The truck tore through the dying light, tires shrieking over broken asphalt, smoke and dust billowing in its wake like fleeing ghosts. Inside, panic clung to the air—thick, suffocating. Every breath felt stolen.
Olivia knelt low, hands trembling, lips moving faster than thought. Her prayers came out in ragged gasps, shredded by fear. She still believed God would save them. So she prayed—over and over—for her family. For mercy.
James held Emma close, arms wrapped so tightly around her small frame it was hard to tell if he was protecting her or holding on for himself. The little girl sobbed into his chest, body shaking, fingers knotted in his shirt as if she could disappear inside him.
At the back, Alex sat rigid, legs locked straight, pistol clenched in white-knuckled hands. He had fired it once. On a range. At paper. Never at anything alive. Never at this.
Across from him, Sophia looked calm—only on the surface. Her teeth dug into her thumb until blood welled thick and red. With it, she traced a trembling symbol onto the truck's metal wall, each jagged line dragged crooked by the vehicle's violent sway. Her lips whispered fragments of spells she hadn't dared speak in years.
Her voice finally broke through.
"Just… hold on."
Up front, the guards were already preparing.
Captain Ira Cross racked her rifle, face carved from granite, eyes narrowing as the world collapsed into a single threat. The moment Shrikecoil appeared in the rearview mirror, everything else ceased to matter.
Lucan Bell crouched behind her, checking his scope in silence—so still he looked carved into place.
Kara "Shiv" Velt reached to her vest and pulled free two fragmentation grenades, weighing them once in her palms. She exhaled slowly—calm, practiced—like someone who had walked into worse and walked out again.
And Darian Holt—the youngest—kept glancing back. At the passengers. At the family.
He knew Angelo. Fought beside him during the war against the Watchers. He'd seen Angelo broken, bleeding, still standing.
He couldn't let Angelo's family die here.
He wouldn't.
Then—
CRACK.
Chains screamed through the air.
A thunderclap of steel slammed into the rear tire. Rubber shredded. The truck lurched violently, veering sideways as another chain ripped into the road, carving a trench through asphalt like the earth itself recoiled.
The vehicle spun.
Metal shrieked.
They slammed into a dead tree stump, the impact buckling steel and throwing bodies hard against restraints.
Shrikecoil landed behind them like an executioner made flesh, wings folding with ritual grace. One chain dragged along the ground—slick, dripping.
Inside, Olivia screamed now.
"God—please—take me if You have to. Just let them live!"
James wrapped Emma tighter, whispering promises he didn't know how to keep.
"It's going to be okay. Angelo will come. He'll save us."
Alex raised the pistol toward the door, arms shaking so badly the barrel bounced.
Emma couldn't breathe. Couldn't stop shaking.
And Sophia—pale, bleeding—pressed the final stroke of the sigil into place.
The rune flared.
Then the light vanished, leaving only the blood-mark burned into metal.
"It's done," she whispered.
"This will keep us safe."
From the front, Ira's voice cut through the chaos—sharp, absolute.
"Stay inside! Do not exit the vehicle!"
Then the guards stepped out.
And met the nightmare head-on.
Death hung in the air like fog.
They barely looked like soldiers now—more like sentinels of a dying world.
Ira stood tall, rifle raised.
Lucan crouched low, eyes tracking every shadow.
Shiv rolled her neck once, calm and deliberate, pulling the pins free from the grenades.
Darian didn't speak—but he looked back one last time, and that was enough.
Shrikecoil tilted its head, voice deep and grating.
"Resistance… will only bring more suffering."
No one answered.
Shiv hurled both grenades.
The others dove for cover behind the truck and opened fire. Gunshots thundered. The grenades detonated midair, shrapnel ripping through dirt and steel alike. Shrikecoil twisted upward, chains writhing as it took flight, dodging bullets and fire with unnatural grace. Pavement shattered beneath every strike it made, cracks racing outward like lightning scars.
As Shrikecoil reeled back its chains for another strike, Lucan rolled from cover and fired. His shot clipped its wing.
The monster dropped hard, slamming into the dirt—but it rose again, snarling.
A chain snapped toward the truck—only to stop short, bouncing off something unseen. The air shimmered.
Inside, Sophia's sigil flared crimson for a heartbeat. She exhaled shakily.
"It worked…"
But even as she said it, she knew it wouldn't last.
"We're sitting ducks," Lucan growled. "We need to finish it before the other two—"
Something hit the truck with a deafening crack.
A flash—then pain.
A spear tore through the gloom like lightning and punched straight through Shiv's skull. Her body lifted off the ground, pinned in place as the impact rocked the truck. The barrier shattered like glass. Blood sprayed across the truck's exterior.
Everyone inside screamed as they were thrown to the floor.
Alex dropped his gun, scrambled, then snatched it back up with shaking hands.
Emma shrieked, pure terror ripping from her throat.
James crushed her to his chest.
Olivia pulled Alex close, both of them sobbing.
Outside, Shiv's body fell like a broken doll.
There was no time to mourn.
From the trees, two more Saints emerged.
Mireglass—fractured like a walking mirror, surrounded by rippling reflections of itself.
Thornmarch—tall and thin, cloaked in banners and dried gore, walking through rubble like royalty.
The remaining guards rose, screaming vengeance. They fired.
Every bullet passed through illusions.
Nothing struck true.
Shrikecoil advanced, chains cracking the air. One wrapped around Darian's neck, lifting him screaming into the sky. Thornmarch hurled a spear—piercing him midair, killing him instantly.
Another chain punched through Darian's chest and flung his body into Mireglass's real form. As Darian hit the ground, Mireglass drove its blade into his skull, ending him without ceremony.
Ira spun to fire—too late.
A chain snagged her leg.
Then her waist.
Then her throat.
Bone shattered as she was ripped screaming from the earth, the sound echoing into the trees.
Four guards.
Gone in seconds.
Shrikecoil dragged their bodies together, arranging them like offerings.
Then the Saints turned toward the truck.
Thornmarch stepped forward. The sigil tried to activate—then failed. It melted around him, bleeding light before vanishing.
The barrier broke.
The door creaked open.
Alex rose with a howl.
"Stay back!" he screamed, firing again and again.
Thornmarch caught every bullet with lazy flicks of its spear.
"If you resist," it said calmly, "you will die a horrible death."
Sophia stepped forward, shaking.
"Okay… okay. We won't resist. Just—just don't hurt them."
Thornmarch studied her. Then nodded once.
"Come out. Stand still."
One by one, they obeyed.
Alex.
Olivia.
James, still shielding Emma—her sobs broken, breaths jagged and panicked.
Sophia placed herself between the monsters and those she had sworn to protect.
Shrikecoil's chains slithered forward, cold and alive. They wrapped wrists and ankles, biting tight. Alex grunted in pain. Olivia whimpered through clenched teeth. James tightened his hold on Emma—but the chains found her wrists anyway.
She screamed.
Shrikecoil turned toward her—and smiled.
Then Mireglass spoke.
"You can't fly," it said, eyeing the shattered wing. "We need all three."
Shrikecoil didn't answer.
It walked to Darian's body.
And bit in.
The crunch echoed like a nightmare.
James tried to cover Emma's eyes—but it was too late.
She saw everything.
Her scream tore the silence apart.
Shrikecoil chewed slowly. Swallowed. Its wing twitched—then pulsed—then began to regrow, shards reforming in reverse like shattered glass knitting itself whole.
"Better," it hissed.
Emma's cries collapsed into gasps. Her body trembled violently, eyes wide, strength draining from her limbs as fear hollowed her out.
Shrikecoil smiled again.
Then the Saints rose.
Chains lifted their captives like puppets on strings. The wind screamed beneath them. Ash spiraled across the ruined road.
Below, four brave guards lay broken, bloodied, and forgotten.
And the ones they died to protect vanished into the sky.