Rain fell hard against the shattered windows of the museum.
It wasn't real rain. Not anymore. The clouds above carried ash, and what hit the ground was thin, dark, and smelled like burnt copper.
Kaila stood at the window and watched it fall.
Andy hadn't spoken to her in two days.
Then he stopped being seen at all.
Scene: The Disappearance
Harper burst into the command room, soaked and pissed.
"Where the fuck is he?"
Kaila looked up from the map table.
"Gone."
Harper slammed her fist on the wall. "Again?"
"This time he didn't come back."
Alaric walked in right after her. Pale. Shaking. He tossed a piece of cloth onto the table. It was torn, soaked in a mix of black blood and what looked like burnt skin.
Found in the eastern corridor. Near the last room Andy was seen.
"That's not from a Dive soldier," Alaric said. "That's from him."
Scene: The Growing Rot
Black Bloom veins were now pushing through the floor of the west wing.
People were falling sick.
One survivor coughed up a handful of teeth. Another claimed her shadow had started moving without her.
Something in the air felt… wrong.
Skate was quieter than ever.
Kaila felt like she was carrying a dying god in her chest.
Alaric installed emergency locks on the upper floors. Set up surveillance. Put everyone on rotation.
"We are in a siege," he said.
"But the enemy's already inside."
Scene: The Dive Closes In
That night, a flare went up near the southern skyline.
Red. Burning. Dive protocol.
A warning.
They were coming.
Scouts had been spotted moving toward the ruins. Armored. Heavy.
Harper gave orders.
Everyone to fallback positions. Barricade the doors. Destroy the access elevators. No one leaves without ID.
Kaila stayed silent.
Something worse was already in the dark.
Scene: The Melted Room
An hour later, a scream rang out near the medical bay.
Harper and Alaric rushed in.
What they found made both of them freeze.
One of the storage rooms was warped. Metal melted like wax. Floor pulsing. The walls coated in a thin layer of living tissue. As if the room had grown lungs and started breathing.
In the center of it all stood a pile of bones.
Clean. White. Arranged like a spine and skull had been delicately placed there.
Harper whispered, "This was a person."
Alaric was shaking.
"He's not human anymore."
Scene: Andy's Voice
That night, the intercom buzzed.
No one had touched it.
No one was on the system.
Andy's voice came through, slow and soft.
"You locked me out.
But I'm already here.
I just want to see her again."
People panicked. Screams echoed from the lower level.
Kaila stood frozen in the hallway, listening.
"Kaila.
Come meet me.
One last time."
Scene: Skate's Warning
Back in her room, Kaila sat shaking.
Skate stirred.
"He has become a vessel."
"For what?"
"For a lie that thinks it is love."
"Can I stop it?"
"You can't. But you can survive it."
Scene: End of Calm
Red sirens lit up the main halls.
Dive was closing in.
Outside the base, far beyond the trees, a huge vehicle rolled into view. Metal beasts. Armed drones. Heavy gear.
And deep in the museum, something moved inside the walls.
It wasn't Dive.
It was Andy.