It started in the forest.
At first just a smell. Metallic, sweet, like rust and sugar mixed. Then the ground began to pulse faintly under the moss. Red veins snaked through the soil like roots that had learned how to bleed.
By dawn, the trees were dead.
Leaves turned black and curled inward. Bark softened and sloughed off. Birds fell from the sky mid-flight. A rabbit ran across the path and dissolved into a puddle of red threads before it could even squeal.
Nobody saw Andy leave the base that night.
Nobody knew he had stood at the treeline, eyes glowing faintly, palms open like he was whispering to the dirt.
Scene: Alaric's Warning
Inside the museum, Alaric slammed the latest scan onto Harper's desk.
"The soil samples are identical to the Draton fragment. Whatever this is, it's spreading from a host."
Harper stared at the data. "You're saying someone here is leaking it?"
Alaric nodded slowly. "I'm saying someone has already become it."
Kaila walked in right then, her face pale.
"You're talking about Andy."
Harper's jaw tightened. "Do you know something?"
Kaila hesitated.
"I saw the injection scars. He admitted he took the fragment. I thought maybe he could handle it. But…"
She trailed off.
Alaric's eyes darkened.
"It's rewriting him. And now it's rewriting the land."
Scene: Andy at the Edge
Andy stood at the forest's edge, shirtless, breathing slow. Steam rose from his skin in the cold morning light.
The black bloom spread outward from his feet. Threads of red muscle slithered into the ground and vanished. He watched it with a strange calm.
He wasn't coughing anymore. He wasn't shaking. His body felt stronger. Faster. He could hear the heartbeat of a bird fifty meters away. Smell the iron in the soil. Taste the static in the air.
It wasn't pain.
It was hunger.
He thought of Kaila's face. Her voice. Her heartbeat.
He thought about how Skate pulsed inside her every time she touched him.
He whispered to himself.
"Soon."
Scene: Skate Speaks
Kaila sat on the rooftop at dusk, staring at the blackening treeline. The wind carried ash instead of pollen. Her chest burned.
Skate's voice slid into her skull.
"The fragment has grown. It is no longer a part. It is a seed."
"What kind of seed?"
"It is making him fertile."
Kaila's stomach twisted. "For what?"
"For me. For everything. For nothing. I cannot see him clearly anymore."
She clutched her chest.
"What do I do?"
Skate didn't answer.
Scene: The Bloom Comes Closer
By nightfall the black bloom had reached the outer wall of the museum.
Vines of red tissue crept up the stone like veins. Lights flickered. Several resistance members gagged and vomited, claiming they smelled metal in their dreams.
Harper loaded her rifle and spat on the floor.
"This is gonna get bad," she muttered.
Scene: Andy Returns
Just before midnight, Andy walked back into the museum.
No weapon. No pack. Just him.
Everyone stared as he passed.
He walked up to Kaila.
He was smiling.
"Don't worry," he said softly. "I fixed it. I'm stronger now. Strong enough to keep you safe. Strong enough to never let you go."
She stared at him.
Her heart pounded.
Skate whispered again.
"He is no longer Andy."