The tunnels pressed in on them like a living beast, its damp breath seeping through cracks in the stone. Maya's lungs ached with every inhalation of stale, mineral-soaked air. Her boots squelched in shallow pools, each step echoing too loudly for comfort. The darkness wasn't empty—it listened.
Vector led, his flashlight beam cutting a thin, fragile line through the dark. His shoulders, usually squared with confidence, sagged now with fatigue. Behind Maya trailed Rei, his face drawn, eyes restless, as if constantly expecting the shadows to betray him.
They had been running for days. The pursuers—whoever they were—never relented. Drones with whispering propellers, trackers that read body heat through stone, patrols whose boots Maya still heard in her dreams. No matter how carefully they doubled back, destroyed tracks, or masked their trail with false signals, the hunters always seemed a step too close.
Something wasn't right.
"Stop." Maya lifted a hand, her voice low, sharp.
They froze. Silence pressed down. Then came the sound—faint but distinct: a high-pitched buzz that vibrated through the walls. The sound of drones.
Vector swore under his breath and extinguished the beam. Darkness devoured them whole. "They're sweeping the southern tunnels already. We're boxed in."
Maya's heartbeat quickened, but her mind sharpened. Why are they never more than a breath away? Unless… She turned slowly, her gaze falling on Rei.
He flinched under the scrutiny, though he tried to mask it with a thin smile. Sweat gathered on his temple. Fear—yes. But threaded with something else. Guilt.
Before Maya could press him, light cut through the dark. A drone rounded the bend, its single red sensor flaring like an unblinking eye.
"Move!" Vector shoved Maya ahead.
They sprinted, water splashing wildly. The drone's searchlight chased after them, growing brighter, closer. The tunnel forked suddenly—left into deeper darkness, right toward a faint shimmer of moonlight filtering through a grate.
"Left leads underground," Vector shouted. "We'll be rats in a trap!"
"Right's suicide," Rei snapped, voice trembling.
Maya's legs burned. Her mind raced. Both roads end in death if we keep running blind. But it wasn't just the tunnels that would kill them. The noose tightened because someone kept pulling it.
She stopped. Whirled. Eyes locked on Rei.
"Tell me now," she demanded, her voice sharp enough to slice the panic between them. "Who are you working for?"
The words froze him. His mouth opened, closed. No denial, no indignant protest. Just silence.
The drone screeched as it detected them, red light focusing like a laser.
Vector cursed. "We don't have time for this!"
But Maya's instincts screamed. The pieces slid together: their near-captures, the patrols waiting exactly where they'd flee, the way Rei always "suggested" paths that led them into tighter corners.
Rei finally spoke, voice breaking. "You don't understand—"
"Then make me understand!" Maya snapped, stepping forward.
His eyes glistened in the ghostly drone-light, torn between fear of her and fear of what hunted them. "I wasn't sent to betray you," he whispered. "I was sent to keep you alive."
For a moment, the words didn't make sense. The roar of the drone drowned everything. Vector raised his weapon, sighted the machine.
Maya's breath caught. If Rei was lying, pulling the trigger would save them. If he was telling the truth, killing him would end their last chance at survival.
The drone screamed closer, red light painting the tunnel in blood.
Maya had a second to decide—shoot the drone, confront Rei, or run.
Her fingers tightened on her weapon.