Praetorian Rising, стр. 80

The fortified wall of the underwater river cracked into fissures, water dribbling out as a warning of release. There was no other way out; they wouldn't reach the main door to the greenhouse in time—nor could they escape the compound through the way they'd come before it crumbled beneath them. Grabbing her hand in a rush of hysteria, hoping that he could get them through the escape tunnel before the wall collapsed, Theo lunged forward as fast as possible through the water. Camille stumbled along behind him, screaming at him, but he heard nothing more than the loud blast of rock and metal raining down from above.

Just as his foot hit the metal grate of the tunnel and he lifted Camille out of the water, the wall behind them split open, and a flood of water jetted toward them. "Run!" Theo bellowed, but it didn't do them much use. The wall of water crashed into them, ripping their legs out from beneath them and hurtling them down the path without care of elbows, fingers, and face; ramming, colliding, and scraping against the edges of the tunnel.

Theo reached the locked gate first, his entire body slamming into the bars with a sickening thud. Camille crashed against him, the water pressing them with unrelenting force into the gated bars.

"What do we do now?" Camille yelled over the rush of water. It cascaded past them in a mad dash for release, the height of the water just above Theo's waist and nearly to Camille's chest. He needed to unlock the gate, but he wasn't confident he could open the bars against the restraining weight of water.

"I need to get the door unlocked."

"It's locked?" Camille shrieked, her eyes wide with panic.

The water began to rise, the pressure increasing on them as Theo made for the lock along the right side of the bars. Camille clung to the gate over his shoulder, trying to keep her head above the roaring rush when the water threatened to pull her under.

Locating the chain and lock wrapped around the bars, Theo tried to pull the metal links apart but struggled to get enough leverage with the water pressing into his back.

"Help me with this!" Theo barked, jerking madly at the stubborn links.

"Move!" Camille said, her voice shaking with a tremor of chill. The water was icy cold and it billowed past them at a rapid speed, leaving their bodies to take the surge of ice against their backs with unrelenting force. Reaching out for the lock, Camille maneuvered herself between Theo and the gate, allowing her to move without having to hold onto the bars for support.

He watched her hand slip into her pack and deftly pull out a small pin, her fingers grasping it in a death grip. She took a deep breath and disappeared beneath the surface of the water as the level of rushing water rose to Theo's upper chest. With her back pressed against his abdomen, he felt her move, shoulders bunched and neck taut.

After what felt like five minutes, she jolted upward, her face breaking the surface with a gasp of air. "I got it. Help me with the chain," she panted as she bobbed up and down in the water, her feet no longer reaching the ground.

The chain came loose from the bars in a clang of metal, the links disappearing in the rush of water. Theo pushed against the bars to wrench open the passage, his arms straining with effort. It wouldn't budge. Camille braced her foot on the wall next to his, and together they shoved against the stubborn metal as the water rose even further. His head bumped along the roof of the tunnel, and he took a final gasp of air as the rushing water engulfed them and the bars twitched apart.

Without any remaining headspace, they heaved apart the bars, forcing the hinges to move. With a mere foot of space to squeeze between, Theo grasped Camille and wrapped her legs around his middle before they plunged through the opening, the surge of water shooting them down the tunnel into the depths of the passageway.

The water was cold—downright frigid if Theo allowed his brain to register the icy fingers encircling him. He could feel the bump and tremor of shivering shakes emulating from Camille's petite form, and he clutched onto her in reassurance. They catapulted in wild circles, his elbows, head, and back scraping against the lining of the tunnel with unforgiving force. Despite the blur of water surrounding them, he could see a brightness at the end of the passage, and his lungs burned with the need to breathe. When they reached the tunnel end, the current shot them through a narrowed archway and into the open stillness of a vast underground lake.

Their bodies flew several feet through the air before crashing into the surface of the lake, sending them through the inky water at a breakneck speed. Disentangling their bodies, Theo swam toward the surface, desperate for air. His face broke the surface, and he gasped with relief as air surged into his burning lungs. He gulped it greedily, for a moment dizzily unfocused and unable to think past breathing and keeping his head above water.

"Camille!" He bellowed on a gasp of oxygen, his mind and focus returning to him in a sudden pang of terror. Treading water in the expansive, inky lake, he desperately searched for her in every direction. Dread crept over his skin, and his mouth immediately went dry in panic. Bitter cold water surrounded his furiously churning limbs as he called for her again, "Camille! Where are you?"

"CAMILLE!" Theo screamed, his voice hoarse with dread.

A stitching pain stabbed into his abdomen as his panic shifted into high gear. What if she'd collided with the edges of the tunnel and hit her head? She could be beneath the water, struggling to breathe and yet unaware that she was about to drown.

"Here," she