Chapter Ten: The First Strike
The wet footsteps echoed through the basement like a countdown.
Slap… slap… slap…
Sameer's throat tightened. Mira gripped his arm, her flashlight trembling in her hand, the beam jittering across the crates.
The sound grew closer. Slow. Deliberate.
Sameer whispered, "We have to move."
Mira shook her head violently, tears in her eyes. "If we move, they'll hear. If we stay—"
THUD.
The nearest crate shook. Something heavy pressed against it from the other side.
Sameer froze. His pulse thundered in his ears.
Then, with a splintering crack, the crate toppled. Out of the shadows, one of the Retrievals poured into view. Its body slithered upward like liquid forming bone, its featureless face tilting toward them.
"…Candidate Nineteen."
The voice wasn't in the air. It was inside his skull.
Sameer's knees buckled. The creature extended its arm—too long, too thin—and reached for him.
Mira screamed, shoving him back. The clawed hand scraped her shoulder, tearing fabric and skin. She fell hard, blood blooming on her sleeve.
"MIRA!" Sameer shouted, grabbing her. Her face contorted in pain, but she shook her head desperately.
"Run—! Don't let them take you—"
The Retrieval's hand darted again, this time aiming for her neck.
And something in Sameer snapped.
For the first time since this nightmare began, he didn't think. He moved. His hand closed around a broken pipe lying on the floor.
With a roar, he swung it.
The metal pipe smashed into the Retrieval's head—or where its head should have been. Black liquid sprayed, sizzling as it hit the ground. The creature staggered, its form flickering like a glitching screen.
Sameer struck again. And again. His breath tore from his lungs with every swing, his fear drowned in raw survival.
Finally, the Retrieval collapsed into a puddle of black sludge that hissed before evaporating into nothing.
Silence.
Sameer stood trembling, the pipe slipping from his hands, his body slick with sweat. His chest heaved like it might burst.
Mira clutched her wounded arm, staring at him wide-eyed. Not with fear of the Retrievals—
—but of him.
"You…" she whispered. "…You fought it."
Sameer's hands shook violently. He looked at where the creature had vanished. "I… I don't know how. I just—"
The air around them rippled.
From the walls, faint whispers bled through, overlapping voices like a broken chorus.
"…Deviation detected."
"…Candidate Nineteen… unstable…"
"…Proceed with observation."
Sameer's vision darkened at the edges. For a heartbeat, he saw the white lab again. Figures scribbling notes. His own body strapped to a table.
He staggered back, clutching his head.
The whispers faded, leaving the basement silent once more.
Mira grabbed his arm, her voice urgent. "We can't stay here. There's more coming. We have to find somewhere safe."
Sameer nodded numbly, his grip tightening on the bloody pipe.
Something had changed. He'd struck back—and the world had noticed.