“Oh my gosh, Nyxie, this place stinks! How much longer do we have to go?” Jada Vicinage squeezed her nose, her voice a theatrical whine, as she followed Nyxie through the dank labyrinth of the sewers.

  “We are almost there, please be quiet, miss.” Nyxie’s voice was low, hushed.

  Jada smirked at being called ‘miss.’ She openly admired her guide: Nyxie, with her vibrant blue hair, striking blue eyes, and fair skin, her full red lips a stark contrast. She wore a black, structured corset-style top, intricately laced and buckled, with matching shorts. A choker embraced her neck, and long black gloves stretched past her elbows. Large, circular goggles with pink lenses perched on her voluminous hair. “Are you sure you’re not a Skylar sister?” Jada asked, utterly ignoring the plea for silence.

  “Not all of us belong to noble families, miss, but please, we can talk later.” Nyxie’s tone was firm.

  Jada noticed a strange, orderly procession of mice trailing them. Whenever Nyxie signaled with her fingers, some would dart off into a pipe, scouting ahead. Could she control them? Jada wondered, a spark of mischievous awe igniting within her. Who was this woman, and why was someone as captivating as her living in the sewers? Tessa Skylar had recommended her, praising her unparalleled skill in navigating the city’s underworld. Of course, Jada had to pay Tessa for the introduction, but not with coin. No, Tessa was a Skylar; they had more coin than sense. Tessa wanted something else from Jada, something Jada loved to supply: explosives.

  Nothing thrilled Jada more than watching something erupt in a fiery spectacle. She marveled at bombs, at the elegant, destructive physics of them. While her sister Nikola invented and created, Jada reveled in inventions that destroyed. Her skills were legendary; the Attack Force constantly requested her specialized grenades, and the Defense Force clamored for her ingenious mines. It was all part of a delicate arrangement with the city, a way to keep her out of jail, for Jada often found that blowing things up led, inevitably, to getting herself into trouble. She was especially in trouble with her own family; to this day, none of her sisters spoke to her. Well, maybe Belle would, but Jada wasn't that desperate. Besides, she had found a new friend in Nyxie, even if Nyxie wasn’t yet fully aware of the fact.

  Nyxie stopped dead, raising a hand. The mice scattered, vanishing from sight. “We are here,” she whispered, her voice barely audible over the distant drip of water.

  Jada felt a prickle of fear, cold and sharp, but she held her composure. They were here. Deep inside the wasteland, right below the infamous power station. Nyxie turned to Jada, her blue eyes wide with a question. “How is this possible? Wouldn’t all of this have been destroyed in the Great Calamity?”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Jada smiled, a sly, knowing curve of her lips. She might not possess the Vicinage blonde hair, but she certainly had their brains. “It’s a common misconception that a bomb detonated here, causing the Great Calamity. That was propaganda, Nyxie, designed to tarnish the Eastern families, to villainize them and lay all the blame at their feet. It’s also why Elodie and the rest of the Northern families forbid us from talking about the calamity, fearing we might discover the truth.”

  Nyxie scanned Jada’s face, searching for any hint of deception. “So then, what really happened?”

  Jada shrugged. “Nothing so spectacular. There was a leak at this facility, and we discovered it too late. The prevalent theory is that all the men rushed to patch it up, but in doing so, they were exposed to too much radiation and mutated into the monsters we see today.”

  Nyxie’s eyes widened. “I guess that explains why all the zombies are here in the wasteland district and not in the city.”

  Jada practically shrieked with delight. “Exactly! You get it!”

  Nyxie raised a finger to her lips, attempting to shush Jada, but Jada wasn’t about to be treated like one of her mice. Jada sat down, rummaging through her backpack. “Nyxie dear, things are about to get a lot louder here. But first, take this.” Nyxie accepted a pistol and a syringe. Jada injected herself with an identical syringe. “Polysaccharides,” she explained, her voice suddenly serious. “So you don’t die. Or worse, mutate into the undead.”

  Nyxie didn’t hesitate, administering her own shot with a practiced hand. “Yeah, I know. Us non-nobles also get the annual vaccine.” She watched Jada expertly fuse some wires together before encasing them in clay. Jada then tossed the crude package onto the corroded roof. Without warning, a deafening blast ripped a hole through the metal, sending fragments of brick and rusted debris raining down on them.

  “Boost me up, will ya?” Jada grinned, already scrambling through the ragged opening. Nyxie gave her a powerful boost, then Jada reached down, pulling her up. Nyxie was heavy, but Jada, like most Cape Lumous citizens, trained daily for combat. This was standard exercise. Jada pulled out her own pistol, checking the loaded chamber. “Whatever you do, do not miss. If you hit anything here other than a zombie, we might have another radioactive leak.”

  Nyxie froze. “This wasn’t part of the deal. My job was simply to guide you here. I’m not your bodyguard.”

  Jada’s grin widened, irresistible. “Oh, come on. I’m sure you want to see it.” She was right. Curiosity, a powerful, dangerous force, compelled Nyxie forward.

  Jada and Nyxie crept through the old, rusty facility. Small holes in the old roof allowed shafts of dim light to penetrate, just enough for them to see. They had to be careful; a horde of zombies attacking now would quickly exhaust their limited ammunition. Jada pushed open a rusted door, then turned to Nyxie, her face alight with the biggest smile. “We found it.”

  Nyxie stepped in after Jada. The cavern before them was stacked with boxes upon boxes of glowing green radioactive vials. “What are you going to do with all of this?” she asked, her voice a low murmur of awe and fear.

  Jada’s smile grew, vast and unholy. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to use all this to blow stuff up.”