Novels by Chiko ilwa

The lights still had not come back on.The Core Zone hall lay in half-dead darkness, lit only by the unstable blue glow of the crystal column, flickering erratically. The alarms choked mid-sound, as if something were squeezing their throats.Darin was still pressed against the core.His palm felt numb.Rian stood several meters away, frozen, too afraid to move.The security forces were locked in place.Not because of orders.Because their systems were disrupted too.[Global synchronization slipped by 12%.][Field control weakening.]The voice sounded fractured now, no longer absolute.Darin slowly pulled his hand away from the crystal.He felt something foreign inside his head. Not the system. Not his own thoughts.Another layer.“Whoever you are,” Darin muttered quietly, “you picked the wrong moment.”The crystal column flashed white for an instant.Then a new voice entered.Not mechanical.Not human.Too clean.“Subject Darin. You are not supposed to be here.”Rian let out a small c

Darin opened his eyes.“Route the vehicles to the eastern corridor,” he said.The woman, Mara, signaled immediately. Two electric bikes powered up, and a lightly armored van rolled out of the club’s underground garage. They moved without headlights, slipping through service lanes and long-abandoned cargo tunnels.Rian sat behind Darin, arms wrapped tightly around his waist.“Hold on,” Darin said.The bike surged forward.The city changed as they approached the Core Zone. The lights grew brighter. Patrol drones hovered low. The streets were clean, sterile, like a body without wounds.This was the heart of surveillance.“Our window is shrinking,” Mara’s voice crackled over comms. “Signal density is rising.”Darin did not answer. His focus stayed forward.A faint vibration crept up the back of his neck.The system had not spoken yet.That unsettled him more.At the perimeter gate, two security vehicles blocked their path.Darin twisted the handlebars, jumped the median, then slammed the

The van did not stop for long.Darin restarted the engine before any sense of safety could take hold. He knew this city too well. Cameras on every corner. Traffic sensors. His face was already circulating.“We get off here,” he said shortly.He swerved hard into a service lane, slammed the van into a barrier fence, then stopped behind a stack of old containers. The engine died. Darin and Rian got out without looking back.They slipped into an underground pedestrian passage. Damp air hit them immediately, peeling paint, clear proof of a place the city system had forgotten.[Network-free zone detected.][Synchronization reduced.]“Good,” Darin muttered. “For once.”Rian walked behind him, his breathing still unsteady. “Bang… will they find us?”“Definitely,” Darin answered honestly. “The only question is when.”He stopped in

The station was not safe.Darin knew it before the system issued a warning. A subtle vibration rippled through the floor, too regular to be ordinary footsteps.“Rian,” he said quickly. “Run when I tell you to.”Rian nodded, his face pale but his eyes sharp. The boy did not ask questions. He had learned that questions slowed everything down.[Additional units detected.][Count: three.]“So cheap,” Darin muttered. “One person wasn’t enough.”The station lights went out all at once.Darkness swallowed the space.Footsteps echoed from three directions. Unhurried. Disciplined. Trained.Darin pulled Rian behind a railcar, then dropped to the tracks and ran low. He scooped up an iron bolt from the ground and hurled it in the opposite direction. Metal clanged and bounced.Two sets of footsteps stopped. One kept moving.“Now,” he whispered.They ran.Flashlights sliced through the air. Bullets slammed into concrete walls, not meant to kill. Meant to herd.“Bang!” Rian stumbled.Darin spun, sho

The truck rolled forward.Not fast. Too calm. Its massive wheels crushed the asphalt with a heavy, steady sound, like a giant creature that knew its prey had nowhere left to run.“Bro…” Rian’s voice trembled.Darin pulled the boy behind the stack of wooden crates. His eyes never left the truck’s cab. The windshield was dark, but he could feel the gaze from inside.[Threat escalating.][Recommendation: immediate evacuation.]“Fantastic,” Darin muttered. “You decide to say that now.”He glanced around. The narrow alley was a dead end. No doors. No windows low enough to reach. The truck had sealed the mouth of the passage.The cab door opened.A man stepped down slowly.Tall. Hair neatly styled, a clean black suit that did not belong in this filthy place. His hands were empty. No weapon in sight. That was exactly what made Darin tense.The man smiled faintly. “You ran quite far.”His voice was calm. Too calm.Darin stood, placing himself in front of Rian. “If you want to talk, you picked

Darin shoved the metal door open with a single hard push, cold night air slamming into his face. The smell of smoke, oil, and something burned. Outside, a narrow alley stretched left and right, lit by half-dead streetlights. The sound of heavy engines rolled closer from a distance, unhurried, like a hunter certain its prey was already trapped.“Hold on to me,” Darin said shortly.Rian grabbed his jacket at once.They moved to the right.Darin’s steps were fast but controlled. Every footfall calculated. His body protested, muscles feeling like they were being sliced from the inside, but he forced his pace to stay steady. Panic meant a quick death.At the first corner, Darin stopped abruptly. He yanked Rian against the wall just as a beam of light swept over the alley they had just left.Flashlight.Two armed