The rest of the group stepped down from the van to have a look at the nightmarish view.
And the first thing that hit them when they stepped out was the smell.
It wasn't just the normal rot they had grown used to since the world fell apart. This one was heavier, thicker, like the air itself had been sitting there for days, soaking in decay and refusing to move.
Ethan stood by the driver's side, one hand resting on the door, his eyes fixed ahead as the headlights washed over the broken road.
The hole was massive.
It wasn't something that looked natural, not even close. The road ahead didn't crack or slope downward. It simply ended, swallowed by a perfectly ruined stretch of land that opened like a wound in the earth.
Asphalt hung in jagged pieces along the edge, twisted metal bars stuck out like broken bones, and deep below, shadows moved.
Growls echoed up from the pit.
Not one or two. Hundreds... Thousands
Maybe more.
