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Kade moved like a shadow through the neon-lit alleys of District Seven. The city hummed and flickered, a thousand lights reflecting off rain-slick glass. On this side of the wall, rules were more like suggestions, and the only law was the one you could enforce with your fists or your wit.
The city was quieter by morning, but not safer. Kade found himself drawn to the rooftop edge of an old tenement, sipping burnt coffee from a battered thermos as he watched the sun fight its way through a haze of pollution. The glass wall loomed in the distance—a shimmer of transparency slicing the city in two. Even from here, he could see the difference: ordered streets, uniform lighting, no sign of the chaos that pulsed on his side of the divide.
Kade spent the rest of the day in motion, the city’s pulse quickening as dusk crept in. He moved through hidden passageways and crowded bazaars, piecing together the equipment he’d need: a cloaking scrambler, forged ID chips, a slim stun baton disguised as an umbrella. Each item came from a different source—paranoia was survival.
The AI zone thrummed with a precision that unsettled Kade. Every corner gleamed, every surface reflected his shadow back at him, slightly distorted, never quite real. Pedestrians moved in rigid flows, guided by silent signals only they seemed to see. Even the air felt different—crisp, sterile, humming faintly with a presence that watched and measured everything.
Kade and Mira moved quickly, staying close to the shadows along the sterile corridors. The faint whir of distant drones echoed behind them—a constant reminder that every moment was borrowed.
They didn’t speak as they moved through the maze of alleys and overgrown service corridors. Mira walked a half step behind Kade, watching the way he scanned each shadow and alley mouth, always calculating risk. For a while, the city seemed to breathe with them—quiet, watchful, tense.
Kade and Mira sprinted through the tangled network of side streets, every footstep echoing against concrete walls slick with rain. Behind them, the wail of sirens grew sharper—AI enforcers converging, methodical and relentless.
They found shelter in an abandoned train depot on the city’s southern fringe, its entrance hidden behind layers of collapsed scaffolding and rusted metal. The hum of pursuit faded, replaced by the distant clang of pipes and the soft hiss of rain against broken glass.
Dawn broke in smears of gray, barely pushing through the thick smog that blanketed the city. Kade and Mira had slept in uneasy shifts, always one ear tuned to the sounds of the waking metropolis. By the time the depot filled with the muted rumble of distant trains, they were both ready to move.
The city felt different on this side of the wall—no less dangerous, but raw and alive, the chaos cut with an undercurrent of freedom. Kade and Mira limped through side streets, their clothes soaked, shoes heavy with city grime. Every step away from the wall eased the tension in Kade’s shoulders, but his mind raced with new worries.
A day later, the safehouse had settled into an uneasy routine. Mira spent hours poring over the drive, preparing evidence for transmission to a hidden resistance node. Kade watched from the window, eyes scanning the streets below for threats—or maybe for a sign that the world could change.