The rumbling above intensified. Concrete cracked. Dust rained from the ceiling in steady streams.
"Hostile units: five," the AI reported calmly. "Surface entry confirmed. Time to contact: one minute."
"One minute," Daniel muttered.
The stranger moved first. She extinguished her lamp, plunging the corridor into near darkness. Only the drone's faint blue glow remained.
"This tunnel splits ahead," she whispered. "Left leads to storage rooms. Right leads to an old transit shaft."
Daniel checked the drone feed. The AI overlaid a grid across the corridor.
"Right passage: seventy percent probability of alternate exit. Structural integrity unstable."
"So we run into a collapsing tunnel?" Daniel whispered.
"Better than running into raiders," she shot back.
Heavy boots thudded above them. Metal scraped. Voices echoed faintly through the broken floor.
Daniel made the choice.
"Right," he said.
They sprinted.
The corridor twisted sharply, narrowing as they ran. Rusted pipes burst under stray vibrations, spraying mist into the air. Behind them, a deafening crash shook the structure—raiders breaking through.
Light flooded the hallway from behind.
"They're inside!" the stranger hissed.
A gunshot rang out.
Concrete exploded beside Daniel's shoulder, sending fragments slicing across his sleeve. He stumbled but kept moving.
"Operator," the AI said, voice steady despite the chaos, "drone deploying countermeasure: flash pulse."
The drone pivoted midair.
A blinding burst of white light erupted behind them.
Shouts echoed. Curses. Disoriented yelling.
Daniel and the stranger rounded the corner into the transit shaft. The floor sloped downward into darkness, rails half-buried beneath rubble.
"Jump!" she yelled.
They slid down the steep incline as more gunshots cracked through the corridor above. Debris tumbled with them, scraping and clattering down the slope.
The shaft opened into a wider chamber below. Daniel hit the ground hard, rolling to absorb the impact. Pain flared across his ribs.
The stranger landed beside him, already on her feet.
"Move!"
The drone hovered overhead, projecting the map.
"Alternate exit detected: forty meters ahead," the AI instructed.
Behind them, the sound of sliding boots and angry voices echoed down the shaft.
Daniel forced himself up and ran again.
The chamber ahead narrowed into a small maintenance hatch, barely wide enough for one person at a time.
"You first," Daniel said.
She didn't argue.
She slipped through quickly. Daniel followed, pulling the drone in just as a bullet sparked against the metal wall behind him.
He slammed the hatch shut.
Silence.
Only their breathing filled the narrow maintenance tunnel.
After several long seconds, the gunfire stopped.
The raiders hadn't followed.
For now.
Daniel leaned back against the cold metal wall, heart pounding like it might burst from his chest.
The stranger looked at him in the dim blue glow of the drone.
"That flash thing," she said quietly. "Not bad."
Daniel gave a shaky breath. "Yeah. Still figuring it out."
For the first time, there was no blade pointed at him.
Just mutual survival.
Above them, the city of Aridia remained dangerous and restless.
But now Daniel wasn't alone anymore.