The classroom was quiet at dawn.
The soft buzz of solar heaters hummed in the background. Marcel snored faintly in his sleep. Percy rolled off his beanbag with a grunt and clambered onto Charles's lap like it was his personal perch.
Anna didn't sleep.
She sat near the window, watching the sun rise between crumbled rooftops, a tablet flickering in her hand. The files from the vault were encrypted with something far beyond standard protocol.
Even Charles hadn't been able to crack them completely.
But there was one word—one phrase—that appeared again and again across every terminal:
"Protocol Aether – Sleepers of the First Light"
Mission Planning
"We go to Site 09 first," Arthur said, tapping the coordinates on their new map board. "If we follow this route along the railway ruins, we can avoid the sinkhole zones."
"There's a storm building near the south cliffs," Gwen added, frowning at the data feed. "Charles says lightning storms are different now. Mutated. The wrong strike could fry more than our car."
Charles nodded from the corner, arms crossed. "We need to travel during the daytime. Nights are too unpredictable. And if we run into scouts or scavvers, don't engage. Just vanish."
Anna was reviewing the files, her expression unreadable. "There's something strange about these protocols. It's like… the pods we found weren't designed to keep people just asleep. They were designed to keep them protected from something outside."
"Like what?" Annabelle asked.
Anna slowly raised her gaze.
"I think... they were preparing us for something bigger. Something only the 'Rested' were meant to survive."
On the Road Again
They packed everything carefully.
The solar panels were folded and re-attached to the truck's roof. Food was divided between Anna's space and their real-world packs. The tiger pod remained in the base for now—secure and safe—until they returned.
Marcel now wore a leather harness Charles had helped upgrade, complete with pouch pockets and a saddle seat. Anna climbed into place like it was second nature.
Percy rode in the truck bed beside Penelope, still wearing a bow Gwen had somehow crafted from scrap fabric.
"I give it two hours before that cub destroys it," Arthur muttered.
"Bet you two cans of peaches he keeps it for the whole ride," Gwen shot back, grinning.
Annabelle took the passenger seat. Charles drove.
The old highway shimmered under the sun, vines crawling through cracks in the pavement. Sometimes they passed wreckage—cars long abandoned, buildings crumbled like bones—but the world was eerily quiet. Nature had reclaimed most of it.
But something else had too.
The Enemy in the Storm
It began as a whisper.
Static through Charles's lightning sensors.
Then thunder.
Then shadows on the horizon—figures too fast to be on foot, but too wild to be human.
Drones? Mutated beasts?
No.
People.
Hunters.
A rogue faction—half scavenger, half cult. Armed with corrupted tech and dangerous powers. One of them wore a mask of charred bone. Another floated, hovering an inch off the ground, their eyes hollow and flickering with neon light.
"We've got company," Gwen called out.
"We can outrun them," Charles said quickly.
But Anna shook her head. "They're herding us. They want to box us in."
"How do you know?" Arthur asked.
She didn't answer.
She just knew.
Fight for the Future
The truck swerved into a canyon route as the hunters closed in. Charles slammed the brakes as their path was blocked by falling debris—a trap.
Anna vaulted off Marcel in a blur of motion.
"Defensive circle—now!"
She expanded her Spatial Shields, creating glowing hexagonal walls around their team. Gwen darted up the canyon wall, dual blades drawn. Arthur summoned a column of stone to crush an incoming bike. Penelope unleashed a torrent of frost, freezing two of the enemies in mid-lunge.
But they kept coming.
A masked woman fired barbed wires crackling with energy at Anna, but she twisted space—turning the attack back on her, binding her own limbs.
Annabelle's vines tore through the earth, dragging another enemy underground.
Then came the real danger.
The floating hunter raised a staff—and dark lightning tore through the canyon, aiming straight for Charles.
Anna stepped in front of him, shield up.
The impact exploded against her barrier—but for the first time, she staggered.
Charles caught her just as her knees buckled. His own hands lit with white-blue light as his lightning surged forward, blasting the hunter back through a rock wall.
"You're not touching her," Charles growled.
Anna blinked up at him, breathless.
And smiled.
Aftermath
The canyon was quiet again.
The last of the hunters fled into the distance, disappearing in black smoke. Marcel dragged a broken drone carcass to Arthur's feet like a trophy, tail swishing. Percy sat proudly beside Gwen, chewing on someone's shoe.
They were bruised. Bloodied. But alive.
They set up temporary shelter beneath a stone outcrop, letting Anna rest while the others stood watch.
Charles sat beside her, gently adjusting the bandage on her hand.
"You really weren't going to let them take me," she said, softly.
He didn't look at her—just focused on wrapping the gauze.
"I don't let people I care about get hurt."
Anna watched him quietly. "You care?"
He finally met her gaze—electric blue locking with starlit grey.
"Too much."
Something Awakened
That night, as they slept in shifts, Anna opened the encrypted file again.
The message that displayed was short.
But it chilled her to the core.
Protocol Aether Status: Activated
Rested Awakening Phase One Complete.
Subjects: 4/5000
Alert: Site 01–Prime has breached containment.
"The First Light returns. Prepare the world."
Anna closed the tablet, heart pounding.
Because if they were only four of five thousand...
Then who else was waking up?
And who—or what—was already waiting for them?