ZONEWALKERS :SECTION 1

The air crackled with pulse energy as Jax’s portal flickered into existence, unstable and rippling like liquid glass. Distorting the space around it. Without hesitation, the team sprinted toward it, the ground beneath them trembling with the sheer force of the pulse’s activation.

Behind them, Captain Ren’s forces advanced.

“They’re opening a portal! Hustle and shoot them now!” Ren barked, her voice carrying over the chaos.

A combination of Plasma and rifle bullets ignited the air with streaks of energy and sparks. The team ducked and weaved, moving with precision as projectiles slammed into walls and the ground barely missing their targets.

Jace’s hands moved in a precise sequence of motions, forming an X before interlocking his fingers, his shoulders steady despite the chaos. His breath slowed as the faint glow of residual Pulse energy flickered in his eyes.

“Jace, hurry up!” Thalia called, her voice sharp with urgency.

“It takes a second,” he muttered, pushing more energy into the portal’s structure.

The portal solidified just as of plasma shots whizzed past them. One narrowly missed Thalia’s arm, singing the edge of her jacket leaving a darkened streak. Before she could react, Sam grabbed her wrist and yanked her through. Rome and Priya entered next leaving Jax alone to close the portal.

On the opposite direction, Captain Ren was already in motion.

Mid-way through she abandoned the weight of her dual AK- rifles, letting them clatter to the floor. Instead, she pushed off the shoulders of her own soldiers with effortless agility, using them as stepping stones as she leaped over the crowd.

Her foot landed on a soldier’s helmet—then another, then another—before she launched herself into the air with a powerful kick.

She was flying toward the portal, her body twisting mid-air.

A glint of steel flashed as she reached for the custom pistol strapped to her ankle. In one fluid motion, she snatched it, twisted mid-flip, and fired directly at Jax.

CRACK!

The bullet shot forward.

Jax’s pulse flared—an unseen instinct triggering deep within. His eyes flickered, sensing the shot before it even left the chamber. His movements were fluid, almost preordained.

In a split second, he unsheathed his pulse sword, the weapon humming with raw energy. He swung—clean and precise—meeting the bullet mid-air.

The bullet split clean in half, the two pieces spiraling harmlessly past him as he took a step backward into the portal’s glow.

Ren’s momentum carried her forward—just a second too late.

The portal snapped shut in front of her with a concussive shockwave sending her reeling backward. She however twisted mid-air landing hard, her boots skidding against the ground.

“Damn it,” she hissed, slamming a fist against the ground as the last trace of the portal disappeared.

Jax and the others emerged on the other side of the portal. A heavy stench filled the air of burning metal, stagnant polluted water all at once. Thalia accidentally stepped into a sewage river.

“Curses! Couldn’t you portal us anywhere that isn’t…disease ridden?” She shook her boot trying to rid it of whatever filth she had just stepped into.

Towering structures of rusted steel and cracked concrete stretched across the horizon, stacked on top of one another in precarious layers. The streets were a maze of uneven pathways, patched with scrap metal and old circuitry. Tangles of makeshift wiring hung overhead like artificial vines, connecting flickering neon signs to the slum’s dwindling power grid. From their elevated vantage point, they had a clear view of the checkpoint gates below- a gateway separating the slums from the heart of the zone. Beneath them, people moved in slow, weary lines in a single file, waiting their turn to cross into the Zone.

Jax exhaled, his gaze scanning the environment. “We’re in the Periphery Slums. Arc 7.”

There are currently nine Arc Zones in total, each acting as a critical transit hub across Earth’s major sectors. Arc Zones 1 through 7 were tightly regulated by the Coalition, each overseen by a regional leader—like Minister Zhao of the Pan-Asian Alliance, who controlled Arc 3 in New Shanghai. Arc 8 which is the Horizon Rift and 9, however, remained outside Coalition control—unpredictable, lawless, and nearly impossible to navigate. Only People who could control the Pulse energy like Jax use these zones. The higher the number of an Arc Zone, the more dangerous it is to use.

Until recently, Arc 7 had also been free from Coalition’s interference but now things have changed. This is why Jax and the resistance are fighting against the Coalition. If the firewall is installed, many citizens living under impoverished conditions will not be able to use them anymore. Especially citizens in the Periphery slums where there are no facilities such as hospitals, schools. Most of those facilites are in the lower Arc Zones districts.

Thalia wiped the sweat from her brow, adjusting her jacket. “Well, that could’ve gone worse.”

Sam rolled his shoulders. “It could’ve gone better.”

Priya narrowed her eyes at the checkpoint below. “What’s going on down there?”

Below, lines of citizens stood in front of towering checkpoint gates, waiting for permission to enter the Arc Zone. Coalition Enforcers stood at the entrances, clad in black-plated armor, their helmets reflecting under the morning sun.

Above the gates, a digital display above the checkpoint flickered red, broadcasting travel restrictions for lower-class citizens.

"ZONE ACCESS FEES INCREASED—UNREGISTERED TRAVELERS WILL BE DETAINED."

A thin woman clutched her child’s hand, nervously glancing at the enforcer scanning her Zone Pass. Her pass was faded, showing her face as identification and as soon as the scanner beeped in rejection, the enforcer’s voice rang out, cold and mechanical.

Buzz!

Red light.

“Unauthorized pass. Insufficient credit balance. Travel denied.”

The woman stiffened. “That’s impossible, I saved for three months. I have enough credits—”

“The price went up.”

The woman’s breath hitched. “Please, I need to get to Arc 3. My son is sick. My sister has medicine. I’ll pay extra next time, I swear.”

The enforcer didn’t move. “Step aside.”

She didn’t move. “Please, just let me through—”

Click!

The enforcer took out his rifle and cocked it. He aimed the barrel at her chest. “Step aside, Maam!”

For a moment, there was silence.

A younger enforcer without a helmet, barely past twenty, took his helmet off and stepped in between them. “Sir, perhaps we could send her to Processing instead of—”

The lead enforcer’s gaze turned toward the onlookers, his stance shifting. Then, slowly he holstered his weapon growling in anger. The woman, trembling pulled her son close and stepped aside, tears welling up on her face. Others in the line avoided her gaze as she moved away escorted by the younger enforcer.

“Next!” the lead enforcer barked.

A businessman stepped forward in pristine Coalition uniform.

His gold-plated Zone Pass shimmered under the scanner’s glow.

Beep!

Green light.

“Welcome to the Arc 7, sir. Right this way.”

The man stepped onto the transit gate’s elevated platform and entered his coordinates.

An automated voice rang after, “Location: Arc 1 Zenith Prime….. Stand by.”

The transit gate pulsed, wrapping him in controlled Pulse energy before distorting his form—teleporting him instantly to another Arc Zone.

Normally, people don’t get transported directly from one Arc to the next. It usually displaces people to the city of that particular Arc Zone. However, members of Coalition with either Platinum, Gold and Silver passes can travel directly through Arc Zones seamlessly.

The woman and her child, however, had no such luxury.

She stared at the glowing gate, watching the shimmering energy ripple across its surface like liquid light. Then, she looked down at her son—his fevered eyes barely able to stay open.

The young enforcer whispered to her, voice low. “I’ll do what I can to help. It might take some time though…please bare with me.”

Thalia’s wrist buzzed.

She lifted her arm pressing a finger against the screen of her communicator—a custom-built device, unregistered, designed to bypass Coalition networks. Thalia built it herself, this is one of the reasons she is the team’s communicator.

A message flickered on-screen.

"Where are you? We're in District 5, Arc 7. We ran into the kids."

Thalia’s eyes widened.

She turned to the others. “It’s Reyna and Zephyr. They made it to District 5 with the kids.”

The group looked at Jax.

He exhaled. “Don’t look at me. I don’t even know what district we’re in.”