The mutant lunged again, its claws raised to split him open.
Ben didn't think—he moved. His hand shot out, fingers locking around the creature's wrist. Bone crunched under his grip. The mutant shrieked, black ichor spraying from the cracks in its flesh.
The heat inside him blazed brighter, consuming thought, consuming fear. He twisted—and the arm tore free with a sickening rip.
Ben stared at the limb dangling from his fist, blood dripping onto the rubble. His breath came ragged, animal-like, as something inside him thrilled at the sound of tearing flesh.
"BEN!" Lena's voice cut through the haze. "Don't lose yourself—"
But the hunger was louder.
The mutant shrieked and swung its remaining arm. Ben caught it by the throat, slamming it into the wall hard enough to spiderweb the concrete. He pounded his fist again. And again. The sound of splintering bone echoed with each strike. The monster's howl turned to a wet gargle.
Then silence.
Ben stood over the twitching carcass, his hands slick with black blood. His chest heaved. His veins glowed faintly, a dark crimson beneath his skin. For a terrifying heartbeat, he felt unstoppable. He could tear through a thousand of them. Ten thousand.
And then—
A small hand touched his arm.
"Enough," Lena whispered.
Her eyes weren't filled with fear. Not disgust. Something else. Pity, maybe. Or… recognition.
The haze cracked. The fire ebbed. Ben staggered back, staring at his own hands like they belonged to someone else.
"I… I killed it." His voice was hoarse.
"You survived," Lena corrected. She knelt by the corpse, examining the wounds with a strange, clinical calm. "And you revealed what's inside you. The drug didn't just keep you alive, Ben. It changed you."
Ben shook his head, backing away. "That wasn't me. That was—"
"A part of you," Lena said firmly. She rose, meeting his panicked eyes with steady ones. "And if you don't learn to control it… it'll kill you. Or worse, the people beside you."
Her words cut deeper than claws ever could.
For the first time, Ben wasn't afraid of the monsters outside.He was afraid of the one inside.