The sound came again, louder this time. A stone clattered across the floor, breaking the heavy silence. The shelter felt smaller, the walls pressing in. Ayla's fingers curled around the broken pipe she kept at her side. Kade straightened, his eyes sharp now despite the pain in his ribs.
Mara shifted her weight, her rifle raised and steady. The stranger rose from where he had been sitting, sword already in hand, his body tense, every muscle coiled like a spring.
"Stay behind me," Mara said, her voice low.
No one argued.
The sound of movement grew clearer. A shuffle, soft but sure, like someone or something moving with care.
Mara edged toward the far wall, where the noise seemed to come from. The light from the cracked lantern flickered, casting long, broken shadows.
Ayla's heart raced. The shelter that had seemed like a haven only minutes before now felt like a trap.
The stranger took a step closer to Mara, ready to strike if needed.
The stone wall shifted. A slab of rock slid aside with a scrape that made Ayla's skin crawl.
A figure stepped out of the dark gap.
He was thin, hollow-eyed, clothes hanging loose on his frame, skin pale beneath layers of grime. His hands were empty, raised in a gesture of peace, though his eyes darted between them like a cornered animal.
"Wait," he said, his voice hoarse from disuse. "Don't shoot."
Mara didn't lower her rifle.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Name's Jace," the man said. "I've been hiding down here since the city fell. I heard the noise. Thought maybe it was finally safe to come out."
The stranger kept his blade raised.
"You picked a bad time."
Jace swallowed hard, eyeing the sword, the rifle, the tension in the room.
"I don't want trouble. I swear. I just want out. I know these tunnels. I can help you. Please."
Ayla studied him. There was something desperate about him, but not dangerous, not yet.
Mara's finger hovered near the trigger.
"You expect us to trust you?"
"You don't have to trust me," Jace said. "But you need me. That thing up there, it knows these streets. But it doesn't know what's beneath them. I do."
The ground shuddered again, dust drifting down like snow. The beast's roar rumbled through the stone, closer now.
The stranger glanced at Mara, then at Ayla and Kade.
"We don't have a choice," Ayla said quietly.
Mara hesitated, then lowered the rifle a fraction.
"Fine. You lead us to this way out. But if you lie, if you even think about turning on us, I'll put a bullet between your eyes."
Jace nodded quickly.
"I wouldn't blame you."
He turned and ducked back into the narrow passage he had come from.
"This way. Stay close. And stay quiet."
They followed him into the dark, the air growing colder, the walls narrowing until they had to move single file. The tunnel twisted and dipped, water dripping from unseen cracks, the floor slick with slime and broken stone.
Ayla kept her free hand on the wall to steady herself. The stranger stayed just behind Jace, sword ready. Mara brought up the rear, her rifle raised, eyes sharp.
Kade limped beside Ayla, his breath shallow, but he didn't complain.
The sound of pursuit faded behind them. The beast's roars grew softer, more distant, as if the earth itself muffled its fury.
But the tunnels had their own dangers.
Jace stopped suddenly, holding up a hand.
"Wait."
They froze.
Ayla strained to hear what he had heard. The drip of water. The rustle of unseen vermin. The faint sigh of air from deeper in the tunnel.
Then she heard it.
A low hiss.
Jace took a slow step back.
"Don't move too fast," he whispered. "There's a nest ahead."
Mara frowned.
"A nest of what?"
Jace didn't answer right away. His face had gone pale beneath the grime.
"Something that doesn't like visitors," he said finally.
The hiss grew louder. Shapes stirred in the dark ahead, the glint of eyes, the click of claws on stone.
Ayla gripped the pipe tighter.
The stranger stepped forward, ready to defend them.
Mara cursed under her breath, raising her rifle.
And from the shadows ahead, the nest began to move toward them.