Knox and Nixon sat at the cafeteria table. Nixon was eating as usual while Knox hadn't touched a single bite of his food.
Nixon put his food down. "Calm down. We'll be fine."
Knox's head snapped toward him. "You don't know that! You shouldn't be so relaxed, Nixon. If we fail this, we're gonna fucking die!"
"We won't."
"And what if we do?!"
Nixon stayed silent for a moment. "Then we're dead."
Knox sighed, shaking his head. "What even is your plan?"
Nixon pulled a small, cylindrical device from his pocket.
Knox stared at the small, cylindrical device in his hands. It looked deceptively simple — matte black with faint glowing lines running across its surface.
His eyes widened in realization. "Is that the…"
Nixon nodded. "The Harrow Core. One of HEX's restricted prototypes. Basically a miniaturized nuclear reactor core. The military uses it to clear out large underground rebel hideouts without collapsing the city above."
Knox turned it over slowly. "How does it work?"
"It generates an intense radiation field — up to 20,000 roentgens. In its finished version, the field can spread outward to 25–30 meters. But since this is still a prototype, it's limited to a controlled 1-meter radius. Anything inside that range gets hit hard."
Knox's eyes widened. "Twenty thousand? John can take a lot, but… that much?"
"He can probably handle around 5,000 before it starts fucking him up badly," Nixon said. "At 20,000, it'll tear through his cells. His body might slow it down, but it won't stop it. He'll suffer radiation poisoning — slow, painful, and eventually fatal over weeks or months."
Knox exhaled. "So we have to get close… within one meter?"
"Yeah. That's the risky part. We activate it, hold for five to eight seconds max until it charges to 20,000 roentgens, then we run like hell. The device overheats fast. If we stay too long, it could leak and affect us too."
Knox gripped the device tighter, a mix of determination and fear in his eyes. "And you're sure this will work?"
Nixon looked at him seriously. "It's not guaranteed to kill him instantly, but it'll poison him from the inside. Even if he survives the first few days, his body will start breaking down. He won't know what hit him until it's too late."
Knox nodded slowly. "Then let's do it."
---
Hannah stretched her arms. "See? I'm all good now."
John nodded. "Yeah, I guess you were right."
They both noticed Duncan, who had been unusually silent today.
"Anything wrong?" John asked.
Duncan exhaled. "I don't know… I just miss the life I had back then. Before all this shit."
Duncan's eyes suddenly widened. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that!"
Hannah chuckled. "Don't need to apologize. We understand how you feel, Duncan. If I'm being honest, I also miss the life I had back then."
John nodded. "Me too."
Hannah patted his shoulder. "But the truth is that we miss the stuff we had. The wealth, clean streets, delicious food, and all that. We don't miss the world we had back then, because that world was cruel, unforgiving, malicious, and evil."
"I understand what you mean," Duncan sighed. "But this is not the kind of person that I am, guys. No offense, but I absolutely hate every second of living here. I'm not saying I'd go back with them… it just… sucks being here."
"Then what kind of person are you, Duncan?" Hannah asked softly.
"I…" Duncan shook his head. "I… I don't know…"
Hannah and John exchanged a look, both feeling bad for him.
---
"What if they come back again, Ben?" Aya asked, worried.
"Cool your jets, luv. They won't come back," Benjamin said.
Aya huffed. "And how do you know that?"
"They're gonna look for Hannah," Benjamin scoffed. "All they wanna do is kill Hannah. We ain't got no business with her, do we?"
"Yes we do!" Emma jumped in. "We've got everything to do with Hannah!"
"What should we do then? We can't find nowhere to live in!"
"We find John and Hannah and we live with them! But I bet you won't let us cause you're insecure about John!" Mitch said.
Benjamin stared at him. "I ain't insecure about nothin', lad. And I reckon we'd die even faster if we live with those two blokes!"
"Why, cause you're scared John will kill you in your sleep?!"
"No, you muppet! Because we will be held hostage by the rich cunts!"
Mitch laughed mockingly. "Oh, shut up! Just say you're too embarrassed to admit that you need John and Hannah to survive! And you're too insecure to admit that you aren't the leader and you don't do shit other than bring us the fuck down!"
Benjamin slapped him. "Watch it, prick."
Mitch was shocked, then furious. "Fuck you! Who the fuck do you think you are, asshole?!"
Mitch punched him in the face.
"You've done it now, ya slag."
Benjamin punched him back and the two started tussling ruthlessly.
Benjamin slammed him to the ground. Mitch pushed him off and punched him again. Benjamin headbutted him, and both of them started wrestling.
The Maggots finally broke it up.
"The both of you, calm the hell down!" Alfie Sr shouted.
Mitch and Benjamin were finally separated, but both of them still stared at each other in pure rage.
Alfie Sr exhaled. "Listen, how about we just wait here and see what happens? I mean, even if we did want to go find John and Hannah, it's not like we'd have any hope of actually finding them in this massive place! This is the only place where we can survive, and dumping it to find someone else's that we probably won't even find just sounds insane!"
They all nodded at each other silently.
Junior clapped faintly. "Way to go, dad. That is so freaking cool."
Alfie Sr shook his head. "I'm getting too old for this crap…"
---
"John, I'm thinking about visiting Benjamin," Hannah said.
John scoffed. "Benjamin would rather die than see me again. He hates me."
Hannah chuckled. "Yeah, I guess that's true. But let's just pay them a little visit. Nothing more."
"How are we gonna find them anyways?"
"Can't you use your x-ray vision thing or something?"
John shook his head. "I have the ability, but I can't use it at will."
Hannah pouted. "Wanna go for a little walk then?"
"Sure."
"Duncan, wanna come?" Hannah invited.
Duncan smiled. "Nah, I'm good. I just wanna rest after a whole day of doing nothing."
"We're gonna do something now, you know, so you don't have to be doing nothing."
"No thanks. I just don't feel like it right now."
Hannah nodded. "Okay, that's cool. Bye."
Duncan only smiled at them.
After only a few minutes, Duncan had already fallen asleep.
---
"I feel bad for Duncan. He'd probably have a much better life if he went back up, but he's gonna die for sure." John said.
"Well, the decision is totally up to him."
"What? You're gonna let him die?"
"John, I hate to admit it but he genuinely hates being here. He doesn't feel happy for a single second and it pains me to see that cause it makes me feel as if we're holding him prisoner in here."
"We're gonna give him a choice of whether he'd like to stay here or go back up. We'll try to explain to him why it's suicide to go back up and try to make him more motivated to live, but if he still declines then so be it." Hannah continued.
John nodded slowly, "Okay..."
---
Duncan's eyes slowly lifted as he sat up from the concrete floor. He rubbed his eyes and saw two people sitting next to him.
"John…? I'm surprised you didn't wake me up…" Duncan yawned.
He looked again. It wasn't John or Hannah.
It was the Maidens.