Chapter 68
Shadows Never Sleep
The air in the train yard was thick with the smell of burnt metal and ozone. Sparks still flickered across the ruined tracks, glowing faintly in the darkness like dying embers.
Elena’s breath was unsteady as she pushed herself to her feet, her legs weak beneath her. Naomi caught her arm, steadying her. “Are you okay?”
Elena nodded, though she wasn’t sure if it was true. Every part of her ached. Her mind was clouded with exhaustion, and her skin still tingled from the static in the air.
Richard walked up to the tracks, staring down at the scorched rails. His jaw was tight. “That thing is gone. Right?”
Silence.
Then Jordan’s voice crackled over the radio. “For now.”
The weight of those words settled heavily over them. For now.
They had seen the creature disintegrate before their eyes, its form shattering into darkness. But something about the way it moved, the way it spoke—it had never done that before.
It had changed.
It had evolved.
And that meant it could come back.
Echoes in the Dark
Mateo exhaled sharply. “So, what now? We just pack up and pretend that never happened?”
Amira shook her head. “We can’t just leave. We need to be sure.”
Elena took a step closer to the tracks, her heartbeat loud in her ears. The air here was still wrong. Not quite as heavy, but not entirely clear either.
It felt like the shadow of something that had been real, something that had only just slipped away.
She turned to Jordan. “What did you mean by ‘for now’?”
A pause. Then Jordan sighed. “That thing is unlike anything we’ve faced before. You didn’t kill it. You just disrupted it. Slowed it down.”
A cold shiver ran down Elena’s spine. “So it can come back?”
Another pause. Then: “Yes.”
Naomi cursed under her breath. “Fantastic.”
Richard’s grip tightened around the length of pipe he still held. “Then we need to be ready for when it does.”
Jordan’s voice was firm. “It won’t attack the same way twice. It’s learning. Next time, it’ll be smarter.”
The words sank in like stones in water. They hadn’t won. They had only bought themselves time.
A Fractured Plan
Mateo ran a hand through his hair. “Okay. We can’t stay here forever. What’s our next move?”
Amira exhaled. “We need information. We need to figure out what it is and how to actually destroy it.”
Richard crossed his arms. “We already tried electrocuting the thing. It barely slowed it down.”
Naomi spoke up. “We need someone who knows more about this than we do.”
Elena frowned. “Like who?”
Silence.
Then Jordan’s voice came through. “There is someone.”
The group exchanged glances.
Elena was the first to speak. “Who?”
Jordan hesitated. Then: “There’s an old man. Lived out by the forest’s edge. People say he knows things—things about the shadows. He’s the only one who’s ever survived an encounter like this and lived to tell about it.”
Mateo frowned. “And you’re just mentioning him now?”
Jordan’s voice was flat. “I wasn’t sure you’d survive long enough to need him.”
Elena swallowed hard. “Where do we find him?”
Jordan exhaled. “I’ll send you the coordinates. But be careful. He doesn’t trust people. And he doesn’t talk for free.”
A Warning Too Late
The group didn’t waste time. They gathered their things, packed what little gear they had left, and prepared to leave the train yard behind.
Elena took one last look at the charred tracks, the broken wires, the place where the creature had vanished.
It felt wrong to leave. Like they were turning their backs on something unfinished.
But they had no choice.
Naomi nudged her. “Come on. Let’s go before it decides to show up again.”
Elena nodded and turned away, following the others toward the car. The headlights cut through the darkness as they pulled out onto the road, leaving the train yard behind.
They didn’t see it.
The faint flicker in the shadows.
The way the darkness shifted, ever so slightly.
A whisper.
A breath.
It was watching.
And it was waiting.
