I swallowed hard and ran another scan: the tent canvas, the cot, even the air.
SCAN — Environment
Canvas, dust, old iron — nothing unusual.
Result: Safe.
Finally, curiosity got the better of me. I turned the lens on Mason. The system hesitated, then pulsed faintly.
SCAN — Subject: Mason Hale
Condition: Tired but healthy.
Trace: Small dose of the same sedative found in camp food.
Result: Harmless.
*Note: Marked as Ally.
A strange warmth flickered through my chest. Maybe the system recognized intent — maybe it was just mimicking me. But seeing that word, Ally. It hit deeper than it should've.
The HUD dimmed. The whispers faded.
I sat back, pulse steadying.
The food wasn't food.
The guards weren't just watching.
And the system… it was starting to see everything.
I didn't know if that made me safer or just easier to control.
———————————————————
The air hit colder than I expected. Morning dust swirled in faint ribbons over the quarry floor, catching the weak sunlight like drifting ash. Workers were already gathering at the trench lines, their movements slow, automatic.
By the time I reached the ridge, the bell had already rung. Mason was down there with Jonas, Ox, and the rest, digging in silence. Vargas paced above them, barking orders. Clara stood on overwatch near the northern scaffold, rifle slung and eyes sharp, scanning the pit.
The system's pulse followed me outside. Steady, watchful.
Scanner: Ready.
I crouched and focused on the ground near my boots.
SCAN — Quarry Soil
Dry earth mixed with rust and ash.
Faint residue of oil and blood.
Result: Contaminated, but stable. Digging deeper may worsen it.
I frowned. "Blood? Out here?"
I turned toward a shovel half-buried nearby and let the Scanner flare again.
SCAN — Tool (Shovel)
Metal made on-site. The surface is covered with fine black dust like the artifact.
Result: Low-grade contamination. Active energy is faint but spreading.
The same pattern as the fragment. My gut tightened.
I scanned the nearest support beam. The one Mason had leaned on yesterday.
SCAN — Support Beam
Composition: Reinforced steel riddled with thin black lines. They move when you look too long.
Result: Infected metal. Source unknown.
The system dimmed for a beat, as if processing. Then another line appeared, slower, like a whisper typed by a trembling hand.
*Note: Pattern matches host energy.
I froze. "You mean… me?"
No reply.
The hum in my chest answered instead, deep and steady.
I swallowed hard and swept the Scanner toward the pit where Vargas's men worked. Their shovels struck stone, sending faint sparks into the air. Clara shifted on the ridge, already noticing the dust that drifted upward in thin black threads.
Vargas himself stood on the ridge, arms crossed, barking orders.
The system flickered when I focused on him.
SCAN — Subject: Captain Vargas
Heart rate high. Black dust on hands and clothes.
Result: Infected contact. Keep distance.
A chill spread through me.
*Note: If contact continues, infection may grow.
"What infection?" I whispered.
Still nothing. The system went quiet again, like it had said too much.
———————————————————
The ground shifted under my boots, just a tremor at first, so faint most wouldn't notice.
But I felt it.
The hum in my chest flared, matching the vibration beneath the dirt, like something down there had recognized me.
Dust lifted in slow spirals from the trench. A pulse rolled through the quarry walls, deep and steady, a buried heartbeat.
System Alert:
Something underground is waking up.
It's getting stronger.
My breath caught. "It's reacting to me."
A few workers stopped digging, staring at their tools as the handles began to buzz.
"Was that…?" one started, but Vargas cut him off.
"Keep working!" he barked. "You stop when I say stop!"
He was trying to sound in control, but his eyes found me on the ridge.
Then Clara shouted from her post, voice cutting through the dust. "Everyone back from the edge!"
Men dropped their shovels. She looked at Vargas, then at me. Our eyes met across the chaos. And I knew from her face that she'd seen it; the way the ground pulsed under my feet.
System Warning:
Your presence is making it stronger. Step back.
"I'm not doing anything," I whispered, backing away.
The ground lurched again, harder this time. A section of rock tore loose and crashed down the slope, sending men diving for cover.
A low rumble rolled under my feet, not stone, not machines.
A growl.
System Notice:
It's moving beneath the ground.
It's waking up.
Vargas yelled orders from above, but his voice was drowned by the deep roar rising from the pit.
Dust exploded upward. Metal groaned.
I turned and ran, boots sliding on loose gravel. The hum followed me, not just inside my chest this time, but in the air itself.
By the time I reached the tents, a black fissure had split the quarry floor, bleeding slow curls of smoke that shimmered like oil.
The virus that ended the world… everyone said it spread through air and blood. But looking at that dust rising from the pit, I wasn't so sure anymore.
What if it hadn't started with people?
What if it started with the earth?
The hum deepened inside me, like the ground was answering back.
System Message:
The earth is infected.
Host should leave this area now.
"Relocation," I muttered. "Yeah, right."
If Vargas noticed me running, he didn't show it. But Clara did. Her eyes followed me the whole way.
The ground gave another sharp jolt. Not a tremor this time, but a full-body shove that lifted me off my feet. the breath ripped from my lungs. Pebbles rained down around me.
Someone shouted my name. Clara, I think but the roar swallowed her voice.
A deep crack split the quarry floor. The sound rolled through the pit like thunder under the earth.
System Message:
Ground unstable.
Back away now.
I tried to stand, but the soil slid out from under me, pulling toward the center of the pit as if the earth itself were being swallowed.
The hum in my chest was deafening now, beating so fast it hurt.
System Warning:
Too close to source.
Something's rising.
The ridge shuddered again, a violent shiver that sent dust and tools flying.
Clara's voice broke through at last, "Terry! Move!"
I looked up just in time to see the first support beam snap, a cloud of dirt collapsing into the pit below.
The ground under me groaned and started to fall away.
… and then everything went white.