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Chapter Ninety Three
"Jake." Elena’s voice broke through his thoughts.He turned to find her standing behind him, her arms crossed, her face drawn. She didn’t need to speak. Her eyes said it all. Things were getting worse.“We need to make a decision,” she said, her voice quiet but firm.Jake nodded, taking a deep breath. "We don’t have a choice."They were sitting at the factory’s makeshift table again, the map spread out before them, now dotted with more pins marking areas of unrest. The attack on Zone Fifteen had shaken people, but what was more concerning was the ripple effect it had created. Some zones were considering siding with the Council, or worse, staying neutral in the hope of avoiding conflict.Elise stood by the map, her fingers trailing along the borders of the affected zones. “We can’t ignore this,” she said, her voice tight. “They’re getting stronger. If we don’t respond—really respond—they’ll continue to spread. This is no longer just about avoiding conflict. It’s about survival.”“Survi
Chapter Ninety Two
Jake was familiar with that feeling now, the creeping sense that no matter how much they fought to build something new, the old structures were always waiting to take back what they had lost. He didn’t want to think about it too much. The more he focused on it, the more it seemed like the city would drag them all under. But it was hard to ignore when you could almost feel the weight of it pressing in from every side.The Assembly had grown. More zones were sending representatives now, some tentative, others eager. The progress was slow, but the idea had taken root. That was the key. If enough people believed it, they could make it work. But that was the thing, belief. It was fragile, and every challenge they faced, every new threat from Amanda or the Council, felt like it could shatter the fragile web they had spun.Jake was in the factory again, this time standing in front of a large, makeshift map of the city, surrounded by a handful of the core Assembly members. Reeva, Mara, and E
Chapter Ninety One
Jake stood alone at the edge of the city’s crumbling industrial district. The Assembly was a step forward, but it was still fragile. It could fall apart any day. He wasn’t naive enough to think they had it all figured out.His boots echoed on the cracked pavement as he made his way to the old factory. It had been repurposed into a makeshift meeting space for the outer zones, a place where people could gather safely without the watchful eyes of Amanda’s enforcers. Jake had arranged to meet with Mara, Reeva, and Elena there to go over the next steps. They needed to keep momentum. They needed to keep moving.But he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were missing something. That there was a bigger question they hadn’t even begun to ask.The factory was dark when Jake arrived, the steel doors hanging open just enough for him to slip inside. The space smelled of oil and rust, a sharp contrast to the air outside. Inside, Mara was waiting, her back against a beam, tapping a message into a
Chapter Ninety
The Assembly’s second meeting was different. It wasn’t just people showing up anymore. There were voices. Arguments. Ideas. Tensions. For the first time, Jake saw what it meant for the city to build its future. It was both thrilling and terrifying — a vast, collective uncertainty that could either make or break them.The room was packed this time. More seats had been added to accommodate the increasing number of representatives from other zones. The walls were cracked, the floor uneven, but the air inside hummed with energy. People weren’t here just to watch. They were here to decide.Jake stood at the front, leaning on the chipped table, his eyes scanning the room. Reeva, Elena, and Mara sat near the back, observing as usual. There were no leaders here, not in the traditional sense. They were all just voices — some louder than others, but all with a place at the table.The first speaker was from Zone Sixteen, a woman named Ava who’d been running an underground network of trade and re
Chapter Eighty Nine
Jake stood at the center of the square, his hands in his pockets. A handful of people, mostly from the zones that hadn’t signed with Amanda or the Council, trickled in. They didn’t speak. They didn’t wave banners or shout slogans. They just… waited.Elena was pacing behind him, her eyes darting to the gathering, then back to him. “This isn’t what you expected.”Jake didn’t answer at first. He’d expected chaos, people scrambling to take a side. That’s what he’d been ready for. What he had prepared for. What he hadn’t expected was this kind of stillness. It was too calm, like they were waiting for something.Maybe that was the problem.“I thought they’d come running,” Jake said, more to himself than to Elena. “Thought they’d demand a change. A new flag, a new voice, something loud.”“They will. They’re just... thinking.”Reeva stepped up beside them, arms crossed, looking out at the crowd. “It’s not just thinking. It’s uncertainty.”“Uncertainty is what we’re selling,” Jake muttered.A
Chapter Eighty Nine
The council room was quiet, but not still. Reeva sat at the corner table sorting messages while Mara paced with her arms crossed.Jake stood by the window, watching the lights in Zone Fourteen flicker in the distance. They weren’t losing ground to gunfire or barricades. They were losing it to silence. Districts weren’t defecting loudly — they were just disappearing. Some stopped responding to relay messages. Others canceled council observers. One by one, they slipped into Amanda’s system without a fight.“We can’t just keep making speeches,” Reeva said, not looking up. “We need something physical. Something real.” Jake didn’t reply. She’d said that before, and she wasn’t wrong. But something about hearing it again, here, made it feel heavier. Like the rebellion had failed. Like all they had left was to mimic what they’d once resisted.Mara stopped pacing and spoke. “They’re not choosing Amanda because she’s better. They’re choosing her because she exists. She’s got food routes, a work
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