The city was alive, but it no longer felt like home. The neon lights flickered, reflecting off the towering glass buildings, and the hum of traffic filled the streets. Yet beneath the familiar urban chaos lurked something far more dangerous—eyes that watched, footsteps that followed, and whispers that curled around the edges of your mind.

You ran.

Your breaths came out in sharp, ragged gasps as you clutched your bleeding side, each step a painful reminder of how close they had come to capturing you. The guards had nearly dragged you back to the Untainted Facility, that pristine prison disguised as a sanctuary. They claimed it was for your protection, that they were keeping you safe from the Tainted.

But you knew better.

The facility was a beacon, a lure for those afflicted by the pink smoke. The Tainted sought the Untainted with a devotion that defied reason. They wanted you—not as a person, but as an obsession, a fixation, a beloved they were willing to burn the world for.

The wound on your side throbbed, wet and warm beneath your trembling fingers, but you forced yourself forward. The main streets were too dangerous, filled with both guards and those who might recognize you. You veered into an alleyway, pressing yourself against the cold brick wall, willing your body to disappear into the shadows.

The city wasn’t abandoned. It was thriving. The world hadn’t collapsed; it had simply changed. The Tainted still worked, still functioned, still smiled and laughed—but beneath the surface, they were not the same. Love had become something unrecognizable, twisted by the pink smoke into something far more dangerous.

A couple strolled past the alley’s entrance, hand in hand, their smiles serene. But you saw the way the woman’s fingers dug into the man’s wrist, possessive and unyielding. He didn’t seem to mind—if anything, he leaned into her grip as if he had no choice but to belong to her.

You forced yourself to keep moving.

The guards wouldn’t stop searching. You had been a second away from being locked inside the facility, another name on their list, another Untainted hidden away like a rare treasure. But you weren’t going to let them take you.

Your vision blurred as you stumbled forward, your legs unsteady. The blood loss was getting to you.

You weren’t going to make it.

Just as your body gave out, arms caught you before you could hit the ground.

Strong, steady hands.

Not a guard.

You tried to struggle, but exhaustion and pain weighed you down, turning your limbs sluggish and unresponsive. A firm but steady grip held you in place, preventing you from collapsing entirely.

A voice—calm yet urgent—broke through the haze of your fading consciousness.

“You’re safe now. We’ve got you.”

Your instincts screamed at you to fight back, to run, but your body had reached its limit. The world blurred, tilting dangerously as the edges of your vision darkened.

Before everything went black, one final thought lingered in your mind.

Were they truly Untainted?

Or had you just fallen into another kind of trap?

A dull ache spread through your body as consciousness slowly crept back in. The warmth of blankets wrapped around you, a stark contrast to the last thing you remembered—running, bleeding, collapsing.

The air smelled of earth and wood, damp yet oddly comforting. You weren’t in the city anymore. The distant rustling of leaves and the faint chirping of insects confirmed that much.

Panic surged through you.

Where were you?

Your fingers twitched as you willed your body to move, forcing your eyes open despite the weight pressing down on your eyelids. The dim glow of lanterns illuminated a modest space—a shelter, makeshift but sturdy. Wooden beams reinforced the walls, and the ceiling, though uneven, was covered with layers of fabric and dried leaves to keep out the elements.

Then, you saw them.

A small group of people sat nearby, talking in hushed voices. At the center was the man who had saved you. He noticed your movement immediately.

“You’re awake.” His voice was low, careful.

Instinct kicked in, and you tensed, pushing yourself up despite the burning pain searing through your side. Your breath came in short, sharp gasps as you met his gaze, searching for any sign—any subtle shift in expression, any unnatural intensity. But wariness alone wasn’t enough to tell if he was truly safe.

"Where am I?" You kept your voice steady, though wariness crept into your tone.

"A safe place," he said simply, nodding toward the others. "We found you outside the city. You wouldn’t have lasted much longer."

You exhaled sharply, pressing a hand against your side. The wound had been bandaged, the fabric clean but hastily wrapped. They had treated you, but that still didn’t mean you could trust them.

"Are you…?" The words caught in your throat. The question was dangerous. If they were Tainted, it would already be too late.

The man seemed to understand. Instead of answering, he reached into his pocket, retrieving a folded slip of paper. He held it out to you without hesitation.

Suspicious, you took it with trembling fingers and unfolded it.

Your breath caught.

It was a testing result, the same format you had seen in the facility. The seal of the examination center was stamped at the bottom.

Untainted.

You snapped your gaze up to the others, who were now watching you with cautious understanding. One by one, they pulled out their own results, worn from being folded and unfolded multiple times.

All marked Untainted.

"They’re real," the man said, as if reading your thoughts. "We stole them from the testing center before escaping. We know how easy it is to fake loyalty, to blend in with the Tainted. That’s why we don’t take chances."

Relief warred with skepticism in your chest. It wasn’t impossible to forge these documents, but the fact that they had them at all—rather than simply claiming to be safe—spoke volumes.

For the first time in a long while, you weren’t alone.

Still, the question remained: How long would this shelter remain hidden before the Tainted—or worse, the guards—found it?