After Damian Lucent opens his eyes, in a matter of seconds, he steps to the podium and leans against it, struggling to stand. He's wearing all black, a T-shirt and a pair of cargo pants, much like everyone else, but different in color. Someone in a white lab coat brings him something to drink in a silver cup. It reminds me of when I awoke on the space ark, how Abraham gave me the drink and food that filled my body with energy. They don't bring Damian anything to eat, so apparently, the cup has everything he requires to regain his strength and stamina. A few minutes pass and then he straightens, still clutching the podium for support. Seconds after that and he can stand without a prop. During that time, Hannah brings us Baby Ziva and slips away into the crowd. Then Damian, with Jude and her mother and uncle by her side, sets his stern gaze on the audience before him.

He leans toward the mic with a devilish grin. "Times have been difficult, I know. But you've been in excellent hands while I slept the centuries away. I can only imagine how all of you have managed to get by. The pressure of living your lives underground—under the flood waters—reproducing and dying for hundreds of years while the people who abandoned you here went into space. The ark. They saved themselves." He pauses as his gaze sweeps over the crowd. "Not the original versions of themselves, but copies to be reborn once the world returned to order. While your families perished, they waited for the day when their clones could inherit the Earth."

As he speaks, with Eve holding Baby Ziva, and me pressing Autumn and Ash to my chest, I get the strangest feeling that our flight here, although it saved us from the super volcano, it may have led us into a lion's den. With the way Damian's dark eyes survey the people in the control room, I get the vibe more of a dragon's lair. That's what this room is feeling like.

"Ziva Adams was the one who created the failsafe that locked me in chains for a thousand years. I thought I had outsmarted her when I fixed her cryogenic sleep chambers; I didn't realize her deceptive nature. She was in league with The Designers and Abraham up in the space ark."

Eve seizes my arm and gets my attention. She doesn't say a word but leads me slowly toward an exit off to the side of the massive room. Our eyes communicate our growing concern over the situation at hand without having to speak. A tremble runs through my hands as I clutch the twins to my chest. We slip through the crowd ever closer to the exit. It's the same corridor that leads to the animal cells where Hannah studies the primates. With Damian's speech continuing, we stop at the door.

"We might need to get out of here," I say. "Especially if Damian has it out for everyone with ties to Abraham and the space ark. But where? The ash clouds have dispersed enough to go outside, but some bands are heavy and can fall at any time. Not to mention the gorillas and the chimps."

"The ones that are mind controlled can't hurt us unless directed by Jude." Eve bites her lower lip and steps closer to me with serious eyes. "The few remaining primates we haven't chipped are still a danger."

Damian's words carry over the speakers mounted throughout the control room. "We must rid ourselves of every influence that originates from the space ark and Abraham."

I suck in a breath, hesitate before exhaling. "That's us. The twins, Ziva, and the other five babies. He not only has it out for us, he wants to get rid of us. Kill us."

"How can we go back for the other babies?" Eve stares at me as if searching for an answer.

"I don't see how we can," I reply. "We don't even know where they're at right now. But they're keeping Jinx in the hangar bay where the expeditions head out from. The tracer is there too, both locked up behind bars." They had repaired the drone. He had gone out on several trips with us into the rainforest, but every evening he powers down and hooks up to charge.

"That might be our only way out. They fixed Jinx's comm system and his weapons for the expeditions. We could contact Abraham and use his firepower if Jude and Damian try to stop us."

I nod. "Good plan."

"Noah and Eve," a familiar voice rings out behind us. "Where are you going?" Jude asks, her head tilted with curiosity.

"We got a little claustrophobic in the middle of the crowd." I attempt a smile that I hope reaches my eyes. Can't help but swallow a lump. "Are you happy to have your father back?"

Jude straightens. "Absolutely. Exciting times are ahead."

I glance around and notice Damian's speech has ended. I see the man making his way to each person, shaking hands, and offering reassurances. He bears a wide grin that reveals his perfect teeth and slight dimples. I can tell by the way he works the room that he oozes charisma, so much so that everyone hangs on his words like everything he says is the pure and unblemished truth. Like he can do no wrong or speak anything amiss. I assume it's the fact that everyone has looked forward to this day for their entire lives.

"Well." Jude raises a brow. "I have to go. See you at dinner tonight."

Once she gets far enough away, I turn to Eve. "Maybe we're okay. Jude seemed fine with us. Damian hasn't sent Martinez and her guards to come get us."

We allow our eyes to roam the control room and land on the CEO of Lucent Technologies as he chats with Zoe and Hannah. His piercing gaze flicks toward us and holds on for a few unnerving seconds before he looks away. My stomach balls into a knot as I glance back at Eve.

"Despite Jude trying to make us feel like a big, happy family, I still get shaken when I look at Damian."

"Me too," Eve says.

"I say we head back to our quarters and talk in private. If we tried to leave now with everyone in the control room, we'd get busted. We need to come back when everyone has cleared out."

Eve nods and we turn to go.

Since Jude has welcomed us into the fold, she's given our bio signatures clearance into many of the bunker's scientific labs, including the rear hangar that provides an exit from the underground facility via a double reinforced garage door the size of two houses. She also gave us access to a back corridor that leads from the residential section, behind the cafeteria and the other public areas, all the way to the control room. Instead of taking the primary route that everyone else uses, Eve and I make haste through the passage and enter the long hallway that bends and wraps around behind the other main areas. The corridor is empty, probably because it's only used for a shortcut to the labs and bays.

In our little apartment, I lay the twins down for a nap who had fallen asleep during the walk back. Ziva is almost asleep when we close the door behind us. Not long after I lay Autumn and Ash down, she drifts off, too.

Before I say anything, I cut the television on and find an old action flick with lots of car chases and bullets flying. I turn the volume way up, which wakes up all three of the children, and draws Eve's harsh glare.

With the cries of babies and violence filling the room, I put my mouth right up to her ear. "I'm sorry about the children, but we can't be sure they haven't bugged the apartment."

Eve nods, understanding hitting her, revealed by her pinched brows.

"So, we need to escape," I say. "I have an idea if we run into anyone and have to explain our way out of trouble. We don't need to talk about it now. We just need to strap a baby to our backs, grab the goat and Ziva and go."

Eve smiles. She hates any plan that sacrifices an animal, if it can be avoided.

I continue. "If we carry any bags with us or try to take too much with us, they'll see right through us." I hesitate and then add, "Let's do this."

With that, I cut the television down to an acceptable volume, and then both of us work on quieting the children's cries. Soon, after feeding them the natural way, Eve straps Ziva to her back with a baby carrying pack. I do the same with Ash. Autumn gets a front seat ride in my arms while Eve leads the goat along by the leash. In minutes, we're walking like any other happy family, strolling down the back-channel corridor intending to escape the bunker before Damian moves to rid their underground community of any connections to Abraham and the space ark, which unfortunately means us. As for the other five babies, we can only hope Jude and Hannah can intervene for them. But as for us, we believe we have to get out of here, or else, we all will die.