Chapter 5 - The Uprising in the Manor
The guards drew their shock-batons, stepping forward to overpower Arthur. But they underestimated Eli.
Though small and malnourished, Eli possessed an extraordinary, raw instincts. With lightning speed, he dropped low, sweeping his leg across the lead guard’s ankles. As the guard hit the floor, Eli grabbed the man's shock-baton, reversing its current with a sharp twist of his bare hands—a bizarre, innate mastery of electrical force—and pressed it into the second guard's chest.
The guard crumpled instantly.
"Arthur! Move!" Eli yelled.
Arthur didn't hesitate. He grabbed Eli’s arm and bolted back inside the manor, slamming the heavy reinforced oak doors and throwing the electronic deadbolts. Outside, Dr. Thorne’s operatives began beating against the heavy glass.
"They're taking over the house," Arthur panted, leaning against the door as alarms began to blare throughout the estate. "The internal communications are cut. Marcus has bought off the staff."
"They want Clara," Eli said, his dark eyes fierce. "They know if she walks on her own, nobody will buy their fake cure."
High above, at the top of the grand staircase, Clara stood holding onto the mahogany railing. She had dragged herself out of her chair, crawling across her room and using sheer will to pull herself up against the balustrade.
"Papa!" she cried out. "The doors to the lower level are locking!"
Arthur looked up, his heart pounding. Marcus was controlling the manor's automated security grid from his tablet outside. They were being boxed in.
"Eli," Arthur said, grabbing the boy by the shoulders. "You spoke of dead air and starlight in her nerves. Can you help her walk down those stairs? If we can reach my vault in the basement, I have an encrypted hard drive with the original flood data. We can expose Marcus to the federal authorities."
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Eli looked up at Clara, then back at Arthur. "I can't make her walk, Mr. Vance. She has to want to break through the dark herself. I can only hold the light."
"Then let's break through," Clara called down, her voice trembling but filled with an iron resolve her father had never seen before. "Hold the light, Eli. I'm coming down."
