(Kindly revisit the previous chapters if you've forgotten the previous events. Also visit my previous novel THE DUSK OF MACABRE if you haven't for a better reading experience as these 2 novels exist in the same universe.)
We ran like death itself was chasing us—because it was.
The Ugly Wolf thundered behind us, claws scraping stone, breath hot enough to burn my spine. My legs blurred. Arthur pushed me forward every time I stumbled.
But the creature was gaining.
Its growl deepened, echoing through the tunnel like a warning to the bones themselves.
I felt the air shift behind me as its jaws opened wide, ready to bite—ready to end me.
And then everything changed.
A massive force slammed into the beast from behind. The tunnel shook. Dust rained down. I dropped to my knees and spun around.
Something—or someone—had grabbed the Lycan by it's tail and yanked it off its feet like it weighed nothing. The creature screeched, twisting in midair, but the grip didn't loosen. The silhouette holding it stood calm, unmoving, like a mountain in a storm.
A figure in a black leather jacket. Hood up. Face hidden.
They twisted their arm sharply, and the wolf crashed against the tunnel wall, collapsing in a heap of fur and claws, unconscious.
The figure turned to us.
My heart hammered so hard it blurred my sight.
Slowly, the hood came down.
Arthur froze—completely, utterly froze.
"…Peter?" he whispered.
The man smiled the kind of smile you only give when the universe gives something back you thought it stole forever.
"Arthur, you son of a bitch!"
They rushed into each other and hugged—hard, like brothers reunited after a war. Arthur let out a breath that sounded like he'd been holding it for years.
Fletcher and i stood there with no idea what's going on.
"How the fuck are ya here?" Arthur said, gripping Peter's shoulders.
Peter chuckled. "Something told me you weren't gone forever. So I searched. For months. Through forests, ruins, Society checkpoints—everywhere."
" how did you get mixed up with the Society again?" Arthur asked.
Peter's face darkened.
"They caught me again. Took me underground to some facility… some lab. They were experimenting on people—on creatures. They have enough rathadium now. Now they're trying to create controllable hunters, that's what they said. They injected me with something they called Serum IX-47. The Rathadium in my blood infused with whatever shit they injected on me...I was almost dead but then something happened...something big. Let's just say I have some superhuman abilities now!!
I stared. "They turned you into one of… them?"
"No." Peter shook his head. "Something went wrong. Or maybe right. The serum didn't change me—it enhanced me. Strength, reflexes, healing… but I'm still human. Just more."
Arthur exhaled with a laugh."Damn you're superhero now aren't ya? Thats why you look all jacked up and shit."
Peter smirked. "Yeah. It saved my gym subscription I guess. The people that caught me didn't like that. I broke out. Barely."
He kicked the ugly wold on the ground. "Been on the run ever since. And guess what? I wasn't running from them anymore. I was running to you."
For a second, Arthur looked like he might break again.
But Peter clapped his shoulder and nodded ahead.
"Come on. Big furry here will wake up. I found a way out."
Arthur introduced me and fletcher to Peter.
We followed Peter through twisting tunnels. Time blurred. My breathing slowed as the adrenaline faded. The tunnel opened into a long stairwell, rusted and dented, leading up to a metal hatch.
As we climbed, Arthur's voice came softly:
"…Peter? Serina. Have you seen her?"
A small smirk formed on Peter's lips.
"She's with me."
Arthur stopped dead. "With you? As in alive? Safe?"
"Alive. Safe. And yeah… she'll be very happy to see you."
Arthur's ears actually turned red.
We pretended not to notice.
Peter slammed the hatch open and cool night air poured over us like a blessing. Trees. Stars. Freedom.
We climbed out one by one.
Peter pointed through the trees. "Car's this way. Let's move."
The forest was quiet, except for the whisper of leaves and our footsteps. Within minutes, a beat-up black SUV appeared behind a cluster of rocks and roots.
Peter tossed Arthur the keys. "You drive. I've been fighting monsters. I deserve a break."
Arthur scoffed but slid into the driver's seat. Peter got in beside him. Me and fletcher took the backseat, still catching our breath.
The engine growled to life.
As we pulled out of the forest trail, I finally let myself relax—just a little. We were alive. We escaped. And we weren't alone anymore.
Streetlights appeared in the distance as the road widened. Peter leaned back and sighed.
"So," he said, looking at Arthur, "when this is over, you're buying dinner."
Arthur laughed. "Yeah? You're paying for dessert."
"Deal."
For the first time all day, we felt almost normal.
Then—
BANG.
Something slammed onto the roof of the car so hard the entire SUV dipped. Arthur swerved. A shadow slid across the windshield—too fast, too large to be anything human.
Peter's eyes widened as he looked up.
"Oh, hell," he whispered.
That wasn't the ugly wolf.
Arthur tightened his grip on the wheel. "What the fuck was that?"
Before Peter could answer, the roof dented inward—not like claws, not like fists—more like someone had dropped a full-grown tree trunk on top of us.
Arthur hit the brakes. The SUV skidded sideways with a scream of tires, dust rising around us as we stopped in the middle of the empty forest road.
The three of us held still, listening.
Silence.
No growls.
No breathing.
No movement.
Just the soft ticking of the engine.
Peter slowly reached up and touched the indentation in the roof from inside. His fingers trembled—not from fear, but confusion.
"That wasn't alive," Arthur murmured. "Whatever hit us… felt mechanical- if that wasn't a monster, what the fuck was that?
Peter stared out the window, jaw clenched. "Hunters."
Arthur shot him a side glance. "The Society's soldiers?"
Peter shook his head.
"No. Hunters aren't soldiers. They're assets. People like me. Injected. Modified. Enhanced. But obedient. Controlled." He tapped his temple. "Mind links. Signals. Orders."
"Are you saying they sent someone like you after us?" I asked quietly.
Peter didn't answer.
Because he didn't have to.
Up ahead, at the next curve in the road, a lone streetlight flickered. Beneath it stood a figure—calm, unmoving, hands in their pockets.
Human.
Tall.
Still.
Watching us approach.
Arthur pressed the brakes instinctively.
The figure didn't move.
Peter exhaled slowly, voice barely above a whisper.
"I know him."
"You what?" Arthur snapped.
Peter leaned forward, eyes narrowing. "That's Jacob. He was in the lab with me. Same injections. Same serum. But he… he let them control him. He wanted power. He was obsessed with it and eventually became their most obedient and dangerous slave."
The figure finally tilted his head—slow, unnatural, like a puppet acknowledging its puppeteer.
Arthur's knuckles whitened on the wheel. "What do we do?"
Peter's answer was immediate.
"Go. Drive straight past. Do not stop."
Arthur nodded and hit the gas again.
As we approached, Jacob stepped forward and brushed his fingertips across the SUV's hood—not to stop us, but almost… greeting us.
His cold eyes met Peter's through the windshield.
His eyes glowed faintly—not like an animal, but like a machine synced with something far away. His stare locked onto Peter with surgical precision.
Arthur cursed. "He doesn't look like he came to talk."
He didn't.
Jacob blurred forward with an impossible speed.
Arthur barely had time to yell— "GET OUT!"—before Jacob punched straight through the windshield, his arm ripping through glass like paper.
Peter grabbed Jacob's wrist mid-strike, muscles flexing with superhuman strength.
"MOVE!" Peter roared.
We bolted out of the SUV as Peter shoved Jacob back, glass raining everywhere. Fletcher, who had been quiet this whole time, grabbed a metal rod from the side of the road.
Jacob recovered instantly.
He dashed at Peter, but Arthur jumped on him from the side, punching him hard across the jaw. Jacob barely flinched—just turned his head and slammed Arthur into the hood of the SUV.
"Arthur!" I yelled.
Fletcher charged in and smashed the metal rod across Jacob's back. The rod bent. Jacob didn't.
Jacob turned sharply—
—and Peter tackled him full-force, slamming him onto the pavement.
The ground cracked under the impact.
They rolled, trading blows too fast for normal eyes. Jacob grabbed Peter's throat and lifted him like a toy.
Peter gritted his teeth. "Not… today."
A burst of strength surged through him—his eyes flaring for the first time. He smashed his forehead into Jacob's nose. Jacob staggered.
Arthur, bruised but furious, rammed into Jacob's side.
Fletcher grabbed me. "We can't beat him. We need to run. NOW!"
Jacob recovered, lunging at Arthur again—
—I saw a stone near my feet.
Not small.
Heavy. Jagged. The kind of thing that could break a skull if you were desperate enough.
And I was.
Before I could think, before fear could stop me, I grabbed it with both hands. My arms shook from the weight, but I lifted it anyway and charged.
Jacob turned at the sound of my footsteps, his expression flat—as if calculating the most efficient way to kill me.
I didn't give him time.
With a broken yell tearing from my throat, I swung the stone with every ounce of strength I had.
It connected.
Hard.
The crack echoed down the empty road. Jacob's head snapped sideways, and for the first time, something in his eyes flickered—surprise, maybe even pain.
He staggered.
Dropped to one knee.
The stone slipped from my hands, thudding onto the asphalt.
Peter seized the opening, slamming his fist into Jacob's jaw and hurling him back against a tree. The impact rattled the branches.Jacob collapsed to one knee. Not dead. But definitely hurt.
"Car! Move!" Peter shouted.
"When he wakes up, he's coming back stronger. That's how this curse works—runs right through our blood, twisting us, rebuilding us. And Jacob…" Peter shook his head, eyes shadowed. "He's more enhanced than I ever was. We can't stop him if we wait" peter told us while running to the car.
We scrambled into the SUV—Arthur bleeding, Fletcher shaking, me gasping for air. Peter slid into the passenger seat at the last second.
Arthur floored the pedal.
Jacob pushed himself up… but he didn't chase.
He just watched.
Cold. Mechanical. Waiting for his next order.
The forest blurred past us.
The road stretched on.
No one spoke for a long time.
Finally, Peter exhaled shakily, staring out the window, voice low and tight:
"If Jacob's been sent out… Serina must've been taken again."
Arthur's hands tightened on the wheel until his knuckles turned white.
He didn't look at any of us.
He just said one thing, voice steady and burning:
"Whatever it takes… we're gonna get her back.".
To be continued