Chapter 8 - The City Burns Silent
Street level was chaos. Rain had begun to fall, slicking the neon-lit asphalt of downtown as sirens howled from every direction. Police cars, federal vans, and news helicopters swarmed the perimeter of the sector.
Sarah and Leo emerged from a storm drain grating in an alleyway two blocks from the subway station. Sarah was leaning heavily on Leo, a sharp piece of shrapnel embedded in her side from the grenade blast. Blood soaked through her black leather jacket.
"We did it," Sarah panted, collapsing against the brick wall of the alley. "The data is out. It’s over."
"It's not over," Leo said, staring up at the towering silhouette of the Sterling Dynamics building in the distance. "Look."
Suddenly, every light in the city blinked out simultaneously. The neon signs, the streetlamps, the traffic signals, the skyscraper windows—all extinguished in a single terrifying instant. A wave of total darkness swept across the metropolis like a physical wall.
The sirens died. The engines of rolling cars sputtered and died as their electrical systems were fried. The sky screamed as a police helicopter, its controls dead, slammed into the side of a commercial tower, exploding in a bright ball of orange fire that lit up the blackened skyline.
"What did he do?" Sarah whispered, staring in horror at the dark city.
"A city-wide EMP burst," Leo said, his voice icy. "He’s wiping the evidence from the physical servers before the feds can secure them. He’s going to erase everything—including us."
From the shadows at the mouth of the alley, three dark SUVs rolled to a stop. Their engines weren't dead—they were heavily shielded military variants. Heavy armored doors opened, and men in black combat gear stepped out, night-vision lenses glowing green in the dark.
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"Leo," Sarah rasped, raising her pistol with shaking hands. "You have to run."
Leo didn't run. He took a step in front of her, his arm pulsing with a bright, violent blue light that illuminated the wet alley pavement. "No more running."
