Chapter 6 · Collateral in Blood

The train doors opened onto a city that had forgotten how to breathe.

Cold vapor poured through the carriage, crawling along the floor in silver ribbons. Beyond the threshold, the quarantine zone stretched beneath a broken canopy of neon signs and rusted transit bridges. Red warning lights pulsed through the fog, painting every puddle the color of fresh blood.

Leia stood at the open door with one hand pressed against her temple.

The memory was still there. Not whole. Never whole anymore. Nolan's face floated behind her eyes in fragments: a thin boy with a split lip, fingers clawing at the sleeve of her jacket. His voice, cracked by fear.

*Don't sign it, Lei. Please.*

Then her own hand, trembling over a glass contract.

Then the cold white letters of the transfer agreement.

Then nothing.

Her stomach twisted. She gripped the edge of the door until the metal bit into her palm.

Kane moved beside her, silent as a shadow. The train's emergency lights flashed over his face, catching the blood at his collar and the black scorch marks along his coat. His pistol was gone—one of the drones had melted it into the floor.