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"Twelve seconds."
Eli counts under his breath, back pressed to chain-link that smells like rust and piss. The guard's flashlight carves a white line through the dark. He doesn't breathe until it swings past.
"Thirteen."
He moves.
The fence rattles. Wind covers it. His hands shake—they've been shaking for three months, ever since the news hit. Scout team missing. Operation suspended. Blackout zone sealed. Maya's face wasn't on the memorial wall.
That means she's either classified or they didn't find enough to bury.
Eli doesn't believe in either.
He drops into the zone and his ankle rolls on broken asphalt. Pain shoots up his leg but he bites down, stays low. The city sounds cut off the second he's past the fence. No traffic. No sirens. Just his own breathing and the scrape of his boots.
Two blocks in, the streetlights die.
Not broken—intact, but dark, like something drained them from the inside. Eli's been watching the perimeter for weeks. The zone's growing. Six blocks three months ago. Fifteen last week. The council keeps pushing the barricades back and saying it's under control.
Maya used to say the council lied for a living.
He pulls out the flashlight he stole two days ago. Military-grade. Eight-hour battery. He tested it this morning.
He thumbs the switch.
Nothing.
He tries again. Clicks it. Shakes it. Smacks it against his palm.
Dead weight.
"Shit."
His voice is too loud. He stuffs the flashlight back and pulls out his phone. The screen lights up—then flickers. Battery drops from sixty percent to forty. Thirty. Twenty.
The light dies.
Eli stands there in the dark, heart slamming. He can't see his hands. Can't see the street or the sky. It's not night-dark. It's blackout-dark. The kind that makes you forget which way is up.
He forces himself to move. One step. Two. His boots scrape on glass. The air tastes wrong—metallic, stale, like old blood. He keeps one hand on the wall, fingers dragging over brick that's colder than it should be.
Something moves ahead.
He stops.
Not a sound. The air shifts. A big shape changing direction. Eli's lungs lock. The briefings said the zones aren't empty. Things in there. Too big to be human. Sounds that shouldn't come from anything with a mouth.
Maya was a first scout.
Eli takes another step. Then another. If he thinks about it he'll turn around. If he turns around he'll never come back.
His foot hits something solid.
He crouches. Runs his hands over it. Metal. Small. Rectangular. His thumb finds the clip.
Badge.
Eli's whole body goes still. He knows this badge. He's seen it a thousand times. Watched Maya pin it on every morning, watched her polish the council emblem even though she said the council could go to hell. He traces the edges in the dark. Deep scratches along one side. Like someone dragged it across concrete.
Or clawed at it.
It's warm.
Metal shouldn't be warm. Not out here. Not in this cold. Unless someone was holding it. Unless someone dropped it recently.
"Maya?"
His voice cracks. He's on his feet, turning in a circle, trying to see anything.
"Maya, if you're here—"
Something breathes behind him.
Not human. Too slow. Too wet. Like air dragged through a throat that's got too much in it. Eli spins and there's nothing, just more dark, but the sound doesn't stop. It's circling him. He can feel it. The way you feel someone staring at the back of your neck.
He fumbles for the flashlight even though he knows it won't work. His hands close around it anyway.
The breathing gets closer.
Eli backs up. His shoulders hit a wall and he edges along it. He doesn't run because running means noise and noise means whatever that is will know exactly where he is. His heart's going so fast it hurts. The badge digs into his palm.
The breathing stops.
That's worse. When he could hear it he knew where it was. Now it could be anywhere. Right in front of him. Inches away. Close enough to touch.
"Eli."
He almost screams.
Maya's voice. Quiet. Hoarse. Like she's been shouting for days. It comes from his left. Maybe ten feet away. Maybe less.
"Maya?" His voice shakes. "Where are you?"
"Here." A pause. "Don't move."
"I'm coming to you—"
"Don't." Sharper now. Scared. Maya doesn't do scared. "Stay where you are."
Eli's legs lock. He wants to run toward her voice. Grab her. Drag her out. But something in her tone stops him.
"Are you hurt?"
Silence.
"Maya?"
"You shouldn't be here." Her voice is closer now. He can almost see her—or maybe he's imagining it. A shape in the black that might be a person or might be nothing. "How did you get past the barricade?"
"Same way you did. I'm not leaving without you."
"Eli—"
"Three months." His throat's tight. "They said you were dead. They put your name on the missing list and moved on and I'm not doing that. I'm not leaving you here."
Another silence. Longer. When she speaks again her voice is different. Softer. Sad.
"You need to go back."
"Not without you."
"Listen to me." She sounds like she's trying not to cry. Maya never cries. "It's not safe. The things in here—they're not what you think. And I—" She cuts herself off. "You have to leave. Now."
"Then come with me."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because—" Her voice breaks. There's a sound like she's moving. Footsteps or something dragging. "Because if you see me you'll run. And if you run they'll hear you. And if they hear you—"
Something slams into the wall next to Eli's head.
He throws himself sideways, hits the ground hard. The badge skitters out of his hand. He scrabbles after it in the dark, fingers scraping over asphalt and broken glass. The breathing's back. Loud now. Coming from everywhere.
"Eli, stay down!" Maya's voice, ragged, desperate. "Don't turn on the light!"
His hand closes around the flashlight.
He doesn't think. Just moves. Thumbs the switch and prays it works this time, prays the zone hasn't eaten it yet, because whatever's in here is close and he needs to see—
The flashlight flickers.
For half a second there's light. Weak. Dying. Just enough to see the shape lunging toward him. Too many limbs. Wrong proportions. Eyes that reflect like an animal's but too high up. Too many of them.
And Maya.
She's standing between him and it. Her back to him. Her hands raised like she's trying to stop it with nothing but her body.
The light dies.
Something hits the ground. Heavy. Wet. The breathing turns into a sound that might be a scream or might be something trying to make words. Eli's paralyzed. Every muscle locked. His brain trying to process what he saw and failing.
"Maya—"
"I said don't turn on the light." Her voice is shaking now. Angry. Scared. "They're attracted to it. Every time you make light they come faster."
Eli's still on the ground. His hands shake so hard he can't stand. "What the hell was that?"
"Eli." She sounds tired. "You need to leave."
"I'm not—"
"I'm not asking." There's something else in her voice now. Something that makes the hair on the back of his neck stand up. "I can hold them off for a little while. Long enough for you to get back to the barricade. But if you stay—" She stops. "Please. Go."
Eli finally gets his legs under him. Stands. The badge is gone. Lost somewhere in the dark. He doesn't care. He can hear Maya breathing a few feet away. Quick. Shallow. Like she's hurt or exhausted or both.
"I'm not leaving you."
"You don't have a choice."
"Yeah, I do."
"Eli—"
Something in his chest goes hot.
Not painful. Just warm. Like someone turned on a heater inside his ribs. He puts a hand over his heart and the warmth spreads. Down his arm. Into his palm.
He looks down.
His hand is glowing.
Not bright. Just a faint blue-white light seeping out from under his skin. Like he swallowed a star and it's trying to get out. He stares at it. His brain goes blank.
"Oh no." Maya's voice, barely a whisper. "No no no—"
"What—" Eli's voice doesn't work right. "What is this?"
"Turn it off."
"I don't know how—"
"Turn it off!" She's moving toward him now. Fast. "They'll see it. They'll come. You have to—"
The breathing starts again. All around them. Closer.
Maya grabs his wrist. Her hand is cold. So cold it almost burns. She pulls him forward. Her grip tight enough to bruise.
"Run."
The dark explodes.