I'll Follow You Down File

Elias slumped against the cold metal beside her, his lungs burning, his boots ruined. He reached out and took her hand.

The rain didn't just fall in Sector 4; it dissolved. It was a caustic, neon-soaked drizzle that ate at the hem of Elias’s coat as he stood at the lip of the Great Descent. Below him lay the Sub-Strata, a vertical graveyard of rusted pipes and forgotten people where the city’s light never reached. Somewhere down there, in the dark, was Lena. I'll Follow You Down

"She’s not a statistic," Elias muttered, his voice muffled by the mask. Elias slumped against the cold metal beside her,

"I know," he said, the weight of the miles above them finally feeling light. "I told you. Wherever you go, " It was a caustic, neon-soaked drizzle that ate

"She is lost," the drone insisted. "Gravity is a one-way street, Elias."

Hours bled into a fever dream of grime. The air grew thick, tasting of ozone and ancient rot. He passed the 'Hollows,' where people with translucent skin watched him with wide, unblinking eyes. He didn't stop. He followed the faint, rhythmic pulse on his tracker—the beacon he’d tucked into Lena’s pocket weeks ago "just in case."