Hunter blew out smoke. "You're saying it's still growing?"
"I'm saying we didn't kill it. We just… cut the head off a root system that runs deep."
Cain's jaw flexed. He didn't respond.
He'd felt it too. When he'd stabbed into the hybrid's chest, that pulse that came through the steel—rhythmic, deliberate. Not just mechanical. Not artificial. Aware.
Roselle stood, wiping the blood off her hands. "Then what? You want us to dive back in there? That crater's a furnace."
"We can't leave it," Susan snapped.
Steve cut in, voice low. "We don't even know what 'it' is yet."
The ground rumbled faintly, as if the world wanted to underline her point. From the pit came a sound—soft, like a heartbeat muffled by earth and molten rock.
Cain's gaze narrowed. "Gear up. We're not done."
Roselle frowned. "You're serious?"
"I don't like unfinished business."
