The drive north didn't take long, but no one seemed to speak the entire way.
The trucks rolled through the dark on low beams, their engines humming like two hearts that didn't want to beat. The sky was gray at the edges now, clouds curdling over what used to be a city.
When they finally turned off the main road, they drove up the entrance of a neighborhood that looked normal, well almost.
Streetlights flickered weakly, a few still clinging to backup power. God knows how. A child's bike layed on its side in a driveway, its chain rusting orange. Someone's mailbox had been ripped in half.
Dev jokingly said, "well I'm sure they are glad it's Sunday, as an attempt to fill the void."
There seemed to be blood everywhere. Either smeared across doorways. windshields, or the pavement in long dragging trails that seemed to lead nowhere.
But there were no bodies.
That's the worse part Chris echoed in his own mind as he slowed the truck to a stop. "Here's good enough."
Jess leaned out the window, scanning both sides of the street. "Feels wrong."
"Everything does lately," Chris said. Turning off the truck. "We check one house, lock it down for the night, and then move at dawn."
Elara pointed to a single-story home with the porch light flickering dimly. "That one looks sturdy."
Dev snorted. "So did the last one Valez walked into."
Jess shot him a glare. "Enough."
Chris got out first, rifle raised, scanning the roofs. The neighborhood was dead quiet. No insects. No wind. Just the faint hum of power lines that shouldn't have been working anymore.
They approached the porch slow, their boots slapping against concrete. The front door hung open a few inches. Inside, darkness seemed to be waiting.
"Jess, left. Dev, right," Chris ordered. "Elara just , stay close."
The smell hit them as soon as they stepped inside: copper, rot, and the stagnant smell of when a pet comes inside.
The living room looked like it had exploded. Furniture overturned, glass glittering across the floor. A lamp still buzzed faintly from a cracked bulb.
The wall beside the hallway bore deep gouges , five-pronged, uneven. Too wide for human fingers.
Jess swept her flashlight over them, frowning. "Those aren't from anything we know of."
"No, they are not which honestly pisses me off" Chris said. "They're from something that dragged its way through here."
Dev moved toward the kitchen door. "Or someone."
He didn't get to finish.
The sound came from under the floor, a deep, low growl that vibrated through the boards.
Chris spun toward the sound. "Positions."
The the floorboards in the hallway buckled.
A massive shape burst through the drywall, hitting Dev like a freight train. He slammed into the kitchen counter, his pistol flying from his hand.
The thing that came with him was fast, too fast for its size. It seemed to be a dog twisted wrong, chest wide, ribs pushing out through half-missing fur. Its eyes were milk white. Its jaw hung open too far.
"Fuck!" Jess shouted.
Chris raised his rifle and fired once, the bullet punching through its shoulder. The beast barely seemed to notice. It lunged again. Jess stepped sideways, and swung the wrench full force into its skull. Its skull seemed to crack cracked, and finally stopped moving.
"Two more!" Elara screamed from behind the couch.
The front window exploded. Another one crashed through the frame, claws skidding on the tile. Dev scrambled for his pistol, firing upward, the bullet seemed to hit its head. The beast went down, twitched once, and then stopped.
"Door!" Elara yelled.
The third creature hit the front door so hard the hinges screamed. It burst inward in a rain of splinters, teeth flashing. Chris fired point-blank, the muzzle flashed lighting up its face. Showing black veins pulsing under skin. The bullet tore through its throat, blood spraying the wall.
The doorframe cracked, with the thing slumped halfway through it, twitching until Jess drove her wrench down into its spine.
Silence hit hard.
The only sound left was panting, theirs.
Dev leaned on the counter, hand shaking. "What the fuck were those?"
Chris moved closer, crouching by the nearest corpse. Up close, the details made his stomach twist. The fur had fallen out in clumps, revealing layers of leathery, stretched skin. The jaws had split near the hinge like something had forced the skull wider.
"Dogs," he said quietly. "They were dogs."
Elara stared. "How do you know?"
He pointed to a half-melted collar still clinging to one's neck. The tag read bubbles.
Jess cursed under her breath. "Someone's pet."
Chris stood. "Drag them outside. If there's more, the smell'll bring them in."
Dev didn't argue. None of them did. They grabbed the legs, hauled the heavy bodies out one by one, dumping them into the street. Each thud echoed down the block. When the last one was gone, Chris shut the ruined door as best he could.
"Not staying here," he said. "Blood's fresh."
Jess nodded. "Next house over. One with the broken fence. Looks intact."
They moved quick. The next house had a shattered front window but less damage inside. A few dark stains, some overturned furniture. No growls. No tracks. Just quiet.
Chris cleared the bedrooms, the bathroom, the garage, it's empty. "We are good."
Jess checked the gas stove. "Still pressure in the line. Could cook if we had the stomach for it."
"No cooking," Chris said. "Smell travels, and if we are facing a pack of mutated dogs, it's just not the brightest idea."
They settled in the living room, pulling what furniture they could to block the windows. Jess found a candle stub and set it on the counter. Its small flame flickered weakly, throwing shadows over their faces.
Dev sat down hard near the wall, his pistol in his lap. "I keep seeing him," he said suddenly. "Valez. Just standing there. I blink and he's gone."
Jess looked up. "You think you're the only one seeing ghosts?"
Chris didn't speak. He just looked out the window, at the blood on the street where the bodies lay.
Elara's voice came soft. "They were eating, but not meat, the bones around them seemed to of been hollowed out as if missing its marrow."
Dev muttered, "I hate that you notice stuff like that."
"Someone has to," she quickly replied.
Chris finally turned back to them. "Check your XP before we crash. I hope everyone's got enough for a skill or two."
Jess gave a tired half-smile. "Guess we're leveling up, huh?"
"Hopefully," Chris said.
Elara nodded. "Agreed. We'll need all the information possible"
They fell into a strained silence. The candle burned lower. The flicker turned the blood stains into moving shadows.
Jess leaned against the couch, wrench across her knees. Dev leaned back against the wall, eyes half-closed, the pistol still in his hand. Elara sat cross-legged with the case in her lap, staring at the flame.
Chris took the first watch, rifle across his knees, eyes fixed on the window.
Outside, the wind stirred trash in the street. One of the dead dogs seemed to twitch as air passed through its torn chest cavity.
Chris didn't move, didn't blink. The shard under his skin pulsed once, faint and blue, like it was listening too.
He whispered without thinking, "Just let them sleep."
The light from the candle seemed to flicker once, and then steadied.