They stormed up the stairwell, three floors, four, five—then the walls began to shift.
Aaron stumbled as the steps beneath his feet seemed to stretch and contract. The Hollow One's power was growing. It was turning the building against them.
A soldier screamed below—one of the Hollowed had gotten inside. Another gunshot. Another scream. Then silence.
They burst onto the rooftop, breathless, exhausted.Some even collapsed to the ground gasping for breath.
Below them, the city was a war zone. Fires burned, cars lay overturned, streets were littered with bodies—and in the distance, standing atop the wreckage of a collapsed skyscraper, was the Hollow One, screeching with dominion.
Caldwell didn't hesitate. He grabbed the flare gun strapped to his vest, aimed it skyward, and fired.
A red streak cut through the darkness indicating their position as the airstrike team rogered.
The Hollow One roared as if it noticed something.
The sound was wrong. Not a scream. Not a growl. It was every voice, every whisper, every cry of agony from every soul it had ever consumed—screaming at once.
Then—
The sky lit up.
Missiles streaked down, the airstrike finally locking onto their position.
The city shook as explosions ripped through the streets, engulfing the Hollowed in flames. The rooftop trembled beneath them, sending debris flying in every direction.
The Hollow One staggered.
For the first time, it looked weakened
Yes! Fire!Fire was one of it's weakness aside the rotting ancient gun.
Aaron, panting, bleeding, raised his rifle. "Light it up! NOW!"
The last of Echo Team unloaded everything. Grenades, rockets, incendiary rounds—they threw everything they had at the entity.
And for the first time—it recoiled.
Matthias stepped forward, raising his iron rod, now glowing with a divine radiance. "Back to the abyss from whence you came!"
The Hollow One screeched, its form destabilizing, shifting, breaking apart.
But even as it crumbled, even as it fell—
A smile was obvious on its abyssal face, looking confident.
Aaron's heart skipped a beat. Why was it smiling?
Then, the sky itself cracked.
Darkness poured in.
And in that final moment—before the building collapsed, before the flames engulfed them—
The Hollow One spoke one last word.
"Endless."
Darkness.
Not the absence of light—but something deeper. A void where light had never existed.
Aaron could hear before he could see. The muffled sounds of sirens. The distant crackling of fire. The faint whispers of voices that didn't belong.
Then—pain.
His body ached like it had been dragged through hell. Every breath felt like he was inhaling
smoke and shattered glass. He forced his eyes open.
He was alive.
Barely.
The building had collapsed around them, but somehow, he had been pulled free. He turned his head and saw Caldwell beside him, coughing, his armor scorched, his face smeared with blood.
Matthias lay motionless a few feet away.
Aaron crawled toward him. "Matthias! Hey! Wake up!"
The priest stirred, his lips moving as if whispering a prayer. His cross was still in his grasp, glowing faintly.
Then—a hand grabbed Aaron's arm.
He turned, expecting another Hollowed—but it was a soldier. One of Echo Team's men, his facepale, his eyes wide with terror.
"We need to move," the soldier rasped. "It's not over."
Aaron looked around. The city was still burning.
The airstrike had done something. The Hollow One had been hurt. But it hadn't been destroyed.
It had evolved.
And now, it was everywhere.
The Hollow One's Awakening
Across the city, people were changing.
Not just those who had been directly touched by the Hollowed. Everyone.
The fear, the panic, the chaos—it had spread the infection. The Hollow One had been bound to the village before. Now, it had no chains.
Reports came flooding in over the radio.
"Civilians are turning—hollow eyes—attacking others—Jesus Christ, they're spreading!"
"We lost contact with the eastern sector—any unit in range, respond!"
"They're inside the command center! We—" static.
Aaron's grip tightened around his rifle. "We failed."
Matthias coughed, his voice weak but firm. "Not yet."
Caldwell wiped blood from his brow, his face grim. "You tell me how we fight something that can't die, Father."
Matthias closed his eyes, gripping his cross. "We don't fight it."
Aaron frowned. "Then what do we do?"
Matthias took a breath. "We seal it. Again."
Silence.
Caldwell scoffed. "And how do we do that?"
Matthias's eyes opened, and for the first time since the nightmare had begun—there was fear in them.
"We go back."
It was madness. But there was no other way.
The Hollow One had grown too powerful in the city. It was feeding off the fear, multiplying, spreading like a virus.
But the village—that was its birthplace or rather its deathplace.
That was where it could be contained again.
If they could survive long enough to reach it.
They moved fast, cutting through abandoned streets littered with bodies—some human, some not. Civilians were either dead, hiding, or had become part of the Hollowed.
Echo Team had been decimated. Only four remained—including Caldwell.
As they drove through the outskirts, the radios screeched with distorted voices.
Then—laughter
The Hollow One knew.
It was waiting.
And as the last remnants of the city faded behind them, they drove toward the village where it had all begun—