The lights did not just flicker. They died. One second the city was a screaming hive of neon and junk food smells: the next, it was a grave. A ten million ton grave. Most people scream when the lights go out. They reach for their phones and pray for a signal. But I just stood there. I closed my eyes because they do not work anyway. For the first time in ten years, the rest of the world finally saw what I see.
Nothing.
“Kaito?” Elena whispered. Her voice was thin. It sounded like a dry leaf skittering across a sidewalk. “The timer started. It is glowing red.”
I reached out and felt her wrist. The glass on her watch was warm. It hummed against my skin. Sixty minutes. If we did not get her to the terminal across the river in an hour, the data in her blood would vanish. The world’s money would turn into digital smoke. People would starve. The rich would stay rich: everyone else would eat dirt.
“Stay behind my left shoulder,” I said. My voice was flat. I felt the weight of the sword on my back. It was a long, heavy piece of cold steel. “Do not touch me unless I tell you. If you hear a click, get on the ground. If you hear a whistle, run.”
“I am scared,” she said.
I felt a sharp poke in my chest. Not a real one. It was a memory. I remembered my little brother’s hand holding mine right before the bomb took my eyes and his life. I failed him because I was looking the wrong way. I would not fail her.
“Fear is just noise,” I told her. “I am going to get you through this. I am the only one who knows how to walk in the dark.”
We stepped out of the alley. The city felt different now. The hum of the power grid was gone. It was replaced by the sound of boots on pavement. Far off, a car crashed. Someone screamed for help. But closer, much closer, I heard the metallic slide of a sword leaving a sheath.
It was Saul. I knew his breath. He smelled like cheap mints and old blood. He was a hunter. He worked for the people who wanted that data to disappear.
“Kaito,” Saul said. His voice came from ten feet away, near a dumpster. “They are offering enough money to buy a new pair of eyes for you. Give me the girl.”
I did not answer. I breathed in through my nose. I could hear his heartbeat. It was fast. He was excited. I felt the air shift as he moved.
He lunged.
I did not think. I moved like a shadow. My sword came out with a sound like a silk sheet tearing. I felt the vibration of his blade missing my ribs by an inch. I stepped inside his guard. I hit him with the pommel of my sword right in the throat.
Saul made a sound like a dying radiator. He hit the ground. I did not kill him. I did not have time for a body.
“Run,” I whispered to Elena.
We moved through the streets. The city was a maze of invisible walls. I used my ears like a radar. I heard the drip of a broken pipe. I heard the rustle of a plastic bag. And I heard the others.
There were dozens of them. They were coming from the rooftops. They were coming from the sewers. They were the hungry dogs of the city, and we were the steak.
“Forty minutes,” Elena panted. Her breath was getting ragged. “Kaito, my arm. It burns.”
“The data is rewriting your nerves,” I said. “Keep moving.”
We reached the bridge. It was a long, open stretch of concrete. No cover. No place to hide. And right in the middle, I heard the heavy, slow footsteps of Knox.
Knox was not a hunter. He was a wall. He was six foot eight and carried a hammer that could crush a car engine. He was waiting for us.
“You can’t hear your way past me, blind man,” Knox roared.
The wind picked up. It carried the smell of rain and ozone. I felt the first drop hit my forehead. It was cold. Then the sky opened up.
Rain is a blind man’s best friend.
Every drop that hit the ground told me a story. It mapped out the bridge. It showed me the cracks in the road. It showed me Knox. He was a giant, blurry shape in the downpour.
“Elena, get down,” I said.
I ran. I did not tap my way forward. I sprinted.
Knox swung the hammer. I heard the wind whistle as the heavy iron head stayed just above my hair. I slid on the wet concrete. The water soaked my pants. I felt the edge of the bridge near my foot. One wrong move and I was a ghost in the river.
I bounced up. I used the momentum to drive my sword upward. The steel bit into something hard. Armor. Knox laughed and grabbed my throat.
His hand was like a vice. My vision went from black to a pulsing, blurry purple. I could feel my pulse thumping against his thumb. I was dying. Again. Just like the day of the bomb.
But I was not that kid anymore.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small, jagged piece of glass I found in the alley. I shoved it into the soft meat of his wrist.
Knox roared and let go.
I fell to my knees, coughing. The air felt like fire in my lungs. I heard Knox raising the hammer for one last smash.
I didn’t look. I didn’t need to. I heard the rain bounce off the top of his helmet. I swung my sword in a wide, flat arc. I didn’t aim for his chest. I aimed for his ankles.
The blade cut through his tendons like a hot knife through butter.
Knox fell. He hit the ground so hard the bridge shook. He didn’t scream. He just groaned, a deep sound that felt like stones rubbing together.
I stood up. My legs felt like jelly.
“Elena?” I called out.
“Here,” she said. She was crying. I felt her hand grab my jacket. She was shaking so hard I thought she might break. “Ten minutes, Kaito. Only ten minutes.”
We were close. I could smell the river. I could smell the salt and the grease of the docks. The terminal was just a few hundred yards away. But my body was failing. My shoulder felt like it was on fire. My head was spinning.
“We have to climb,” I said.
The terminal was on the top floor of a data tower. The elevators were dead. We had to take the stairs.
Every step felt like a mile. My lungs were screaming. Elena was leaning on me now. Most of her weight was on my shoulder. She was getting colder. The data was sucking the life out of her.
“Almost there,” I lied.
We reached the top. I felt the heavy metal door. I kicked it open.
The room was quiet. Too quiet. There was no rain up here. Just the sound of a single pair of boots.
“You look tired, Kaito,” a voice said.
It was Miles. He was my old boss. He was the one who taught me how to fight without eyes. He was the one who told me that people were just numbers on a screen.
“Miles,” I said. My voice was a ghost of itself.
“Give her to me,” Miles said. I heard him draw a pistol. The click of the safety coming off sounded like a thunderclap in the small room. “The crash needs to happen. The world needs a reset. You know this. You have seen how ugly it is.”
“I haven’t seen anything in ten years,” I said. “But I can feel how cold you are.”
I pushed Elena toward the console. “Go. Plug it in.”
“I’ll kill her before she reaches it,” Miles said.
I didn’t wait. I threw my sword.
I didn’t throw it to hit him. I threw it at the fire sprinkler on the ceiling.
The metal hit the glass bulb. The room exploded with water.
In the sudden noise and the spray, Miles hesitated. He didn’t know where to aim. But I knew. I knew exactly where he was because he was breathing. He was gasping in surprise.
I lunged. I didn’t have a sword. I had my bare hands.
I hit him in the chest. We crashed to the floor. He fired the gun. The bullet grazed my ear. It felt like a hot needle. I didn’t care. I found his throat. I found his eyes.
We rolled across the floor. He was stronger than me. He was healthy. I was a wreck. He punched me in the ribs. I heard something snap.
I didn’t let go.
“Now, Elena!” I screamed.
I heard the frantic clicking of a keyboard. I heard the hum of a computer waking up. A long, high-pitched beep echoed through the room.
The data was sent.
Miles stopped fighting. He slumped back against the floor.
“You’re a fool,” he whispered. “You saved a world that doesn’t even want you.”
“I didn’t save the world,” I said. I stood up, holding my side. My breath came in short, wet gasps. “I saved the girl.”
The lights didn’t come back on right away. The city stayed dark for a long time.
I sat on the floor next to Elena. She was breathing again. Her skin was getting warm. The red glow on her wrist was gone.
“We did it?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “We did it.”
I leaned my head back against the wall. My body felt like it was made of lead. I wanted to sleep for a thousand years.
But then I heard it.
Outside, far below, the people started to cheer. It started as a small sound, but it grew. It was a roar of voices. They weren’t screaming in fear anymore. They were shouting because they were still here. They were still alive.
I couldn’t see the city. I couldn’t see the sunrise that was probably coming. But I could feel the vibration of all those people. It felt like a heartbeat.
I closed my eyes. I didn’t need them. I had everything I needed right there in the dark.