"Get back! Get the hell back!" Vera’s voice cracked as she shoved me hard in the chest.
I didn't move. I couldn't. My boots slid in a slurry of old blood and grey marrow. The smell hit me like a physical punch—rotting meat, ammonia, and something sweet and cloying that tasted like copper on my tongue. We weren't in a corridor anymore. We were in a bowl. A concrete pit lined with the shattered ribs of things that had once been alive.
"Move, you idiot!" Vera screamed. She was clutching Pip against her chest, her knuckles white, her eyes wide with a terror I’d never seen in a Hunter.
Then the ground groaned.
Something massive shifted beneath the layer of bone-dust. A low, vibrating rumble started in the floor and traveled up my shins, rattling my teeth. From the center of the pit, a mound of pale, translucent flesh rose. It didn't have a face—just a vertical slit that ripped open to reveal concentric circles of needle-teeth. The Mother-Beast.
"Oh, god," Vera whispered. "It's a feeder. We're just the appetizers."
I tried to snap a retort, but my throat felt like it was full of glass. My stomach gave a violent, agonizing twist. It wasn't just hunger. It was a void. A black hole opening up inside my gut that demanded to be filled. I looked at my missing claw, the jagged stump still leaking a thick, iridescent fluid.
"Run!" Vera yelled, grabbing my forearm and trying to yank me toward the jagged wall.
I didn't run. I couldn't. The void in my stomach screamed louder than she did. I watched the Mother-Beast lunge, a blur of pale skin and wet muscle. It didn't go for Vera. It didn't even look at the kid. It sensed the mutation in me. It wanted the core.
*Slam.*
The beast hit me like a freight train. I flew backward, my spine cracking against the concrete wall. The air left my lungs in a wet wheeze. I felt the pressure of its weight—hundreds of pounds of mindless hunger pinning me down. Its maw opened wide, hot, stinking breath washing over my face.
"Jace!" Vera’s voice sounded miles away.
I saw her move. She didn't run. The crazy bitch actually stepped forward, her combat knife flashing in the dim light. She slammed the blade into the beast's flank, a desperate, jagged strike.
"Get off him!" she shrieked.
The Mother-Beast didn't even flinch. It just shifted its weight, a massive, fleshy limb slamming down and pinning Vera’s leg against the wall. A sickening *pop* echoed through the pit.
"Screaming doesn't help here, sweetheart," a voice crackled through the overhead speakers. Hector Vane. He sounded like he was sipping tea while watching a car crash. "Look at it. The way it clings to the specimen. It recognizes the graft. Truly fascinating."
"You son of a bitch!" Vera roared, struggling against the weight, her face twisted in pain. "Let us out!"
"In a moment," Vane replied. "I want to see if the specimen evolves under extreme stress. Or if he just gets eaten. Which is it, Jace? Are you a predator or just more fodder?"
I couldn't answer. The beast's teeth were inches from my throat. But as I looked up into that mindless, hungry slit, something shifted. The void in my stomach didn't just want food. It wanted *power*. It wanted the thing that was trying to kill me.
I stopped fighting the weight. I stopped trying to push. Instead, I reached up. My remaining claw sank deep into the soft, pale tissue of the beast's neck.
*Rip.*
Warm, thick blood sprayed across my face. It tasted like electricity. It tasted like a thousand screaming nerves. The second the fluid hit my tongue, the void snapped shut.
"What the hell are you doing?" Vera gasped, her eyes locked on me.
I didn't answer. I couldn't. I was too busy tearing. I sank my teeth into the beast's throat, ripping a chunk of pulsing vein from its neck. I swallowed it whole.
*DING.*
[Trait Detected: Acidic Saliva - Level 1] [Assimilation: 12%... 24%... 40%...]
It was a high. A pure, primal rush that drowned out the pain in my spine and the ringing in my ears. I felt my jaw shift, my teeth lengthening, sharpening. I didn't just want to survive. I wanted to devour everything in this pit.
I shoved the Mother-Beast off me with a strength I didn't have ten seconds ago. The creature hissed, its pale skin bubbling where I'd bitten it. I didn't give it a chance to recover. I lunged, my new claws shredding through its translucent hide like wet paper.
"Holy shit," Vera breathed, still pinned to the wall. "You're... you're actually eating it."
"Shut up and hold the kid!" I barked. My voice sounded deeper, more guttural. Like two stones grinding together.
I slammed my weight into the beast's side, pinning it against the concrete. I could feel its heart hammering—a frantic, terrified rhythm. I leaned in close, my breath coming out as a caustic mist that sizzled against its skin.
"My turn," I hissed.
I tore into its core, the glowing organ pulsing with a dim, sickly light. I ripped it out with a wet snap and shoved it into my mouth. The taste was foul—like old sulfur and bile—but the power it gave me was intoxicating.
[Trait Acquired: Sonar Sense - Level 1] [Body Reconstruction Initiated...]
Suddenly, the world changed. I didn't just see the pit anymore. I *felt* it. I could feel the vibrations of the air, the heartbeat of the terrified cub in Vera's arms, the distant hum of the machinery above. I could feel Vane's presence through the speaker, a cold, calculating signal.
I turned toward the wall, my eyes scanning the darkness. I could see the structural weaknesses in the concrete, the hidden gaps where the air leaked through.
"Vera!" I shouted, stepping toward her. "Can you move your leg?"
"I think it's broken," she gasped, her face pale. "Jace, your eyes... they're glowing. What the fuck are you?"
"Something that's going to get us out of here," I said. I reached down and gripped the beast's limb, the one pinning her. With a roar, I ripped the flesh away, tossing the limb aside like a piece of trash.
Vera collapsed, clutching her ankle, but she didn't stop looking at me. There was something in her gaze now—not just fear. It was curiosity. A flicker of something that looked like hope, or maybe just the realization that I was the most dangerous thing in the room.
"You're not a normal stitch-beast," she whispered, her voice trembling. "You're... you're thinking. You're actually in there, aren't you?"
I didn't answer. I couldn't afford to. The high from the meal was fading, replaced by a sudden, crushing cold.
*Thump.*
My heart skipped. Then it stopped.
I tried to breathe, but my lungs felt like they were filled with lead. I dropped to one knee, a sharp pain stabbing through my chest. The system notification flickered red in my vision.
[Warning: Biological Rejection Detected] [Core Overload: Heart Rate 0 BPM]
"Jace?" Vera asked, her voice laced with sudden panic. She reached out, her fingers touching my shoulder. Her hand was warm, the only warm thing in this frozen hell. "Jace, look at me!"
I tried to speak, but all that came out was a wet cough. I looked down at my chest. The skin was pulsing, the new grafts fighting against my old body, trying to tear me apart from the inside.
"Don't..." I managed to choke out.
"Don't what?" she demanded, her grip tightening on my shoulder. "What's happening?"
I looked up at the speaker. Vane was laughing. A soft, amused chuckle that sounded like a death sentence.
"The problem with eating too fast, Jace, is that the body forgets how to beat," Vane said. "You've evolved, yes. But your heart can't keep up with the hunger. Tell me, does it hurt? The feeling of your own evolution killing you?"
I felt my vision blurring. The sonar sense began to fade, the world shrinking back into a dark, narrow tunnel. Vera was shouting something, her voice desperate, her warmth the only thing keeping me from slipping away.
I reached for her, my claw scraping the concrete.
"Vera..." I whispered.
"I'm here! I've got you!" she yelled, her voice breaking.
I wanted to tell her to run. To take Pip and find a way out. But as my eyes closed, I felt a sudden, violent jolt in my chest. Not a heartbeat. Something else.
Something that felt like a countdown.