The howling came back at dawn.
Not loud.
Not close.
But wrong.
Maxruell woke first. His shadow was stretched too long across the concrete, twitching like it was dreaming.
Juvy sat up slowly. "You hear that?"
Varkos was already on his feet, rifle raised. "That's not wind."
The sound dragged across the ruins like metal scraping bone.
They moved outside.
The Dead Zone looked endless factories cracked open like ribs, highways split down the middle, ash drifting like snow.
Then they saw it.
A man stood in the road.
Or what used to be a man.
His skin was gray and split open, glowing faintly from inside. Symbols were carved into his chest with something sharp. His jaw hung loose, tongue dragging.
He was smiling.
Juvy whispered, "He's… still alive."
"No," Maxruell said. "He's borrowed."
The man lifted his head.
"Mother… waits," he croaked.
Then his body tore itself apart.
His chest burst open like a door.
Souls poured out.
Not floating.
Running.
They fused together, screaming, twisting into one shape too many arms, too many mouths, bone sticking through skin.
It landed on all fours and shrieked.
Juvy screamed. "That's not human!"
The creature charged.
Maxruell stepped forward.
Shadows ripped up from the ground and wrapped around its legs.
It tore free.
One arm split into three and grabbed a guard.
It bit his face off.
Blood sprayed across the road.
Juvy raised her hands.
Fire slammed into the creature's side, burning flesh and soul together. Wind followed, throwing it into a collapsed bus.
It crawled out, still screaming.
Crystal grew through its skull, pinning it in place.
It kept moving.
"IT WON'T DIE!" Juvy shouted.
Maxruell walked closer.
His stone burned.
The creature looked at him.
Every mouth whispered at once:
"King…"
Maxruell clenched his fist.
The shadows didn't crush it.
They peeled it.
Skin separated from bone. Bone separated from soul.
The souls screamed as they were dragged apart like wet paper.
One by one, they fell silent.
What was left collapsed into black sludge.
Juvy dropped to her knees.
Her hands shook.
"That was… people."
Varkos wiped blood off his face. "That was a message."
Maxruell turned slowly.
On the road behind them, someone had carved words into concrete with blood and bone:
RUN LITTLE GODS
Juvy's chest flickered.
"She knows where we are…"
A distant engine growled.
From the far horizon, dust clouds rose.
Trucks.
Bikes.
Black flags with bone symbols.
Varkos cursed. "Cult convoy. Heavy."
Maxruell felt the pull again.
More doors.
More dead.
Juvy stood, wiping her face.
"Then we don't hide anymore."
The convoy grew closer.
Horns howled.
Figures raised blades and guns, chanting as they came.
Maxruell stepped forward, shadows boiling.
Juvy lifted her glowing hands.
The Dead Zone finally had witnesses.
And it would remember this fight.