But while he was driving back to the city, a strange and unusual situation unfolded. Everything had been going smoothly, the road was calm, in fact, he was the only one on it.The radio was blasting eighties rock at full volume. But soon, Mike had to grip the wheel tightly and slam on the brakes when a flash of blinding white light illuminated the sky with overwhelming intensity.The light was so dazzling it nearly blinded him, forcing his eyes shut and making him lose control of the vehicle.The car flipped over to the side of the road, crashing among the trees.Luckily, the accident wasn't fatal.Seconds later, Mike woke up. He had passed out when the car smashed into a tree, its front completely wrecked. Thanks to the airbag, he hadn't struck his head. He only had a shallow cut on his cheek, made by a shard of glass.Slowly, he began to regain consciousness, and with blurry vision—that's when he saw it.A humanoid figure, standing two meters tall, thin to the point that its ribs we

The road to his house was pure hell. Streets blocked by abandoned cars, shattered glass, smoke rising from different parts of the city. Distant sirens, isolated gunfire, and every so often, that emerald-green flash that could only mean one thing: someone else had just vanished.Mike thanked God he didn’t live far from the area. Luckily, it would only take him a few minutes on foot to reach his home. However, it would take longer than expected—those humanoids wouldn’t stop hunting him until he was dead if they crossed his path.When he finally turned the corner onto his street, Mike’s heart pounded harder. The house was still standing, lights on, and in the front doorway stood Amanda, trembling, her arms crossed tightly over her chest as if trying to shield herself from a cold that didn’t exist. The moment she saw him, she ran straight into his arms.“Mike!” she cried desperately, hugging him so tightly she nearly knocked him over. At least, for now, she had forgotten the anger from th

Hamilton drove slowly into the compound, the roar of the engine echoing off walls hidden by trees and branches. Amanda clutched Emily’s hand, while the girl still clung to Brad, who was barely breathing.At the far end, under the shadows lit by floodlights, Reynolds appeared. His bearing was the same as always: uniform immaculate, the cold, calculating gaze of a man who was always three steps ahead. When he saw the vehicle stop, he advanced with firm steps, flanked by two armed soldiers moving like his bodyguards.“Hamilton,” Reynolds said in a grave tone as soon as the SUV door opened. “I’m glad you made it. But there’s no time to lose. I need you in the air immediately.”Mike clenched his jaw and stepped out of the vehicle, standing squarely before his superior without lowering his gaze.How could this man not give him a moment of peace, even when he had a gravely injured boy with him?“With all due respect, sir, I won’t lift a finger until that boy gets medical attention.” He point

The plane roared across a sky that grew stranger by the minute, a sky nothing like the one Hilary and Mike had been used to seeing all their lives. At first glance, the ocean below looked like an endless mirror, but as they flew deeper, Mike noticed the clouds swirling in unnatural patterns, as if the wind itself refused to obey the laws of physics. Hilary felt it too.In all her life as a pilot—though she still considered herself a novice compared to Mike, a seasoned veteran—Hilary had never imagined she would witness the unimaginable. What she once thought were just fantasy stories to explain the unexplainable was now unfolding right before her eyes.“This… doesn’t look normal,” she murmured nervously, staring at the altimeter as it flickered erratically.The dials on the panel began to fail, displaying impossible times. The compass spun wildly, the radar filled with static, and the aircraft’s needle jerked as though trapped inside an invisible magnetic field.Mike clenched his teet

The contact burned her. Hilary pulled her hand away immediately, shaking her aching fingers as if she had touched red-hot iron. What Hilary didn’t know was that she had felt something more than just a burn, and that it would soon awaken.“Shit!” she exclaimed, her heart racing.Mike’s body began to arch on the ground. Red energy pulsed from his chest, surrounding the rest of his body, like an alternate heart pumping light that expanded in waves throughout the bunker. Each pulse made the metallic walls vibrate, as if responding to the same heartbeat.Hilary instinctively backed away, pressing her back against a rusted console. The darkness had vanished; now everything shone with that reddish glow, sickly and yet fascinating.Mike’s eyes snapped open. There were no pupils, no iris. Only a burning red, liquid, like living embers. His breathing was harsh, forced, but it didn’t seem like pain… it was something else: hunger for something she couldn’t comprehend.“Mike…” Hilary whispered, fe