Chapter 10 - The Great Uncoupling
Sarah didn't wait for the Proctor to respond. Clinging tightly to Leo, she sprinted through the shattered doorway into the maze of Sector Nine’s industrial corridors. Emergency sirens wailed like wounded animals, their crimson strobe lights casting long, jagged shadows against the concrete walls.
Around them, the facility was falling into utter chaos. Guards were running in every direction, but they weren't pursuing her—they were staring at their own forearm devices in absolute horror. The broadcast had broken the system’s delicate illusion of order. Protests were erupting outside the regional perimeter; thousands of citizens, disgusted by the raw footage of Leo's abduction, were already marching toward the facility gates.
""Hold on to me, Leo,"" Sarah murmured, dodging past a pile of discarded server racks. ""Keep your eyes closed, sweetheart.""
Leo pressed his face into the soft wool of her jacket collar, his little hands bunched into the fabric. He didn't look. He trusted her completely.
They reached the facility’s subterranean freight exit, where a blast door stood half-open, jammed by the system freeze Sarah had triggered. She squeezed through the narrow gap, tumbling out into the cool evening air. Behind them lay the concrete monster of Sector Nine; ahead was the dark expanse of the outer pine forests, bordered by an abandoned railway spur.
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A modified off-road van sat idling beneath the canopy of trees, its lights completely extinguished. The driver's door swung open, revealing an old colleague from Sarah's days in the infrastructure division—a gray-bearded technician named Marcus.
""Get in!"" Marcus shouted over the low rumble of the diesel engine. ""The network is fracturing, Sarah. What you did back there... it didn't just crash Sector Nine. It started an avalanche.""
