The countdown didn't stop when I ran.
It followed me.
00:41
I crashed through the side door and into a narrow corridor. Alarms screamed instantly. Red lights flooded the walls. This place was built for containment, not escape.
Footsteps thundered behind me.
Not chasing. Advancing.
I ducked into a maintenance room and slammed the door just as bullets punched through the metal. I grabbed the first thing I saw—a steel pipe—and yanked open the vent above the sink.
00:29
I crawled fast, ignoring the heat slicing my palms. The vent shook as something heavy moved beneath me. They weren't guessing anymore. They knew exactly where I was.
The vent dropped me into a server hall.
Rows of machines hummed like a living thing. Cold air burned my lungs. I sprinted between the racks as shots sparked against metal, cables snapping and whipping like snakes.
00:18
A voice echoed through the speakers.
"You can't outrun a system that already owns you."
I skidded to a halt when the floor panels shifted.
Too late.
The ground collapsed, and I fell.
Hard.
My vision blurred as I hit concrete. Pain exploded up my spine. I rolled aside just as a blade slammed down where my head had been.
Not guns this time.
Close combat.
A man stepped out of the shadows, moving clean and efficient. No wasted motion. He didn't speak. He didn't need to.
I swung the pipe. He blocked it, twisted my arm, and snapped the metal in half like it was plastic. I kneed him in the ribs and ran again.
00:07
An exit sign flickered ahead.
Hope is dangerous.
I burst through the door and onto an underground rail tunnel. A train roared past, wind nearly ripping me off my feet. I jumped down onto the tracks and sprinted along the wall.
00:03
My phone vibrated again.
UNKNOWN: Stop running. Look left.
I didn't want to.
I looked.
A control panel blinked beside the tunnel wall. Emergency override. Manual access.
00:01
I slammed my hand into it.
The lights died.
The tunnel went silent.
Then every screen in the city—phones, billboards, monitors—flickered to life at once.
And my face filled them all.
WANTED: PUBLIC ENEMY
Behind me, something clicked.
A gun.
And the countdown reset.
10:00