Mira moved like a shadow.
Her shoes were soft against the metal floor. Her breath shallow. She clutched the blade close to her chest, its edge dull, but enough. It was meant for cutting wires, not throats — but it would do, if it came to that.
The camp was quiet.
Too quiet.
A place where hope didn't echo.
Only suspicion did.
She passed sleeping bodies curled around fire barrels, mothers holding children with sunken cheeks, and old men coughing into torn blankets. No one looked at her.
She was invisible now.
Just like him.
Elian.
They were both ghosts here.
And ghosts didn't ask for permission.
—
Inside his holding cell, Elian sat against the wall, awake.
He hadn't slept.
His dreams were full of fire. His father's voice. The moment the dome exploded. The last time he felt warm. Safe.
He looked down at his left hand. Human.
Then the right.
Cold. Metal. Sharp at the joints. Stronger than anything he had ever held.
He squeezed it and watched the skin shimmer faintly, like light through water.
A part of him wanted to break the door open.
Another part wanted to cry.
He had become something they feared.
Something *he* feared.
A whisper tickled the silence.
"Elian."
His head shot up.
Mira.
She pressed her face to the small slit in the metal door, eyes wide and fierce.
"You came," he said.
"Of course I did."
"They're going to cut me open."
"Not if I get you out first."
She jammed a metal pin into the lock, her hands shaking but steady enough. It took longer than she thought. Her heart pounded with every second.
Click.
The door creaked.
Elian hesitated.
"What if I hurt you?" he asked. "What if I become like… them?"
She reached out and touched his human hand.
"You're still Elian to me," she whispered. "That's all that matters."
He took her hand.
And followed.
—
They moved through the tunnels, low and fast.
Alarms hadn't gone off. Not yet.
Elian's bot followed quietly behind, its blinking light soft blue now — calm, loyal. It had changed too. Something in it had bonded with him during the explosion.
Maybe it was the only reason he was still alive.
The hallway narrowed.
They reached the outer fence that kept prisoners in and threats out. A sensor bar glowed faintly.
Mira looked at Elian.
"You can shut it down, can't you?"
He didn't answer.
He just walked toward it.
The sensor buzzed — then flickered — then went dark.
Mira stared. "How did you…"
"I don't know," he said quietly. "It listens to me now."
They crossed.
But they were not alone.
—
In a dark control room, a red light blinked.
One of the guards, a man named Ryle, leaned forward, squinting at the monitor.
"Zone 4 perimeter… breached."
He tapped the console.
The screen showed two small figures slipping through the fence. One of them had a glow in his chest.
Ryle's jaw clenched.
"Half-machine," he muttered. "It starts with one."
He turned to the alarm switch — but stopped.
Instead, he picked up a small communicator and whispered, "Tell the council. The boy has left containment. He's heading toward the outer tunnels."
He paused.
"Let him go."
"Sir?"
"If he's a weapon, he'll lead us to the Machine."
"…And if he's not?"
"Then it won't matter. He won't survive long out there."
—
Elian and Mira ran.
They didn't know where the tunnels ended — only that staying meant death.
They passed signs rusted into the walls.
**Sector 12. Danger. Collapse Zone.**
They ignored them.
When they finally stopped, gasping for breath, the world was silent.
Mira dropped to her knees.
"We need to find another dome," she said. "One that doesn't know about you."
Elian nodded. "There are still some out there."
"Your dad said something before he died. About coordinates. Do you remember?"
Elian paused.
He closed his eyes.
And suddenly— a soft light blinked in his robotic eye. Numbers floated behind his eyelids.
"I remember."
She smiled, weak but real. "Then that's where we go."
But before they could move—
A distant metal sound echoed.
Footsteps.
Not human.
Heavy. Rhythmic. Mechanical.
Mira froze.
Elian's bot flashed red.
"Run," Elian whispered.
But it was too late.
From the darkness ahead, a tall machine stepped into view.
Not like the others they'd seen on old data logs.
This one looked like it was once human.
Its face — half-skin, half steel — was twisted. A voice stuttered through its speakers.
**"Subject located."**
Elian stepped in front of Mira.
The machine tilted its head.
**"You… are not known. But your signal is… familiar."**
It reached out a hand.
And Mira screamed, "Don't touch him!"
Elian raised his arm — the robotic one — and light sparked from his palm without warning.
The machine stumbled back.
The ground shook.
Elian looked down at his hand.
"What… was that?"
The machine didn't die.
It rose again.
And smiled.
Not with teeth.
But with something worse.
**Recognition.**
**"Found you,"** it said.
Then everything went dark.