The elevator rattled as it descended,each creak if the cables echoing through the shaft like a warning.The fluorescent light above them flickered erratically, casting the group in stuttering shadows.
Ethan kept his hand near his weapon, every muscle tense. The girl stood near the control panel, eyes closed, lips moving in a silent count. Harper and Maxwell flanked her, weapons raised, breathing slow and steady.
The deeper they went, the colder it became.
Concrete walls gave way to rougher stone, unfinished tunnels dug out by machines and then abandoned. The air smelled of damp earth and something faintly metallic blood or rust, Ethan couldn't tell.
Finally, with a screech of metal, the elevator shuddered to a stop.
A single hallway stretched out before them, illuminated by dim emergency lights embedded in the floor. Doors lined the walls, each marked with faded numbers and barcodes. Everything about the place screamed secrecy.
Maxwell was the first to step off, sweeping the corridor with his rifle. "Clear," he whispered.
They moved together, boots silent on the cold ground.
The girl slowed at the first door.
"It's behind here," she whispered.
Ethan gestured to Harper. She knelt and quickly scanned the door with a small handheld device.
No alarms. No immediate traps.
Harper nodded.
Maxwell braced himself, then yanked the door open.
The room beyond was a lab or what remained of one. Broken glass littered the floor. Tables were overturned. Monitors hung in pieces from the walls.
And in the center of the wreckage, slumped against the far wall, was a figure.
At first, Ethan thought it was a body.
Then the figure stirred.
It was a man mid-40s maybe, hair gone silver at the temples. His clothes were hospital scrubs stained with blood. He blinked blearily at them, eyes wild.
"No more," he croaked. "I told them–no more."
The girl took a hesitant step forward. "You were part of it."
The man flinched from her voice, pressing himself tighter against the wall.
Ethan crouched cautiously. "Who are you?"
The man shook his head frantically. "Nobody. Just another ghost."
Maxwell muttered, "Fantastic. We found the crazy one."
Harper ignored him, her voice low but firm. "What happened here?"
The man laughed with a dry, broken sound.
"They turned it on."
Ethan's stomach twisted. "Turned what on?"
The man lifted a trembling hand, pointing down the corridor.
"You'll see."
Then he slumped sideways, unconscious.
Harper checked his pulse. "Alive, but barely."
The girl knelt beside the man, placing a hand lightly on his forehead.
She recoiled instantly, gasping.
"What is it?" Ethan asked.
Her eyes were wide with horror. "They used him. Like they used me. But differently. He's... hollowed out."
Maxwell cursed under his breath. "We need to keep moving. If something's still active down here, it's not going to wait."
Ethan nodded. "Harper, stay with the girl. Maxwell, with me."
They pushed deeper into the corridor.
The doors became heavier, reinforced with steel.
Some had been ripped off their hinges from the inside.
A low, pulsing hum began to vibrate through the floor, subtle at first, then stronger.
Ethan pressed his palm against the nearest wall.
It was vibrating.
Harper's voice crackled over the comms. "Ethan. Movement behind you. Fast."
They spun as a shape hurtled out of the darkness,a blur of limbs and gnashing teeth.
Maxwell fired. Three shots, center mass.
The creature hit the ground hard, skidding across the concrete.
Ethan approached cautiously, weapon trained.
It had once been human.
But now its skin was sallow and stretched tight over bones, eyes sunken, jaw dislocated from endless screaming.
Metallic implants jutted from its spine, sparking weakly.
Harper swore into the comms. "They were making soldiers."
"Correction," Ethan said grimly. "They were making monsters."
The girl stood frozen in the corridor, staring at the body. Her hands were clenched so tightly her knuckles had gone white.
"They did this to them," she whispered.
Ethan approached carefully. "Are there more?"
She nodded slowly and they are connected."
Harper's face hardened. "Meaning if we take out the controller, we stop them."
"Maybe," the girl said. "Or maybe they go feral."
Maxwell cracked his neck. "Either way, can't leave them breathing."
The pulsing hum grew louder.
Ahead, the corridor widened into a larger chamber.
Ethan signaled them to move in.
Inside, the room was dominated by a massive central console, cables snaking out like veins. Around it stood several containment tanks, most shattered.
Only one still glowed faintly.
Inside floated another figure,smaller.
A girl.
The girl beside Ethan shivered violently.
"That's... me," she whispered.
Ethan blinked. "What?"
"Not me now," she said. "Me... before."
Liam's voice crackled urgently over the comms. "Ethan, you need to get out of there. Now. They're activating a failsafe thermal signatures spiking all around your location!"
Harper's eyes widened. "They're going to burn the evidence."
Maxwell tightened his grip. "Including us."
Ethan turned to the girl. "Can you shut it down?"
She looked terrified but she nodded.
"I'll try."
She sprinted toward the console.
Ethan and Maxwell covered her, firing at new shadows which was once human now barely a beast.The shadows were stirring from side corridors.
The girl slammed her hands onto the console.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the humming shifted and became pitched higher, painful.
The containment tanks exploded one after another, sending glass and fluid spraying.
The remaining creatures shrieked, clawing at their heads, their implants sparking violently.
The girl screamed, a high, keening sound.
Ethan rushed to her, grabbing her shoulders.
"Focus! You can do this!"
She gritted her teeth, fingers digging into the console.
The lights flickered.
And then,silence.
Complete.
Dead.
The creatures dropped where they stood, lifeless.
The girl sagged against Ethan, exhausted.
Harper rushed forward. "We have to move. Now."
Ethan swept the girl into his arms.
Together, they fled back toward the elevator.
Behind them, alarms began to blare a deep, throbbing wail that promised destruction.
As they rode the rattling cage upward, leaving the nightmare behind, Ethan looked down at the girl in his arms.
Whatever Astra Division had started here...
It wasn't dead yet.
But tonight, they'd bought themselves one more breath.
And tomorrow?
Tomorrow, they would strike back.