15

When the world ended, something within us died too.

Khalani’s eyes flickered across the tattered buildings, her heart pounding as they stood exposed beneath the Gateway Arch sign.

The clear moon cast a cold, silvery glow over them, cutting through the inky darkness.

The vast emptiness of the city pressed around her, and Khalani’s pulse was a relentless drumbeat ever since her conversation with Takeshi.

He stood off to the side, arms crossed as he methodically scanned the ruined city. His expression was withdrawn and closed off, reverting back to his distant, brooding self. But Takeshi’s words kept spinning like a cycle in her mind.

What would it be like to be his?

They’d be constantly at each other’s throats.

Irritating each other to no end.

And yet, the idea didn’t entirely repulse her. It lingered like a dangerous spark.

“Where is this guy?” Serene muttered beside her.

A sharp crack suddenly resounded from several feet behind them.

They immediately turned, raising their weapons.

A large figure carrying a lantern appeared. Khalani and Serene recoiled, feet shuffling back from the two-legged figure with no face, only a green, plastic shield covering its head and large body.

“Relax. It’s Spade.” Brock stepped forward, though Khalani noticed his fingers tightening around the blade.

The strange figure stopped and lifted the lantern, carefully scanning each of their shocked faces before settling on Brock.

“Where are your radiation suits?” A deep, synthesized voice echoed from the man.

“We don’t need them anymore,” Brock answered.

“What the hell are you talking about?” The figure took a shaky step back.

“That’s why I got arrested, Spade,” Brock explained, lifting his free hand to calm him. “I was attacked by a tribe on the surface without suits during my last run. There’s no radiation on the surface anymore.”

Spade remained silent for a long time.

He then approached slowly, circling each of them with the lamp held up to their faces. “Any nausea, fever, disorientation, diarrhea, or hair loss?”

“No, Spade.” Brock sighed, exasperated. “But we’re going to start losing our hair the longer we stand here.”

But Spade shook his head, continuously muttering, “It can’t be true.”

“There’s a lot the government’s been keeping from us.” Brock’s voice turned cold. “We have much to discuss.”

“Clearly.” Spade looked between each of them. “Before I take you to Hermes, you must know that discretion is key to our group’s survival. The soldiers and the Hermes government wouldn’t hesitate to line us up in front of a firing squad if they catch wind of rebellion.” The synthesized voice deepened, a deadly edge creeping in.

“Trust isn’t given freely in Hermes. It’s earned,” Spade continued. “We have eyes everywhere—people you’ll never meet, see, or hear. Cross us, even once, and you’ll have a bullet in your skull faster than you can say blackjack. Do I make myself clear?”

He waited for each of them to verbally respond “Yes” before nodding.

“Then let’s go.”

***

Spade led them down a narrow alley, where he pried open a rusted grate in the ground. The pitch-black hole made Khalani’s hair stand on end. She almost turned around when Spade declared they needed to jump inside.

Adan bravely went first, disappearing into the darkness, followed by a distant thump that made Serene holler, “You okay?”

“Yeah!” he yelled back. “It’s not a far drop. Smells like shit, though.”

Brock and Spade helped lower the others. Spade gestured for Takeshi to go next, but he shook his head. “Her first.”

Spade turned to Khalani. She adjusted the pack on her back and stepped forward, eyeing the hole as panic swelled in her chest.

“It’s alright,” Spade said. “The first jump is the hardest.”

Khalani took a deep breath and nodded.

She’d fought off men twice her size, escaped an inescapable prison, and stared death in the face more times than she could count.

Dropping through a ten-foot hole should be easy.

She sat and her legs dangled over the opening as Brock and Spade grabbed her arms, lowering her down.

“You ready?” Spade yelled as she hung over the void.

No.

“Yes!”

As soon as the word left her mouth, both men dropped her.

She yelped, her heart plummeting to her stomach when she fell, landing with a hard thud. Unknown hands caught her in the pitch-black, steadying her.

“I got you,” Serene’s voice echoed through the dark, rubbing the top of Khalani’s arm.

A moment later, another body dropped, brushing past her quickly, as if they didn’t require any assistance. The familiar, commanding presence sent tingles racing down her spine.

Spade and Brock dropped in shortly after, and the dim light from Spade’s lantern revealed their grim surroundings.

A shallow stream of water ran at their feet and her nose crinkled at the stench. The smell was all too familiar, a cruel reminder of the months she’d spent in prison.

“This way,” Spade commanded, immediately marching forward with Brock trailing behind him. Winnie and Serene flanked her on either side, with Adan close by.

Takeshi took up the rear as usual.

She wasn’t sure if he preferred having a full view of everyone or if he just wanted to be as far from her as possible. Maybe it was a combination of both.

Winnie linked her arm through Khalani’s and wrinkled her nose. “The first thing Winnie would do to this place is add some color to the walls. Things tend to smell better when they feel beautiful.”

A small grin tugged at Khalani’s mouth. Spade glanced over his shoulder, clearly not used to Winnie’s rambling like the rest of them were.

They walked for what felt like hours through the long tunnels, climbing down rickety ladders that groaned unnervingly under their weight. Her body was exhausted, but her mind raced like a transport, the edginess refusing to dissipate.

Khalani’s eyes widened when they approached a white door with a metal latch. Spade heaved it open, and as they stepped through the tunnel, she was startled to find a large glass tube hanging to her right, with a showerhead inside.

“What’s this for?” she asked.

The sound of plastic stretching reverberated along the sewer walls, and she turned to see Spade taking off his radiation suit, revealing a handsome, middle-aged man with short, light blond hair and gray eyes that held a quiet intelligence.

Beneath the plastic covering, he wore a well-fitted black tuxedo and a clean white shirt that looked entirely out of place in the sewers.

He tossed the radiation suit into the glass tube and turned the showerhead on.

“Just in case,” he murmured, almost to himself.

“Why are you dressed so nice?” Serene asked warily as he straightened.

Spade sputtered, glancing down at his tuxedo. “Do they not dress like this in Apollo?”

“No.”

“Hmm. That’s odd,” he muttered, picking up the lamp.

“Aren’t you worried about getting your clothes dirty down here?”

“I have plenty.”

“And you’re sure no one will see us coming in?”

“Positive. The soldiers avoid the sewers, and our boys have a distraction planned to draw any spare Dealers away from the grate.”

“What kind of distraction?” she warily asked.

Spade paused, a faint glimmer of mischief twinkling in his gaze. “Something bloodier than chips.”

Khalani and Serene exchanged worried glances, while Brock simply grinned.

As they continued the long journey down the tunnels, Khalani gradually got used to the horrible smell of the sewers. An achievement she wasn’t jumping for joy over.

Just when she was about to ask how much further they had to go, a faint light appeared ahead. A large circular opening with interlocking bars loomed at the end of the tunnel.

Something was on the other side.

“We’re here,” Spade declared.

Winnie’s grip tightened around Khalani’s arm.

They quickened their pace, boots splashing against the dirty water. But that wasn’t the only sound. As they neared the barred opening, a deep bass of music reverberated through the air, growing louder with each step, thumping against Khalani’s chest.

Unfazed, Spade crept up to the bars, looking both ways with a sharp eye. He handed the lantern to Brock and pulled a set of keys from his back pocket.

Spade quickly unlocked the chain around the bars and carefully pulled the gate inward, revealing a hidden underground city.

“Welcome to Hermes.”