I lay on the sagging motel bed, the cheap mattress creaking under my weight with every small shift of my body. The room smelled of stale smoke, mildew, old sweat, and the faint metallic tang of last night's sex that still lingered on the sheets. The single flickering bulb on the ceiling cast harsh, uneven shadows across the peeling yellow wallpaper and the cracked mirror above the rusty sink. Outside, the neon chaos of Skyfall City's outer layers bled through the thin curtains — red, pink, and violet lights pulsing like a dying heartbeat against the night sky.
Sophie sat quietly in the corner on a rickety wooden chair, legs crossed, watching me with that calm, devoted expression she always wore. She was still wearing the tight black crop top and short pleated skirt, the fabric hugging her perfect curves. Lecy had gone out earlier to retrieve whatever pathetic belongings she still had from her old life on the streets — a few dirty clothes, maybe some small trinkets or a worn backpack. I hoped she'd bring her own clothes. The last thing I wanted was to feel like a fucking pedo, even if she was technically 18 now. But in this world, you couldn't get everything you wanted.
I scrolled through the housing listings in Skyfall City with my ocular implants, the blue overlay glowing faintly in my vision. Living in this motel was bleeding us dry. Every night cost more than it should, and we couldn't afford to stay hidden forever in a place where people asked questions or remembered faces. I needed something more permanent. Something cheaper. Something we could defend if the hunters came.
After scrolling through dozens of absolute shitholes — stacked shipping containers with leaking roofs, rotting hab-blocks shared with ten other desperate souls, rooms where the walls were so thin you could hear every moan and scream from next door — I finally found one that looked tolerable. A small, rundown two-room apartment in a slightly better middle-class district on the edge of the outer layers. It had a reinforced door, a window with a decent view of the street for spotting trouble, and actual running water most days. The rent was cheap enough that we could survive for a few months if I kept picking up odd jobs. I signed the lease over the website using a fake ID and wired the first month's payment with the last of our clean credits. It wasn't much, but it was better than this place.
I exhaled and closed the listing.
That's when I saw them.
Through the thin curtains, I caught movement in the street below — black tactical vans pulling up silently, matte-black exo-suits with glowing red visors, heavy rifles humming with charged plasma coils. Corporate hunters. They had tracked us down.
They didn't waste time. They started knocking down doors on the ground floor with breaching charges, shouting orders through distorted helmet speakers. Plasma bolts flashed as they shot anyone who resisted or looked even slightly suspicious. Screams echoed up from the lower levels. A woman tried to run and was cut down in the hallway. A man begged for his life and was executed on the spot. They didn't care who they hit. They were here for Sophie, and they would burn through everyone else to get her.
"Sophie!" I snapped, grabbing the small bag with our few possessions. "Hunters. We're leaving. Now."
She moved instantly, calm and efficient despite the chaos. We ran to the window. I kicked it open, glass shattering outward, and we climbed out onto the rusty fire escape. The cold night air hit us hard as we descended the metal stairs, boots clanging loudly. Below us, hunters were already clearing the building floor by floor, plasma fire lighting up the hallways.
We dropped the last few meters and hit the ground running, pushing through the dense crowds of Skyfall City's outer layers. People shouted and scattered as plasma bolts cracked behind us. We kept running until we lost ourselves in the mass of bodies, vendors, and gang members, blending into the neon chaos.
We walked the rest of the way to the new apartment, sticking to back alleys and side streets to avoid patrols. The building was a step up from the undergrid — cracked concrete but with actual working elevators and a semi-functional security gate that still buzzed weakly. The apartment itself was small and bare: two rooms, a tiny kitchenette with a flickering light, one window overlooking a narrow street filled with street vendors and flickering neon. It smelled of old paint, damp, and the faint chemical tang of the city outside. But it had a lockable door and a corner where we could hide if needed.
I dropped our bag on the floor and exhaled heavily, leaning against the wall.
"This will do for now," I muttered, rubbing my face. "At least until they track us here too."
Sophie nodded and began cleaning what she could — wiping down surfaces, straightening the few pieces of furniture left behind by the previous tenant.
"Find Lecy," I told her. "Bring her here. She knows where we are."
Sophie left without question, slipping out into the night.
I sat on the edge of the new makeshift bed — just a thin mattress on a rusty frame — and opened a porn website on my implants, needing something to take the edge off the adrenaline and fear. I scrolled through a few good videos — rough, intense scenes with women who looked willing and eager. The visuals helped dull the paranoia for a moment. Then I saw a thumbnail for a Call of Duty loadout video — new weapons, maps, and tactics. I bookmarked it, planning to watch it later after beating one out to clear my head.
The apartment was quiet.
For now.
I leaned back against the wall, staring at the cracked ceiling, wondering how long this new cage would last before the hunters found us again.
The weight of everything pressed down on me. Skylar was talking. The Harrington family was hunting us. We had barely escaped with our lives. And now we were in another shitty apartment in another shitty city, trying to stay one step ahead of the machine that wanted us dead.
I closed my eyes for a moment, listening to the distant hum of Skyfall City outside the window — the honking of flying cars, the shouts of street vendors, the low bass of music from a nearby club. It all felt temporary. Fragile. Like the walls could come crashing down at any second.
I opened my eyes again and stared at the empty corner where Skylar used to stand.
She was gone now. Left to die in the wasteland. Part of me hoped she died instead of telling the truth to world. Part of me hoped she died.
I shook the thought away and went back to scrolling through the porn site, trying to lose myself in something mindless before Sophie returned with Lecy.
The neon lights outside flickered across the room, painting everything in shifting shades of red and blue.
Another night in hell.
Another day of running.