Kieran pressed his back against the damp stone, gasping for air that felt thinner with every step he took. The arterial tunnels weren't just passageways—they were lungs. The walls expanded and contracted almost imperceptibly, carrying a rhythm that wasn't his own.
His flashlight flickered. Once, twice, then failed entirely. Darkness swallowed him whole. He clenched his jaw, forcing himself to keep walking. He'd learned by now that the subnet's architecture wasn't just infrastructure—it responded. To light, to sound, even to his heartbeat.
And right now, it was listening too closely.
Maya? He tapped the side of his headset. The static screamed in his ear, making him wince. For a moment, there was nothing. Then—like a ripple across a pond—her voice broke through.
"Kieran… we made it through. The subnet—it fought back. It's alive."
His blood ran cold. He had suspected, but hearing it confirmed sent a chill down his spine. "Alive…? No. That's not possible."
But wasn't it? The tunnels were breathing, the wires pulsing, the hum rising and falling like a heartbeat. Every instinct in him told him he was inside something vast and aware.
The floor trembled. Dust cascaded from the ceiling. He froze. Something was moving ahead.
Through the dark came a faint glow—red, mechanical, steady. An Enforcer drone, its single optic light slicing through the arterial like a blade. Behind it, the thrum of more machines echoed. They were sweeping the tunnels.
Kieran ducked into a side alcove, his pulse racing. He pulled the knife from his belt, knowing it was useless against armor. Still, holding it made him feel less naked.
The drone hovered past, its optic sweeping left and right. He held his breath, body pressed against the damp wall. The moment it turned, he lunged, grabbing its chassis and slamming it against the stone. The optic flickered, then dimmed. He plunged the knife into its wiring, sparks erupting in his hands.
It shrieked, metallic and wrong, before collapsing into silence.
But the noise had given him away.
Heavy footfalls thundered through the arterial. Enforcers. More than one.
Kieran's chest tightened. He turned and ran, the walls shaking around him as if the subnet itself disapproved of his panic. His footsteps splashed through shallow water, each echo magnified until it sounded like an army at his heels.
The hum rose again. Stronger. Urgent. He didn't just hear it this time—he felt it pushing against his thoughts, trying to guide him. Left. Down. Faster. He stumbled, resisting, then realized—if Maya had bent it to her will, maybe he could at least listen.
He turned left.
The tunnel sloped downward, narrowing, forcing him to duck. Behind him, beams of red light swept the walls as the Enforcers gained ground.
"Kieran, where are you?" Maya's voice broke through, jagged with static.
He gasped into the mic. "Following… it. It's showing me where to go."
"Don't trust it completely. It'll take what it wants."
Her warning made his skin crawl. But what choice did he have?
The tunnel opened suddenly into a cavernous chamber, lined with conduits as thick as trees. At the center pulsed a glowing core, light radiating like a heart through layers of glass and wire. It throbbed in rhythm with the hum, each beat shaking the ground.
The subnet's heart.
The Enforcers were closing in, their visors glowing at the edge of the chamber. Kieran tightened his grip on the knife, staring at the core.
If he destroyed it, maybe the subnet would collapse. But if Maya was right—if it was alive—what would that make him?
The hum surged, deafening, as though the subnet itself was daring him to decide.