Subject Nightingale 1: Birth and Death Read Online Free Page A

handrail and practically flung herself around the turns, but as she neared floor 30, the nightingale flitted off her shoulder and began chirping.
    It dive-bombed straight down the center of the stairs, and Nightingale reached out after it. “Wait, come back!” she called out, but had already lost sight of its tiny body as it flew several floors down. She grabbed her head when she felt a headache building, and crumpled to the floor. She groaned and curled up on the stairs, huddling against the wall as the pain overtook her. “Not now!” she muttered.
    That sinking feeling of vertigo hit her, and suddenly she was hurtling toward the first floor. She stopped next to the landing for floor 25, spotting the thick block lettering on the heavy steel door just in time to see it pried open from the other side. A squad of four rushed through, all dressed in the same black gear, each boasting a patch above their left chest pocket: E.C.H.O. The first three into the stairwell aimed their rifles all around, ensuring that the area was secure, while the fourth member collapsed a retractable crowbar and tucked it into a pouch on his hip.
    “ Is that a bird?” one of them asked, distracted by the nightingale just before it flew away to rejoin Nightingale.
    She shook her head when her vision returned, and the pounding began to subside. The headaches were getting shorter, but no less intense. The bird landed on her shoulder and started to sing, and Nightingale scrambled to her feet. She could hear their heavy boots rushing up the stairs.
    She pulled herself up to the nearest landing, floor 31, and threw herself against the automatic door. When it didn't open, she began pounding on it and shouting, “Open up, come on! Please!” She grabbed the latch labeled Pull in Case of Emergency and tugged it, but the door didn't budge.
    Panicking, she turned around and grabbed the handrail to peer down the stairwell. She could see the soldiers getting closer, and one of them spotted her.
    “Contact topside!” he shouted, and the entire squad immediately shifted to run against the wall, using the stairs above them for cover as they moved.
    Nightingale held her head and looked up the stairs, but doubted she could outrun them. She looked back at the heavy door and grabbed the emergency latch again, tugging it with all her strength, and eventually it eased open with much effort. The scent of smoke filled the threshold, and sparks erupted from around the latch, but the door opened just enough for her to slip through. She sidestepped through the narrow opening, and sprinted in the first direction she faced.
    She turned a corner at the end of the hall, and stopped dead in her tracks when she came face to face with another squad of four. This wasn't an ECHO squad, though, it was one just like she had encountered earlier—building security, armed to the teeth, and shooting first without even the vaguest intention to ask questions later.
    A hail of bullets erupted from their rifles, and all Nightingale could do was watch. There was no time to react, no time to dodge, she could only watch the bullets fly toward her body in slow motion. Her heart was pounding in her chest, beating in overtime, and she didn't even notice anymore when her nose began to pour blood. The bullets inched closer and closer; she could see them individually, and couldn't help but wonder which little piece of brass would be the one to bring a sudden and abrupt end to her life.
    “What the...hell?” one of the security team members said as their gunfire ceased.
    They were watching the bullets in slow motion, too.
    Several of them had slowed to the point where they stopped completely, floating in midair right before their eyes. Nightingale exhaled when she noticed the bullets—and then when she realized it wasn't just some effect that impending death had on a person, they began moving again.
    Most of them fell to the floor with quiet, spent little clinks! , a few continued their