Novels by Samson Jay

A giant digital eye stares down from the fractured sky, blinking with cold white light.I do not look away. The glass window behind Kanmi shatters completely, blowing sharp pieces across the floor as the wind from the outside world rushes in. The city of Neo-Chicago is folding up like paper, turning into long lines of green computer code that drift away into nothingness.Kanmi stumbles back against the main console, his face pale and twisted in disbelief. The digital eye in the sky pulses with a deep, rhythmic hum that vibrates right through my chest."You are too late, Simeon," Kanmi says, coughing as he tries to stand straight. "That eye is not part of the simulation. It is the outer overseer. The moment the simulation crashes, the real world firewall activates. You cannot escape a cage if the entire planet is a prison."Ifeoma steps up beside me, her expression completely calm despite the chaos. She looks at the giant eye in the sky, then down at the data drive in her hand. Her fin

A bullet passes through the glass window behind us before the sound of the shot even reaches my ears.I pull Ifeoma down behind a heavy steel computer console as a second round shatters a monitor into a million pieces. The air in the upper tower smells like ozone and hot plastic. Alarms wail through the massive control room, flashing bright red light across the polished floor.Kanmi stands near the center console, his face calm and cold. He holds the digital control pad in one hand while a dozen heavy security drones fly out from hidden ceiling slots, locking their red laser sights directly onto our chests."You broke through the lift, Simeon," Kanmi says, his deep voice carrying easily over the blaring alarms. "I am actually impressed. But you walked straight into a cage."I look down at my hands. The black fire is still there, burning hot and steady under my skin, but I know brute force will not save us from a dozen armed drones. If we move the wrong way, we turn to ash before we ca

Three minutes. That is all the time we have before Kanmi erases everything.The small red screen on Zara's communicator blinks faster, ticking down the seconds like a tiny bomb. The air in the underground station suddenly feels heavy and thin. Around us, the yellow emergency lights begin to flicker and die, replaced by a harsh, blinding crimson strobe.Zara laughs, coughing up a little blood as he tries to sit up against the metal crate. "You think you won, Simeon? Kanmi does not care about me, and he certainly does not care about this station. The master purge will wipe every file, every server, and every person down here into nothingness."I grab him by the collar of his torn lab coat and haul him straight up to his feet. My hands glow with hot black fire, casting sharp shadows across his pale face."Stop laughing and tell me how to stop the purge," I demand, my voice hard enough to break stone.Zara’s eyes dart to the blinking screen, then back to me. A reckless, desperate grin spr

A bullet strikes the concrete right between my feet, spraying sharp stone chips against my legs.I dive behind a overturned train car, dragging Ifeoma down with me just as a storm of energy rounds tears through the air above our heads. The red emergency lights spin lazily against the damp concrete walls, casting long, frantic shadows across the underground station."They tracked our signal through the drainage pipe," Ifeoma says, her voice low and steady. She pulls a small, modified data tool from her pocket, her fingers moving fast over the glass screen. "Kade, how many exits does this station have?"Kade crouches beside us, reloading his heavy plasma rifle with a sharp metallic click. "Only two. The main tunnel we came through, and an old maintenance shaft on the far side. But the enforcers are already blocking both."I look out from behind the metal barrier. Zara stands near the front of the enforcer line, his white lab coat stained with soot and rain. He does not look like a calm

A plasma beam burns the brick right beside my head, showering my face with hot dust.I grab Ifeoma by the arm and pull her hard around the corner of the building. We sprint down the narrow, dark alleyway as more energy rounds slam into the ground behind us. The rain pours down harder now, soaking our clothes and turning the ground to slippery mud, but we do not slow down."They are right behind us!" Ifeoma calls out over the roar of the storm, her breath coming in sharp, ragged gasps."Keep moving," I tell her, my eyes locked on the dark tunnel entrance ahead.We dive headfirst into an abandoned drainage pipe that slopes downward into the underbelly of Neo-Chicago. The air inside smells of rusted iron and stale water. We scramble through the dark pipe on our hands and knees until we drop out into a wide, hidden subterranean station lit by flickering yellow lanterns.Ifeoma slides down against a concrete pillar, clutching her side as she catches her breath. I stand guard near the tunne

A bullet does not wait for questions.The moment Zara’s voice echoes through the dark loading bay, a heavy round shatters the concrete floor inches from my boots. Sparks fly into the air, bright and sharp. I yank Ifeoma behind the heavy metal frame of an armored transport truck just as a second shot rings out from the upper catwalks."He is playing with us," Ifeoma says, her breathing fast and shallow. She presses her back against the cool metal door of the truck, her eyes scanning the shadows above. "Zara does not want to kill us right away. He wants to see how long we can run before the trap closes."I look down at my hands. The black fire is still pulsing under my skin, warm and heavy, ready to burst out at my command. I am tired of running. For eighteen years, I thought I was a nobody hiding in the slums. Then I found out my entire life was a fake simulation built to keep me caged. Now that I am out in the real world, I refuse to spend another second dodging bullets from people wh