The Last City Novels & Stories

Every instinct that had kept me moving, the sheer adrenaline, the desperate hope that reaching the woods would bring safety, evaporated, leaving behind a cold, paralyzing numbness. We ran from the Keep just to end up trapped in a dying world, I thought, my throat tightening as a dark wave of helplessness washed over me. There is no rescue. There is no home to return to. Atlas slowly stepped away from the desk, his massive shoulders heavy with defeat. He ran a muddy hand down his face, dragging his fingers through his hair. "If the cities are gone, then traveling toward the highways is suicide," he said softly, his deep voice lacking its usual thunderous authority. "Any large road will be cho

It took one and half day before they arrived at the most populated city of the country—N City. N City is known for its countless trip destinations, commercial districts, residential, logistics area, and many more. People used to call this place jack of all trades, because this is a city that seems to be so complete. Everything can be seen here, and people used to love this place so much. But that was before. When the outbreak happened, this place became one of the largest cesspool of undead, just like T City.

Below us—or above us, depending on how your brain handled gravity—was a sprawling metropolis of chrome and glass, hanging like stalactites over a bottomless abyss. "Welcome to the Inverted City," I said. "Hey, Jack," Haley tugged on my sleeve, holding up her phone. "The system just sent me a notification. 'Guest Wi-Fi Connected: Ultra-High Speed.' Seriously, can I d******d a movie? I've been dying to watch sharknado 4." I looked at the ancient, majestic city, the cradle of a lost civilization, and then at Haley. "If you d******d Sharknado on the precursor network," I said deadpan, "I will feed you to the turrets."

There was no doubt anymore that something was growing between them. Kari and June stayed behind, sheltered with Nina and Ivan, protecting the base. Amalia got into the back seat of the car with Maddox and Dax. The engine roared. Rain began to fall on the windshield, as if the city itself sensed something was about to break. The old theater was waiting. And with it… the last major move before the end of the board. The road to the abandoned theater was shrouded in shadows and broken promises. The streets were empty, the city asleep, unaware of the conflict burning beneath its skin.

And as we hit the ground, I saw it. The entire city was being rewritten. The sky was turning into a giant, burning screen, and on it, there was only one word: DELETE.

Outside, the city held its breath. The final games were beginning.

"A long while." He looked up at the sky, where the last traces of the old fleet were dissolving into stardust. The war was over. The garden had begun. "Now," Richard said, taking his first step into the heart of the city, "let’s get to work." The survivor followed him, as did another, and another, until a crowd formed behind him, a river of people flowing through the transformed city, following the light that shone from the infant’s hands. "What are we building?" the survivor asked.

Her escape was a chilling promise of future conflict, a reminder that the war for the cities was far from over. As the Next Gen secured the facility, the first rays of dawn began to pierce through the smog-filled skies of Metro City, casting long, distorted shadows over the reclaimed industrial complex. The city was safe, for now. But the ghost of Peony’s ambition lingered, a silent threat waiting to resurface.

Five surface points and the sixth, all connected through the underground channel, all lit and singing in the register that the city has been waiting to sing in since the last Warden walked out of it forty years ago — The city's hum does not grow louder. It grows complete. I feel it arrive the way you feel the last note of a chord you have been hearing in fragments — the recognition of the whole, the relief of the full thing, the understanding that you have been listening to something incomplete for so long you had stopped knowing it was incomplete. This is what the city sounds like when it is itself. This is what Caldenveil was before the Hollowing and the deep thing and forty years of absen

It was a massive city with towering palaces that were 10,000 meters high. James made his way there and arrived at the open field outside the city gate. The city wall was tall, and a few ancient words were engraved onto it. “Dead City.” James read the words. After seeing the words, James was slightly taken aback. The name was familiar to him. He immediately recalled seeing a city on Earth in the distant future. It was before the Apocalypse Age and before the seal on Earth was opened. The city was carried on the back of a colossal turtle and disappeared into the void.