The pipe bent under the force of the man's hands. The metal groaned louder, protesting as it started to split. His grin widened, teeth flashing in the pale moonlight that spilled through the broken windshield.
Inside the bus, the air felt too tight. The walls seemed to close in with every second that passed.
Kade gripped his knife, ready. His body coiled, waiting for the doors to give way. His eyes darted to Ayla, then the girl, then the stranger.
The stranger said nothing. His blade was already up, his stance solid. He moved toward the front, placing himself between the group and the door.
Ayla's heart pounded so hard it felt like it might crack her ribs. The pain in her shoulder blurred the edges of her vision, but she forced herself to stay upright. She would not fall here.
The pipe snapped in two with a sharp crack.
The doors burst open.
The man stepped inside, slow and casual, as if they were old friends meeting on a quiet night. The creatures stayed outside, filling the street with their twisted grins and hungry eyes.
The man's gaze swept the bus, pausing on each of them, drinking in their fear, their fury, their fight.
"You made me work for this," he said softly, almost like he was impressed.
Kade didn't give him a chance to say more. He lunged, knife aimed for the man's throat.
The man caught his wrist with unnatural speed, twisting until Kade gasped, the blade clattering to the floor.
"Brave," the man murmured. "But foolish."
The stranger was next. His sword flashed in the dark, the edge aimed to take the man's head clean off.
But the man ducked, moving so fast it blurred, and drove his elbow into the stranger's ribs. The crack of bone echoed in the hollow bus. The stranger stumbled but didn't fall. His eyes blazed with rage.
Ayla grabbed a length of broken pipe from the floor. She swung it with all her strength. The man caught it mid-swing, his fingers closing around it like steel.
His eyes met hers, and for the first time, the grin faded.
"I see it now," he said, voice low. "You're different."
Ayla tried to pull the pipe free. He didn't let go.
"You could be so much more," he whispered. "If you stopped fighting it."
The stranger lunged again, his sword cutting deep across the man's back.
The man hissed, releasing the pipe. Ayla staggered back, breathless, watching blood spill down his coat.
"You'll regret that," the man said, voice colder now.
He turned on the stranger, fury in his eyes, but before he could strike, a sound split the night.
A low rumble.
The creatures outside turned as one, their heads snapping toward the noise.
The ground trembled beneath their feet.
"What now?" Kade said, his voice tight with pain.
The rumble grew louder. The streetlights flickered, then blew out one by one, plunging the street into deeper shadow.
The man in the bus froze, listening.
Ayla felt the hair on her neck rise.
Something else was coming. Something bigger.
The creatures outside began to scatter, vanishing into the dark. Even they didn't want to face whatever was approaching.
The man backed toward the open door, his eyes still on Ayla.
"This isn't over," he said.
And then he was gone, swallowed by the night.
The rumble became a roar, a sound that shook the bus to its frame.
The stranger grabbed Ayla's arm.
"Out. Now."
They stumbled from the bus into the dark, the ground trembling beneath them, the roar filling the air.
And from the end of the street, a massive shape appeared, shadowed and monstrous, its eyes burning like fire as it charged toward them.