The apartment was loud with music and laughter, the kind of noise that soaked into the walls and made everything feel warmer. Aira had already half stepped out the door, one shoe on and the other dangling from her fingers, jacket slung over her shoulder as she grinned back at the room.

  “I’m going to buy ice cream!” she called, already tugging her jacket on.

  “You sure you don’t want us to come with you?” Amari’s voice floated out from the living room, half lost in the music.

  “No worries,” Aira said easily, slipping on her other shoe and reaching for the door. “It’s just a quick run to the store. I’ll be back in five minutes!”

  “Thanks, Aira, you’re the best!” Lev added.

  “Stay safe out there!” Runa called after her.

  Aira laughed and pulled the door shut behind her. The sound inside dropped instantly, muffled and distant, like it belonged to a different world. Outside, the city had settled into a quiet calm. Moonlight washed over the street, and the cool night air hit her face as she stepped away from the building.

  She broke into a light jog down the block toward the convenience store, energy still buzzing in her chest. Nights like this were her favorite—nothing special, just everyone together, laughing, existing in the same space. They did this every couple of weeks, whenever schedules lined up.

  Her focus shifted as she entered the convenience store and wandered down the aisles, grabbing the oversized box of ice cream without hesitation. At the counter, the cashier brightened in recognition, striking up a brief, enthusiastic conversation about her blog. Aira smiled through it, chatting easily before waving goodbye and stepping back out into the night, the fluorescent hum of the store fading behind her.

  She began her way back, and the world seemed to settle quietly around her. The excitement she’d carried from the apartment softened into something calmer, as if the night itself were asking her to slow down.

  Aira glanced up at the sky.

  The moon hung there alone, bright and distant, untouched by the city below. For reasons she couldn’t quite name, the sight tugged at her chest, a thin thread of loneliness pulling tight beneath her ribs.

  Aira frowned slightly, hugging the bag of ice cream closer to herself.

  “Huh,” she murmured, unsure where the feeling had come from, or what to do with it.

  She glanced back down at her phone, then up at the street corner in front and felt a flicker of disorientation ripple through her. The corner she stood at and the one ahead looked almost identical in the moonlight.

  Aira frowned, turning in a slow half circle.

  Was it this one… or the next one?

  She stood there for a moment, replaying the walk in her head, trying to remember which turn she’d taken on the way out.

  “I think it’s this one,” she murmured to herself.

  Aira turned left and stepped onto the street. It stretched out ahead of her, long and partially swallowed by shadow. Every nearby building was dark now, their lights extinguished as if on cue. The only sound was the soft, rhythmic tap of her footsteps against the pavement.

  She walked a little farther, eyes scanning for anything familiar. At night, the city felt narrower, like an entirely different place. The longer she stared, the less certain she became.

  “…Is it this way?” she asked quietly, more to the empty street than to herself.

  A low, heavy shuffling sound broke the silence.

  Aira froze instantly, her eyes snapping toward the wall of one of the nearby buildings. Moonlight spilled across the brick in pale streaks, but whatever had made the noise remained swallowed by shadow, its shape indistinct and wrong in a way she couldn’t quite explain.

  Is… something there?

  Her heart beat quickly against her ribs. She stared into the dark space, eyes straining for movement, for confirmation. She held her breath without realizing it, afraid that even the smallest sound might draw attention.

  The silence stretched.

  Aira forced herself to look away, scanning the street instead—the shuttered windows, the empty sidewalks, the narrow alleys branching off to either side. Nothing looked disturbed or out of place. The city felt paused, like it was waiting for something to happen.

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  Her gaze drifted back to the wall despite herself, then continued upward, following an invisible pull she couldn’t explain.

  That’s when she saw them.

  A figure stood atop the roof, completely backlit by the moon. They were cloaked in black from head to toe, their form reduced to a silhouette against the night sky. Shadows unfurled around them in long, chain-like coils, writhing slowly as if alive. Their presence pressed down on the street with a suffocating weight, making the air itself feel heavier. Most of their features were lost to the darkness.

  All but one.

  A single red eye. Burning through the shadow like a dying star.

  Aira’s body locked up. Her lungs refused to draw a full breath. The world narrowed violently, collapsing until there was nothing but that eye, that presence, and the sickening sense of recognition crashing over her all at once.

  The street vanished and she was back in the underground maze—stone cold beneath her back, breath knocked from her lungs as she stared up at that same burning eye. The same suffocating darkness. The same certainty that she was small, helpless, and moments away from dying.

  The Hollow.

  Her thoughts fractured into panic. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t decide whether to run or freeze. Every instinct screamed at once, conflicting and overwhelming, her body refusing to obey any of them.

  Then the shuffling sound came again. Lower this time. Closer.

  Aira’s gaze snapped downward.

  Something crawled out from the shadows of the nearby building. Dark, twisted metal glinted faintly as it emerged, its segmented mechanical body hugging the ground, shaped like a grotesque centipede. Multiple red sensor lights flickered along its head, blinking and refocusing like hungry eyes.

  An alien, metallic chittering spilled from it as it prowled forward, claws scraping softly against the pavement. Its presence made the world feel smaller, tighter, as if the street itself were closing in around her.

  A M.A.W. anomaly.

  The realization cut through her panic with terrifying clarity.

  Aira’s eyes stayed locked on to the Anomaly. Her fingers clenched around the bag so tightly that she felt the cardboard icecream box inside bend inward, edges creasing beneath her grip. Her heart hammered in her throat. Her breaths felt shallow, like her lungs had forgotten how to fully expand.

  Run.

  Every instinct screamed it at once.

  Aira forced herself to remain calm, trying to stop the trembling in her limbs. She backed away slowly, her shoes scraping softly against the stone. The Anomaly tracked her with unnerving precision, segmented body shifting as it chittered low in its throat, metal joints flexing in anticipation.

  She could feel the Hollow’s gaze from above, silent and predatory. The knowledge of its presence pressed down on her just as heavily as the creature in front of her. It felt like standing between two jaws, waiting to see which would snap first.

  Please.

  The word echoed uselessly through her thoughts. She didn’t know who she was pleading to.

  Someone… help…

  A sharp crash rang out behind her.

  Aira stopped breathing. The sound was followed by something skittering across the stone street, then immediately by grating, high pitched metallic laughter. The noise ripped through the tension like a blade, snapping her out of her paralysis.

  But before she could turn or even make sense of it—

  The Anomaly in front of her lunged.

  Her body moved before her mind caught up. The bag slipped from her numb fingers and hit the ground as she twisted sharply to the side. Cold air rushed past her as the creature tore through the space, close enough that she felt the unnatural chill ripple across her skin.

  Aira bolted toward the nearest alley, legs pumping on pure instinct, vision tunneling as panic took full control. Behind her, metallic shrieks split the air—howling, hyena-like laughter layered over the crash of breaking stone and twisting metal.

  She tore down the alley as fast as she could, her heart slamming violently against her ribs. A skittering, swarming rush of sound followed her along the rooftops above, like dozens of bodies moving in perfect, unnatural sync just out of sight.

  Aira turned a corner just as the alley wall ahead exploded. Stone and dust blasted outward as the Anomaly tore through the brick, its segmented body forcing itself into the narrow space. Mandibles snapped violently in the air, metallic and hungry, before its glowing sensor eyes locked onto her.

  She screamed and spun on her heel, bolting back the way she’d come. The ground shook as the creature skittered forward. Howling laughter reverberated through the alley as if the city itself were mocking her desperation.

  Aira’s throat burned. Tears blurred her vision, streaking hot down her cheeks as her muscles screamed in protest. She barely registered the turns she took, veering into another alley, then another, the paths tangling into something that felt endless. Like a maze designed to trap her.

  Get out. Get out. Get out.

  The thought hammered in her skull with every pounding step.

  The alley opened just slightly at the far end, moonlight spilling onto the path. The sight flooded her chest with fragile hope, and she pushed herself harder, closing the distance with a desperate burst of speed. If she could get back out onto the main street and find help, maybe this nightmare would end.

  Suddenly, the sound of chains dragging against stone echoed from just ahead.

  Aira skidded to a halt.

  A figure stepped into view from behind the wall. They moved as if they had all the time in the world, as if nothing she did mattered. Black chains scraped along the ground behind them, their cloak swallowing the light as it curved around their frame. Sickly, curved blades gleamed faintly in each hand.

  They turned their head.

  A single red eye burned through the darkness, locking onto her with merciless focus.

  Aira instinctively stepped back. Her heel scraped against the stone, drowned out by the ragged sounds of her own breathing. The Hollow stood directly in her path, unmoving, blocking the narrow mouth of the alley like death incarnate.

  It’s here to kill me.

  The thought made her chest seize up in terror.

  From behind, shrill, metallic shrieks tore through the air. Aira felt her pulse spike. The Anomaly was still coming, closing in on her, tearing through brick and stone as if the city itself were paper.

  She sucked in a sharp, panicked breath.

  Move.

  Her gaze snapped sideways, catching on a narrow opening between two buildings a short distance away. She twisted sharply and ran, throwing herself through the gap as the noise behind her surged—metal screaming, something snapping apart with a wet, mechanical crack.

  Aira burst out of the alley and nearly stumbled as the space suddenly widened around her. Streetlights blurred overhead as she staggered forward, barely registering where she was or how she’d gotten there. Her lungs burned, her legs shook, but none of it mattered.

  She got up and kept running.

  Running.

  Running.

  Until the sounds of shrieking and laughter were distant echoes in the night sky.

  ─ ? NEXT CHAPTER POV ? ─

  Aira