So Close to You (So Close to You - Trilogy) by Rachel Carter Read Free Book Online Page A

of the tube is metal, although halfway up it changes to clear glass. The door is open, and the inside is a darker metal, all in shadow. I have no idea what this strange contraption could be used for, but I don’t have time to dwell on it. I need to get out of here.
    There are no other doors in the room; the final wall is one long, two-way mirror. Maybe someone is in there, and that’s why the boy let me go. He’s probably waiting for the guards to show up and torture me for knowing too much. The puzzled expression never leaves his face, but I’m not fooled. He could attack at any moment.
    Quickly I break his gaze and whip around. The only way out is past the boy, but the room is large. I just need to get him away from the door so I can make a run for it. I sprint forward, aiming for the back of the machine. I hear the boy move behind me, his heavy footsteps approaching. I abruptly shift directions, but the rubber soles of my sandals skid across the slick white tile. Reaching out, my hand slides across cold metal. With no way to stop myself, I fall forward and land on my hands and knees inside the tube.
    I scramble to my feet. The boy has almost reached me. I frantically run my hands over the metal walls, looking for some kind of escape. A panel next to the door lights up. It’s some kind of touch screen, with buttons and numbers. I glance at the approaching boy, then back at the screen. There’s no other way out of this strange hollow space, but I need to do something before he catches me. With my heart in my throat, I push my fist into a random button.
    A metal door shoots out of the tube’s entrance. It slams shut. The last thing I see is the boy’s shocked face.

C HAPTER 5
     
    T he blackness around me is so thick it feels alive, crawling over my skin. I press my hands out to the sides, but all I feel is smooth metal. The silence in this hollow place is somehow more frightening than the sirens and the pulsing light.
    Inside is a tomb, outside is a secret military operation waiting to kill me. I’m trapped.
    I fight back the tears that threaten to fall and wonder which option is the lesser of two evils. Stay in here waiting to die, or go outside to face whatever’s out there?
    Something flickers underneath me. The round floor starts to light up—a harsh white. In another flicker, the fluorescent light spreads up the sides of the metal walls in long, narrow strips. I spin around. I’m still trapped, but at least I’m no longer in the dark.
    The touch screen panel near the door starts to glow. There’s a flashing series of numbers that look almost like coordinates on a map, then a series of unmarked buttons running along the bottom screen. I can’t make sense of what it means. As I’m trying to decipher the code, the light around me begins to fade. Then everything goes black again. I punch at the darkened panel, but nothing happens.
    I wrap my arms around myself. It’s cold in here and getting colder. I’m only wearing my button-down shirt; my sweater is still on the ground outside the bunker. I rub my arms, trying to stop the shaking that seems to be spreading through my body.
    There’s a flash of light so bright that spots dance in front of my eyes after it disappears. I hear a humming noise. It starts out soft but slowly grows louder and louder. Soon it’s a roar, like the sound of the ocean during a storm. The light flashes again, even brighter. I squeeze my eyes shut, but I still feel it sear across my skin.
    Another flash and the noise screams and it shakes all through my body. Then I realize that it’s the machine that’s shaking: the walls, the floor, everything around me. My eyes snap open. The light steadily grows brighter and brighter. I put my hands out as I try to catch my balance but then snatch them back—the metal walls are burning.
    What’s happening? I tilt my head back and look at the ceiling—except it isn’t a ceiling but a swirling mass of color. The center opens to a hole that