Jared hit the pavement first. Eyes searching, breath sharp in his chest. A flash of white at the far edge of the lot. Fulbert. His coat a streak, frantic, vanishing around the corner.

Jared pointed. “There!”

Adrian was already moving. “Go!”

Fulbert ran, faster than Jared expected. Desperation in every awkward stride. Something clutched in his left hand, pressed hard to his chest. The tracking device. His lifeline.

Cars rushed past, horns blaring. Fulbert darted through, reckless. Jared followed, body moving on instinct. The Dark stretched inside him, sharpening everything. Sight, sound, the pounding of his heart. Adrian close behind, lighter than he should be with the weight of the medical kit.

“Jared,” Adrian warned breathlessly, “don’t tap into the Dark.”

“I’m not,” Jared snapped.

The Dark’s whisper contradicted him. “Let me hunt,” it howled.

He ignored it.

Fulbert stumbled onto the curb, almost falling. He paused, just for a breath, glancing back. Glasses crooked. Sweat slicked his hair to his forehead.

“Stay away!” he shouted, voice cracking. “You have no idea what you’re getting into!”

Jared’s jaw tightened. “Then enlighten us!”

But Fulbert didn’t answer. He turned and bolted down a narrow alley between two industrial buildings.

Adrian swore. “Great. Because dark alleys always go well.”

They followed anyway.

Damp concrete. Stale oil. The alley stank, thick in their throats. Trash cans pressed against the walls, some overturned, spilling rot. Flies buzzing. Something scuttled under a rusted dumpster. Adrian flinched.

“Why are alleys always like this?” Adrian muttered.

Fulbert broke free at the far end, vanishing into another block. Warehouses. Loading docks. Shipping yards. Urban decay, sprawling toward the river.

Jared felt the Dark pulse with interest. Something familiar. Something near. He forced his breathing into a steady rhythm. Not now. Not yet.

A distant rumble. Freight train on raised tracks. The ground trembled beneath their feet.

Fulbert ran along a chain-link fence, then suddenly veered off toward a concrete drainage channel sloping downward into the earth. The storm sewer.

Adrian slowed as he reached Jared’s side. “He’s heading underground. He must know where...” He let the words trail off, panting.

“Where the creatures are,” Jared finished grimly.

Fulbert looked back again. Terror in his eyes, raw and blinding. Not just fear for his life. Fear of the creatures. Fear of what he had made.

But beneath all that was something else. Determination. Resolve.

“He’s not running from us,” Jared said. “He’s running to them.”

Adrian inhaled sharply. “Why?”

Jared didn’t know. But the Dark hummed, low and anticipatory. “Because they are calling,” the Dark explained.

Fulbert reached the edge of the drainage tunnel. Concrete mouth, wide and gaping, swallowing light. Water trickled from deep inside, the sound echoing out. A whisper from the dark.

He hesitated at the threshold, clutching the tracking device to his chest. Then he disappeared inside.

Adrian skidded to a stop at the entrance, breathing hard. “We can’t just go in blind.”

“No,” Jared agreed. “We can’t.”

He stepped closer, peering into the black. The tunnel devoured light, nothing left after a few feet. Darkness pressed in, thick, almost solid. Suffocating.

And yet the Dark inside him tasted it eagerly. “Yes. Yes. Down.” It pulsed beneath Jared’s ribs. Slow. Heavy. Each wave pressing outward.

Adrian caught the subtle shift in Jared’s posture. “Hey,” he said sharply. “Eyes on me.”

Jared blinked, tearing his gaze away. Adrian’s face brought him back. Always did. Concern lined his features, but behind it was something warm. Grounding. Steady.

“You with me?” Adrian pressed.  

Jared nodded. “Yeah. I’m here.”

Adrian squeezed his arm. “Good. Because the creatures are down there, and Fulbert is going to get himself killed. Or worse.”

“A man like him always thinks he can fix his mistakes before anyone else sees,” Jared said. “But this mistake isn’t small. And it’s not forgiving.”

Adrian looked at the dark tunnel again and swallowed. “We should call for backup.”

Jared nodded, but the moment Adrian reached for his phone, static crackled through the tunnel, loud enough to startle them both.

A moment later, Fulbert’s voice echoed faintly from somewhere deep inside.

“Help! They...they know I’m here...”

The scream that followed wasn’t human.

Adrian froze. “Oh god.”

Jared stepped forward before thinking. The Dark surged, eager. Adrian grabbed his jacket sleeve, holding him back.

“Jared, wait! We can’t just run in there. We need light.”   

Jared growled. His eyes flashed with darkness. Jared pulled on the Dark and let it trail down his arms, summoning it into his palms where two bright orbs of light blossomed.

“Okay,” Adrian said, forcing a deep breath. “Let’s go get him.”

They stepped into the storm sewer.

The air shifted. Cold. Wet. Stale with rot. Water dripped from pipes overhead. Footsteps echoed, too loud, bouncing off stone. The tunnel sloped down, drawing them deeper, earth closing in.

The orbs of light sliced the dark, thin arcs of safety. Beyond that, blackness swallowed everything.

Jared’s senses sharpened, every nerve awake. The Dark inside him, alert, waiting. Like a hound scenting blood.

Adrian kept pace beside him, shoulders tight. “I hate this. I hate this so much.”

“You and me both.”

“That’s a lie,” Adrian muttered. “You love this shit.”

Jared didn’t argue. He couldn’t.

A sound drifted through the tunnel. A faint, metallic tapping. Jared stopped. Adrian nearly bumped into him.

“What?” Adrian whispered.

Jared lifted a hand. Listened. Tap. Tap-tap. Scrape. Not regular. Not random. Intentional.

The hairs on Jared’s arms stood on end. “They’re close.”

Adrian’s eyes widened. “Already?”

“They’re fast,” Jared whispered.

“And smart,” Adrian whispered.

Jared’s grip tightened on his pistol. Water swirled around their boots, cold and rising. They pressed on.

Another scream echoed, Fulbert’s. Closer now, muffled by the twisting tunnels. He wasn’t far.

They rounded a sharp corner and entered a wider chamber where multiple drainage pipes converged. A shallow stream cut across the floor, reflecting faint glimmers of light. Rusted catwalks lined one wall. Broken pipes jutted from the ceiling like jagged teeth.

Fulbert lurched into view at the far end. He slipped, hands flailing, barely catching himself before scrambling back on all fours.

“Stay away!” Fulbert cried when he saw Jared and Adrian. “Don’t come any closer!”

Adrian frowned. “Fulbert, we’re literally here to save you.”

But Fulbert wasn’t looking at them.

He was looking behind them.

Jared turned slowly.

A shape slid from the darkness. Sleek, reptilian, clinging to the wall. Nightmare made flesh. Sinew and instinct. Scales shimmered, oily and iridescent. Eyes glowing, slit pupils narrowing, fixed on Jared. And then another creature crawled out from the shadows on the opposite wall. And another, emerging from a broken pipe overhead. Three in total. A pack.

Adrian inhaled sharply. “Oh god.”

Jared didn’t move.

The Dark poured through him. Recognition, sharp enough to hurt. “They are kin,” the Dark said. Twisted. Corrupted. But kin.

“No,” Jared hissed under his breath. “Don’t you dare.”

The creatures clicked to one another. Sharp, rhythmic sounds that echoed off the wet stone. A language. A strategy. And they were coordinating around the perimeter of the chamber, circling.

Fulbert sobbed. “I tried to fix it. I tried to stop them. But the Dark. It woke them. It made them aware. It made them more.”

Adrian dragged Fulbert backward toward the wall while keeping his eyes on the nearest creature.

Fulbert shook his head violently. “Not animals. Not machines. Not what we made. Something else. Something that thinks. That plans. The Dark gave them a mind.”

Jared swallowed hard. “Why are they here?”

Fulbert pointed a shaking hand at the tracking device clutched to his chest. “It’s me. They’re following me. The implants. When they destroyed them, I thought… I thought maybe this could help me find them. But no. They can feel it. They can feel me.”

One creature lowered itself into a crouching stance, tail flicking.

Jared raised his free hand toward Adrian without looking. “Stay behind me.”

Adrian obeyed instantly, pulling Fulbert to the far wall. “What are you doing?”

Jared didn’t answer. He stepped forward instead. The creatures’ eyes snapped toward him in eerie unison.

Adrian’s voice rose behind him, tight with fear. “Jared, no.”

Jared kept moving. “They’re focused on the tracker. But they’ve also been watching me. Sensing me.”

“Because of the Dark?” Adrian whispered.

“Yeah.”

One creature crept closer, claws scraping faintly across stone. Its gaze was locked onto Jared. Curious, calculating.

Jared lowered his voice. “Adrian, keep Fulbert alive. Whatever happens.”

“Jared...” Adrian stared at his back.

“Promise me.”

Adrian swallowed hard. “Yeah. I promise.”

A low growl reverberated through the chamber. The nearest creature’s chest expanded, scales rippling, breath steaming in the cold air. It lunged.

Jared met it head-on.

Claws raked across Jared’s forearm. Pain flared, bright and hot. The Dark swallowed it, made it fuel. Jared slammed his shoulder into the creature’s ribs, knocking it aside. It twisted, landing on its feet, too quick, too fluid.

Another creature pounced from the left. Jared ducked, rolling across the wet stone as claws raked sparks above him. He pivoted and kicked up, catching the creature under the jaw.

The third creature made no move. It simply watched. Studied. Learning.

Jared staggered upright. Water dripped from his skin. Chest heaving. The Dark surged, violent, clawing up through him. A beast inside a cage. “Let me out. Let me out. Let me out!” the Dark screamed.

“No!” Jared snarled through clenched teeth.

The creatures responded to the sound. Heads snapping toward him as though recognizing something in the tone, in the resonance.

Adrian dragged Fulbert behind a rusted support beam. “Jared!”

Jared hit the nearest creature in the snout with his pistol as it lunged again. Blood spattered the stone. The creature hissed and took a step back, shaking its head.

A glimmer of thought flickered in its eyes. Jared felt the Dark surge again, sharper this time. Hungry, thrilled, delighted. “They know us. They are ours.”

“No,” Jared whispered, breath trembling. “They’re not.”

The creature that had been watching the whole time finally stepped forward. Its scales shimmered. Its eyes bore into Jared’s with eerie intelligence.

Adrian’s voice cracked. “Jared, what is it doing?”

“I think…” Jared swallowed hard. “I think it’s studying me.”

The creature tilted its head. Then it made a sound. A single, sharp click. The other two responded instantly. They lunged together. Jared barely had time to react. He dove left, slamming one creature into the stone wall. Its claws tore through his jacket, gashing his shoulder. Pain flared, white-hot.

Adrian fired his pistol at one of the creatures. Fulbert screamed. The creatures recoiled instinctively from the shot, and for the first time, Jared saw something behind the violence. Fear. Not fear of the gun. Fear of Jared.

The Dark swelled, triumphant. It seeped out of his skin and coated him in a fine mist of shadow.

Jared staggered, hand pressed hard to his chest. As if he could force the Dark down, hold it inside. “Shut up,” he hissed.

Adrian’s voice reached him through the haze. “Jared! We need to move! Now!”

The creatures backed away, clicking in distress to one another. Disoriented, confused by Jared and the Dark spilling into the space, by the sudden shift in dominance.

Jared took the opening. “Adrian, grab Fulbert. Go!”

Adrian hauled Fulbert to his feet. Fulbert stumbled, sobbing incoherently. Jared stepped backward slowly, keeping his orbs of light bobbing around the creatures. They stayed still, but their eyes never left him.

Adrian reached the tunnel opening on the far side of the chamber. “Jared, come on!”

Jared hesitated for a heartbeat. The creatures mirrored his movement. Studying. Waiting. Learning. Jared forced his feet to move, backing toward the tunnel. When he finally crossed the threshold into the darkness of the branching sewer, the creatures didn’t follow. They just stared. And the clicking stopped.

Adrian grabbed Jared’s sleeve and yanked him away from the chamber. “Run.”

They did.

Rushing water filled the tunnels as they fled, concrete walls closing in. Fulbert wheezed and trembled between them. Blood ran down Jared’s arm, warm and steady. Each pulse of pain a reminder: too slow, too weak, not enough.

The Dark whispered, “They feared you. They followed you. They mirrored you.”

Outside, daylight blinded them as they finally burst out of the storm sewer. Fulbert collapsed onto the pavement, sobbing, clutching the tracking device as though it were the last anchor to reality he had left.

Adrian bent over, hands on his knees, panting hard. “Jared, are you okay?”

Jared wiped blood from his chin. “I’m fine.”

It was a lie. Adrian knew it. But he let it slide, for now.

Fulbert stared up at them, eyes hollow. “Do you understand now?” he rasped. “Do you see what the Dark did? It woke them. It changed them. They weren’t meant to think.”

Jared looked at him silently.

Fulbert’s shoulders shook. “The Dark gave them a mind.”

And what has the Dark given to Jared?

Jared shuddered violently.

Adrian took his arm, steadying him. “Hey. Look at me.”

Jared met his eyes.

Adrian whispered, “We’re still in this together. No matter what the Dark is doing.”

Jared swallowed tightly, nodding once. But as the sirens approached in the distance, echoing through the industrial fields, Jared couldn’t shake the look in the creatures’ eyes.

Recognition. Intelligence. Fear. And something disturbingly like… respect.

Red and blue bled across the field, staining the metal and dirt. Tires screamed, then silence. The officers poured out, weapons trembling in their hands, eyes searching for what might still be lurking. Fulbert remained on his knees, clutching the device to his chest as if it could keep his heart from shattering. His breath stuttered, each inhale jagged, each exhale a sob that would not finish.

Adrian moved first, cutting through the threat of shouted orders before they could form. A barrier, or maybe a shield.

“He’s unarmed,” Adrian said, lifting one hand calmly. “Dr. Arthur Fulbert. He’s responsible for the killings. He has information you’ll need.”

Two officers circled, hands twitching near the restraints. Fulbert offered no fight. His palms opened, empty, fingers shivering as if the cold had finally found him.

“They’ll kill us,” Fulbert rasped. “All of us. You don’t understand. They think.” His voice splintered. “They think.”

One of the officers grabbed him by the arm and hauled him to his feet.

Jared watched, silent. The stains on his coat had dried, but the Dark pressed against his ribs, insistent, hungry. His pulse stuttered, refusing to settle after the chase. The memory of their eyes clung to him. Too bright, too knowing, not meant for this world.

The officer closest to him hesitated. “Do you need medical?”

“No,” Jared said.

Adrian’s eyes found him, that quick, measuring look Jared had learned to shrink from. Not tonight. Not after the Dark’s hunger in the tunnels, not after what it had shown him.

Fulbert screamed once when the restraints clicked shut, twisting as though expecting claws at his back. The officers forced him toward the car.

“Get him somewhere secure,” Adrian instructed. “He’s unstable but not violent. And he’s your best source on what we’re facing.”

The officer nodded and pushed Fulbert into the back of the vehicle. The door slammed.

Silence crept back over the field, broken only by the sirens’ ghost, fading into nothing.

Jared let the air out of his lungs. It did not help. The tremor stayed.

Adrian stepped closer, voice low. “They're going to contain him. For now, that’s all we can do.”

Jared nodded. The motion was hollow, a puppet’s gesture. The Dark writhed beneath his skin, restless, wanting. Somewhere below, he could feel them. Waiting, patient, eyes open in the dark.

“They’re regrouping,” Jared murmured.

Adrian studied him. “You’re sure.”

“They were holding back when they cornered us.” Jared swallowed. “They wanted me to see them. Learn them.”

“And you think they’ll come back up?”

“No,” Jared whispered. “They’re not coming up. Not now. The tunnels belong to them.” He stared at the sewer’s mouth. A wound in the earth, swallowing the last of the light. Water murmured somewhere deep inside. “If we leave them, they’ll spread. They’ll hunt further. They won’t stop.”

Adrian’s gaze followed his, silence stretching. A sigh, thin as thread, barely there.

“And you’re not going to wait for backup,” he said.

Jared shook his head.

Adrian pinched the bridge of his nose. “Of course you’re not.”

A long moment hung between them. No words, no need. Breath, memory, the weight of everything unspoken pressing in.

Then Adrian reached into his coat and pulled out a fresh power cell for his pistol, sliding it in with a sharp click.

“Fine,” he said. “But we do this on my terms. Controlled advance. No running off. No overextending.”

Jared’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t...”

“You did.” Adrian holstered the weapon and stepped close enough for Jared to feel the warmth of him. “And I’m not losing you down there.”

The Dark shifted, quiet now. Listening.

Jared lowered his gaze. “…Okay.”

Adrian’s hand brushed his arm. Steady, grounding, as always. “Good. Then let’s move before they shift further underground.”

They turned to the mouth of the tunnel. Cold air spilled out, thick with the taste of algae and rust. Inside, water echoed. Breathing, or something like it.

The Dark gathered itself, winding tight around his bones, waiting for the descent. The hunt waited, patient, somewhere below. This time, there would be no running. Only the descent.