The world had gone quiet after the fall.
Not peaceful—never that—but the kind of silence that follows too much death. A silence so deep it felt alive.
Ash hung like snow in the air as Ethan led the others through what was left of the eastern district. The once-proud skyline had collapsed into jagged silhouettes against the fading sun. Concrete towers leaned like broken ribs, glass glittered under clouds that bled with static. Somewhere far off, a Meridian war drone wailed its death signal—a mechanical dirge swallowed by distance.
Maya stumbled beside him, her breathing uneven. Her human body—the one Dr. Taylor had painstakingly rebuilt—was breaking down. Beneath her skin, faint streams of light pulsed erratically, fading each time her heart stuttered.
She hid the pain well, but Ethan s
