New Vance City

Brinemouth Exchange was once a key midline stop connecting the Waterworks’ upper filtration silos with low-sector cistern facilities. It collapsed early—just two weeks after the initial containment failures—when flood pressure from a ruptured filtration shaft forced maintenance crews to evacuate through unsealed tunnels. Shamblers poured in through the water control vents and overran the platform before Hegemony enforcers could seal it. The station remains flooded and biologically active. Filtration markers from probes indicate high bacterial density and low oxygen, but drone telemetry confirms consistent motion signatures throughout the basin. Brinemouth is now redlined and monitored, but no recovery efforts are underway.

The station floor is submerged beneath chest-high gray water, streaked with oil, algae, and rotted clothing fibers. Half a railcar rests on its side in the flooded channel, its shell breached and leaking rusted debris. Wall piping hisses occasionally, and the remaining emergency lights flicker through heavy mist. Shamblers drift silently beneath the surface, only their backs or upturned faces breaking the stillness. The turnstiles have been torn out and replaced with a twisted tangle of rebar and bone. Crates marked with Hegemony seals bob gently at the surface, some split open and leaking nutrient packs. There is no visible ceiling—the light vanishes upward into fog and condensation.