The girl's sobs trembled through Jacob's back like aftershocks. He stayed there for a second longer than he should have, crouched in front of her, breathing hard, the weight of what he'd done settling deep into his bones.
Around them, the world was still ending.
Another screech cut through the air closer this time. Jacob's head snapped up. Two more of the creatures were weaving through the wreckage, drawn by the noise, their yellow eyes locking onto them with immediate interest.
No time.
"Can you run?" Jacob asked quickly, forcing calm into his voice.
The girl nodded, though fear still flooded her face.
"Good," he said. "When I say go, you run. Don't look back. Straight down that street."
He pointed, already rising to his feet, pulling the axe free from the corpse with a wet sound. The weapon felt heavier than it looked crude, unbalanced but deadly.
The creatures shrieked and charged.
"Go!" Jacob shouted.
The girl bolted.
Jacob stepped forward instead of back.
The first creature lunged. Jacob swung the axe in a wide arc, the blade catching it across the chest and sending it crashing into a mailbox. The second came from the side, claws slashing too fast.
Pain exploded across Jacob's shoulder.
He grunted, staggering, but didn't fall. Heat surged through him again, that same strange warmth flooding his limbs, sharpening his senses. The world slowed not completely, but enough.
Enough to react.
Jacob pivoted and slammed the axe handle into the creature's knee. Bone snapped. It screamed, collapsing, and Jacob finished it with a downward strike that silenced it forever.
His body trembled.
Not from fear.
From exhaustion.
The warmth inside him flickered, unstable, and suddenly his leg gave out. He dropped to one knee, clutching the axe for balance, vision blurring. The cut on his leg throbbed again, raw and angry.
I can't keep doing this, he thought. I'm not built for this.
A low, resonant horn blared in the distance.
Not from the creatures.
From somewhere human.
Moments later, a deafening crack echoed overhead. Something streaked through the sky—blue-white light tearing across the clouds and slammed into the far end of the street. The impact sent a shockwave rippling through the ground, knocking creatures off their feet.
Jacob stared, wide-eyed.
Figures moved through the smoke.
Humans but armored. Purposeful. Organized.
One of them raised a glowing device, and a translucent barrier snapped into place, blocking a swarm of creatures mid-charge. Another leapt impossibly high, crashing down among the monsters with explosive force.
A voice rang out, amplified and commanding.
"Civilians, move to extraction corridors! Do not engage!"
Jacob barely had time to process it before someone was in front of him.
A woman in dark combat gear knelt, her helmet visor retracting. Her eyes flicked to his injuries, then to the bodies around him then back to him.
"You fought," she said, more statement than question.
Jacob swallowed. "I—I had to."
Her gaze sharpened.
"Yeah," she said quietly. "I can see that."
She tapped something on her wrist. "Command, I've got a civilian with confirmed kills. Possible Awakened . Injured but stable."
Awakened? The word echoed in Jacob's mind.
The woman offered him a hand. "You're coming with us. Right now."
Jacob hesitated, glancing down the street where the girl had run hoping she was safe.
Then he took the hand.
As she pulled him to his feet, the sky above them rumbled again this time not with thunder, but with something answering back from the darkness beyond the rip.
The war had begun.
And Jacob was already part of it.