Nobody talks much before a fight.
Movies lie about that.
There isn't some inspiring speech.
There isn't some perfect plan.
There's just silence.
And fear.
Lots of fear.
⸻
Chief Arnold Grant checked the magazine one last time before sliding it into the rifle.
The click echoed through the quiet woods.
He looked toward us.
"You remember what I taught you?"
Nobody answered immediately.
⸻
Then Neems nodded.
"Finger off the trigger until you shoot."
Hashim raised his rifle.
"Don't point it at your friends."
Samiya quietly added,
"Don't panic."
⸻
Grant nodded once.
"Good."
⸻
He looked toward the tree line.
The pale white glow had already appeared.
The cave had returned.
Exactly where Sia predicted.
Exactly when Sia predicted.
⸻
Which meant one thing.
The Walker was here.
⸻
We moved carefully through the woods.
Leaves crunched beneath our shoes.
Branches scraped against jackets.
Nobody joked.
Nobody laughed.
Even Hashim stayed quiet.
⸻
Then we saw it.
Standing in front of the cave.
Motionless.
Watching.
Exactly where we'd left it.
⸻
Behind it—
inside the impossible white glow—
Sia still floated in the air.
Eyes closed.
Body limp.
Unmoving.
⸻
Neems inhaled sharply.
"Sia…"
⸻
Chief Grant raised his hand.
Stopping everyone.
"Nobody fires until I say."
⸻
The Walker slowly turned its head.
Not quickly.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
As if it had known we were coming the entire time.
⸻
The woods became silent.
Even the wind seemed to disappear.
Grant lowered his voice.
"…Now."
⸻
The first gunshot shattered the night.
Then another.
Then another.
Then dozens.
⸻
The rifles kicked against our shoulders.
The flashes lit the trees.
The deafening sound rolled through the forest.
⸻
The Walker didn't dodge.
Didn't hide.
Didn't run.
⸻
The bullets struck its chest.
Its shoulders.
Its arms.
Pieces of dark material burst away from its body.
⸻
It staggered.
Then kept walking.
Toward us.
Hashim's face turned white.
"…It's still moving."
⸻
"KEEP SHOOTING!"
Grant yelled.
Everyone fired again.
The creature lurched.
Its movements became uneven.
Almost broken.
⸻
But it kept coming.
Closer.
Closer.
Every step shook the ground beneath it.
⸻
I felt my hands shaking.
Not because of the recoil.
Because it wasn't stopping.
⸻
Neems emptied her magazine.
"Reload!"
Grant shouted.
Her fingers fumbled.
The magazine slipped.
Hit the dirt.
⸻
Hashim immediately dropped beside her.
"I got it!"
He reached down—
And the Walker moved.
Faster than we'd ever seen.
⸻
One impossible stride.
Then another.
Then another.
It wasn't running.
It was covering impossible distance.
⸻
Hashim looked up.
His eyes widened.
"…Oh."
The Walker's arm swung.
⸻
Grant tackled Hashim sideways.
Both crashed into the ground.
The black arm sliced through empty air where Hashim had been less than a second earlier.
The impact split a nearby tree.
Wood exploded across the clearing.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody needed to.
If Grant hadn't moved—
Hashim would've died.
⸻
Grant rolled onto one knee.
Grabbed his sidearm.
"FIRE!"
The forest erupted again.
Bullets struck the creature from every direction.
⸻
Its chest tore open.
One shoulder collapsed inward.
Its head jerked violently.
Still—
it walked.
⸻
Samiya screamed while firing.
Not out of anger.
Out of terror.
⸻
Neems cried openly while pulling the trigger again and again.
Hashim reloaded with shaking hands.
My own rifle clicked empty.
No ammunition.
Grant threw another magazine toward me.
"CATCH!"
I barely did.
⸻
The Walker was only twenty feet away now.
Then fifteen.
Then ten.
⸻
Its body looked wrong.
Broken.
Full of holes.
Yet somehow standing.
⸻
It reached one arm toward us.
Long.
Thin.
Impossible.
⸻
Grant emptied the last rounds from his pistol.
Three shots.
The final bullet struck the center of its head.
⸻
The Walker stopped.
Everything stopped.
Silence returned.
Nobody breathed.
⸻
The creature remained standing.
Perfectly still.
For one terrible second—
I thought it had survived.
⸻
Then a crack spread across its body.
Another.
Then another.
⸻
The sound reminded me of old wood breaking.
Or ice splitting across a frozen lake.
The Walker leaned backward.
Its body folded.
⸻
And finally—
after months of watching us—
after months of stalking us—
after months of fear—
it collapsed.
The impact shook the ground.
Dust rose into the air.
Leaves drifted downward.
⸻
Nobody moved.
Nobody celebrated.
We simply stared.
⸻
Grant slowly approached first.
Pistol raised.
Watching carefully.
⸻
The Walker didn't move.
He nudged its shoulder with his boot.
Nothing.
Another push.
Still nothing.
Finally—
he lowered his weapon.
"…It's dead."
Nobody reacted.
Because none of us believed him.
⸻
Hashim stood up slowly.
Still breathing hard.
He looked at the broken tree beside him.
Then at the place he'd been standing.
Then back at Grant.
"…I almost died."
Grant nodded quietly.
"Yeah."
⸻
Hashim laughed once.
A tiny laugh.
The kind people make when their brain hasn't caught up with reality.
"…I really almost died."
⸻
Without warning—
Samiya hugged him.
Hard.
He looked confused.
Then hugged her back.
⸻
Neems wiped tears from her face—
just letting them out now.
⸻
My intuition was screaming at me.
I don't know why—
we won.
It was practically over.
But killing The Walker felt far too easy.
If it was over like that now,
then I wondered what would happen if there was more.
⸻
I looked toward the cave.
Toward Sia.
Still floating.
Still waiting.
The Walker was gone.
But the cave remained.
⸻
Which meant this wasn't over.
Not yet.
⸻
We still had one more person to bring home.
And somewhere deep inside that impossible cave—
something was still listening.
⸻
NEXT WEEK:
The Final Chapter | CHAPTER 25: "What Remains" (Vol. 1 Finale)