Chapter2
539 Words
In the system, her name.
It was cold, angry and oily. The rain came fast that night.
Inside the hideout was a broken-down train car buried deep under a collapsed bridge. Usman paced like a lion. Kenny wiped blood off his face. Mara checked the crystal drive for damage.
Zara sat in the corner, eyes wide. She couldn’t stop thinking about the vault screen. Her name was there in bold letters. Top clearance.
ZARA ISMAILA - SUBJECT #13 - STATUS: ACTIVE.
She hadn’t told anyone.
She kept it to herself.
“Let’s see what we risked our lives for,” Usman said. He slid the drive into Kenny’s patched-up terminal.
The screen blinked.
Files appeared, thousands of them. Hidden bank accounts. Security maps. Private footage of corrupt leaders beating workers. Kenny’s jaw dropped.
“Holy… this is the whole city’s rot in one folder.”
But one file had a lock on it. Encrypted. Labeled:
SAINT’S PROJECT.
Zara winced.
Usman noticed.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded too fast. “Just tired.”
Lies. Her fingers shook.
Usman gave her a look, but said nothing. He trusted her. For the time being.
Later that night…
Zara lay awake in the dark. Rain dripped from a broken pipe. Her head turned.
Why was her name in a government vault? What was “Saint’s project”?
She plugged her tablet into her pocket system and tried to open the locked file.
Access denied.
Then her screen flickered. A message appeared.
>>HEY ZARA. YOU AIN'T SUPPOSED TO BE ALIVE.>MEET ME AT THE TOWER OF THE GUTTER. MIDNIGHT. COME ALONE.<<
Midnight…
She shouldn’t have gone, but she had to because she needed answers.
The tower of the gutter was a leaning structure of metal and trash. Quiet, Abandoned and Creepy.
She stepped inside.
A voice from the shadows: “You opened the vault.”
Zara spun. A tall man stood there, face hidden by a hood.
“I’m Tiger,” he said. “And I know what you are.”
Zara backed away. “I don’t know you.”
“But I know you. You’re one of the thirteen. Children taken by the state. Tested, Modified. They erased your memory. "But you’re waking up, aren’t you?”
Her hands shook.
“That file proves it,” Tiger said. “You were part of something evil." But we can stop it, if you help us.”
Zara blinked. “Help how?”
“Spy on your crew. Get me the rest of the files. The rebellion needs that data.”
Zara’s heart twisted.
“No. I won’t betray them.”
Tiger stepped closer.
“If you don’t, the government will come for all of you. And they won’t stop with arrest. They’ll erase you. Again.”
He handed her a small data shard.
“Think it over.”
Then he vanished into the shadows.
Back at the hideout…
Usman was still awake. Sitting by the fire. Watching her.
“Where were you?”
Zara froze.
“Just… clearing my head.”
Another lie.
Usman nodded slowly.
But his eyes stayed locked on hers.
He didn’t believe her.
And from that moment, something between them began to c***k.
- Writer
