The city groaned as the morning light broke through its jagged silhouette. Filtered through layers of dust and chemical clouds, the sunlight looked more like dying embers than hope.
Kael's boots scraped against cracked pavement as he stepped over a fallen aerial turret. Its cannon had melted at the base, creating a pool of glass around its remains. He hadn't seen movement since leaving the flare tower—but the silence didn't comfort him.
His stomach clenched.
Not pain. More like… emptiness.
He paused under a half-collapsed overpass and leaned against a wall scorched with plasma burns. He could feel his energy levels dipping—not just power, but actual biological fatigue.
Vital levels: 83%Blood sugar: Low.Muscle fatigue: Moderate.Recommended action: Ingest nutrients.
Kael grunted. "Figures."
Nearest ration cache: 2.7 km south.Status: Unknown. Likely compromised.
He opened a side compartment in his exo-suit and found only one half-destroyed nutrition bar. Burnt from heat, melted at the edges. He sniffed it, then grimaced.
Product expired: 14 months.Viability: 42%.Risk of stomach disruption: Moderate.
Kael bit into it anyway.
The taste was like burnt plastic with a hint of cardboard.
He chewed in silence, vision flickering with micro-lags in the HUD. His body jittered slightly, coordination a step behind thought. A side effect he hadn't felt since the early iterations.
Neural sync at 97%. Visual latency: 1.3 seconds.Suggestion: Perform system recalibration.
"I'll recalibrate when I'm not starving," he muttered.
He stepped forward, crossing the street between two caved-in towers. On the side of one shattered building, faded red paint spelled out a message:
"Are we the last?"
Kael didn't answer it.
Thirty minutes later, he found a stairwell leading down into a parking structure. Its walls were scorched with bullet holes, and a warning banner fluttered in the stale air:
"BIO-CONTAMINANT ZONE – SEAL ALL BREATHING VALVES"
Kael toggled his visor, sealing his filtration system. The HUD dimmed to infrared as he descended into the shadow.
The garage smelled like rust, old blood, and oil.
Most vehicles were stripped. Scorch marks trailed toward the far wall, where something had dragged bodies—organic and synthetic—into a pile and burned them.
He crouched beside one of the corpses. Human, or had once been. A tag was still on the wrist: CIV-MED 04 – Volunteer Evac.
They'd tried to help. They hadn't made it out.
This was a triage point. Evidence of last stand protocol: Confirmed.Scavenger activity: High probability.
Kael rose and moved toward a partially collapsed supply room near the back. He scanned the lock—manual override required.
A sharp click.
The door slid open just enough for him to slip inside.
Rows of old vending units lined the wall. Some were shattered. Others just dead. But one unit still blinked faintly with blue light.
STATUS: Power reserve critical. Offline in 12 minutes.
Kael pried it open.
He found three ration packs sealed in emergency-grade polymer. The logos had faded, but the contents were intact.
Nutrient Viability: 93%Taste profile: Synthetic chili + carb base
He devoured the first pack while sitting against the wall, weapon across his lap. For the first time in days, warmth returned to his limbs.
He let his head fall back, eyes closed.
Then he heard it.
A sound.
Soft.
Deliberate.
He didn't move.
Footsteps. Not metal. Not AI. Fabric. Human.
Kael opened one eye slowly, and then he saw her.
A young woman—mid-twenties, maybe—stood just inside the doorframe, holding a sharpened piece of piping like a spear. She was thin but strong-looking, clothes patched from old uniforms and scavenged tech. Her face was smudged with dust, but her eyes were clear and sharp.
"Don't move," she said.
Kael didn't.
She took a step closer, eyeing the ration packs.
"Put down your weapon."
Kael responded without rising. "Not happening."
The woman hesitated. "You're not Core. You're… one of them?"
Kael frowned. "Define 'them.'"
"Clones. Hybrids. One of the engineered ones."
Kael didn't answer.
She didn't lower the weapon.
After a long moment, she exhaled. "I've seen your type before. Most go rogue. The ones that don't end up used."
"I'm not either of those," Kael said quietly. "I'm just trying to survive."
She looked at the opened ration. Then back at him.
"So am I."
He tossed her one.
She caught it without blinking.
She didn't eat it yet.
They sat in silence, six feet apart.
Kael finally spoke. "Name's Kael."
The woman nodded slowly. "Lian."
Even as she said it, her fingers never relaxed their grip on the makeshift spear. Her knuckles were white under the grime. One eye scanned the shadows, the other flicked toward the half-cracked vending unit. Her entire body was coiled—like a spring that hadn't uncoiled in years.
Kael noticed the way she barely blinked, how her knees stayed slightly bent even while sitting. Not just alert—trained. Or traumatized. Or both.
"You move like someone who's used to not surviving," he said.
Lian gave a short, humorless laugh. "There's a difference?"
Kael gestured toward her weapon. "Impressive spear."
She gave him a crooked smile. "Hydro pipe and a data spike. Sharper than most people I've met lately."
"You always this charming?"
"Only on my day off."
Kael chuckled—just enough to catch her off guard.
Her expression softened, only for a second. Then it was gone. The wall rebuilt itself behind her eyes.
"Why share the food?" she asked. "You don't know me."
Kael leaned back slightly. "Because if our roles were reversed, I'd want someone to pretend the world's still decent."
Lian didn't reply immediately.
She finally opened the ration, chewing slowly, as if her body no longer trusted food that came easy.
After a moment, she looked over. "For what it's worth… thanks."
"Any time."
Eventually, Lian leaned against the far wall and asked, "What are you doing in this sector?"
Kael hesitated.
"Looking for answers."
"Good luck. Most answers here are buried with the buildings."
"I found something," he said. "Or someone. She told me the Core isn't just machinery anymore. It's learning. Waking up."
Lian looked at him sharply. "You've seen one of the hybrids?"
Kael nodded.
"MIRA-12."
Lian sat up straighter. "I've heard her signal. Thought it was bait."
"It wasn't."
Lian's face darkened. "Then she knows what's under this city."
"So do I," Kael said. "At least… I think I'm starting to."
Before they could speak more, the walls trembled faintly.
Kael stood, HUD flaring.
Vibration detected – localized epicenter.Non-seismic source. Possibly tunneling AI unit.
"Something's moving beneath us," he said.
Lian was already up. "They track energy bursts. We shouldn't have stayed so long."
Kael grabbed the remaining ration and followed her out. As they emerged into the half-light above, Kael caught sight of something behind the clouds.
A pulse.
Faint.
Like a heartbeat.
He looked at Lian. "Do you have a safe zone?"
She hesitated. "Maybe. But it's deep in the underground stacks. And you'll need to prove you're not going to lead those things to us."
Kael nodded. "Fair deal."
As they ran between shadows, the city behind them pulsed again.
Something beneath the rubble was listening.