Chapter 3 - Smashed Steel and Desperate Breaths**
The heavy steel blade of the pneumatic fire axe slammed against the reinforced locking mechanism of the freezer door with a deafening CRACK.
Sparks showered across the concrete floor as Marcus swung again and again, his muscles straining, his breath coming in ragged gasps in the chilly hallway. He didn't care about property damage. He didn't care about the alarms that would eventually trigger. He only cared about the wild, instinctual premonition screaming in his chest that someone’s life was ending behind this steel barrier.
Inside the freezing vault, the second twin arrived with a sudden, silent rush.
I caught the second baby against my chest just as a wave of blackness swam across my vision. Hypothermia had penetrated deep into my core; my shivering had stopped entirely—a terrifying medical sign that my body was giving up the fight.
Both tiny babies were crying weakly, their fragile cries muffled by the biting wind of the refrigeration fans. I tucked them both inside my torn cardigan, pressing their warm little bodies frantically against my chest, using the last drops of my fading life force to shield them from the murderous cold.
“Please… someone…” I whispered into the dark, my eyelids fluttering shut.
*BANG! BANG! CRASH!*
The sound of heavy metal being battered from the outside echoed like thunder through the freezer walls.
Marcus swung the fire axe with superhuman strength, striking the exact digital housing unit where the electronic override relay was wired. With a final, massive heave, he jammed the steel crowbar into the door seam and leaned his entire weight against it.
*POP!*
The internal magnetic seal broke. A massive plume of white, super-chilled vapor billowed out into the hallway as the heavy door swung wide open.
Marcus stumbled forward into the blinding frost, coughing as the extreme cold hit his lungs. He swept his flashlight beam across the floor, and his heart stopped dead in his chest.
There, huddled against the back wall amidst frost and frozen condensation, was me. Lifeless-looking, pale as marble, cradling two tiny, newborn infants wrapped in a tattered cardigan.
“Lena?!” Marcus gasped, dropping to his knees instantly.
He didn't waste a single second of hesitation. He tore off his heavy winter coat, wrapped both crying infants securely against his own warm chest, and scooped my limp, freezing body up into his arms, racing out of the death chamber into the relative warmth of the loading dock.
“Stay with me, Lena! Look at me!” Marcus shouted, kicking open the exterior door to let in the fresh night air while dialing emergency services with his shaking hands. “Ambulance dispatch! Emergency at Carter Logistics! Severe hypothermia, postpartum mother and two newborn twins! Send every unit you have right now!”
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He pulled me tight against him, pressing his palm over my chest, feeling the dangerously slow, faint flutter of my heart.
“You’re not going to die here,” Marcus choked out, a tear freezing on his cheek as he looked down at my pale face. “I finally found you again. You are not dying.”
