Jace stepped over broken glass and scorched pavement, his eyes scanning every shadow.
Bodies lay scattered, some crushed, some torn apart. The sight didn't make his stomach turn like it should have. That realization alone made him pause.
He shook his head. "Dead bodies don't even faze me anymore. That's… not normal."
The silence pressed in, heavier than the smoke still rising from the ruined cars.
No screams, no sirens, not even the sound of people trying to crawl away. Just the faint hum of a city holding its breath.
"This is oddly quiet," Jace muttered.
[Not just quiet.] Zin's voice cut through the stillness. [I can't sense the second alien. No movement, no kinetic imprint. It's gone.]
Jace frowned, tightening the balaclava over his face as he looked up at the rooftops. "Did it run?"
[Possible. But why?] Zin's tone was edged with suspicion. [These brutes don't retreat. They're bred for war, for destruction. If one of them pulled back, it wasn't because it was afraid.]
