The air was thick with smoke, the kind that crawls into your lungs like it's trying to choke you from the inside. I had been running for what felt like hours, but time didn't make sense anymore. Not in a world that was unraveling faster than I could piece it together.
Adrian was ahead of me, his silhouette barely visible through the haze. We had to get to the main facility. I didn't know why, but the pull inside me—the same pull that had driven me to the edge of madness—told me that's where I needed to be. If I could figure out how to control the beast within me, maybe, just maybe, I could stop what was coming.
And what was coming wasn't a storm. It was an apocalypse.
I glanced behind me, expecting to see the hulking, shadowy forms of the Scourge following. They were relentless. And if we didn't find cover soon, we'd be caught in a fight we couldn't win.
"Elias, you good?" Adrian's voice cut through the smoke, pulling me back to the present.
"Yeah, just… keeping my head straight," I said, trying to sound calm. It was a lie, of course. My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my teeth. And that damn pull—the beast was growing restless again, eager to break free. But I couldn't let it. Not yet.
We ducked behind an old, rusted vehicle, its once-shiny metal now dulled by time and the fires that had ravaged the city. We couldn't stop for long. It wouldn't take long for the Scourge to catch our scent. I could already hear the low growl of something far too large to be human echoing in the distance.
Adrian turned to me, eyes grim. "You know we can't outrun them forever, right?"
"I know," I muttered, glancing toward the facility. It loomed in the distance, a shattered shell of what it once was, but I could feel it—the answers I was looking for were inside.
Adrian followed my gaze. "So we make our stand there?"
I nodded, the weight of what I was about to say hanging in the air between us. "It's the only way we'll make it out of this alive."
There was no time for any more talk. We both knew what had to be done. I pushed the growing unease back into the deepest corners of my mind, squashing the beast's urge to take over. As much as it wanted to rip free, I had a different plan. One that didn't involve becoming a mindless killer again.
I stood up first, moving swiftly, as Adrian followed closely behind. We dashed between the wreckage, hearts pounding in synchrony as the sounds of the Scourge drew closer. There was no turning back now.
As we neared the entrance to the facility, I felt the temperature drop. A chill ran down my spine, and I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. This wasn't just about surviving anymore. It wasn't just about fighting the Scourge or Viratech or even the Black Sun. It was bigger than all of that.
The beast inside me stirred again, but this time, there was no rage behind it. It was... curious. Hungry in a different way. Like it was waiting for something.
I ignored it. I had to.
We reached the entrance and slipped inside. The air inside was colder than outside, and the walls hummed with a strange energy. The room we entered was vast, filled with rows of ancient-looking technology. Screens flickered on and off, some showing garbled static, others filled with cryptic symbols that seemed to shift every time I looked at them.
"This is it, Elias," Adrian said, his voice tinged with awe. "This is where it all began."
I nodded, the hair on the back of my neck standing up. It was like stepping into the belly of the beast, and I wasn't sure if I was ready for whatever was about to happen next.
Before I could say anything, a voice echoed through the darkened room, startling both of us.
"You shouldn't have come here."
I froze, every muscle in my body locking up. My instincts screamed at me to run, but I couldn't. I turned slowly, trying to spot the source of the voice.
And there, standing in the shadows, was a figure cloaked in black. The silhouette was tall, menacing. And when the figure stepped into the light, I recognized them instantly.
Dr. Adrienne Voss.
Her face was as cold and calculating as ever, but her eyes—there was something in them. Something that wasn't there the last time I saw her.
"Dr. Voss?" Adrian said, his voice a mix of disbelief and confusion. "What the hell are you doing here?"
She didn't answer him. Instead, her gaze locked onto me. "I told you before, Elias," she said, her voice low and tense. "You don't understand what you're dealing with."
"I'm starting to think no one does," I said, a sharp edge to my voice. "You knew what this would become. You knew how far this would go, and you didn't stop it."
Her eyes flickered for a moment, the faintest hint of something resembling regret passing through them. "I tried. You have no idea how much I tried. But it was never supposed to be like this. None of this was supposed to happen."
"Then what was it supposed to be?" I demanded, stepping closer to her. "A cure? A weapon? A new beginning?"
"You wouldn't understand." She looked away, her voice trembling for just a second. "I didn't create this, Elias. It was never meant to evolve like this."
"The virus?" I asked, piecing it together. "The Eclipse Strain?"
She nodded slowly, her eyes darkening. "It was supposed to be the next step in human evolution. But someone—someone with a different agenda—changed everything."
I blinked, confusion building. "What are you talking about? Who altered it?"
Her face hardened, the shadows swallowing her expression. "Someone far more dangerous than you could imagine. Someone who is watching every move you make."
I felt a cold shiver slide down my spine. "Who?"
Her gaze locked onto mine, and for the first time, I saw something vulnerable in her eyes. "The Black Sun."
I froze. The Black Sun. The organization that had been pulling strings behind the scenes for longer than I could remember. And now they were in play.
"I thought they were just a myth," Adrian said, his voice barely above a whisper.
"They are," Dr. Voss replied softly, "but not anymore."
I took a step forward, my pulse quickening. "What do they want with me?"
Her lips pressed into a thin line. "You're the key, Elias. The next stage of evolution. They'll stop at nothing to control you."
I didn't want to believe it. But every instinct in me told me she was right.
The Black Sun wanted me. And they would do anything to see me as their weapon.