The river spat them out like broken dolls, coughing and shivering onto a deserted stretch of shoreline where the city's heart was little more than crumbling concrete and rusting rebar.
Evan collapsed onto the rocky ground, every muscle trembling with exhaustion. The briefcase was still clutched to his chest, his fingers frozen into claws around the handle.
Maya dropped beside him, her face pale and drawn, the cut on her forehead still weeping blood in thin, dark lines.
Neither of them spoke.
There was nothing to say.
The city loomed ahead, a jagged silhouette against the bruised sky, lights flickering like dying stars. Somewhere within that maze of glass and stone, their enemies prowled, armed with money, power, and the ruthless certainty of their own importance.
And Evan and Maya had nothing but a battered briefcase and each other.
Maya was the first to move. She pushed herself upright with a groan, wiping blood and river muck from her eyes.
"We can't stay here," she said, voice rough with cold and pain. "They'll have drones sweeping the riverbanks within the hour."
Evan nodded numbly, dragging himself to his feet. Every movement sent fresh waves of agony lancing through his body, but he didn't complain. He just followed.
Maya led them up a crumbling embankment, through the skeletal remains of an abandoned construction site. Concrete pillars jutted from the ground like the bones of some long-dead beast, graffiti scrawled across their surfaces in angry, desperate hands.
The wind howled through the ruins, carrying with it the stench of decay and forgotten dreams.
Evan stumbled, catching himself against a rusted metal beam. Maya was instantly at his side, slipping her shoulder under his arm without a word.
Together, they limped into the heart of the dead zone.
It took them the better part of an hour to find shelter — a half-collapsed office building, its windows shattered, its guts exposed to the elements.
They crawled inside through a broken doorway, the ground crunching beneath their feet.
Inside, the darkness was thick and oppressive, broken only by the pale moonlight filtering through the wreckage.
They found an intact corner of what had once been a conference room — a few battered chairs, a water-stained table, and the skeletal remains of office equipment strewn across the floor.
Maya dropped into a chair with a grunt of pain, pulling a switchblade from her boot. She set to work on the lock securing the briefcase.
Evan sat opposite her, shivering uncontrollably, watching as the blade danced in her hands.
Finally, with a soft click, the lock popped open.
Maya lifted the lid — and froze.
Evan leaned forward, heart hammering.
Inside, nestled among layers of protective foam, were a series of hard drives and a thick manila folder.
Maya pulled out the folder first, flipping it open.
Evan caught glimpses of photographs — blurred images of men and women in suits, men shaking hands, slips of documents with government seals stamped across them.
One photo showed a man he recognized — Senator Whitcomb, smiling like a shark, arm around a grim-faced general.
Maya's hands trembled slightly as she sifted through the papers.
"This is bigger than I thought," she whispered. "This isn't just corporate espionage. It's black sites. Assassinations. Political coups."
Evan swallowed hard, the magnitude of it slamming into him like a physical blow.
"If we leak this..." he began.
Maya met his eyes, her own burning with a fierce, almost reckless light.
"If we leak this," she said, "we're not just targets. We're dead men walking. No safe houses. No deals. They'll burn the world to ashes just to erase our names."
Evan leaned back, scrubbing his hands over his face.
He hadn't signed up for this. He'd thought he was saving a few names, maybe some money trails.
But this?
This was treason.
This was war.
A sudden, sharp crack echoed through the ruins.
Gunfire.
Maya snapped the briefcase shut, her body taut as a bowstring.
"They found us," she hissed.
Evan lurched to his feet, adrenaline surging through his battered body.
There was no time for fear. No time for second thoughts.
Only survival.
Maya grabbed the case and bolted for the far side of the room. Evan followed, ducking low as more gunfire shattered what remained of the windows.
Outside, shadows moved — dark shapes flitting between the ruins with lethal purpose.
"Move!" Maya shouted, leading him into the belly of the building.
They raced through the wreckage, the world narrowing to the slap of their feet on broken tile, the roar of blood in their ears.
Behind them, the hunters closed in.
Maya skidded to a halt at the edge of a gaping chasm where the floor had collapsed into the basement below.
"Jump!" she ordered.
Evan didn't think. He launched himself across the void, landing hard on the other side. Pain flared through his ankle, but he pushed it aside.
Maya followed, landing with a grunt.
They ran again, weaving through the wreckage, climbing over twisted metal and shattered glass.
The building was a maze of death, every turn a new risk, every step a potential trap.
Evan's lungs burned. His vision blurred.
But he didn't stop.
Couldn't stop.
Not now.
Not ever.
Finally, they burst out into the open — a wide plaza choked with debris and overgrown weeds.
Ahead, a skeletal parking garage loomed, its concrete decks sagging dangerously.
Maya didn't hesitate. She sprinted for it, weaving between rusted-out cars and heaps of rubble.
Evan followed, the briefcase banging against his side with every step.
They reached the shelter of the garage just as a black SUV screeched into the plaza, its windows tinted to hide the killers within.
More figures spilled out, rifles raised.
Maya yanked Evan behind a battered pillar, breathing hard.
"They're swarming us," Evan panted.
Maya nodded grimly. "We need an exit."
He scanned the garage, mind racing.
"Top floor," he said. "We can jump to the next building. It's close enough."
Maya's eyes narrowed. She didn't argue.
"Go," she said.
They climbed, the cracked concrete groaning beneath their feet.
Gunfire barked below, bullets sparking off metal and stone.
They didn't look back.
Couldn't.
At the top, they found themselves staring across a narrow alley to another rooftop — a precarious leap, but doable if you didn't think too hard about the thirty-foot drop below.
Maya wiped sweat and blood from her face.
"You first," she said.
Evan didn't argue.
He ran.
At the edge, he leapt, the night air screaming past him.
For a terrifying moment, he was weightless, suspended between life and death.
Then he hit the rooftop, rolling hard, the briefcase nearly torn from his grip.
He scrambled up, turning just in time to see Maya flying after him, graceful as a knife in flight.
She landed beside him, staggering slightly.
Behind them, the agents reached the edge of the parking garage — but they didn't jump.
Too risky.
Too smart.
Maya grabbed Evan's hand again, pulling him into the shadows.
They vanished into the night, ghosts slipping through the cracks of a dying city.
---
They didn't stop running until they reached an old subway entrance, half-collapsed and buried under graffiti and trash.
Maya pried open the rusted gates with a crowbar she'd scavenged somewhere along the way, and they slipped into the fetid dark.
Inside, the air was damp and heavy, thick with mold and the memories of a thousand lost souls.
They found an abandoned maintenance room deep beneath the earth — a forgotten place where the world above felt like a distant, fevered dream.
Evan collapsed against the wall, the briefcase resting between his knees.
Maya slid down beside him, her face pale and hollow.
For a long time, they sat there in silence, the only sound their ragged breathing and the distant rumble of trains far above.
Finally, Maya spoke.
"We're not ready," she said, voice flat. "We can't leak this yet. We have no allies. No backup. No plan."
Evan nodded slowly, the weight of reality pressing down on him.
"We'll make one," he said. "We'll find people. Build something. Fight back."
Maya looked at him, and for the first time since the nightmare began, a flicker of something almost like hope crossed her face.
"You're serious," she said.
Evan nodded.
"I'm tired of running," he said. "It's time to start fighting."
Maya smiled — a fierce, broken thing full of teeth and fire.
"Then let's tear them apart," she said.
The briefcase sat between them, heavy with secrets.
The city slept above them, oblivious.
But soon, it would wake.
And when it did, nothing would ever be the same again.
--