Above my head, a massive cracking sound echoed, and I looked up, watching as a significant portion of the dome started to disintegrate above us.
“The omegas are in position,” I shouted over the sounds of the crates detonating nearby. “It’s time.”
“Wait. Not yet,” Damiyen yelled over the noise.
Rocks flew from the wall, bouncing off nearby buildings and off the pavement of the streets. Then all at once the wall imploded on itself, collapsing in a plume of dust and debris, exposing the once-protected city of Tharia to the air of the wilds. After a long moment, the air began to settle and in the wake of the blast, I could see a single wide exit point for us to escape into the wilds and an entry point for the alpha horde to invade the city.
From above, the dome began to crumble. Quickly, Ethan pushed me inside a nearby factory building then, just before large pieces of the dome began to fall to the ground, crashing into the pavement and shattering like glass. Again and again it collapsed and broke into pieces, and I covered my ears with a cry.
The sounds were deafening.
For several long moments, the groans of the collapsing dome and the crumbling wall echoed around us, but when it all settled, the air held a decidedly different tone.
We’d broken through. Now we had a chance.
Now we had to fight.
I took a deep breath. Outside the walls, the alpha horde roared with victory but even I knew the battle had only just begun. Now that the walls had opened for us, the drumbeats were louder. The hoof beats of impatient horses pounded against the dirt and the roars of wild dogs and cats tore through the air, louder than ever.
We were ready for war.
Ethan lifted the whistle around his neck and blew it once. Then he did it again, indicating the directive for the Omegaborn to rush toward the gate. Our plan was immediate escape, to fight our way out into the protection of the alpha army, but we had to move. Even now, I could hear the sounds of beta forces rushing toward our position, toward the hole we created in Tharia’s defenses.
Before I rushed forward myself, my eyes stole upward to Philip’s position on the wall. He looked shaken, even scared and I grinned to myself. He was roaring orders at other men nearby and looked veritably ticked off.
Good. Bastard. Served him right.
In that moment, he turned and stared directly at me. He gritted his teeth and roared something in my direction, but it didn’t matter. Alaric gripped my arm and forced me toward the wall, toward the freedom it promised and toward victory.
The sound of bullets peppering the ground behind our heels echoed loudly and it made me run even faster. I didn’t dare look back for fear of tripping over my own two feet. Ethan, Alaric, Viktor, and Damiyen surrounded me, guarding me on all sides. I would have argued against it, but with the bullet fire not far behind us, it didn’t seem like the right time.
I sprinted forward, running as fast as I could, leaping off of rocks and rubble toward the break in the wall, but then a legion of beta soldiers slid into position right in front of us and I skidded to a halt.
I reached back, pulling a small gun and a knife from my belt. I was ready for this fight. More than ready. Those betas didn’t know what they had coming for them.