Kayden stood between two futures.
Alex on one side—breathing hard, eyes wild with fear but human, real, warm.The Agent on the other—still as a blade, patient, certain, offering survival with a price he couldn't see.
Above them, the sky flickered again.Blue.Grid.Blue.Grid.
A broken lie.
Kayden's pulse hammered in his ears.
APEX whispered in his skull:
"Operator—decision imperative.Delay increases threat level."
SRD drones whined in the distance, engines slicing through the wind.Growing closer.
Phineas paced in microscopic circles.
"OH GREAT, EVERYTHING IS HAPPENING AT ONCE—CHOOSE SOMETHING—ANYTHING—PREFERABLY NOT COSMIC ABDUCTION—"
Kayden closed his eyes.
He saw the battlefield future—the destruction, the coldness, the person he didn't want to become.He saw the Agent standing over that other version of him like a sculptor admiring her work.
He saw Alex standing in front of him now, trembling but refusing to move aside.
Kayden opened his eyes.
His voice cracked.
"…Alex."
Alex stepped closer.
"Yeah. I'm here. I'm right here."
Kayden didn't look at the Agent.
He didn't need to.
He already knew.
"I choose him."
The wind seemed to stop.
Alex exhaled a sound halfway between relief and devastation.
"Kayden…"
Phineas pumped both fists weakly.
"THANK YOU, GODS OF COMMON SENSE—"
The Agent did not react.
Not with anger.Not with surprise.
Just silence.
Heavy and absolute.
Then she spoke:
"Your choice is noted."
A pause.
Not empty.
Warning.
"But you choose a fragile path."
Alex snapped:
"Doesn't matter.He chose it anyway."
A faint flicker of white glimmered around the Agent's silhouette—a recoil of pure calculation.
"Then run."Her tone didn't rise.Didn't harden.But it cut to the bone nonetheless."Run, before SRD reaches you."
Kayden's breath caught.
"She's letting us go?"
APEX answered with a quiet hum:
"Incorrect.She is observing."
Alex grabbed Kayden's arm.
"We have to move. NOW."
But Kayden hesitated.
"Alex…she won't help us if SRD catches us."
Alex turned to him with a fire Kayden had never seen before.
"Then we don't get caught."
Phineas spun toward the far edge of the plateau.
"There! THAT WAY—I SEE A SERVICE ROAD—PROBABLY LEADS TO A PARKING AREAOR A NEST OF GIANT RADIOACTIVE BATS—BUT WE TAKE WHAT WE CAN GET—"
SRD drones crested the ridge.
Six of them.Sleek, black, needle-point sensor arrays glowing red.
APEX blared:
"SRD drones: 200 meters.Omega team en route."
Alex pulled Kayden's arm over his shoulder.
"You said you didn't want to become what she showed you."
Kayden nodded weakly.
"I don't…"
"Then you stay with us."
Kayden swallowed.
"…I choose you."
Alex's throat tightened.
"Then run with me."
Kayden forced his legs forward.
The three of them sprinted across the plateau—sprinting toward the broken service road cutting into the hillside.
Behind them, the Agent remained still.
Not chasing.Not helping.
Witnessing.
THE CHASE
Wind tore across Kayden's face.His lungs burned.His legs shook violently.
APEX barked inside him:
"Operator—balance compromised—redirect weight to support anchor."
Kayden leaned harder into Alex,and Alex tightened his grip to match.
Phineas ran ahead, waving his arms:
"COME ON—WE CAN MAKE IT—THE ROAD DROPS INTO A FOREST—COVER—WE'LL HAVE COVER—"
The hum of the drones grew louder.
Kayden risked a look back—
Six black SRD predators closing in, scanning for resonance.
He stumbled.
Alex held him upright.
"I've got you—don't stop—don't look back—"
Kayden breathed in ragged gasps.
"I—I don't know how much longer—"
Alex nearly snarled through his teeth.
"Then I'll carry you."
Kayden's vision blurred.
He wanted to cry from fear.He wanted to cry from exhaustion.He wanted to cry because Alex always said that—and always meant it.
APEX whispered:
"Running is insufficient.SRD will reach intercept range in 22 seconds."
Phineas screamed:
"TELL APEX TO STOP SAYING NUMBERS—WE KNOW WE'RE GONNA DIE—!!"
Kayden stumbled again, knees buckling.
Alex swept him up without hesitation—lifting him off the ground like he weighed nothing.
Kayden gasped.
"A-Alex— I can still walk—"
"You don't have to."
And Alex ran harder.
Kayden buried his face in Alex's shoulder, shaking.
"I chose you," he whispered.
Alex squeezed him tighter.
"And I'll keep choosing you."
THE AGENT'S FINAL WORD
The drones closed in behind them—less than 50 meters now.
A resonance bullet tore past Alex's leg,shattering rock into dust.
Phineas screamed in wordless terror.
APEX growled:
"Operator, brace—Omega unit preparing snare—"
Kayden's pulse spiraled.
He reached out blindly—to Alex,to APEX,to anything he could grab hold of.
Behind them—
the Agent's voice swept across the plateau:
"Kayden Voss."
Alex froze mid-step.
Kayden lifted his head.
The Agent's silhouette flickered like a mirage.
"Running delays nothing.But it reveals much."
Kayden swallowed hard.
"What does that mean…?"
"It means the world moveswhen you choose."
Her figure dissolved.
And the sky flickered again.
Then stabilized.
Blue.
Perfect.
But Kayden no longer trusted perfection.
Alex tightened his hold.
"We're almost there—the road—THE ROAD—Phin, GET IT OPEN—"
Phineas slammed his shoulder into the rusted gate at the service road entrance.
It cracked.
Alex barreled through with Kayden in his arms.
The forest opened below them—real trees,real wind,a path to disappear into.
SRD drones shrieked behind them.
They ran.
And the Agent watched silently from the plateau,her expression unreadable.
Kayden whispered into Alex's shoulder:
"…I chose you."
Alex pressed his forehead to Kayden's temple as he ran.
"And you chose right."