No Way Out

The tunnels felt endless. Each step the group took echoed off the cold, wet walls, reverberating in the claustrophobic darkness. The distant sound of rushing water, faint but persistent, accompanied their footsteps, a reminder of the labyrinth of sewage and storm drains that twisted beneath the city. Alexei could barely hear his own thoughts over the pounding of his heartbeat in his ears.

“How much farther?” Luca whispered, his voice small in the gloom.

Mira glanced down at her tablet, the dim light from the screen casting shadows across her face. “Another few hundred meters, if the map’s right. We’ll hit a junction soon—an old maintenance hub. We can rest there, regroup.”

“We don’t have time to rest,” Dmitri growled, his voice hoarse from exertion. His face was pale, blood staining the side of his shirt where he’d taken a hit during their retreat. The gash on his forehead had stopped bleeding, but he still looked dangerously close to collapse.

“We need to stop, Dmitri,” Alexei said quietly, helping him as they moved forward. “You’re bleeding out.”

Dmitri gave a weak grunt. “Better than dead.”

Mira shot him a look. “If we don’t stop, you will be dead. I don’t care how tough you think you are.”

“Hold it together, both of you,” Alexei cut in, his voice sharp but not without concern. “We’ll stop at the junction. But no longer than we have to. The regime’s hunting us, and we’re sitting ducks down here.”

Dmitri reluctantly nodded, though the strain in his posture told Alexei he was barely holding on. He’d pushed himself beyond his limit for the team’s sake, and while Dmitri was a soldier through and through, even the strongest had their breaking point.

“Dmitri,” Luca began, his tone hesitant, “when they hit you back there… what happened to the others? How close are they?”

Dmitri looked at him, his eyes hard and unyielding despite the pain. “They’re coming. Maybe five, maybe ten. They had dogs. Once they figure out we’ve gone underground, they’ll follow. We can’t outrun them for long.”

A cold chill ran down Luca’s spine. Dogs. He’d heard stories of how the regime used genetically enhanced canines for tracking rebels, their sense of smell honed to perfection, their teeth and claws surgically modified for combat. They weren’t just animals—they were weapons.

“How much time do we have?” Mira asked, already calculating their next move.

Dmitri gave her a tired look. “Not enough.”

“We’ll make it,” Alexei said firmly. He couldn’t afford to show doubt, not now, when everything hinged on their ability to stay ahead. “We just need to get to the junction. Once we’re there, we’ll block off the tunnel behind us. It’ll slow them down.”

“Assuming they don’t have another way in,” Anya added, her voice laced with an edge of skepticism. She hadn’t said much since they’d entered the tunnels, but her eyes were constantly moving, scanning for threats, calculating escape routes. “These tunnels aren’t just for sewage. They’re a maze. If they know their way around, we could be walking right into a trap.”

“Then we don’t stop moving,” Alexei said, his tone resolute. “Stay sharp.”

As they pressed on, Alexei couldn’t shake the growing sense of dread. The mission had gone south faster than he’d anticipated. What they’d found—Project Iron Hand—was worse than even their darkest fears. The regime had developed a weapon that could obliterate cities from orbit, a godlike power that would make resistance impossible.

He clenched his fists, feeling the tension in his body. Every step they took deeper into the darkness felt like a countdown. The weight of responsibility settled heavy on his shoulders, the pressure of knowing that the intel they carried was the only thing that could stop the regime from deploying that weapon.

They had to survive. There was no other option.

Ahead, the tunnel opened into a wider space—a junction, just as Mira had said. The walls were lined with rusted pipes, some still leaking water from years of disrepair. A single rusted catwalk ran overhead, and an old metal ladder was bolted to the far wall, leading up to a grate that might have once opened into the street above.

“This is it,” Mira said, wiping sweat from her brow. She glanced at Alexei. “We can rest for a few minutes, but then we need to move.”

Alexei nodded, helping Dmitri sit against the wall. Mira immediately knelt beside him, opening her medical kit.

“You should’ve let me take a look at this earlier,” she muttered, cutting away the bloodied fabric from his side. “It’s not as bad as it looks, but you’ve lost a lot of blood.”

Dmitri grimaced but didn’t protest. “Just patch me up.”

Anya, standing near the entrance, kept watch while Luca paced, trying to shake the tension that coiled in his gut. He felt useless. Helpless. His whole life, he’d fought for a future that didn’t feel like it was slipping away with every passing second.

“Do you think they’ll find us down here?” Luca asked, his voice quiet, almost like he was afraid of the answer.

Anya turned her gaze toward him, her expression unreadable. “They’re already looking.”

Luca swallowed hard. “Then what’s the plan? We can’t just keep running forever.”

“We’re not running forever,” Alexei said, his voice calm but steely. “We’re buying time.”

“For what?” Luca pressed, frustration slipping into his tone. “We’ve got the intel—what are we waiting for?”

“For the right moment,” Anya answered, her eyes cold and calculating. “You think we can just waltz out of here and upload the data? The regime controls every network, every satellite, every line of communication. We need to find a secure point of contact—someone who can get this data out without tipping them off.”

“That someone better be waiting with open arms,” Dmitri muttered through clenched teeth as Mira finished bandaging his wound. “Because we’re sitting on a damn time bomb.”

Alexei met Luca’s eyes, his tone softening. “I know this isn’t what you signed up for, Luca. But we’re in it now. And we’ll get through it. We’ve come too far to let this end here.”

Luca didn’t respond immediately, but he nodded, his jaw tight. He wasn’t a soldier like Dmitri, nor was he a strategist like Alexei. He was just a kid who believed in a better world—a world that felt more and more distant with every passing hour.

“I just… I want to help,” Luca finally said, his voice quiet. “I don’t want to be dead weight.”

“You’re not,” Alexei assured him. “You’ve got a role to play. We all do.”

Before Luca could respond, Mira’s device let out a soft chime. She frowned, glancing down at it. “Something’s wrong. I’m picking up interference.”

“What kind of interference?” Alexei asked, moving closer to her.

Mira’s fingers flew across the screen. “It’s faint, but it’s there. Could be radio signals. The regime uses short-range frequencies to communicate between squads.”

Anya’s eyes narrowed. “Which means they’re close.”

Alexei’s heart skipped a beat. “How close?”

Mira’s expression tightened. “Too close. They’re scanning the tunnels. They must have tracking devices—probably those damn dogs.”

“Damn it,” Alexei cursed under his breath. “They’re onto us.”

Dmitri struggled to his feet, leaning heavily against the wall for support. “Then we need to move. Now.”

“There’s no point running if they’ve already got a lock on us,” Anya said, her voice flat. “They’ll just keep chasing us until we’re cornered.”

Alexei paced for a moment, thinking quickly. Anya was right. Running blindly wouldn’t help. They needed a plan—something to throw the regime off their trail, even if only for a short time.

He looked around the junction, his mind racing. The metal catwalk, the pipes, the old maintenance access ladder—there had to be something here they could use to their advantage.

“Mira,” Alexei said suddenly, “can you hack into the old systems down here?”

Mira raised an eyebrow. “Maybe, if the systems are still active. Why?”

“If you can trigger a power surge, you might be able to short-circuit the sensors they’re using to track us,” Alexei explained. “It won’t stop them from searching, but it’ll buy us time—enough to make it to the surface.”

Mira considered for a moment, then nodded. “I can try. Give me a few minutes.”

“We don’t have a few minutes,” Dmitri said, wincing as he straightened up.

“She’ll make it work,” Alexei said, his voice firm. “She always does.”

Mira quickly made her way to an old electrical box near the wall, prying it open with a screwdriver from her pack. Sparks flew as she worked, but her hands moved with confidence and precision.

Anya remained by the tunnel entrance, her hand on her knife, ready to strike if the regime soldiers caught up. Luca stood beside her, tense and silent, while Alexei kept his eyes on Mira’s progress.

The silence in the tunnel was suffocating, broken only by the occasional drip of water and the soft clicks of Mira’s tools.

“Hurry,” Dmitri muttered, his gaze fixed on the darkness behind them.

Mira’s fingers danced over the wires, her brow furrowed in concentration. “Almost… got it…”

Suddenly, the lights in the tunnel flickered. A loud, metallic hum filled the air, followed by a series of sharp pops as the electrical grid surged. The air crackled with static, and for a brief moment, the tunnel was bathed in flickering light.

Mira grinned triumphantly. “Done. That should buy us a little time.”

Alexei nodded, already motioning for the others to move. “Let’s go. We head for the surface and find a way out of the city.”

They hurried down the next tunnel, the oppressive darkness swallowing them once more. But now, with Mira’s sabotage, they had a fighting chance.

And Alexei wasn’t about to waste it.