It had started during the night shift.
Lily was lying in her bunk, staring at the ceiling, thinking about Echo. It had been five days since they'd taken him for processing. Five days of working alone at station twelve, sorting pieces by herself, trying not to look at his empty spot.
Five days of knowing it was her fault.
If she hadn't gotten sick. If she hadn't needed help. If she'd just pushed through and made quota on her own, he'd still be here. Still be himself. Still be the boy who'd chosen to help her even when it meant sacrificing everything.
She'd heard what processing did to people. Seen the kids who came back empty. Broken. Like someone had reached inside their heads and switched off all the parts that made them human.
The lights went out all at once.
Not the usual scheduled dimming. Complete darkness. Emergency darkness. The kind that meant something was wrong with the power systems.
Then she heard it. A sound like electronic locks clicking open. One after another. Click. Click. Click. Moving through the facility in a pattern she couldn't understand.
Someone was unlocking doors. All of them.
The other kids in the sleeping quarters started sitting up, whispering to each other. What was happening? Was it a malfunction? Were they supposed to do something?
Footsteps in the hallway. Slow, confident footsteps that didn't sound like any of the supervisors. Too quiet. Too... casual.
The door to their sleeping area opened.
A figure stood silhouetted in the doorway. Tall. Wearing something long that moved like a coat. She couldn't see his face in the darkness, but something about the way he stood made her think of predators. Dangerous things that moved with absolute certainty.
"Everyone up," he said. His voice was calm. Almost bored. Like waking up a room full of terrified kids was just another Tuesday for him.
"Lights are out for a reason. Security's compromised. You've got maybe ten minutes before backup systems kick in."
"Who are you?" one of the older kids asked.
"Someone who's not supposed to be here." She could hear the shrug in his voice. "Which makes two of us, doesn't it?"
He stepped into the room and she could see him better now. The long black coat. The hat pulled low. The way he moved like he owned the place even though he'd obviously never been here before.
"Here's the deal," he said, looking around the room. "Doors are open. Guards are... indisposed. You can walk out of here right now if you want."
"Walk out to where?" another kid asked. "There's nothing up there but wasteland."
"Maybe. Maybe not." He shrugged again. "But down here there's definitely nothing. So pick your nothing, I guess."
Some of the kids were already getting up, pulling on their coveralls. Others just sat on their bunks, staring at him like they couldn't believe this was real.
Lily stood up.
"There's a kid," she said. "In processing. They took him five days ago."
The man in black looked at her. She couldn't see his eyes behind the sunglasses, but she felt him focus on her like a spotlight.
"Processing," he said. It wasn't a question.
"Sub-level three. The concrete rooms. They... they break people there."
"Yeah." His voice got quieter. Colder. "I know what they do there."
He turned to leave, then stopped.
"Anyone else who wants out, follow me. Anyone who wants to stay and sort scrap metal for the rest of their short lives, that's your choice too."
He walked out.
Lily followed him. So did most of the other kids. They moved through the facility like a small parade of ghosts, gray coveralls and bare feet on metal floors.
The man led them through corridors she'd never seen before. Service tunnels. Maintenance areas. Places where the supervisors never went because there was nothing there worth supervising.
They passed other groups of kids along the way. Kids from different sleeping areas, different work sections. All following the same dark figure like he was some kind of piper leading them out of hell.
"How do you know where you're going?" someone whispered.
"Blueprints," he said without looking back. "Amazing what you can find in city planning archives if you know where to look."
City planning archives. Like this place had been built legitimately. Like someone had filed paperwork and gotten permits to torture children underground.
They reached sub-level three.
The concrete level. The place where they took kids who didn't make quota. Kids who asked too many questions. Kids who tried to help each other.
"Stay back," the man said.
He pulled out his gun. Not dramatically. Not with any ceremony. Just pulled it out like he was reaching for his keys.
"How many guards down here?" he asked Lily.
"Usually two. Sometimes more during processing sessions."
"Okay."
He walked down the corridor like he was taking a stroll. Lily heard voices. Supervisor voices. Questioning sounds. Who was he? What was he doing down here?
Three gunshots. Quick and efficient. Like staplings.
Then silence.
He came back a minute later, putting the gun away.
"Found your friend," he said to Lily. "He's... he's in rough shape."
That was when she knew. When she really understood what processing did to people. Because the way he said it, the way his voice got careful and quiet, told her that Echo wasn't Echo anymore.
The man disappeared into one of the concrete rooms. When he came back, he was carrying someone small and broken. Someone who'd been tied up and blindfolded for so long that the light hurt his eyes. Someone who could barely whisper his own name.
Someone who used to be the boy who'd helped her make quota.
Looking at Echo now, as they walked up the stairs toward the surface, Lily could see exactly what they'd done to him. How they'd taken a twelve-year-old kid who'd dared to care about someone and broken him down into component parts. Function. Quota. Pain.
The man in black was carrying him easily, but Lily could tell he didn't want to. Could tell this wasn't what he'd signed up for. He'd come here to do... whatever it was he'd come to do. Not to become responsible for a bunch of traumatized kids.
But he wasn't leaving them behind.
They reached the surface. Real sunlight for the first time in... Lily couldn't even remember how long. Some of the kids started crying when they felt it on their faces. Others just stood there, blinking, like they'd forgotten what the world looked like.
"So what now?" one of the older kids asked.
The man set Echo down gently on a piece of broken concrete. Echo immediately curled up next to him, pressing close like he was afraid of being left alone again. Other kids started doing the same thing. Moving closer to the only adult who'd ever shown them kindness.
The man looked down at them all. Kids in dirty gray coveralls, clustering around him like lost puppies. He took off his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes. For the first time since she'd seen him, he looked tired.
"Wasn't planning on this," he muttered.
But he didn't push them away.
Echo had grabbed onto his coat with one weak hand and wouldn't let go. A few of the smaller kids were pressed against his legs. They all looked up at him like he was the only safe thing in the world.
Which, Lily realized, he probably was.
"Alright," he said finally. "Guess we're doing this."
He put his sunglasses back on and looked around at the wasteland surrounding the facility. Broken buildings. Abandoned streets. The bones of a world that had given up on itself.
"Stay close," he said. "And try to keep up."
He started walking, Echo still clinging to his coat, the rest of them following behind like a small army of survivors.
Lily didn't know where they were going.
But for the first time since she'd been brought to this place, she didn't care.
They were free.
And the man in black, whatever his reasons, whatever his story, wasn't going to abandon them to figure out what that meant alone.