Chapter 5
Elena’s voice came again.
“Sir, I can hear children inside.”
Dane replied, “That sector is restricted. Nobody goes in.”
The survivors stared.
The soldiers stared.
Even the medics stopped pretending not to listen.
The video shook as Elena moved through the smoke.
Max barked twice.
A child screamed in the distance.
Elena’s voice came again.
“Colonel, there are people alive in there.”
Dane answered, “If you enter that wing, I will end your career.”
The yard went dead silent.
Elena closed her eyes for one second.
She remembered that moment.
The heat hitting her face.
The ceiling cracking above her.
Max pulling forward with everything he had.
She had known exactly what disobeying would cost her.
Rank.
Career.
Prison, maybe.
But then the little girl screamed again.
And Elena had said the only thing she could live with.
“Then end it.”
On the video, she moved.
The camera showed Max charging through smoke low to the ground.
Elena slammed her shoulder into a warped metal door.
Once.
Twice.
The third time, it burst open.
People cried out inside.
The little girl from the ambulance appeared on the screen, coughing in the corner, holding a teddy bear with one burned ear.
Elena wrapped the child in her own jacket.
“Stay behind Max,” she shouted. “Follow the dog!”
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Max turned and barked, guiding them through the smoke like he had been born for that exact moment.
Read Part 6 to see what Elena found behind the door Dane wanted hidden.
