If you want to see how this ends, add the book to your library.
The drone stayed above the alley like an eye that would not blink. Its light swept over broken glass, then stopped on Noah's chest. He tried to stand, but his legs shook so hard his knees hit the wet concrete. Blood ran from his nose again, warm and fast, and the world sounded too loud, like someone turned every noise up at once.Riley crouched a step away with her crossbow half raised. Her face was tight with hate and fear. "You still have it," she said. "Give it to me.""I used it," Noah said. His voice came out rough. "It's gone.""Liar." She leaned closer, knife ready. "People don't just 'use' a rock."Noah opened his mouth and showed the red smear on his teeth. He tapped his own throat with two fingers, then swallowed on purpose so she could see it. "It's inside me. If you cut me open, you won't find it."For a second, Riley froze like her brain hit a wall. Then engines growled at the street corner. Heavy tires. More than one vehicle. The drone's light snapped to the road like it got a new command.Riley's eyes flicked up. "Authority."Noah heard it too, even before he saw them. Not the engines. The radio. A thin voice in his skull, clear through the drone's buzzing. "Unit Two, sweep rear. Drone has lock. Possible crystal contact."He had never heard radio that far before. That was new. That was the crystal talking through his blood.Riley grabbed his sleeve. "Move. Now."He pushed up on shaking arms and forced his legs under him. Pain stabbed his belly like a hot nail, but he stayed on his feet. Riley pulled him around the corner, away from the back door of the store, deeper into the maze of cars and trash bins behind the building.A spotlight hit the wall. A loudspeaker barked, sharp and calm. "Stay where you are. Hands visible. Do not run."Riley hissed. "They'll scan us. They'll take everything."Noah did not answer. He did not waste air. The drone dipped lower, and Noah felt the beam track him even through the brick. Like it could smell him.He saw the only hole left in the dark: a ramp leading down into an underground parking garage. The gate was half open because someone had forced it days ago. It smelled like oil and old rain.Riley saw it too. She ran first.Noah followed, and his body surprised him. His feet moved faster than his mind expected. He almost slammed into her back because he closed the distance in two steps. He hated how easy it felt. Easy meant danger later.They dropped down the ramp and vanished into the garage shadows. The air turned colder. The city noise above faded, but new sounds replaced it. Drips. Rats. Far-off scraping.Then a zombie moaned in the dark.It came from behind a row of cars, slow at first, then fast when it caught their movement. Its skin was gray and split like old paper. Its jaw snapped on empty air.Riley lifted her crossbow. Noah grabbed her wrist and shoved it down."No," he whispered. "Too loud.""It's one shot," she mouthed back, angry."It's not the shot. It's the scream after."The zombie lunged. Noah had no time to argue. He stepped into it and drove his knife up under its chin, hard. The blade hit bone and stuck. The zombie's teeth clicked inches from his cheek.Noah twisted the knife and shoved again, trying to reach the brain. The skull resisted. It felt thicker than it should be.The zombie thrashed, and its nails raked his forearm. Fresh blood opened fast. Heat rushed up his arm. Riley cursed and kicked the zombie's knee sideways. It stumbled.Noah grabbed a tire iron off the ground near a broken tool cart. He swung it two-handed into the side of the zombie's head.The sound was wrong. Not a clean crack. More like hitting a rock under wet meat.The zombie kept moving.Noah's stomach dropped. Headshots used to work. Yesterday, they would have worked.Riley's eyes went wide. "What the hell—"Noah hit it again. Harder. The third strike crushed the temple enough for the body to drop. The zombie went still, twitching like a broken wire.Noah did not breathe out in relief. He looked at the skull and felt cold anger. It was changing. Fast.Riley leaned closer, breathing fast. "Crystal?"Noah stared at her. Her greed was a knife too, aimed at his back. But he needed her legs and her street sense. And he needed one more hit of power if the skulls kept turning to stone.He knelt and forced the tire iron into the crack. He pried. The skull split with a wet pop. The smell hit them both.Riley gagged but kept her eyes on the opening.Noah dug with two fingers and felt something hard and slick, like a cold tooth. He pulled it out. A crystal the size of a fingernail, dull and cloudy, not red like the last one. Still worth killing for.The moment it touched air, footsteps echoed from the ramp above. Boots, not dragging shoes. Human.Riley sucked in a breath. "They're here."Noah's hand closed around the crystal. He felt Riley's fingers dart toward it.He grabbed her wrist again, harder this time. "Don't."Riley's smile was thin and ugly. "You already got yours. That one is mine.""No," Noah said. "That one is the reason we live. We keep it until we're safe.""Safe doesn't exist," she shot back, and her crossbow rose toward his ribs.Noah looked at the bolt, then at her eyes. He did not flinch. "You shoot me, you die in this garage. They'll find you. They'll scan you. They'll take your skull apart like a science project."Riley held the aim for a long second. Then a bright beam swept between the cars, cutting the dark into hard lines. The Authority had entered the garage.A voice spoke again from above, amplified and calm. "We see you. Come out. We will not harm you if you comply."Noah's new hearing caught the low talk beneath it, the real words. "Target is moving. Drone says two bodies. One armed. Watch for crystal."Riley's breathing went shallow. She lowered the crossbow just enough to move. "We need another exit," she whispered.Noah pointed with his chin toward a door in the far wall, half hidden behind a van. A red sign above it read: SERVICE ACCESS.Riley shook her head. "Locked.""Not to you," Noah said.They sprinted, weaving through parked cars. Noah's lungs burned, but his legs kept pushing. The crystal in his fist felt heavier with every step, like it wanted him to swallow it right now.Behind them, the Authority team moved with training. Flashlights cut paths. Metal clinked. Someone slapped a magazine into a rifle.A zombie moaned again, closer this time. The noise and lights pulled more dead out of the dark corners. Two shapes shuffled into the flashlight beam, then three."Shoot the dead," an Authority voice ordered. "Do not lose the targets."Gunfire cracked. Sharp, controlled. Zombies dropped, but not all of them stayed down. One got back up with half its face missing, still crawling.Noah's chest tightened. Even the dead were harder now.Riley reached the service door and dropped to her knees. Her hands moved fast at the lock, like she was born with keys in her fingers. Noah stood over her, blocking the view, ready to stab anyone who rounded the cars.The drone's whine grew louder. The light slid across Noah's shoulder, searching.Riley hissed. "Come on, come on…"A boot scraped close. Noah risked a glance.Three men in dark armor and helmets were moving down the aisle. One carried a small device like a tablet with an antenna. Another had a shield. They were not rushing. They were hunting.Noah's vision tunneled. His mind gave him two paths.Run now and leave Riley to die at the door.Or stay one more second and risk the scan.Riley's lock clicked. The door cracked open.Noah grabbed her collar and yanked her through. They slammed it behind them.For a heartbeat, the world went silent. The corridor smelled like mold and old paint. Pipes ran along the ceiling. Emergency lights blinked weak red.Riley pressed her back to the door, shaking. Noah listened. Boots stopped on the other side. A hand tested the handle.Then a different sound. A beep. A soft rising tone."They're scanning the door," Riley whispered.Noah's fingers tightened around the small crystal. His throat flexed again. His body begged him to use it. He could feel the craving like hunger and pain mixed together.He forced himself to breathe slow. "We keep moving."They ran down the service corridor. It bent left, then right, then opened into a stairwell. The metal steps rang under their feet. Noah tried to step soft, but speed mattered more.Above them, the scan tone cut off. Then the Authority voice came again, closer now through the walls. "Targets entered maintenance corridor. Lock down exits."Noah froze for half a second. Lock down. That meant they controlled the doors. Cameras. Barriers. Maybe even the street.Riley grabbed his arm and pulled him down the stairs. "Subway," she said. "This building connects to the old line.""How do you know?" Noah asked, breath tight."I lived here," she snapped. "Before everything went to hell."They hit the bottom and pushed through another door. It opened into a wider tunnel, and Noah smelled damp concrete and rust. Train tracks stretched into darkness. The station lights were dead, but faint glow sticks marked a path, like someone had used this place before.Someone else's route. Someone else's territory.Noah hated that, but he had no choice.A shape moved on the far platform. A human silhouette, crouched behind a pillar. A flashlight blinked once, quick.Riley grabbed Noah's sleeve. "Not Authority," she breathed. "Too small."The figure stepped out. It was one of the raiders from the store. His face was cut and swollen. His gun was gone. His hands were up."Don't shoot," he said fast. "Please. They're right behind us."Noah's knife rose anyway. He did not trust words. Words got people killed.The raider pointed back up the tunnel. "They took my friends. They asked about you. They asked your name."Noah's blood went cold. "What did you tell them?""Nothing," the raider said, voice cracking. "They already knew. They called you… Cross. They said bring Cross in alive."Riley stared at Noah, sharp and hungry all at once. "Cross?"Noah felt the old memory flash again. White walls. Gloves. A badge. Someone saying his last name like it was property.The tunnel seemed to tilt. His nose bled again, slow this time. He wiped it with the back of his hand and left a dark streak.The Authority had his real name.That meant running was not enough anymore. Hiding was not enough.They were hunting the person he used to be.A metal slam echoed behind them, loud and final. A gate dropping somewhere up the line. Lock down.Then the drone's whine returned, faint but growing, like a wasp finding a crack.Riley's hand slid toward Noah's fist. Toward the crystal.Noah snapped his hand back. "Not yet."Riley's eyes turned hard. "Then we die."Noah looked down the dark tracks and made the choice he hated. "We go deeper," he said. "Where the cameras don't work."A low growl rolled out of the darkness ahead, not human and not a simple moan. Something heavier moved on the rails, fast enough to scrape metal.Riley's voice dropped to a whisper. "Tell me that's not one of them."Noah tightened his grip on the crystal until it cut into his palm. "It is," he said. "And it's between us and the only way out."