#Chapter 255: Mutually Assured Destruction

Agnes I stared at my father, my mouth hanging open. He’d just told us to destroy the facility. All of it. With everyone inside. “No. There has to be another way,” I choked out. “We can’t just… we can’t kill innocent people.” My father’s face remained grim. “You think I haven’t considered that? You think this is easy for me?” His voice cracked slightly. “I’ve been investigating this for years, Agnes. Years. I’ve explored every possible option. This is the only one.” “But… the children,” I said, my throat closing up just from the thought. “There could be children down there. Children like Thea.” “There are.” I already felt like I’d been stabbed in the chest, but the simple admission felt like the knife twisting in the wound. “But Agnes, you have to understand—either we kill a few hundred people, many of whom are already broken mentally and will be complete thralls by this time tomorrow, or we watch the world burn. And it will burn.” I felt sick. Bile r