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The rest was lost as a massive beam crashed down, nearly crushing them. Terror shot through Sheila's body as they scrambled back, watching helplessly as the collapse cut off the left passage—and any chance of immediately pursuing Peter.
"The right tunnel," Sheila said, already moving. "Before that comes down too."
They ran, the sound of falling rock pursuing them like something alive. Peter had known exactly how to trigger this, had probably spent years learning the mine's weaknesses. Every stamp of their feet threatened to bring down more of the ceiling.
The passage ahead split again. In the beam of her flashlight, Sheila caught a splash of color—a bright red jacket half-buried under a fallen rock.
"There!" She rushed forward, Finn close behind.
Michelle lay unconscious but breathing, partially protected by a cave-in that had formed a small pocket around her. They worked quickly to free her, aware that any wrong move could bring down the rest of the unstable section.
"She's alive," Finn said, checking Michelle's pulse. "But we need to get her out of here now."
Sheila played her light back the way they'd come, now completely blocked by the collapse. "That was his plan all along. Force us to choose between catching him and saving her."
"And make sure we couldn't follow immediately even if we did choose him." Finn carefully lifted Michelle. "There has to be another way out. He wouldn't trap himself down here."
"Which means he has other exits we don't know about. Places that aren't on any of the maps."
A rumble from deep in the mountain emphasized her point. This section wasn't done collapsing.
"We need to move," Finn said. "Before—"
A crack like thunder cut him off as another support beam gave way somewhere ahead of them. The sound of cascading rock grew louder.
"Run," Sheila ordered, looking at Finn and the unconscious Michelle. But even as she said it, a different thought crystallized. "No—wait. You take her out. Follow the air current, it'll lead to an exit."
"What?" Finn shifted Michelle's weight in his arms. "You can't be serious."
"He has private exits, Finn. Ones that aren't on any map." Her flashlight beam caught falling debris as another rumble shook the tunnel. "If we lose him now, we may never find him again."
"Sheila—"
"He won't be able to resist," she cut him off. "Me, alone, in his darkness? It's everything he wants. And this time, he won't have the advantage of night vision."
A massive crash rumbled deeper in the tunnels. The mountain was coming apart around them.
"You'll die down here," Finn said quietly.
"Get her out," Sheila replied, already turning back toward the darkness. "That's an order."
She heard Finn's footsteps retreating, then forced herself to focus. The tunnels groaned around her as she moved deeper, her flashlight beam catching clouds of dust and debris. Every step could trigger another collapse. Every breath could be her last.
But she knew Peter would come for her. His twisted need to teach, to control—he wouldn't be able to resist one final lesson.
She killed her light and waited in the absolute darkness, controlling her breathing the way she'd learned in the academy. Listening. The mountain's death throes created a cacophony of sound—falling rock, splintering timber, the deep groan of earth shifting above.
Then—footsteps. Careful, measured. Moving with the confidence of someone who knew these tunnels by heart, with or without night-vision goggles.
He must have been following us, she thought. He must have gone around, using a route we didn't see.
"I knew you'd understand," Peter said from the darkness. "The final lesson. The most important one."
Sheila remained silent, tracking his location by sound. He was circling, trying to get behind her.
"In darkness, we're all equal," he continued. "All stripped of pretense. Of illusion." A pause. "Except I've had decades to learn its secrets. To become one with—"
Sheila fired toward his voice. The muzzle flash lit the tunnel in strobing bursts, momentarily blinding them both. She heard him curse, followed by the sound of him stumbling backward.