The rain fell in sheets, drowning the city in a curtain of cold silver. Hollow Gate's streetlights flickered like dying fireflies, struggling to exist in the darkness creeping across the night.
Aiden Crowe wiped the blood off his gloves and stepped out of the ambulance.
Another accident. Another tragedy.
Another reminder that the world was falling apart.
"Crowe! Hurry up!" the senior EMT shouted. "The boy's still breathing!"
Aiden ran toward the shattered remains of the overturned vehicle. Flames hissed from the engine, illuminating the highway in a violent orange glow. Broken glass littered the ground like scattered diamonds.
Inside the wreck, a small boy trembled, pinned beneath the twisted metal.
Aiden crouched. "Hey… look at me. Stay with me."
The boy's weak hand reached out. "It… hurts…"
"I know," Aiden whispered, voice steady, calm—too calm for moments like this. "I'll get you out."
He grabbed the metal frame and pulled.
It didn't move.
Another explosion echoed down the highway.
Aiden didn't flinch.
Fear was something he'd forgotten how to feel.
He braced his legs—and pulled again.
Metal groaned.
Shifted.
Finally tore loose.
Aiden dragged the boy out and shielded him as the burning vehicle collapsed behind them. Fire erupted into the sky.
Then—
BOOM!
The second car exploded.
The shockwave slammed into Aiden with brutal force. He was thrown off his feet, crushed under debris. Flames licked his clothes, searing his skin. Blood pooled beneath him.
His vision blurred.
His heartbeat slowed.
"…So this is how it ends," he thought.
No fear.
No regret.
Just emptiness.
Just like always.
His vision started to fade—but then something strange happened. A cold pulse spread through his chest. A vibration deep in his bones. His blood… shifted. Thickened. Burned.
Something inside him woke up.
Something ancient. Something inhuman.
Aiden gasped as his body convulsed, veins glowing faintly beneath torn skin. The world around him slowed to a crawl. He could hear everything—every raindrop hitting the pavement, every heartbeat within fifty meters.
His own heart beat once—
BOOM.
And everything changed.
He pushed the debris off himself with ease that shouldn't have been possible. Muscles tightened, senses sharpened, vision crystalized.
His eyes flickered—
silver, with vertical pupils like a predator.
He stood.
The fire reflected in his gaze, but he didn't feel the heat. He didn't feel pain. His wounds were already closing.
"What… is happening to me?" he whispered.
No answer.
But he felt it—
Hunger.
Instinct.
Awareness.
Someone was behind him.
Aiden turned sharply.
A man in a black coat stood near the broken guardrail. He wasn't part of the rescue team. He wasn't panicking, wasn't shocked. He simply stared at Aiden with an expression that felt wrong.
Like he'd been waiting.
His lips curled into a thin smile.
"So," the man said softly, "the Aberrant gene finally awakened."
Aiden froze.
"What did you say?"
The man tilted his head. "You survived an explosion that should have killed you. Impressive. The project wasn't a failure after all."
Aiden took a step back. Instinct screamed danger.
"Who are you?"
The man didn't answer.
Instead, his smile widened.
"We'll be in touch… Subject Zero."
Before Aiden could move, the man dissolved into the shadows behind him—
disappearing as if he'd never been there.
Aiden's heartbeat thundered.
His breath fogged in the cold air.
His hands trembled.
Not with fear.
With power.
Aiden looked at his reflection in a shard of broken glass.
Silver eyes.
Dark veins.
Inhuman calm.
The night he should have died…
…was the night he became something else.
Something the world wasn't ready for.
The first Aberrant.