The Shadow in My Hand

The Razor Trap

Thirty spinning blades roll down the dark tunnel toward us. Their red lenses glow in the dim light, and their sharp edges click against the concrete floor. Behind us, the heavy steel security gate blocks our only way back.

We are trapped in a narrow space with nowhere to run.

"Get behind me!" I say, holding my right hand out in front of my chest.

The barcode on my wrist burns with a sharp, stinging heat. White energy sparks across my knuckles, twisting the air around my fingers. I do not wait for the drones to reach us. I swing my arm forward and unleash a massive wave of pure energy straight down the tunnel.

The blast hits the front row of drones with a loud crash. The machines shatter into pieces of flying steel and broken wires. But the explosion does not stop the rest of them. More drones leap over the wreckage, their circular blades spinning even faster.

"Your energy will not hold off thirty units at once!" Elena warns, stepping up right beside me instead of hiding. Her face is calm, but her eyes are sharp. She reaches into her tactical belt and pulls out three heavy EMP grenades.

"Take these," she says, pressing the metal spheres into my hand. "Throw them at the center of the pack. The pulse will short out their circuits."

I look at her, surprised. "I thought you said trust is a weakness."

"Trust is a weakness," Elena replies without blinking. "Dying here is just stupid. Throw the grenades, Caleb."

I pull the pins with my teeth and hurl all three grenades down the tunnel toward the advancing swarm of machines.

"Duck!" I yell, pulling Elena down behind a raised concrete utility box just as the grenades detonate.

A blinding flash of blue light fills the tunnel. A sharp wave of sound and pressure rolls over us, shaking the walls and rattling our teeth.

The clicking sound stops instantly.

I lift my head and look over the top of the concrete box. The tunnel floor is covered in dozens of smoking, dead drones. Their red lenses are black, and their razor blades lie still in the shallow puddles of water.

"That was close," I say, exhaling a long breath.

"We are not safe yet," Elena says, standing up quickly. She points down the remaining stretch of the tunnel. "The EMP blast will trigger the backup alarms in the upper sector. We have less than two minutes before human enforcers arrive to check the sector."

We start running again, pushing our tired legs to move faster. My hands still ache from the cable slide, and my chest feels tight, but we keep going.

After running for another three minutes, the tunnel opens up into a large underground terminal. Massive pipes line the ceiling, and several rusted iron doors lead off in different directions. In the center of the terminal sits an old, abandoned transport train with a blinking green light on its dashboard.

"What is that?" I ask, slowing down as we approach the vehicle.

"An emergency maintenance transport," Elena says, checking the control panel by the sliding door. "It runs on an independent underground track that leads straight out of the city center to the outer wasteland districts. The Council abandoned these old lines years ago."

"Can you hotwire it?" I ask, keeping watch back toward the dark tunnel we just came from.

"I do not need to hotwire it," Elena replies, pulling a small silver keycard from her pocket and sliding it into a slot on the console. "My family built this entire transit grid before the Council took over. The master codes still work."

The train engine coughs once, then roars to life with a deep vibration that shakes the floorboards. The interior lights flicker on, casting a warm yellow glow inside the small cabin.

I climb in through the open sliding door, and Elena jumps in right behind me. She hits a heavy lever on the dashboard, and the train starts moving forward down the dark underground track.

I sink down onto one of the metal benches inside the cabin, letting out a heavy sigh. For the first time since I woke up in that fake tavern in District 4, my muscles finally relax. We are moving away from the central tower. We are leaving the Council's immediate reach.

"We made it out of the core sector," I say, looking over at Elena as she stands by the front window, watching the dark tunnel walls flash past.

"We made it out of the first trap," Elena corrects me, not turning around. "Neo-Eden has five outer districts. The Council controls every single one of them. And now that you destroyed the central core, the high leaders will view you as the number one target in the city."

"Let them come," I say, clenching my right hand into a fist. "I am done running from them."

Elena turns around and looks at me. The harsh light from the dashboard catches the side of her face. "You cannot fight the entire Council alone, Caleb. Even with your energy powers, you need an army, or at least a network of allies who know how to survive in the outer rings."

"And where do we find allies like that?" I ask.

"In District 3," Elena says, tapping a button on the console to check our route. "The underground resistance operates out of the old industrial zone. My contact there has been waiting for years for someone with your exact power signature to break the system."

"Your contact?" I narrow my eyes, studying her face. "You have another contact? How many people have you been plotting with behind the scenes?"

Elena gives me a cool, confident smile that reminds me of how she manipulated me into breaking the lab glass.

"Only as many as necessary to overthrow the Council," she says smoothly.

Before I can ask her any more questions, the train jolts violently. A loud screeching sound echoes through the metal floor, and the engine stutters, dropping from high speed to a crawling pace in a matter of seconds.

"What happened?" I stand up, grabbing the edge of the console. "Did we run out of power?"

Elena checks the glowing red warning lights flashing on the dashboard. Her face loses all its color.

"We didn't run out of power," she says, her voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "The track ahead has been locked down."

"Locked down by who?"

"Not by the Council," Elena says, pointing toward the front window.

The train rolls out of the dark tunnel into a wide underground station filled with thick yellow fog. Standing right in the middle of the tracks, waiting for us, is a row of heavy armored vehicles blocking the way.

And standing right in front of the vehicles is a tall woman in a black tactical coat, holding a heavy sniper rifle resting casually across her shoulder. Her dark hair is tied back in a tight braid, and a cold, dangerous smile plays across her lips.

"Welcome to District 3, Elena," the woman calls out, her voice echoing clearly through the station. "You took your sweet time getting here."

Elena grips the edge of the dashboard so hard her knuckles turn white. "Sloan," she breathes out, her voice filled with pure venom. "I thought you were still locked in the southern sector."

"People change, Elena," Sloan says, stepping closer to the front window of our train and aiming the barrel of her rifle right at the glass. "And debt collectors always find their way home. Hand over the boy, or I blow this entire train to pieces right now."