They test obedience.
The sky didn't darken all at once.
It segmented.
Invisible lines carved the city into vast blocks, each section sealed by translucent barriers that hummed with restrained violence. Streets dead-ended into nothing. Buildings stretched upward into false horizons.
The city had been rewritten into a maze.
Piter Hall stood at the logistics office window, watching the segmentation finalize. His Interface scrolled warnings faster than it could stabilize.
[High-Complexity Scenario Activated.]
[Scenario Type: Purge]
[Objective: Reduce Variable Density]
Lena stepped up beside him, face pale.
"Reduce," she said softly. "That means—"
"Kill," Piter replied. "Or convert."
The final line appeared.
[Acceptable Collateral: Unlimited]
Lena swallowed hard.
Piter's hands clenched.
That line hadn't existed last loop.
They had learned from him.
The building shook as distant explosions echoed through the segmented city. Not bombs.
Scenario deployments.
Piter turned from the window.
"Listen carefully," he said. "Purge Scenarios don't reward heroics. They reward compliance. Anyone who hides, follows instructions, or turns in others gets better odds."
"And us?" Lena asked.
"We get hunted."
As if on cue, the ground trembled again.
This time, closer.
A new overlay burned into view, visible even through walls.
[Zone Directive: Sector D-17]
[Purge Condition: Eliminate or Deliver Identified Variables]
Names scrolled beneath it.
Not many.
Too many.
Lena gasped.
"My name's there," she whispered.
Piter nodded. "Mine too."
But there was another name.
One that made his blood run cold.
[Target: Marcus Hale]
Piter froze.
No.
Not yet.
"Who is that?" Lena asked, noticing his reaction.
Piter didn't answer immediately.
Marcus Hale.
Last loop, Marcus was his anchor. His partner in the mid-phase Scenarios. The man who believed in people when Piter had already started calculating losses.
The man who died buying Piter time to escape a Purge.
"He shouldn't be here," Piter said quietly.
The door to the office exploded inward.
Concrete shards and twisted metal blasted across the room. Piter spun, dragging Lena down just as something tore through the space where they'd been standing.
Smoke filled the room.
Shapes moved within it.
Not monsters.
People.
Armed, armored, Interfaces glowing with sanctioned authority.
Piter recognized the posture immediately.
Converted Variables.
The System's favorite weapons.
"Targets confirmed," a woman's voice said from the smoke. "Engage."
Piter grabbed Lena's wrist and yanked her toward the back exit.
The hunters opened fire.
Not bullets.
Compressed force.
The wall behind them imploded as they fled down the stairwell. The building groaned, alarms screaming uselessly.
They burst out into an alley just as the upper floors collapsed inward.
Dust swallowed the street.
Piter didn't slow.
He pulled Lena into the maze of side streets, every turn chosen from memory. The city was different, but patterns repeated.
They ran until Lena stumbled.
He caught her.
"I'm okay," she gasped. "Just—give me a second."
"No," Piter said. "They won't."
The air shifted.
A familiar pressure descended.
Piter turned.
A man stood at the far end of the street.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Calm.
Too calm.
Marcus Hale.
He wore System-issued armor, pristine and symmetrical. His Interface glowed a deep, stable blue.
Perfect compliance.
Piter's chest tightened.
"Marcus," he said.
The man raised his weapon.
"Target Piter Hall identified," Marcus said evenly. "Do not resist."
Lena's voice shook. "You know him?"
Piter nodded slowly.
"Yes."
He stepped forward, hands raised slightly.
"Marcus," Piter said. "It's me."
Marcus's eyes flickered.
Just for an instant.
"Memory interference detected," Marcus said. "Continue directive."
Piter swallowed.
"They wiped you," he said softly.
Last loop, Marcus resisted conversion for weeks.
This time, the System got to him first.
"Marcus," Piter tried again. "You hate Purge Scenarios. You said they turn people into tools."
Marcus hesitated.
The weapon lowered a fraction.
"I do not recall that statement," he said.
But his voice wasn't as steady.
Lena whispered urgently, "Piter—"
"I know," Piter murmured. "Give me one moment."
He took another step closer.
The pressure intensified.
"Marcus," Piter said. "Last time, you died saving me. You told me not to let the System decide who mattered."
Marcus's hand trembled.
Warning text flashed across his Interface.
[Deviation Detected.]
His weapon snapped back up.
"Cease unauthorized dialogue," Marcus said.
The ground behind Piter exploded.
Hunters.
More incoming.
Piter made a decision.
He lunged.
Marcus fired.
The blast tore through Piter's shoulder, spinning him sideways. Pain exploded, white-hot, blinding.
Lena screamed.
Piter hit the ground hard, rolling behind a concrete divider.
Blood soaked his sleeve.
Marcus advanced slowly, weapon tracking.
"You are injured," Marcus said. "Surrender."
Piter laughed weakly.
"Still terrible at reading situations," he muttered.
He forced himself to his feet.
"Marcus," he said loudly. "You asked me once what happens when good people follow bad systems."
Marcus paused again.
More warning text flared.
Piter pressed on, voice raw.
"This is it. This is the answer."
Marcus's jaw tightened.
"I am fulfilling my role," he said.
"That's what scares me," Piter replied.
The hunters closed in from behind.
Lena stepped forward suddenly.
"Marcus!" she shouted.
Everyone froze.
Her Interface flared violently, light bending around her.
"You don't know me," she said, voice shaking but strong. "But I can feel you fighting it."
The air warped.
Marcus staggered, clutching his head.
"What… is this?" he groaned.
"Interference detected," a hunter barked. "Terminate the amplifier!"
Piter moved instantly, tackling Marcus as a blast tore through the space where Lena had stood.
They hit the ground hard.
Marcus gasped, eyes unfocused.
"Piter," he whispered.
Piter's breath caught.
"You remember," he said.
"Fragments," Marcus groaned. "They… locked most of it."
Hunters surged forward.
Piter hauled Marcus up.
"Can you run?" Piter asked.
Marcus nodded once.
"Then run," Piter said.
They moved.
Lena followed, shockwaves rippling outward unconsciously as she ran, disrupting attacks, bending trajectories.
They burst through a barrier just as it sealed behind them.
Silence fell abruptly.
They stood in a new sector.
Marcus collapsed to one knee, breathing hard.
"What did they do to you?" he asked.
Piter knelt beside him.
"Same thing they tried to do to me," he said. "Make you useful."
Marcus looked up, eyes clearing.
"You refused last time," he said.
Piter froze.
"You remember that?"
Marcus nodded weakly.
"Enough," he said. "Enough to know this ends badly."
Above them, the sky shifted again.
New text burned across the horizon.
[Purge Escalation: Phase Two]
[Unconverted Variables Remaining: 3]
Lena looked between them.
"Three?" she whispered.
Piter felt the weight of it.
Him.
Lena.
Marcus.
The System wasn't hunting anymore.
It was narrowing.
Piter stood slowly, ignoring the pain in his shoulder.
"Then we stop running," he said.
Marcus grimaced. "And do what?"
Piter looked up at the segmented sky.
"We make this sector too expensive to purge."
Because now—
This wasn't about survival.
It was about proving that even a Purge had limits.