Run.
The word echoed in the silence like a countdown. One breath. Two.
Then Ryoji moved.
"Pack up. We're leaving—now."
Miura was already grabbing her gear, the map still flickering faintly on her wristpad. Aiko stared at the radio, frozen for a heartbeat longer.
"Move!" Ryoji barked, grabbing her hand and pulling her from the safehouse into the tunnels beyond.
They plunged into darkness.
The concrete corridor narrowed, old metal support beams groaning overhead like the bones of a dead city. Pipes hissed from old pressure lines. Every step echoed louder than it should have.
Behind them—the safehouse hatch hissed shut.
Then something slammed into it.
Once.
Twice.
BOOM.
The door dented inward.
"They're here!" Miura shouted, snapping her rifle up.
"Not for a fight," Ryoji muttered. "They're programmed for one thing."
"Erasure," Aiko whispered, remembering the voice.
They ran.
Turned down a sharp stairwell. Jumped over a rusted rail. Splash—knee-deep water filled the next passage. They didn't stop.
A metal shriek tore through the air behind them.
Then—
CRASH.
The safehouse door exploded inward.
Heavy footsteps thundered after them—inhumanly fast, too precise, too focused. Revenants. At least two.
"Shortcut!" Miura yelled, yanking open a maintenance grate to the left. "Old cable access tunnel. Narrow, but off the grid."
"In!" Ryoji pushed Aiko through first, then Miura. He followed, sealing the hatch behind them just as a silver blade scraped down the hallway wall.
The tunnel inside was tight, barely enough for one person. Rusted ladders and forgotten junction boxes lined the path.
Aiko gasped. "What do we do if they catch up?"
"They won't," Ryoji said. "This route leads to a descent shaft."
Miura frowned. "A descent shaft? That's black-zone level. We lose comms down there."
"Exactly," he said. "If we go off-grid, we become ghosts."
Aiko paused. "You've done this before."
Ryoji's eyes narrowed. "Once."
They climbed.
Ladders. Ledges. Broken bridges suspended above darkness.
Then, finally—they emerged into a massive underground chamber.
A freight elevator stood in the center, rusted but functional, cables stretching down into black infinity.
Miura scanned the area. "Looks abandoned."
"Which is why it's perfect," Ryoji said. "No signal. No sensors. They'll have to find us the old way."
From above—
A creak.
A whir.
Then—
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Footsteps in the tunnel above. No voices. No commands.
Just the Revenants. Closing in.
Ryoji slammed the elevator controls.
The gears screamed as it began to lower.
Too slow.
Miura raised her rifle. "I'll cover us."
"No," Ryoji said. "You stay with Aiko. I'll buy us time."
"You won't make it back."
He didn't answer.
Aiko grabbed his arm. "Please…"
Ryoji looked at her—soft for just a breath. Then pulled a smoke canister from his belt and handed it to Miura.
"When the doors open—run."
He turned and climbed back up the access tunnel.
The elevator groaned lower… into blackness.
And above, Ryoji reached the mouth of the shaft—just in time to meet the first Revenant face to face.
It stepped into view.
Pale mask. Red eyes. No hesitation.
Ryoji smiled—blood in his teeth, fire in his veins.
"Let's dance."
To be continued in Chapter 28…