The air was heavy with the smell of oil and rust as Ethan, Felix, and Jax huddled behind a row of discarded cargo crates. The Black Market—a shadowy gathering place for survivors, scavengers, and mercenaries—was not a place to be trifled with, and tonight they weren't here to barter. They were here to steal.

  Felix nudged Ethan on the shoulder. "You okay with this?" he whispered.

  Ethan exhaled slowly. His ribs still ached from his last encounter, but there was no turning back now. “I’m good,” he lied.

  Jax smirked. “Good, ‘cause we’re on the clock.”

  The marketplace spread out across a deserted shipping lot, tarps and canvas stalls shining with dim, fluctuating light. Guards armed to the teeth wandered the edges, and vendors bellowed out prices for loot, arms, and rations. It was a madhouse, full of individuals who'd do whatever they had to survive—kill when it suited them.

  Their prize: a storage unit full of medical equipment and provisions. Dorian Kane, the ruthless individual who managed the market, was in control. They wouldn't be given a second chance if they were caught.

  Jax cued, and they went. Slipping between shadows, ducking past a distracted guard, they crept toward the storage unit. Felix worked the lock in seconds, and the metal door creaked open. Shelves filled with ration packs, antibiotics, and clean water reflected their flashlights. Jackpot.

  "We take what we can carry and leave," Jax grumbled, filling his bag with supplies.

  Ethan glanced around the room, his hands trembling a little as he stuffed bandages and pain medication into his backpack. This was life or death for their group. They had to leave with as much as they could carry.

  Then a low voice interrupted the quiet. "Going somewhere?"

  Ethan spun, heart pounding. A broad-shouldered, tall man in a long coat stood in the doorway. A scar from his temple to his jaw, and cold, calculating eyes fixed on them.

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  Dorian Kane.

  "I don't like thieves," he said, advancing, the glint of a knife in his hand. "But I do like making examples of them."

  Felix acted first, throwing a crate at Dorian. He dodged with ease, but it provided just enough time for Jax to push Ethan towards the doorway. Ethan ran for his life, burning lungs, weaving between crates as bullets flew behind him.

  Jax and Felix were close behind, pushing through the chaos. Alarms shrieked. Guards yelled. The market was a battleground as merchants scrambled to duck behind stalls and others ran to collect their precious items before the battle made it to them.

  A bullet flew by Ethan's head, lodging into a wooden pole. He swore and kept going, his muscles wailing from the effort. Felix ran alongside him, gasping for air, his backpack bobbing with each step. Jax brought up the rear, sometimes glancing over his shoulder to shoot at the guards behind him.

  "Coming up on it!" Jax shouted.

  They arrived at the fence, where they'd made an escape hole ahead of time. Ethan knelt down and crawled through, his breathing in hoarse gasps. Felix came next, then Jax.

  As Jax's foot slipped through, a hand jerked him back.

  Dorian.

  "Not so fast," Dorian snarled, his grip tightening. His other hand retracted, prepared to stab Jax in the stomach.

  Jax growled and writhed, kicking out with a hard kick. His boot slammed into Dorian's chest, and the man stumbled backward. Ethan and Felix each grabbed an arm of Jax and pulled him through the hole as bullets impacted the fence behind them.

  The three fell into the earth, gasping for breath.

  "Go!" Ethan yelled, pulling Jax to his feet.

  They ran into the darkness, dodging through alleys and shattered buildings until the noise of the market was a distant memory. It wasn't until they reached the deserted warehouse they had been using as a hideout that they came to a halt.

  Ethan leaned against the wall, gasping for breath. Jax swiped at his forehead, smiling in spite of the near miss.

  "Well, that was fun," Jax said, his tone filled with weariness.

  Felix let his bag fall to the ground. "Fun? You almost got gutted!"

  Jax shrugged. "Eh, I've had worse."

  Ethan rubbed his bruised ribs and breathed a chuckling laugh. "Yeah, well, let's not do that again."

  Felix opened his pack and removed a bottle of painkillers. He tossed them to Ethan. "It looks like you'll be needing those."

  Ethan caught them with a grin. "Guess we got what we came for."

  Jax shook his head. "And we riled up Dorian Kane in the process."

  Ethan's face grew harder. "Yeah… and I have a feeling he's not the forgiving kind."

  Felix rubbed his eyes. "Brilliant. Now we have a crazy crime lord after us. Just what we needed."

  Ethan looked over at the shattered window, where the far-off light of the Black Market still burned.

  "This isn't over," he whispered.

  Jax patted his shoulder. "Not by a long shot."