Ash drifted through the air like falling snow.
The last glow of the quarry fires painted the sky orange behind them.
Ahead, the land stretched out in broken ridges and black sand — the wasteland, silent and endless.
Terry's HUD flickered faintly over his vision, the system adjusting to the new stage of darkness.
[Host: Terry Holt ]
Level: 7 (+ 4)
EXP: 325 / 400
Stage 2 - Dominion
Health - 160
Stamina - 140
Strength - 14
Endurance - 11
Perception: 10
Instinct: 12
Energy: 9 / 10 (+1)
Recharge Rate: +1 / hour (at rest)
He blinked the display away. The light in his eyes dimmed, but the hum behind his ribs stayed; a low vibration that matched the rhythm of his steps.
The quarry was a dull roar now, far behind them. The Sanctified's prayers had become faint echoes carried by the wind.
The earth looked wrong.
Patches of glass shimmered where the dirt had fused under old bombardments.
Black veins of metal cut through the sand, pulsing faintly with blue light. The remnants of the old world's machines buried deep below.
Every step stirred faint static in the air.
Clara wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. "You sure this is the right direction?"
"Away from them," Terry said.
Mason stumbled slightly, catching his balance. He was pale under the moonlight, his veins still faintly luminous.
"You'll get used to it," Terry said.
"Used to what?"
"The hum," Terry answered. "Once it's in you, it never really stops."
Mason looked down at his hands. His claws were gone, but the light still pulsed under his skin, faint and steady.
"Feels like a heartbeat," he said quietly.
"It is," Terry said. "Just not yours anymore."
————————————————————
The wind shifted. A faint metallic tone rippled through the air like a single string plucked far away. Terry stopped. Mason froze a heartbeat later, copying his stance without thinking.
Clara glanced between them. "What is it?"
"Not sure," Terry said. "But I heard it."
He focused, letting the instinct rise. The faint glow spread through his eyes again.
System Message:
Skill ready.
Alpha's call.
The world changed tone. The sound stretching thin, vibration guiding him forward. He could feel Mason's energy like a tether, faint but real, anchored in his chest. When Mason's heartbeat sped up, he felt it. When Mason exhaled, Terry's lungs adjusted automatically.
Clara saw his expression. "You can feel him, can't you?"
"Yeah," he said. "And more than that. I can calm him down if I have to."
Mason exhaled, shaky. "Guess I don't get to hide anything anymore."
Terry's mouth twitched in a half-smile. "You never did."
————————————————————
They reached a ridge overlooking a valley of burned structures. Old shipping containers and the metal frames of collapsed homes.
From this height, the world looked hollow.
Clara pointed. "Lights. Down there."
Terry's gaze sharpened.
Through the haze, faint beams of white light moved across the sand in precise formation. Sanctified drones. Each one carried the black spear insignia painted on its side.
System Warning:
Pursuers detected.
Distance - 2 km and closing.
"They're tracking us," Clara whispered.
"No," Terry said. "They're tracking me."
He crouched, running his hand over the ash-covered ground. It was still warm from earlier blasts.
"They'll scan for body heat. Movement."
Mason looked uneasy. "We can't outrun drones."
"We don't," Terry said. "We go quiet."
He gestured for them to follow him into the wreckage below.
They found an old shipping bay buried under twisted girders. Half-collapsed, half-buried but intact enough to hide them.
The air inside was still, thick with rust and dust. Faded warning signs hung crooked on the walls:
HAZARDOUS MATERIAL STORAGE
DO NOT ENTER
Mason dropped to the ground, breathing hard. "Feels like I've been running for days."
Terry crouched near the door, scanning the horizon through a narrow slit of light. "You're running on new fuel," he said. "Takes time to balance out."
System Message:
Energy: +1
Energy: 10 / 10
He felt the faint pulse of renewal run through him. A low spark in his veins.
"That's better," he muttered.
Clara gave him a wary look. "You talk to that thing, more and more. Almost as if it's alive."
"Maybe it is," he said. "Maybe it's part of me now."
———————————————————
For a long while, the only sound was wind through broken steel. Mason leaned against the wall, watching his own hands as faint sparks ran across his skin.
"You think this… link means I'll start hearing it too?"
Terry shook his head. "No. You don't have a system. You just get the pull. The instincts."
"And if I don't want it?"
Terry's gaze didn't move from the window. "Doesn't matter. You've already got it. Hate me later if you must, but I wasn't going to let you die."
Clara sat a few feet away, her knees pulled to her chest. "So what happens now?"
Terry finally looked at her. "We get stronger. Find others. And stay ahead of them."
System Message:
Quest updated.
Defy the Sanctified. Avoid goal.
Option quest. Grow your pack.
The screen faded.
Outside, the drone lights moved closer through the valley. Terry's eyes narrowed. "They're spreading out."
"What do we do?" Mason asked.
"We wait," Terry said. "Then we move. When they pass, we head east."
He exhaled slowly, gaze fixed on the horizon. The hum in his chest matched the slow rhythm of Mason's heart beside him; one pulse shared between two bodies.
————————————————————
The wind outside had softened. The drones' distant hum faded into the night, leaving only the faint creak of the metal shell around them.
Inside, the three of them sat in the dark. The fire from the quarry was a dim orange glow on the horizon, barely reaching this far.
Mason broke the silence first.
"How long?"
Terry looked up. "What?"
"How long have you known?" Mason's voice was low, rough. "That something was wrong. That you were changing."
Terry thought for a moment before answering.
"Since the dig. Since the first tremor, when I found that weird item in the dirt."
Mason's jaw tightened. "And you didn't think to tell me?"
"That I woke up hungry for things that shouldn't even sound like food? That my bones itched when the moon came up? That sometimes I could hear the dirt under my boots breathing back?"
Mason's fists tightened. "You should've told me anyway."
"And what would you have done?" Terry asked quietly. "You'd have gone to Vargas. Or Mercer. Tried to save me. They'd have buried me before I could figure out what this was."
Mason's anger cracked at the edges. His voice fell. "You were my best friend. I could've helped."
Terry met his eyes. "You still can."
The silence stretched again, heavy, but not empty.
Clara's voice broke it, soft and careful. "You make it sound like it isn't a curse."
Terry looked at her. "It's not. It's change. Maybe evolution."
"That's what the Sanctified said about the Plague," she murmured.
"Then maybe they were half right," he said. "They just didn't like what came after."
She studied him for a long moment. "When you touched Mason, when he changed, I thought you killed him."
Terry shook his head. "He was slipping under. I just pulled him back."
"Pulled him back?"
"It's like there's a thread between us now," he said. "I can feel his heartbeat if I focus. Calm it if I need to."
Mason's gaze flicked up, uneasy. "Didn't ask for that."
"Neither did I," Terry said. "But it's there." The wind outside sighed through the cracks.
Clara's arms tightened around her knees. "You think there are others like you?"
"There were," Terry said. "Before the Plague, before the purges. Maybe some still hiding. Maybe the system's trying to find them again."
"By making more?" she asked.
He didn't answer.
Mason's voice came low. "If it is, what happens when it gets enough?"
Terry stared into the dark. "Then we stop being hunted."