Dr. Ishida had quickly reprogrammed for her.
“We can’t stop yet,” she said. “Ivanov’s troops have perimeter patrols. If we don’t get far enough from the facility, they’ll corner us.”

Anna nodded sharply. “Everyone, through that fence. We’ll circle back to one of our safe routes. Move!”

A thunderous crash made them all flinch. Behind them, a section of the facility collapsed with an echoing groan, sending sparks and embers flying into the still-dim sky. The group scrambled over the twisted fence, ignoring the jagged wires that snagged clothing and scraped skin. Lucy’s hands shook as she clutched Elias’s arm, the overhead swirl of debris making her dizzy.

They jogged—more limped than ran—down a deserted stretch of asphalt behind an abandoned warehouse. The rebels, about five survivors, fanned out ahead to watch for trouble. Elias kept Lucy close, his heart seized by the dreadful thought that if she collapsed now, he would not be able to carry her far. She was adult-sized, taller than he was by a couple of inches, yet still only ten years old in mind. The sheer cruelty of the accelerated aging made Elias’s stomach churn.

They found an old loading bay, its doors rusted shut. Anna and one of her men pried open a side entrance, and the group piled inside. Dust motes swirled in the stagnant air. The space was huge, filled with rows of obsolete shipping crates and overturned pallets, but at least it offered some cover.

“Ten minutes,” Anna announced tersely, pressing her ear to the wall. “We regroup, then we’re out. If any Chronos patrols sniff us here, we’ll have to fight or run.”

Her words carried the same grim urgency that had driven them all night, but Elias felt a momentary flicker of gratitude for even this brief pause. He ushered Lucy behind a tall stack of crates. Sofia followed, pale and sweat-beaded, still clutching the module Oméga to her chest.

Elias gently helped Lucy sit on an overturned crate. “Let me look at you,” he said quietly. He brushed dust from her hair; it was ragged at the ends, as though it had grown too fast for nature to keep up.

Lucy stared at her hands—hands that looked like a woman’s, with fine lines at the knuckles. Yet, as she squeezed her plush turtle, the gesture seemed heartbreakingly childlike.
“I feel… strange,” she whispered. “Heavy. Like my skin is made of stone. Is it always gonna hurt like this?”

Her voice nearly broke him. He wanted to lie, to promise everything would be fine. But Lucy was old enough—at least on the outside—to see through hollow reassurances.
“We’re doing all we can,” Elias said, swallowing the lump in his throat. He laid a hand on her shoulder, hoping she could feel how much he cared. “Sofia’s got that component we need. We’ll figure it out.”

“Elias,” Sofia said softly, glancing around to ensure no one else was listening. “The stabilizer is still incomplete, but what Ishida gave me is crucial. If I can power it properly, it might slow the aging—maybe not fully, but…” She trailed off, the unspoken ‘it’s our only hope’ heavy between them.

Lucy lifted her eyes, searching Sofia’s face for any hint of optimism. “So… you can fix me?” she whispered. “I—I just wanna stop growing older. I wanna be me again.”

Sofia’s expression twisted with guilt. “I’ll do everything in my power, Lucy.”

For a moment, the three of them shared a fragile bubble of hope. Then Anna’s sharp voice cut through the still air.
“We’ve got movement outside.”

Elias stood, tensing. “Soldiers?”

“Not sure,” Anna replied, beckoning one of her scouts to move. “Could be patrolling squads, or more desperate refugees. Everybody stay sharp.”

They slipped deeper into the warehouse, navigating a corridor flanked by mountains of shipping crates. The corridor itself was dimly lit by fractured skylights overhead. The rebels took the lead, weapons drawn. Elias held Lucy’s hand, leading her gently. Sofia hovered behind them, her free hand gripping the module Oméga beneath her jacket.

A distant clang echoed from somewhere within the labyrinth of crates, making Lucy’s pulse hammer. She forced herself to keep walking, her feet stumbling a little on the uneven concrete. She could practically feel her father’s protective stance at her side. Despite her adult body, he shielded her as if she were still that small, pigtailed child he used to carry on his shoulders.

Suddenly, shouts reverberated from the far end of the corridor. Gunshots rang out—short, harsh pops that ricocheted off metal crates.
“Down!” Anna barked, and the group scattered behind whatever cover they could find.

Elias yanked Lucy behind a crate stack. Sofia dove behind another. The rebels exchanged fire with an unseen force. Muzzle flashes lit the darkness, accompanied by the acrid smell of gunpowder.
“Ivanov’s men,” one rebel hissed. “They must’ve tracked us.”

Lucy clutched her plush turtle, heart hammering. Fear strangled her voice. The staccato of gunfire was louder than her own frantic thoughts. In the flickers of muzzle flash, she saw the silhouettes of armed soldiers advancing, their Chronos insignias barely visible in the gloom.

Elias pressed closer to Lucy. “We have to find another way out,” he shouted over the cacophony. “We can’t risk a head-on fight!”

Anna, pinned near the front, shouted back, “There’s a back corridor that leads to a storage lot. I’ll draw their fire—go!”

“Dad,” Lucy pleaded, eyes wide.

“Stay behind me, sweetheart,” Elias said, jaw set. He glanced around for Sofia, who was crouched behind a steel beam a few yards away.

They scrambled along the aisle, each footfall echoing in Lucy’s too-sensitive ears. She kept her head down, tears threatening as the rifle blasts raged. Elias hissed in pain when a bullet grazed the metal near his shoulder, sending sparks into his face, but he pushed onward.

In the confusion, Lucy suddenly lost sight of Sofia. Another barrage of gunshots forced her to duck behind a huge crate stacked with rotting cardboard boxes. When she looked up, Elias wasn’t there.
“Dad?” she gasped, pivoting frantically. She heard him call her name, but the noise was too overwhelming—an explosion of sound that masked even the pounding of her own heart. “Dad!”

She stumbled forward, turning a corner around the crates, thinking Elias had gone that way. Instead, she found herself in an open loading area at the warehouse’s rear. Dim emergency lights flickered, revealing a cluster of translucent, shimmering fields—time bubbles. Lucy froze, breath catching in her throat.

Inside those swirling fields, she saw people—men and women crouched in half-poses, some with terror etched onto their faces. They were hostages, suspended in a terrible stasis, their limbs contorted or mid-step, as though locked in the instant they’d been captured. The sight was so surreal, Lucy’s mind nearly shut down. She recognized the faint shimmering effect of a bubble’s boundary. She knew this phenomenon more intimately than she ever wanted to.

A choked sob escaped her. “No…” she whispered. “They’re stuck, just like—like I was.” Except they weren’t aging forward. Some, by their gaunt faces and sunken eyes, appeared to have been in a cycle of acceleration that had aged them drastically before freezing them again. Others looked heartbreakingly young, perhaps pinned mid-scream.

Her first instinct was to run away. The memory of her own transformation—suddenly older, body racked with pain—clutched at her like an iron band. But something about these silent figures kept her rooted. They were victims, just as she was. A wave of horror rushed through her, but with it came a surge of determination.

“Dad?” Lucy’s voice came out in a quiver, nowhere near a shout. Her hands fisted around her turtle plush, knuckles white. She took a trembling step forward.

Then a soldier’s voice barked from somewhere behind the crates. “Stop right there!” The words rang sharply through the gloom.

Lucy jerked her gaze around. A Chronos soldier, rifle raised, stepped from the shadows. Behind him, more gunfire rattled, and she could hear rebels shouting. She should have fled, but her legs refused to move, locked by the sight of the hostages.

“Dad…” she whimpered again, her eyes filling with tears.
The soldier advanced, muzzle leveled at her chest. “Turn around! Hands on your head!”

Before Lucy could comply, an echoing voice boomed: “Hold your fire—she’s valuable.”
Ivanov? Lucy’s mind reeled, remembering the cold authority in that voice from her nightmares. But no—this voice sounded different: rough, not quite as polished as Ivanov’s. Perhaps another officer. Regardless, the soldier hesitated, which gave Lucy just enough time to muster her courage.

She swallowed, summoning words that felt foreign on her tongue. “P-please—there are hostages in these bubbles. They’re going to die if—”

The soldier glanced behind him as if waiting for orders. That was Lucy’s moment. She bolted sideways, lungs burning, ignoring every instinct that told her to cower. She dashed past the nearest crate, ignoring the soldier’s startled curse. If he fired, she’d be a sitting duck. But she had to find her father. She had to live.

Meanwhile, Elias was tearing through a maze of boxes, shouting Lucy’s name in hoarse bursts. His heart pounded so violently he feared he’d pass out. Where did she go?
He heard a voice overhead: Anna’s man calling for backup, pinned by Chronos forces. Explosions of gunfire rattled the rafters. Then he spotted Sofia crouched near a forklift, trying to yank free a steel container. Her eyes shone with desperate focus.

“Sofia!” he shouted, ducking under a half-collapsed shelf. “Have you seen Lucy?”

She shook her head, voice tight with anxiety. “No. Elias, we got separated in the chaos. But look—there’s something inside this container…” She pried the latch open, and the lid creaked. “Chronos supplies.” Her face lit with grim triumph as she reached inside and withdrew a small, gleaming cylinder connected to intricate wiring. “It’s part of the Omega stabilizer sequence! If we can attach this to the module I have—”

“Then maybe Lucy can be saved,” Elias finished, hope warring with panic over Lucy’s absence. His gaze raked the dark corners of the warehouse. “We have to get her first. I can’t lose her in here.”

A rebel’s scream echoed from somewhere above, cut short by a barrage of bullets. Sofia flinched, hugging the cylinder to her chest.
“Go, Elias—find her,” Sofia urged, nodding fiercely. “I’ll keep this piece safe. We’ll meet by the south exit.”

He didn’t argue. Every second Lucy spent alone in this labyrinth only heightened the danger. Clutching the rifle he’d scavenged earlier, Elias sprinted down an aisle that led deeper into the echoing gloom. Anxiety roiled in his stomach, thoughts swirling with Lucy’s out there alone… She’s still a child.

Lucy’s feet pounded on the concrete floor, her breath ragged from exhaustion and pain. She gripped her turtle plush as if it were a lifeline. She wanted to scream for her father, but the memory of the soldier’s rifle stifled her voice. Her pulse throbbed in her ears.

Rounding a corner, she stumbled upon a ghastly sight: another bubble—this one shimmering in the center of the corridor. Inside, three terrified people hovered mid-motion, their expressions contorted with shock. A child’s arm was outstretched, fingertips mere inches from the bubble’s boundary, as though trying to escape.

Lucy stopped short, heart pounding. She recalled the earlier cluster of hostages. How many have they trapped like this? She shuddered, tears brimming. The painful memory of her own entrapment—of waking up older—echoed through her mind. But as tears threatened, something else flared inside her: a fierce resolve that roared, I don’t want to end up like them. I’m going to fight.

“Dad…” she whispered one last time, voice trembling.

She heard footsteps, then felt the rush of air as a figure skidded around the corner. “Lucy!”
Her father’s voice snapped her out of her paralysis. Elias, face streaked with sweat and grime, sprinted toward her. Relief washed over him at the sight of his daughter standing there, albeit trembling. He wrapped her in a swift embrace.
“Thank God—you’re okay.”

Lucy buried her face against his chest, sobbing in relief. “I—I couldn’t find you,” she hiccupped, voice muffled.

“I’m here,” Elias murmured, brushing her hair back. “Stay close, we’ll get out—”

A sharp crack cut him off, and a bullet zinged past, striking the crate behind them. Splinters of wood flew in a sharp arc. Elias spun, pushing Lucy behind him.
“This way,” he hissed, scanning for cover.

They sprinted toward an opening in the far wall, dodging leftover crates and broken shelving. Sporadic gunfire chased them, the muzzle flashes painting the gloom in violent stutters of light. Lucy’s chest burned, her legs felt unsteady, but Elias’s grip on her wrist steadied her enough to keep moving.

At last, they rounded another corner and nearly collided with Sofia, who knelt behind a half-fallen metal scaffold. Anna and two rebels crouched nearby, exchanging desperate fire with a group of Chronos soldiers pinned behind debris.

“Elias—Lucy!” Sofia exclaimed, relief flooding her face. “I have the stabilizer piece. We need to go—now.”

“The south exit,” Anna reminded them, reloading her weapon with a grimace. “It’s half-blocked, but it’s our best shot. We hold them off, then run.”

Before Elias could respond, a series of gunshots thundered across the warehouse. The bullets sliced into the scaffolding with a shriek of metal. Sparks flew, and Anna ducked lower, cursing under her breath.
“We can’t hold this position. Everyone move—cover each other!”

Elias nodded. He clutched Lucy close, heart hammering in his chest. Sofia hurried beside him, the precious cylinder pressed under her arm. The group advanced in fits and starts, half-crouched, pausing behind crates or forklift pallets while Anna and her remaining rebels laid down suppressive fire. Now and then, Chronos soldiers attempted to push forward, only to be pinned back by volley after volley of rebel gunfire. The acrid stench of gunpowder and the thunderous echoes of bullets made the entire journey nightmarish.

Lucy forced herself to keep going, even though each step sent pain lancing through her limbs. I have to make it… I want to live. She held that thought like a talisman, pushing away the images of the hostages locked in those shimmering fields.

They finally reached a battered metal door that led outside. Anna kicked it open, revealing a bleak dawn sky painted with streaks of orange and ash. Fresh air hit them like a shock. Beyond the threshold lay a patch of cracked asphalt that sloped down to a deserted lot overrun by weeds.

One by one, they spilled into the open. A handful of Chronos soldiers rushed to intercept from the side, but the rebels unleashed a spray of gunfire, forcing the soldiers to dive for cover behind a shattered wall.
“Keep going!” Anna yelled, motioning for Elias and Lucy to run. “We’ll slow them down!”

Elias grabbed Lucy’s hand. Together with Sofia, they sprinted for cover behind a rusted cargo truck. Their hearts slammed in unison, and Lucy could taste the bitterness of adrenaline on her tongue.
Behind them, Anna and the rebels unleashed another round of bullets, the noise blending with the dull roar of the warehouse’s structural collapse. It seemed as though the entire compound might cave in at any moment, burying everything in twisted steel and dust.

Suddenly, an earsplitting blast rocked the yard—a rebel grenade or misplaced charge. The shockwave nearly knocked Lucy off her feet. Elias steadied her, eyes darting back to see Anna stumbling away from the epicenter, coughing violently. The few Chronos soldiers who had tried to flank them were either dead or scattered.

“Go!” Anna’s voice was raw. She gestured frantically through the haze of smoke. “Get the girl out of here.”

Elias had no time to argue. Fear and urgency spurred him to keep moving. Sofia pressed the cylinder closer to her body, eyes locked on the horizon. Lucy’s lungs burned, but she forced her legs to comply. The group made it past another chain-link fence, then down a slope thick with broken concrete and brambles. Each step echoed with the chaotic symphony of the firefight behind them—screams, metal clattering, distant explosions.

At last, the gunfire diminished, lost in the swirl of wind and the crackle of scattered flames. They found themselves stumbling onto a deserted back road, the asphalt pitted with potholes. Sunlight seeped through the swirling dust clouds, casting everything in a harsh, surreal glow.

They didn’t stop until they reached a stretch of battered ground overshadowed by a half-collapsed billboard. Panting, each of them sank to their knees, hearts roaring in their chests. For several long moments, no one spoke. The only sounds were labored breathing and the rustle of the wind.

Elias looked at Lucy, who lay on her side, arms wrapped around her plush turtle. Her eyes were half-closed, exhaustion carving deep shadows under them. She looked older than ever—her features fully that of a young adult, maybe twenty or twenty-one, but the trembling of her lips was purely childlike.

Sofia knelt next to her, rummaging through her satchel. She extracted the half-finished Oméga module and the cylinder she’d recovered in the warehouse. Her fingers shook as she examined the components.
“This…” she said, voice breaking, “it’s all we have. A crucial piece, but… incomplete.”

Lucy’s eyes fluttered open, fixing on the devices. “Will that… help me?” she murmured, voice frail.

Sofia forced a small smile, though tears glinted in her lashes. “It’s a start. If I can modify a power source and finish the assembly, it might stabilize the rapid aging.”

A wave of relief and sorrow washed over Elias. He stroked Lucy’s hair softly, remembering how she used to look at him from under a cascade of messy pigtails. Now her face held lines of stress no child should wear.

Anna approached, leaning on a rifle, her expression grim. Only two rebels stood behind her now, both wounded. “We lost half our group back there,” she said. Her tone betrayed the weight of that loss, though she tried to keep it steady. “But we did manage to hit Chronos hard.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Sofia replied bitterly, hugging the stabilizer components. “Ivanov will regroup. And if the rumors of his mega-bubble project are true…” She trailed off, letting the implication hang.

Anna set her jaw. “We’ve done what we can for now. We’ll need to find refuge, rearm, and treat the wounded.” Her gaze flicked to Lucy, and for once, Anna’s expression softened. “Your daughter… she looks—”

“She’s at her limit,” Elias cut in, though not unkindly. “We need a safe place where Sofia can work. Lucy can’t keep running.”

Lucy let out a shaky breath, eyes fluttering shut. “Dad… it hurts,” she whispered, pressing closer to his warmth. Elias squeezed her hand, heart twisting.

“We’ll make it stop,” he promised, voice fierce.

Sofia exhaled unsteadily. “I just need some time and the proper equipment,” she said, addressing Anna. “We can’t fix Lucy if we’re constantly on the run.”

Anna gave a curt nod. “We have a secondary safehouse not far from here. It’s hidden enough for you to work, at least temporarily. But once Ivanov reorganizes his men, they’ll be hunting us.”

Elias helped Lucy to stand. She leaned heavily on him, her knees trembling. Despite her adult frame, she seemed so fragile in that moment, as though the weight of the world was pressing down on her shoulders.
“Dad,” she mumbled, gripping his arm. “I—saw people in those bubbles. They were… they couldn’t move. Couldn’t get out. I… I never want to be trapped like that again.”

Elias’s chest tightened. He smoothed a hand over her hair. “You won’t be,” he murmured, forcing confidence into his voice. “We’re going to end this.”

From where she stood cradling the Oméga components, Sofia’s gaze darkened. “Ivanov is preparing for a final push,” she said. “He’s not just going to let us escape now that we have these pieces.” She paused, eyes flicking from Lucy to Elias. “We need to be ready for whatever he does next.”

Anna’s face was grim. “I’ve heard rumors he wants to unleash the mega-bubble on entire regions. If that’s true, we’ve barely scratched the surface of this war.”

A tense silence hung, punctuated by Lucy’s labored breathing and the distant rumble of collapsing structures behind them. The sun climbed higher, illuminating the group’s haunted expressions with cruel clarity. Elias knew they couldn’t stay out here in the open. He squared his shoulders.

“Then we’ll prepare,” he said firmly. “But first—Lucy comes first.”

Anna glanced at her men, then tilted her head in acknowledgment. “All right. Follow me.” She led them down the cracked road toward the rumored safehouse, battered rifles at the ready.

Elias wrapped an arm around Lucy’s waist to support her as they walked, heart still pounding from the day’s near-escapes. Sofia kept pace on Lucy’s other side, carefully cradling the pieces of the stabilizer. Anna and the rebels scouted ahead, eyes scanning for any sign of pursuit.

Though they limped forward under a sky stained by ashes and the threat of more bloodshed, a faint spark of hope glimmered amidst their exhaustion. They had fragments of the Oméga module. They had each other. And Lucy, though wracked with pain and aged beyond her years, was still alive—still holding her plush turtle in a childlike grip.

But with every step, Elias felt the weight of Ivanov’s looming threat. The general had not been idle, and if that final nightmare—the mega-bubble—was nearly ready, their struggle was far from over. He glanced at Lucy’s strained face and vowed that no matter what came, he would fight for her. He would protect the little girl inside this too-adult body, even if it cost him everything.

They pressed on into the wasteland of twisted metal and rubble, fleeing the place of their narrow victory. The cost in lives was steep, the future uncertain. And as they vanished into the smoky horizon, a new chapter of terror prepared to unfold elsewhere—Ivanov, methodical and ruthless, gathering his forces to unleash the catastrophic plan that would dwarf all the horrors before it.

Lucy leaned her head on her father’s shoulder, eyes fluttering in exhaustion. Elias held her tighter. No matter how dark the road ahead, they had survived—together. And for now, that slender bond would have to be enough.