The roof bowed again, the steel whining under the weight. Dust drifted down, catching in the heat and smoke.
Lira pressed against me, her hand gripping my arm so tightly it ached. Her eyes were wide, her lips forming words, but no sound came out.
Rhea's fire thundered from the doors, blazing brighter with every chant. She was burning herself raw, and still the Dead surged through. Kina's light seared the corridor white; her laughter carried like a dare, even as people screamed past her.
And over all of it came that laugh.
Low. Smooth. A little too amused for the end of the world.
I twisted, and there she was.
Mara.
She slipped through the chaos like smoke. Black hair clung to her shoulders, glossy even under the dust. Her clothes were half-torn, the neckline dipping low enough to make her intentions clear, though her eyes were sharper than knives.
She didn't run. She glided, lips curling into a grin as corpses lunged for her. Shadows bent around her body, twisting wrong. A Dead man's arm passed through her shoulder like she wasn't there, and when his eyes blinked in confusion, she whispered a single word.
"Umbra."
He staggered sideways into nothing — chasing a phantom scream — and was torn apart by his own horde.
Mara stepped past the spray of blood without flinching. Her boots clicked across the metal grate, slow, deliberate, like this wasn't a slaughter but a stage.
"Finally decided to wake the train, Elias?" Her voice carried to the cab, calm and playful, yet entirely out of place. "I was starting to think you'd let us rot here."
The roof above groaned. Nails scraped like claws dragging across slate. The weight shifted.
Variant.
The Dead up there wasn't just heavier. I could feel it in the steel — deliberate, hunting.
"Don't worry about the beastie," Mara said, eyes flashing as she stepped into the cab. "That one's mine."
She brushed past Lira, too close, the corner of her mouth curling as the medic stiffened. Her perfume cut through the smoke — sharp, sweet, dangerous.
"You always smell like oil and rust," she murmured to me, leaning in just enough that her chest grazed my arm. "But under it… mmm. Spark."
I clenched the throttle. "Not the time, Mara."
Her grin widened. "It's always the time."
The roof crumpled with a deafening crack. Metal peeled like paper.
And then it dropped through.
The Variant landed in the cab with a crash that shook the entire train. It was bigger than the others — taller, thicker, with skin that was pale and stretched too tight. Its jaw unhinged wider than it should, teeth long, slick with blood. Fungal growths sprouted from its chest, glowing faintly like rotten lanterns.
It didn't screech. It growled. Low. A sound that felt more animal than corpse.
Lira screamed. Rhea shouted my name from below. Kina's light flared down the corridor, but the thing didn't flinch.
It lunged.
I shoved the throttle forward. The engine bucked, jolting the creature sideways, but it caught itself on the frame, its claws sinking into steel as if it were wood.
"Driver," Mara purred, her hand brushing my shoulder. "Let me show you what a real incantation sounds like."
Her lips parted, and the air bent. Shadows pooled at her feet, slick and black, sliding up the walls like oil. She didn't bother with a long chant. Her voice cut sharply. "Umbra Fangs."
Shapes exploded from the dark — black jaws snapping out of nowhere, slamming into the Variant's side. It snarled, twisting, fungal lanterns pulsing. The shadow fangs tore chunks of flesh, but the creature didn't stop.
It turned on her, eyes empty, hunger raw.
Mara only smiled. "That's it. Look at me."
It lunged again, straight for her throat.
And she didn't move.
The cab shook as its claws came down, the steel screaming under the force. Lira shouted something, her hands glowing with light. I grabbed for the nearest lever, yanking it down as the engine roared. Rhea's fire burst brighter at the doors, a wall of heat. Kina yelled from somewhere above, voice carrying laughter even now.
The Variant slammed against the floor, shadow jaws still locked on its side. Mara stood over it, hair wild, lips curved like she was enjoying herself.
"Do you see why you keep me around?" she asked, voice sweet as honey.
The thing roared, fungal lanterns pulsing brighter, and shoved up with terrifying strength.
The shadows shattered.
It was coming up again.
And this time, it was angry.