The tunnel ceiling descended like a closing jaw. Debris showered the platform, turning the air into a thick soup of dust and powdered stone. Elian stood frozen, watching the weeping Mutes. They were blinking, staring at their own palms as if seeing them for the first time, yet there was a hollow look in their eyes. A void where their past lives had been scrubbed clean.
Run, Elian!
Sarah tackled him, dragging him toward the end of the platform just as a massive slab of concrete crushed the spot where he had been standing. The impact rattled their teeth, the vibrations rolling through the floor like a drumbeat of tectonic fury.
We have to get to the surface, Sarah yelled, her voice straining against the roar of collapsing infrastructure. If the city is the cage and we broke the lock, th
