The Ground Trembled.Kael felt it through the soles of his feet, a low, bone-rattling vibration that spread upward, curling around his ribs like a vice. The facility shuddered with it, steel walls groaning under the strain of something vast—something awakening. The air itself seemed to shift, thickening, humming with unseen energy. A pulse. A presence.Something ancient. Something wrong.And yet—The Director didn’t move.He stood perfectly still, hands clasped behind his back, his tailored suit unruffled, his expression unreadable. Not a man caught in a disaster, not a scientist witnessing an accident—no. He was watching something unfold. Something planned.Kael’s breathing was ragged, every breath burning in his throat. His body still screamed from the torment of the machine, nerves raw, muscles trembling from the aftershocks of the electrical assault. Pain clawed at him, but he ignored it. Pain was familiar.Pain meant he was still alive.And rage—rage was what kept him moving.He

The Room Was a Storm of Chaos.Kael’s breath came in sharp, ragged gasps as he yanked against the restraints still half-clinging to his arms. His muscles screamed in protest, his body weakened and trembling from the torment of the machine, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t care.He had to move. He had to stop this.The facility shook violently around him. Alarms blared in deafening, overlapping sirens, their urgent shrieks cutting through the thick, suffocating air. The overhead lights flickered erratically, casting jagged shadows across the room. The entire structure groaned beneath them, metal twisting and straining under the pressure of something immense.Something awakening.Kael forced his sluggish limbs to obey, pushing through the haze of pain clouding his mind. His vision blurred, his nerves still raw from the electrical assault that had nearly ripped him apart.But then—A hand slammed against his chest.Hard.A solid wall of strength stopping him dead in his tracks.Kael’s bre

The Countdown Blazed Red on the Screen, Ticking Down at a Relentless Pace.Selene’s fingers flew over the keyboard, her pulse hammering in her ears. Every keystroke sent a fresh wave of panic through her body. She couldn’t afford to mess up—not now, not when time was slipping through their fingers like sand in a storm.5:42… 5:41… 5:40…Lines of code flashed in front of her, shifting, warping, rewriting themselves before she could get a hold of them. Fighting back.It was learning.Adapting.Every path she tried to break through sealed itself shut the moment she got close.Like a snake slithering through her hands.Mocking her.“This—this doesn’t make sense,” she muttered, her brows furrowing.“It doesn’t have to,” Marcus growled behind her. “Just break through.”A snarl—low, guttural, too close.Then—Gunfire.Selene barely flinched as Marcus planted a bullet into the skull of the monstrous creature lunging toward him.The thing collapsed, its body twitching in unnatural spasms as it

They Were Never Meant to LeaveThe ground trembled beneath them, a violent, shuddering quake that sent cracks spiderwebbing across the concrete floor. Overhead, fluorescent lights flickered wildly, casting erratic, twisting shadows against the ruined walls of the facility. Some of the bulbs shattered, their glass raining down like jagged tears, the smell of burning wires thick in the air.And above them—The sky tore open.It wasn’t natural.It wasn’t a storm.It was a wound, a gaping rift in the fabric of the world itself. Clouds churned in a vortex around the rupture, but inside—inside was something else. Not darkness. Not light. Something vast. Something that pulsed, shifting with colors that didn’t exist in any spectrum known to man.Selene’s breath hitched.Her hands trembled as her screen erupted in chaos, alarms blaring through her earpiece, lines of corrupted code cascading across her interface. The screen flickered wildly, systems failing one by one, as if reality itself had

Gunfire erupted.It was instinct, pure and unfiltered.Pamela and Marcus didn’t hesitate. Their weapons sang in a deadly chorus, bullets slicing through the air, burning hot streaks of vengeance aimed directly at the unknown.Their movements were precise, trained, battle-hardened. They had fought countless battles, survived through sheer force of will and relentless skill.And yet—Something was wrong.The creatures—the things that had descended from the sky—stood unmoving.Not dodging.Not flinching.Not fighting back.Pamela’s heart pounded, adrenaline coursing through her veins like fire. But beneath the chaos, beneath the sharp, rhythmic pull of her trigger, a slow, cold dread was creeping in.She had been in too many battles, had watched too many enemies crumble, had seen the raw destruction that bullets could cause.This was different.Her mind screamed that something wasn’t right.Her body didn’t care.She reloaded. Hands steady, movements seamless. Years of training told her n