The subterranean maintenance tunnels of Sector 4 were a sprawling, suffocating labyrinth of rusted iron, crumbling concrete, and stagnant, knee-deep water. It was a graveyard of pre-Fall infrastructure, swallowed by decades of rot.
And it was currently crawling with hunters.
"Check the eastern drainage pipes!" a harsh, human voice echoed down the curved tunnel, distorted by the damp acoustics. "Thermal scanners on full! The Maker is down here somewhere, and she's got the white-armored freak with her!"
Nikki pressed her back flat against the freezing, slime-coated concrete wall of a narrow alcove. Her heart was hammering so violently against her ribs she was terrified the human patrol could hear it over the sound of the dripping water.
