It had been five long months since their deployment to Mushaka—a desolate border town often mistaken for a city. In truth, it was little more than a broken settlement clutching the edge of the wilderness, half-swallowed by fog and smell of decay. The ghoul infestation had proven far worse than reported. Every time they thought the nests were cleared, new ones appeared, like the earth itself kept birthing monsters.
Julien looked exhausted. The rations were late again. The higher-ups claimed the cleansing missions drained too much supply, but Sylene could see the truth—Mushaka had been abandoned long before they arrived. This place was an image of a graveyard of both people and goverment promises.
Sylene remembered Ivan's story: stranded, betrayed by a friend, starving until bloodlust madness took him. Now, in this city of rot and ash, Sylene finally understood how easily that could happen.
