The Silent Uprising. Rise of the Deceiver, #1

The sun had barely risen over Sector Seven, and already the airfelt thick, heavy with fear. A dull gray haze clung to the streets, as if the city itself were holding its breath, waiting. I huggedmy backpack closer, shoulders tight, each step echoing off theconcrete buildings. My stomach churned, a warning I couldn'tignore. I passed the usual gray-clad students, their faces blank, ex-pressions hollow.
Nobody smiled anymore. Nobody dared. Weall walked like ghosts, heads down, avoiding attention. Butthat morning, something different hung in the air. Whispersslithered along the walls, something sharp and dangerous. Something that smelled like death. And then I saw it. A classmate-Taren Hale-was being pulled from the line. Notgently, not with warnings. The Dominion Enforcers movedlike shadows with precision, armored boots clanging against