CHAPTER 118
Humberto was the last one into the air duct. In accordance with instruction from Ms. Murdock he dropped a gas grenade into the control room before following the others. The can clinked on the ground and hissed into a cloud of vapor that would irritate the lungs and burn the eyes. It might at the very least give them a head start, Joan had thought.
Ms. Murdock was in the lead, followed by Dianna, Seth, Kyra, Shelly, Ms. Bolton, and Dr. Conners. Gary, Guss, Phill, Dr. Ellis, and Bill Came next. Hector was in the back, just before Humberto.
The plan was to follow the air ducts to the cafeteria. Above the kitchen was an access panel that opened up beneath the helipad. It was the nearest exit point to the operations compound's emergency bunker, and it was not a far trek. This part of the journey wasn't what concerned Joan, or anyone else in particular. It was the outside that was troubling. The sprint to the bunker was seemingly suicide. It was no secret that Ms. Murdock expected deaths along the way.
Nobody spoke as they crawled through the ducts. Seth was trying not to feel claustrophobic or panic. There were times when the caravan would pause, and it was impossible to tell why, because he couldn't make out what Ms. Murdock was thinking or doing as his mom did a thorough job of occluding her in the narrow passage. It was in these moments that Seth's impulse to loose composure was at its height. He couldn't take the waiting. He just wanted it to be over.
They came to several spots where the vents had been knocked out of the floor of the duct. Each time Seth stretched his body across one of these openings he felt a twinge in his belly. In his mind he imagined a set of claws reaching up and tearing out his guts. Then he would fall through to the floor and be dragged away with his intestines trailing behind him. There would be nothing anyone could do. They'd just have to go on without him. He wondered how his mother would handle it.
Seth was caught in one of these trails of thought when he got a shove from behind. Peering over his shoulder he saw Kyra using a strong eye gesture to urge him on. He looked ahead and saw a growing gap between him and his mother. He realized that he must have stopped and not even known it.
As he moved to catch up he figured they must be getting close. At the last opening they crossed they were just outside the cafeteria. Then he got to thinking that there was something that felt all too easy about the whole thing. The velociraptors had to be watching them, but they weren't attacking. The more time went on the less Seth considered it to be a stroke of good fortune. He had learned too well already that they were likely walking right into the culmination of an elaborate scheme. He also had the sense that Ms. Murdock knew it and didn't care. Seth had to admit, what other option did there seem to be?