Pain is a liar. It tells you that you are alive, but most days in Neo-Chicago, pain just means you are taking too long to die.I press my hand hard against my side, trying to stop the warm, wet blood from soaking through my jacket. The dirty water in the alley smells like old trash and bad oil, but I do not care. I just need to breathe. My lungs burn. Every breath feels like swallowing broken glass.Eighteen years ago, the city pack murdered my parents in cold blood. They left me behind like trash in the slums, expecting me to starve or freeze. Instead, I learned how to hide. I learned how to buy cheap black-market medicine from street pushers just to keep my heartbeat steady. I thought if I stayed invisible, if I kept my head down, I would live to see tomorrow.I was wrong.Footsteps echo behind me. Heavy boots splash in the dirty puddles. The sound is steady, cold, and entirely unafraid. No one walks through this part of the slums with that kind of confidence unless they own the str

The sound of shattering glass fills the room.I do not stop. I draw my fist back again and punch the giant observation window with all my weight. The cracks spread like black lightning across the transparent wall. On the other side, the people in white lab coats scramble backward, tripping over chairs and dropping clipboards as panic takes over.Zara pushes himself up from the floor, wiping blood from his lip. He does not look calm anymore. His face is pale, and his eyes widen in pure fear as he watches the glass give way under my hands."Stop him!" Zara shouts, pointing at me. "Do not let him break the primary containment seal!"Heavy security doors slide open at the back of the control room. Four armed guards rush in, wearing heavy black armor and carrying heavy energy rifles. They do not hesitate. They level their weapons straight at my chest."Step away from the glass, Simeon," the lead guard commands, his voice hard and cold. "This is your final warning. We will turn your code to

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

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 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