Something came through the broken doorway so fast that Roku barely saw it before Solara dragged him sideways.
The infected man hit the ground where Roku had been standing and immediately scrambled back to his feet. More bodies pushed through the doorway behind him. Others appeared around the sides of the house, cutting off the path they had planned to use.
Roku's stomach tightened. They hadn't heard anyone surround the building. They hadn't used Qi since coming inside. They had covered their tracks before leaving the road, and Solara had checked the area twice before they allowed themselves to rest.
None of it mattered.
"Left!"
They ran before the infected could close around them.
Roku caught one with a dagger across the throat while Solara redirected another into the stone wall. She didn't stop to see if it stayed down. They pushed through the opening together and disappeared between the rocks beyond the house.
The footsteps followed.
They ran until their lungs hurt, changed direction, crossed another patch of stone and kept moving long after the sounds behind them disappeared.
Neither suggested stopping again.
After that, the night stopped having clear sections.
They hid. They ran. They fought when they had to, then ran again.
Sometimes they managed twenty minutes without seeing anything. Once they made it almost half an hour, and Roku started thinking they had finally created some distance.
Then an infected stepped out from behind a dead tree.
Roku killed it before it could make a sound.
Five minutes later, there were seven more.
Another group caught them beneath an abandoned bridge. Roku used the darkness underneath it to shift behind the first infected and drove his dagger through the back of its neck. Solara redirected another past her, struck the next with a palm and used its falling body to block the narrow path.
They escaped before the rest reached them.
Ten minutes later, they were running again.
Every encounter took something from them. A little Shadow Qi to create an opening. A burst of Soul Qi when Solara needed to stop something stronger than her body could handle. Internal reinforcement when exhausted muscles couldn't move quickly enough on their own.
None of those things should have been dangerous by themselves.
Together, they were slowly emptying them.
Sometime after midnight, they found an overturned wagon beside an abandoned stretch of road. Roku checked beneath it, then Solara searched outward with her Soul Qi.
Nothing.
They crawled underneath.
Neither spoke. They lay shoulder to shoulder in the dirt, listening to their own breathing and the wind scraping sand across the road.
Then Solara grabbed Roku's wrist.
Footsteps.
He heard them a second later.
Bare feet passed beside the wagon.
One pair.
Then another.
Then another.
Solara covered her mouth.
Roku stared through the narrow space beneath the wagon. All he could see were ankles and feet moving slowly through the darkness.
One stopped directly in front of Solara.
She froze.
The infected stood inches from her face.
Ten seconds passed.
Then twenty.
It didn't move.
Solara's lungs began to burn. Her fingers tightened around Roku's wrist until her nails dug into his skin.
He didn't pull away.
Thirty seconds.
The infected remained there.
Solara's eyes started watering.
Roku slowly turned his hand and squeezed hers.
Just enough.
I'm here.
The infected took one step.
Stopped again.
Solara shut her eyes.
Then another step carried it away.
Neither moved.
They waited until every footstep disappeared.
Another minute passed.
Then another.
Solara finally released the breath she'd been holding and pressed her forehead against the dirt.
Roku whispered, "You okay?"
"No."
The answer came immediately.
He looked at her.
Solara wiped at her eyes, irritated that they were wet.
"I'm not okay."
Roku nodded.
"Me neither."
She gave a small laugh that wasn't really laughter.
"This mission sucks."
"Yeah."
"Just making sure we're agreeing."
"Completely."
For a few seconds, neither moved. The ridiculous conversation helped more than either wanted to admit.
Then something screamed somewhere across the Badlands.
Roku and Solara dropped flat again.
The sound was nothing like the infected humans. It was deeper, powerful enough that Roku felt the vibration through the ground beneath his chest.
Solara went pale.
Roku noticed immediately.
"What?"
She kept staring toward the darkness.
"That's not one of them."
Another scream answered from somewhere farther south.
Solara reached outward carefully. She regretted it almost immediately. The presence she touched was cold like the Souls occupying the infected humans, but much larger and heavier. This wasn't something hiding inside an empty human body.
It was alive.
"Abyssal."
Roku's fingers tightened around his dagger.
"Inside a human?"
Solara shook her head.
"A real one."
Another scream came from somewhere ahead.
Roku looked south, then back toward where the first had come from.
"There's more than one."
"Yeah."
Neither moved for several seconds.
Roku looked down and realized his hands were shaking. He closed them into fists, opened them and saw the trembling was still there.
Solara noticed.
She didn't say anything.
Roku checked the case beneath his coat.
Still secure.
"We move."
Solara stared at him.
"Where?"
"South."
"And if they're south?"
Roku opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
Solara waited.
"I don't know."
That frightened her more than the scream.
Roku always chose something. Even when he wasn't sure, even when Solara disagreed with him, he always had a direction.
Now he looked just as lost as she felt.
"But staying here is worse," he said.
Solara nodded.
That was enough.
They crawled from beneath the wagon and continued south.
The next settlement appeared less than an hour later.
Normally, the sight of buildings would have been a relief. Instead, Roku slowed before they reached the first house.
There were no lights.
No voices.
No animals.
Solara looked toward a dark window.
"Something's wrong."
A door opened.
A man stepped outside.
He stood silently in the road.
Another door opened across from him.
A woman emerged.
Then another person appeared.
Then another.
Solara turned around.
Figures were already moving onto the road behind them.
"Roku..."
He counted automatically.
Ten.
Fifteen.
More coming.
Twenty.
He stopped counting.
"Roof."
They ran toward the nearest house. Solara reinforced her legs and jumped, caught the edge of the roof and pulled herself over. Roku sent his shadow up the side of the building and used it to help carry himself after her.
An infected climbed behind them.
Roku kicked it in the face.
It fell.
Another jumped from the neighboring rooftop before either of them expected it.
Solara reacted on instinct. She caught the attacking arm, turned in the same direction and redirected the infected past her. A palm strike to its chest sent it tumbling from the roof.
More were climbing.
Roku looked across the rooftops.
"Move!"
They ran.
Below them, infected humans poured into the streets.
Some climbed.
Others simply followed from below, tracking their movement without making a sound.
Roku reached the final building.
There was no next roof.
Only a drop to the road outside the settlement.
"Jump!"
Solara looked down.
"Are you insane?"
"Probably!"
"You go first!"
"Why me?"
"Because this is your stupid idea!"
Something grabbed for Solara behind them.
"Fine!"
Roku jumped.
His shadow raced down the side of the building, slowing his fall enough that he hit the ground without breaking anything.
He looked up.
"Come on!"
Solara jumped.
Roku's shadow caught her.
Not enough.
Her shoulder struck the ground first, and she rolled hard through the dirt.
"Solara!"
"I'm fine!"
She wasn't.
Roku grabbed her arm and pulled her upright.
An infected dropped from the rooftop behind them.
They ran.
Again.
Hours passed.
The farther south they traveled, the worse everything became. They couldn't hide anymore, at least not for long. They couldn't rest. Every time they slowed, something appeared. Sometimes behind them. Sometimes ahead. Once Solara felt infected approaching from both sides before either group was visible, forcing them through a narrow ravine they hadn't wanted to enter.
Roku's shadows no longer moved the way he wanted. Darkness was everywhere, but his Qi wasn't. Every time he reached into a shadow, he could feel the strain spreading through his body.
Solara wasn't doing much better.
Soul sensing had become painful. Each time she pushed her awareness outward, pressure stabbed behind her eyes. Her palms were bruised from repeated strikes, one forearm was cut, and her legs shook whenever they slowed down.
Roku's left shoulder was bleeding.
One of his daggers had chipped.
They stopped talking about their injuries.
There was no point.
They were crossing an open field when Solara suddenly stopped.
Roku nearly ran into her.
"What?"
She stared behind them.
A group of infected humans had appeared along the distant ridge.
But something was moving among them.
Something different.
Roku could feel it even without Solara explaining.
A tall figure walked behind the infected.
Its presence pressed against the night itself.
Roku swallowed.
"That's one?"
Solara nodded.
An actual Abyssal being.
It wasn't running.
That was somehow worse.
It simply walked behind the infected as they spread across the ridge.
Following.
Roku backed away.
"Why isn't it chasing us?"
"I don't know."
That answer was starting to make Solara sick.
The Abyssal being stopped.
So did several of the infected around it.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Roku could hear his own heartbeat.
The creature's head slowly turned.
Toward him.
Roku froze.
Not toward Solara.
Toward him.
His hand instinctively pressed against the case beneath his coat.
The Abyssal being moved.
One second it stood on the ridge.
The next it was coming down.
Fast.
"RUN!"
They ran.
Whatever discipline they'd maintained throughout the day finally started breaking apart after that.
There was no longer a clean route.
No clever plan.
No conserving Qi for later.
Later had become something they weren't sure they were going to reach.
They crossed fields, abandoned farms, broken roads and stretches of wilderness they couldn't identify anymore. Roku stopped checking the map. Solara stopped asking where they were.
South.
That was enough.
Every corner felt dangerous now.
Every abandoned building looked occupied.
Every movement in the grass made Roku reach for his dagger.
Whenever the wind suddenly stopped, Solara's stomach tightened.
At one point, Roku stumbled.
Solara caught him before he hit the ground.
"Hey."
"I'm good."
"No, you're not."
"We don't have time."
"We don't have time for you to collapse either."
Roku leaned against a rock and tried to catch his breath.
Solara watched the darkness behind them.
"Thirty seconds."
"That's not enough."
"It's what we have."
Roku closed his eyes.
Ten seconds.
A sound came from somewhere nearby.
His eyes opened.
Both stood immediately.
They listened.
Nothing.
Solara whispered, "Maybe it was—"
A branch snapped.
Close.
They ran.
Neither checked what had caused it.
Eventually the horizon ahead began to glow.
Not sunrise.
Firelight.
A settlement stood beyond the next stretch of road, larger than the others they'd passed. Buildings crowded close together behind a rough outer wall, and scattered lamps still burned inside.
Roku slowed.
Solara stopped beside him.
Neither smiled.
A town didn't mean safety anymore.
It meant doors.
Windows.
Alleys.
Places something could wait.
"The fourth town," Solara said.
Roku nodded.
They needed water.
They needed somewhere to sit for more than thirty seconds.
Most of all, they needed to disappear.
"Just until sunrise," Roku said.
Solara looked behind them.
Movement crossed the distant ridge.
Too many silhouettes.
Then the heavier presence appeared among them.
Still following.
Solara looked toward the town again.
"We don't have a choice."
They walked.
Neither had enough strength left to run unless something forced them.
After a few minutes, Solara looked at Roku.
"How much Qi?"
He didn't answer.
"Roku."
He kept walking.
"Not enough."
That was the first honest answer he'd given her.
Solara looked down at her own trembling hands.
"Me neither."
The town grew closer.
They heard voices.
Dogs barking.
Someone shouting from somewhere inside.
Normal sounds.
Roku desperately wanted them to mean something.
Then every dog stopped barking.
At once.
Roku stopped.
Solara stopped beside him.
Silence spread through the settlement.
A door slammed.
Another followed farther away.
Something crossed the road ahead.
Human-shaped.
Then another figure.
Then another.
Roku slowly drew his remaining good dagger.
Solara caught his wrist.
"Don't."
He looked at her.
"We can't fight another town," she whispered.
Roku looked behind them.
The silhouettes on the ridge were getting closer.
Ahead, more figures moved between the buildings.
There was nowhere obvious left to run.
"What do we do?"
Solara stared into the town.
"I don't know."
A deep cry rolled through the darkness behind them.
Closer this time.
Roku and Solara looked at each other.
Neither pretended anymore.
They were exhausted. Injured. Scared. They had spent an entire day doing everything their training told them to do, and somehow the enemy kept appearing ahead of them.
Roku forced his legs to move.
"Come on."
Solara followed.
They entered the fourth town together.
Behind them, the first infected reached the road.
Then another.
Then dozens more.
Roku didn't see them.
He was watching the windows ahead.
Solara was watching the alleys.
Neither noticed the figure standing motionless on a rooftop farther inside the settlement, watching them enter.
Then it stepped backward into the darkness.
The hunt wasn't over.
It had only found a smaller place to happen.