[The Tracker]
The man in black moved without a sound.
His suit—old Bridges tech—was scorched and refitted, stripped of insignia. The mask he wore covered his face entirely, save for a gleaming single lens over his left eye, like a BT sensor that blinked slowly with every step. His backpack was small, efficient. No pod. No Odradek.
He didn't need them anymore.
Not after what had been done to him.
He knelt near the ridge where Kael and Samantha had camped, gloved fingers brushing against the faint chiral dust still clinging to the crate's edges.
They stopped here. Shared rations. Slept in shifts.
He could read everything from the smallest cues—scorched resin fragments, smudged treads in the moss, a subtle residue of altered DOOMS presence in the air. The woman had calmed the storm.
But the man… the man was something else.
The tracker lifted his head toward the rising sun.
Level Five DOOMS. No registry. Anomalous tether resonance. Tames BTs.
His fingers curled slowly.
He's the one the Director wants. But the girl… she's older than the system thinks.
He looked toward the mountains they were now climbing.
Then activated his own personal ping.
Not UCA.
Not Bridges.
Something older.
A pulse rang out across the landscape, invisible to porters—but not to the dead.
[Kael & Samantha]
The wind was biting now. They had climbed into thinner air, the road giving way to shale, snow-dusted peaks, and broken cable towers once used for regional relay boosts.
Kael glanced at Samantha as they crossed the final slope toward a rest spot she'd found years ago. She moved confidently, but slower than before. Not tired—just watching.
Like she could feel something shifting.
They stopped inside a narrow cavern behind a half-collapsed antenna relay. It was dry, shielded, and just wide enough for two.
Kael set down the pod, its pale light flickering softly. The girl inside stirred again—more often now. Her eyes opened for moments at a time, watching through the glass with silent awareness.
Samantha checked the perimeter, then sat.
Mire stood near the entrance. She hadn't flickered in hours, her form more solid than ever. She didn't speak. Didn't blink.
She stared into the snow.
Kael followed her gaze. "You sense something?"
Still no answer.
Then, for the first time—
She turned her head.
Not slowly.
Not stiffly.
Naturally.
And whispered—
"He's coming."
Kael froze.
So did Samantha.
The voice was quiet, fragile like cracked porcelain—but unmistakably human.
Mire turned to face them now, her form pulsing faintly with golden light.
"Who?" Kael asked gently.
Mire's hands trembled. Her eyes drifted toward the pod.
"Not dead. Not living. Half-born," she said. "He follows the tether. Because I broke his."
Samantha stood. "She means a former tethered… someone who lost their anchor."
Kael nodded slowly. "A rogue repatriate?"
Mire shook her head. "No. Worse. He doesn't come back… he never left. He's always here."
Kael looked to Samantha. "You've heard of someone like this?"
"No." Her voice was sharp. "But Bridges had rumors… someone who slipped past the Death Stranding's rules. Something artificial. A test."
"A weapon?"
Mire stepped forward now, her voice clearer with every word.
"He wants her," she said, pointing to the pod. "Because she remembers what the dead forgot."
Kael's hand hovered over the pod instinctively.
Samantha's expression darkened.
"We need to move."
But Kael wasn't looking at the exit.
He was looking at Mire.
"You spoke," he whispered.
Mire met his gaze, her gold-glow eyes wide with fear and something deeper—recognition.
"I remember now," she said. "Who she is."
Kael's heart pounded. "Tell me."
But Mire only said:
"She's not the first."
[The Tracker – Closer Now]
Snow whipped across the mountainside as he moved through the pass. He wasn't hindered by cold or wind. His suit regulated itself, and his body—what remained of it—no longer responded like a living man's.
The ping from his tether pulse returned a signal.
Faint.
Confused.
But familiar.
Mire.
She had once been his.
Until she chose someone else.
He reached the valley shelf and paused. A piece of cloth fluttered nearby—Kael's, caught on rebar. A weak trace, but enough.
The tracker crouched beside it.
And smiled.
[Kael – Moments Later]
They didn't sleep again.
Samantha packed quickly, tension in every movement.
Kael adjusted the pod straps, his hands brushing across the girl's curved shell. "She's reacting to him too. That means he's close."
"He's hunting us," Samantha said. "Or her."
Kael nodded. "We split. He'll follow me. You go dark."
"No," Samantha said. "We stay together."
He blinked.
"You said you didn't want to walk alone anymore."
"I still don't."
She held his gaze. Fierce. Grounded.
Mire stepped between them now.
"If you fight him," she said, "you'll have to choose."
"Choose what?" Kael asked.
She looked down at the pod. "Whether you protect her… or release her."
Kael's fists clenched.
"Then I'll do both."