The world ended not with a bomb, but with a crimson sky.
A month ago, a violent aurora bled across the heavens, twisting the night into rivers of red and gold. Birds screamed and fell from the sky. The earth's pulse changed — they all felt it, a shiver beneath their feet that rattled their bones. Then came the sickness. People burned with fever, coughed black blood, died. And clawed their way back to life.
Valecity crumbled within days. Towers stood hollow, streets clogged with rusted cars and rotting bodies. Packs of the infected — called Hollowed by those who survived — stalked the ruins, jaws distending, eyes filmed over with a hungry, glowing red. The Crimson Outbreak had reshaped everything.
Now, beneath the shattered avenues, a handful of teenagers made their stand.
---
The subway station reeked of mildew and rusted iron. Broken turnstiles jutted like rib bones from cracked tiles. At the far end of the platform, Rix crouched behind a toppled vending machine, breath fogging in the stale air. His storm-grey eyes scanned the darkness, muscles coiled.
Beside him, Kael stood with arms folded, cold gaze fixed down the track tunnel. His dark cloak shifted over lean shoulders, whispering against the cement. Further off, Renn bounced on his heels, electric sparks jumping along his forearms. A feral grin cut across his face.
"You're enjoying this too much," Kael muttered without looking at him.
Renn just snorted. "Can't help it. It's boring unless they're fast enough to dodge."
A little behind them, Zane checked his shadow, flexing his hands. Wisps of oily black crawled up his wrists, hardening into dagger shapes before dissipating again.
"Movement," Rix hissed.
They all froze.
Down the tunnel, shapes slithered through dim light. Hollowed — six or seven at least. Their limbs twitched at odd angles, spines warped into hateful arcs. Some crawled on all fours, others loped upright. Milky red eyes scanned the gloom.
Rix swallowed. His heartbeat was steady, but a thrill of fear still danced under his ribs. He reached down, pressed his palm to the floor. The ground rippled slightly, his Crimson Strain humming through him. His muscles tightened, veins bulged black against pale skin.
"Let's clear them," he said.
Kael didn't wait. He lifted a hand, slicing it sideways. A blast of compressed air shot forward with a shriek, catching the lead Hollowed full in the chest. The creature exploded into mist and shards of rib.
The others howled. They charged.
Renn whooped, sprinting ahead in a crackle of electricity. His fists slammed into the next Hollowed, blasting it back with a thunderous pop. Its head hit the wall and burst like a melon.
Zane's shadow surged. Black claws burst from his arms, slicing another infected from shoulder to hip. Gore splashed the tiles.
Rix stood, exhaled, and let his power flood his legs. They went dense, heavy as iron. He stomped — the tiles cratered, cracks spiderwebbing outward. He shot forward like a cannonball, shoulder-first. The last two Hollowed didn't have a chance. His tackle crushed their ribs, bodies ragdolling down the platform.
They didn't stop. Rix pivoted, grabbed a fallen steel beam in one hand — its weight nothing under his power — and swung it like a bat. Two more infected rushing up from the tunnel entrance vanished in a spray of limbs and shattered skulls.
---
"Ha! Not even enough to warm up," Renn laughed, wiping blood from his cheek.
Kael glanced around, eyes narrowing. "They're probing. These are weak. There'll be more."
Zane's shadow retracted, dripping tar-like onto the ground. "Then we kill more. I'm getting sick of hiding."
Rix dropped the beam. His power faded, and he staggered, legs suddenly too light, breath rasping. Kael caught his arm before he fell.
"Easy," Kael said. "You burned too much strain."
"I'm fine." Rix forced a grin, even though sweat chilled on his spine. He shook off Kael's hand. "Let's check deeper. If there's a nest nearby—"
A shriek cut him off. A high, shivering cry that didn't belong to any Hollowed they'd faced before. The walls seemed to vibrate with it. Tiny bits of cement rained from the ceiling.
Then something moved in the darkness of the far tunnel.
It was tall. Too tall — its back hunched so that shoulders brushed the ceiling. Long arms dragged along the ground, fingers ending in hooked claws that scraped sparks from the rails. A line of broken jawbone jutted from a split face, filled with writhing, black tendrils. Red pits for eyes locked on them.
Kael's voice was low. "That's not just a Hollowed."
Renn cracked his knuckles, lightning racing up his neck. "Finally. Something that might not die in one hit."
Rix forced himself steady. The thing was watching them, breathing — he could see the ribcage expand, then deflate with a rattling sigh. Infected didn't breathe like that. This was worse. A Variant. A creature born from someone who pushed their Strain past the edge and went mad, then infected others.
"Don't let it touch you," Rix said. "Form up."
Zane's shadow bloomed outward, rising into spiked walls. Kael's eyes narrowed, fingers slicing the air again, pressure swirling at his palms. Renn crouched low, electricity wreathing his entire body in crackling gold.
The Variant roared, a sound of wet agony, and charged.
---
It hit Zane's shadows with enough force to send splinters of black slicing into the walls. Kael dropped low, swept his arm sideways — a blade of air slammed into the creature's leg, nearly taking it off at the knee. The Variant staggered but caught itself, swung a massive claw at Renn.
Renn vanished in a blur, reappeared behind the beast with fists sparking. He drove both hands into its spine. The crack was deafening. The Variant shrieked, convulsed, then whipped around and backhanded Renn across the platform. The boy hit a pillar, left a crater, but was already laughing as he staggered up.
"My turn," Rix growled. He touched the ground — density surged. He hurled himself forward, slammed his shoulder into the creature's gut. It was like hitting a wall, but it cracked around him. Bone fragments scattered. The Variant howled, vomited black sludge, and clawed at his back.
Zane leaped in, shadow blades slashing across its arms, cutting deep gouges that oozed steaming pus. Kael finished it — a sharp thrust of his hand sent a needle of compressed air right through its open maw, out the back of its skull. The head popped, black gore spraying across the floor.
It collapsed in a twitching heap.
---
Silence. Then only dripping water again.
Renn whooped. "Hah! Not bad for the first hour of the day."
Zane's shoulders relaxed. His shadows faded into puddles.
Kael, though, stood very still. His eyes were hard. "That wasn't alone," he murmured. "Variants don't wander like this unless—"
Another scream cut him off. This one was human.
Rix spun. Down the tunnel, more figures fled toward them — kids, no older than fifteen or sixteen, dressed in blood-streaked rags. Behind them came Hollowed by the dozens.
Rix's heart seized. More people to protect. More mouths. More risks. But he didn't hesitate. He stepped forward, raising a fist that already started to glow with deep red lines.
"Form up," he growled. "We hold this tunnel. No one dies today."
The others nodded, a cruel excitement lighting their eyes.
As the horde of infected slammed into their line, the fight began again — and above, the cracked ceiling of Valecity shuddered under the weight of more horrors yet to come.