The tunnels had become their entire world.
For nine days the four survivors had moved like rats beneath the dying city, surfacing only at night to scavenge or strike small targets. The Unity Network now covered almost every surface block. Blue glows moved in synchronized patterns — Linked citizens walking in eerie, contented silence. Drones patrolled the skies constantly, their red scanning beams sweeping the ruins for anyone who still refused the Mark.
In the dim glow of their latest shelter — an old underground maintenance bunker beneath what used to be Grant Park — the group gathered around a single flickering LED lantern.
Ava cleaned her rifle with mechanical precision, but her eyes kept drifting to the others. She had started noticing small things: the way Elijah's hands shook when he read certain verses, the dark circles under Lara's eyes from nights spent decoding files, the way Kaito's jokes had grown quieter and sharper, like armor wearing thin.
"We're running out of places to hide," she said finally, snapping a fresh magazine into the weapon. "Another week and the enforcers will flood these tunnels. We need a new plan."
Elijah sat with his back against the concrete wall, Bible open on his lap. The pages were stained and torn now, but he handled them like they were made of gold. "The sixth seal," he murmured. "'And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth… and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together.' I keep waiting for the sky to open. But maybe we're already living inside the prophecy."
Lara looked up from her laptop, face illuminated by the harsh blue screen. Her secret weighed heavier every day. She had finally pieced together the final layer of Project Aurora: the disasters weren't accidental. Kane's inner circle had used her climate intervention technology to deliberately destabilize the atmosphere and tectonic plates, creating the perfect global crisis. The data was irrefutable. She hadn't told the others the full truth yet. She wasn't sure she could survive their judgment.
"I'm picking up strange readings from the old NOAA satellites that are still barely functional," she said. "Orbital decay is accelerating across the board. Too many objects are dropping at once. It's not natural."
Kaito, cross-legged on the floor with multiple screens balanced around him, let out a low whistle. "Because it's not. Someone triggered a cascading failure in the global satellite network. I'm seeing kill commands routed through Unity's core. They're bringing down the sky on purpose."
A low rumble vibrated through the bunker.
At first they thought it was another tremor — the earth had been restless for weeks. Then the rumble grew into a roar.
The ground heaved violently.
Dust and pieces of concrete rained from the ceiling as the four of them were thrown to the floor. The lantern toppled, plunging them into near darkness.
Outside, the world screamed.
Ava crawled to the emergency exit hatch and forced it open a crack. What she saw made her blood run cold.
The night sky was on fire.
Hundreds — thousands — of burning streaks ripped across the blackness. Satellites, space debris, and larger objects were plummeting to Earth at impossible speeds. One massive fragment slammed into the ruins of the Willis Tower three miles away, turning the already broken skyscraper into a blooming fireball. The shockwave rolled over the city like thunder made solid.
People poured into the streets — Linked and un-Linked alike — screaming, pointing upward. The blue glows of the Marks flickered and died in patches as the Unity Network began to collapse under the electromagnetic chaos.
Elijah joined Ava at the hatch, his face bathed in the orange glow of distant explosions. "'The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood…'" he whispered. "It's happening. Right now."
Lara's voice cracked behind them. "My data… this is the next phase. They're using the falling satellites to create a global blackout. No communications. No coordination. Only Kane's hardened ground stations will survive. He'll emerge as the only source of order."
Another impact shook the city. A meteor — or perhaps a piece of the International Space Station — streaked directly overhead and detonated above Lake Michigan, sending a towering wall of water and steam into the air.
Kaito slammed his laptops shut and shoved them into a waterproof bag. "We have to move! The tunnels are going to flood or collapse. Surface level — now!"
They ran.
Emerging into the ruined streets, the group was hit by a wall of heat and ash. The sky had turned a deep, bloody red. Stars — or what remained of humanity's artificial constellation — continued to fall in a relentless rain of fire. Buildings toppled in the distance. The air filled with the screams of thousands and the relentless roar of atmospheric re-entry.
Ava grabbed Lara's arm as the scientist stumbled. "Stay with us!"
Lara's eyes were wide with horror and guilt. "This is my fault… part of it. I helped give them the tools—"
"Later!" Ava snapped. "Survive first. Confess later."
They sprinted toward an old parking garage they had scouted earlier, dodging panicked crowds and falling debris. Elijah moved with surprising strength, helping an elderly woman who had no Mark and was being trampled by terrified Linked citizens. Kaito's remaining drones formed a protective screen above them, deflecting small fragments with precise bursts.
In the chaos, they witnessed the true horror of the falling stars.
A massive satellite crashed directly into a Unity distribution center two blocks away. The explosion lit up the night, revealing thousands of people on their knees, hands pressed to their temples as their neural Links short-circuited. Some screamed. Others simply stared upward with blank, glowing eyes, still smiling even as fire rained down.
Marcus Kane's voice somehow still broadcast from surviving speakers, calm and fatherly amid the apocalypse:
"Do not be afraid, my children. This is the final cleansing. Come to the safe zones. Accept the Mark fully and be protected. Unity will shield you."
Elijah stopped in the middle of the street, staring at the burning sky. Tears cut clean lines through the ash on his face.
"My God… how much more must we endure?"
Ava pulled him forward. "Keep moving, Pastor. Your God might be testing us, but I'm not ready to fail yet."
They reached the parking garage just as a final, cataclysmic impact struck the heart of the city. The ground split open. Buildings on both sides of the street collapsed like cards.
Inside the relative shelter of the concrete structure, the four of them collapsed against a wall, coughing and bleeding from minor cuts.
The sky continued to burn.
Lara finally broke. She pulled out the encrypted drive and held it out to the group with shaking hands.
"I need to tell you everything," she said, voice raw. "Before the next seal opens. Because what's coming next… it's going to make this look like the beginning."
Kaito looked up at the burning sky visible through cracks in the ceiling.
"The stars have fallen," he said quietly. "What's left to fall now?"
Outside, the world kept ending.
And the four marked souls — the ones who had refused the Mark — clung to each other in the darkness, waiting for whatever came next.
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(End of Chapter 4)