CHAPTER 41
“The Collapse Protocol”
The tower screams as it dies.
Metal wrenches itself apart, girders twisting like ribs under pressure. The floor tilts thirty degrees in less than a breath. Coolant gushes up from ruptured pipes, hissing against molten steel. Somewhere below, the grid’s heart explodes in pulses, beating faster, brighter, louder—too alive to die clean.
I don’t remember choosing to run, but my legs are already moving.
“Go!” Dominic shouts. His voice is thunder inside the confined space. He hauls me toward the side corridor, his grip steel around my arm. Aries is behind us, half-carrying Kellen, half-shoving Vincent forward. The officer covers the rear, her rifle coughing light into the darkness.
Every step feels like walking across a dying animal. The tower’s bones gro
