The rumble hit hard—deep, heavy, and close enough to make the air vibrate.
BOOOMM~
The lower levels of the mansion shook, the sound rolling through the reinforced concrete like distant thunder trapped underground.
Metal beams groaned; loose wiring rattled overhead. A few sparks spat from a broken conduit somewhere deeper in the dark.
No debris fell—but the sound of something giving way echoed faintly in the distance. A cable snapped with a loud twang~ that carried through the silence before fading again.
Then stillness.
For a moment, no one moved.
Kasanda steadied himself against the wall, one hand instinctively reaching for Abraham as the last tremor faded.
His breathing slowed, controlled. The small beam from the phone in his hand flickered across ahead, barely cutting through the black.
The light revealed almost nothing—just cold walls, faint mist, and the machinery. But the air told him plenty.
It smelled wrong.
