2026-02-05 23:50:19
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The rain finally came an hour after they buried Elias.Not heavy.Not dramatic.Just a slow, steady drizzle that soaked into everything and made the world feel heavier than it already was.Davion stood under the broken roof of the old station platform and watched the dirt darken over the grave.Water collected in the fresh soil and disappeared like nothing had happened.Like Elias had never been there at all.He hated that.It felt disrespectful.Like the world should’ve paused or something.Thunder. Lightning. A sign.Something.Instead, the sky just drizzled like it didn’t care.“Hey,” Mira said softly, stepping beside him. “You’re doing that thing again.”“What thing?”“Staring like you’re about to either cry or destroy a country.”He sniffed. “Can’t it be both?”She huffed a weak laugh. “Please don’t destroy a country. That sounds like paperwork.”For a second, the tension eased.Just a second.Then Beverly’s voice cracked through the comm.“Okay, so I have good news and very bad
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Nobody talked while they carried him.Not because they didn’t want to.Because none of them trusted their voices not to break.The tunnels felt colder than before, like the air itself had changed sides.Davion walked in front, flashlight shaking slightly in his grip, lighting the path while Jared and Mira carried Elias between them.His boots scraped softly against the ground as they moved.Dead weight.That was the phrase people always used.Davion hated how accurate it felt.Elias had always seemed so solid, so unmovable, like nothing could ever knock him down.Now he felt small.Too light.Too quiet.“Careful,” Mira whispered. “Don’t hit his arm on the wall.”“I’m trying,” Jared muttered, voice tight. “These tunnels weren’t built for… for this.”He didn’t finish the sentence.He didn’t have to.For this.For carrying someone who wasn’t coming back.⸻They reached an old service platform above ground, half-collapsed and covered in weeds. The sky was gray and heavy with clouds, like
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The tunnels beneath the city smelled like old rain, rusted iron, and something sour that had probably been rotting for years.Davion moved carefully along the abandoned tracks, his boots crunching over broken gravel and scattered bolts, every small sound echoing farther than it should have in the empty underground. The darkness stretched forever ahead of him, thick and heavy, like the world had forgotten this place even existed.He hated how quiet it was.Not normal quiet.Lonely quiet.The kind that made you feel like if you screamed, nobody would ever hear you.He shoved his hands into his jacket pockets and tried to pretend this was just another walk, just another mission, like the others hadn’t been miles away and out of reach.“Okay,” he muttered to himself, forcing a weak smile that nobody could see. “Still alive. Still not captured. Honestly, we’re doing great, Davion. Ten out of ten survival skills.”The joke fell flat.No Mira to call him an idiot.No Jared to laugh too loudl
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Davion didn’t run at first.He walked.Slow. Calm. Hands in his jacket pockets like this was just another boring afternoon.Like he wasn’t currently the most wanted signal on the planet.The street was dead quiet.Broken windows.Dust.A loose sign creaking somewhere overhead.Every step echoed too loud.Too exposed.Too alone.He hated how alone it felt.For months now, there had always been someone near him. Mira arguing. Jared complaining. Beverly in his ear. Elias watching everything like a disappointed dad.Now?Nothing.No voices.No backup.Just the hum.Soft. Constant.Like breathing that wasn’t his.“You guys still there?” he muttered under his breath.The lattice flickered in response — faint pulses brushing his mind.Not words exactly.More like feelings.Fear.Confusion.Hope.They were following him.Or maybe he was following them.He didn’t know anymore.⸻Three blocks later, the sky growled.Davion froze.That wasn’t thunder.Too mechanical.Too rhythmic.Rotor blades.
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The boy wouldn’t stop shaking.He sat curled against the wall of the ruined station, arms wrapped around himself like if he held tight enough, he wouldn’t fall apart again.Davion recognized the look.It was the same one he’d seen in the mirror after the hub.The look of someone who wasn’t sure they still belonged in their own body.“It’s okay,” Mira said softly, crouching near him. “You’re safe.”The word safe sounded fake even to her ears.Because nothing about this felt safe anymore.The air itself felt watched.Beverly’s voice whispered through the comm, quieter than usual. “I need you guys to listen very carefully.”Jared groaned. “That tone again. Hate that tone.”“They found you,” Beverly said.Davion didn’t even ask who.He already knew.“How many?” Mira asked.“Too many,” Beverly replied. “Multiple aerial signatures, ground units, encrypted comms. This isn’t scavengers or some random faction.”She paused.“This is organized.”Davion exhaled slowly. “Government.”“Plural,” Bev
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They didn’t stop running until the sky started turning gray.Not sunrise-gray.Ash-gray.The kind of color the world got when smoke hung too long in the air and the city forgot how to breathe.Davion slowed first.Not because he wanted to.Because his legs just… stopped listening.He braced a hand against the cracked wall of an abandoned overpass, chest heaving like he’d sprinted for miles. Mira caught up immediately, grabbing his jacket before he could fall forward.“Hey— hey, I’ve got you,” she said.“I’m fine,” he lied.Jared snorted. “You look like death microwaved.”“Comforting,” Davion muttered.Behind them, the residual girl—still nameless—moved carefully, like every step was new. Like gravity was something she still didn’t trust.She kept touching things.Railings. Walls. Broken glass.Like she needed proof the world wouldn’t disappear again.Beverly’s voice crackled through the earpiece. “Okay. Update. And you’re not gonna love it.”“No one ever loves your updates,” Jared sai
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