Chapter 324: Story 324: Shadows of the Aftermath

The air was thick with dust and the acrid tang of burning circuits. Zara crouched behind a crumbled console, her heart hammering as the debris settled around her. The team regrouped in the wreckage, their faces etched with exhaustion and dread. The explosion had done its job—mostly. The hub was destroyed, but whatever tethered the creatures to the glowing glyphs had adapted.

Andre approached, his shotgun slung over his shoulder and sweat streaking his soot-covered face. “Tell me that blast did something. Anything.”

Zara met his gaze, her expression grim. “It disrupted them… briefly. But now they’re—changing.”

Her words hung in the stale air as the team turned their eyes to the shifting darkness. The creatures were no longer the erratic, feral beasts they had been moments before. They moved slower now, their glowing glyphs dimmer, but there was a frightening deliberation in their movements. It was as if the destruction of the hub had pushed them to evolve.