Chapter One: Twenty-Three Percent

On the back, someone had carved a sentence: Do not borrow life from the dark. Leon rubbed the words with his thumb. He had not understood them as a child. Later he decided his father must have meant this: do not survive by becoming what you hate. His wrist comm suddenly flashed. It was the mining district public channel. "District Seven seismic alert. All personnel evacuate lower levels." "Warning. Abnormal energy reading detected in northern abandoned shaft." "Repeat, abnormal energy reading." Leon raised his head. In the storm beyond the northern edge of the yard, a blue light flashed. It was not lightning. Lightning did not rise from underground.