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Wade's screams were muffled by the gag, but his body told the whole story. When Fidex crushed the skull of his Summon—a wet, crunching sound that echoed off the walls—Wade's back arched, his limbs thrashing against the restraints. His face went gray. His eyes rolled back. A moment later, he slumped forward, unconscious.
Simon knelt beside him, checking his pulse. "He's alive. Heart's racing, but he's breathing."
Mark crouched next to Wade, lifting one of his eyelids. The eye beneath was rolled back, showing only white. "Looks like severe shock. Maybe something worse."
Jin filed the information away. When a Summon died, the Contractor didn't follow. But the mental trauma was extreme—worse than simple unconsciousness. Something to remember.
"Try another one."
Fidex moved to Chen Jun's Summon. The creature was already broken, its limbs twisted, but it still breathed. Fidex's claws found its throat, and with a single, brutal motion, separated its head from its body.
Chen Jun's reaction was worse than Wade's. His entire body convulsed, blood trickling from his nose and mouth. He collapsed sideways, his face the color of old ash, and didn't move again.
"Same as the first," Mark said after checking him. "But worse. More violent reaction."
Lisa looked away, her jaw tight. She didn't object, but she didn't watch, either.
The remaining Summons—Greg's, Li Zijun's, and the young man's—watched with dull, mindless eyes. They were too broken to fight, too broken even to flee. Fidex moved among them, inflicting non-lethal injuries: shattered limbs, crushed spines, ruptured organs. None of them would survive long without care.
Jin watched the reactions of the Contractors. Greg shook uncontrollably, his face wet with tears. Li Zijun had gone catatonic, staring at nothing. The young man was hyperventilating, his chest heaving against the ropes.
He was learning. The connection between Summon and Contractor was deeper than he'd understood. Pain transferred. Death shattered.
What else could he learn?
Before he could continue, the stairwell door slammed open.
Nathan burst through first, Frank and Zack close behind, their weapons raised. George was with them, his face flushed from running.
"What the hell is going on here?"
Nathan's voice was sharp, but it died in his throat as he took in the scene. Six people kneeling in a row, bound and gagged. Their Summons lying in ruin around them. Blood on the floor. Fidex standing in the middle of it all, arms wet with it.
George's eyes went wide. "Jin, I saw them coming up here with weapons. I thought—I thought they were going to hurt you. I brought Captain Cheng. I didn't know—"
"It's fine." Jin's voice was calm. "You did the right thing."
Nathan's face was pale. "What happened here? Did you—are they—"
"We had a disagreement," Jin said. "They came here to kill me. I stopped them."
The words were simple. Final.
Nathan's eyes moved to the gasoline can, to the Molotov cocktails scattered on the floor, to the weapons Josh's men had carried. The evidence was undeniable.
But he was a security captain. His instinct was to de-escalate, to preserve order. "Even if there was a conflict, we can't just—we have to think about what happens when order is restored. When the authorities come. If there are bodies—"
"The authorities aren't coming." Jin's voice was flat. "The fog's been here a week. No rescue. No communication. No one is coming to save us, Nathan. There's only us."
He looked at Nathan, and for a moment, Nathan saw something in his eyes that made his blood run cold. It wasn't anger. It wasn't cruelty. It was certainty.
"Give him the recording," Jin said.
Lisa stepped forward, holding out a small digital recorder. Nathan took it, his brow furrowed. He pressed play.
Josh's voice filled the corridor. "We hit them all at once. Jin first. Without him, his Summon falls. Then we take the ring."
"Gasoline. A match. A few seconds, and it's over. No matter how many arms it has."
Nathan's face went through stages: confusion, disbelief, and finally, cold fury.
He looked at Josh, bound and gagged on his knees. He looked at the gasoline can, at the Molotov cocktails, at the weapons.
He spat on the floor beside Josh's feet.
"I thought this was a power struggle. A disagreement over who leads." His voice was shaking. "You were going to burn him alive."
Josh tried to speak through his gag, but the words were unintelligible. His eyes were wide, desperate.
Nathan looked at Jin. "I'm sorry. I didn't know—I thought maybe we could talk this out, find some kind of resolution. But this..."
He couldn't finish the sentence.
Jin nodded. "I understand. You did what you thought was right."
He turned to Fidex. The Summon moved forward, and the bound Contractors began to struggle. Greg was sobbing. The young man had his eyes squeezed shut. Even Li Zijun, catatonic moments before, was trying to crawl away.
Fidex's claws moved with surgical precision. One by one, they found throats. The cuts were deep, efficient. Blood sprayed, then slowed, then stopped.
The bodies slumped.
Fidex gathered them up—six bodies, stacked like firewood in its arms—and carried them to the balcony of the nearest room. The building faced a courtyard below, empty now, the bodies of monsters and the dispossessed alike long since thrown into the fog.
One by one, Fidex dropped them over the railing.
Six thuds, distant and final.
Jin watched, his expression unchanged. He had never killed a human being before tonight. He had expected to feel something—guilt, revulsion, something. But there was only emptiness. The same emptiness he'd felt when he'd fused the Spider Monster, when he'd watched the Brilliance Tree pulse with alien light, when he'd first realized the fog wasn't natural and rescue wasn't coming.
He was adapting. That was all.
Nathan was staring at the balcony, his face unreadable. Frank had gone pale. Zack looked like he was going to be sick.
George was the first to speak. "What do we tell people? When they ask where Josh and the others went?"
Jin turned. "Tell them Josh took his people and left. Said the building wasn't big enough for him and his ambitions."
Nathan's brow furrowed. "They won't believe that."
"Does it matter?" Jin's voice was mild. "They're not here to lead. They're here to survive. As long as the food keeps coming and the monsters stay out, they won't ask too many questions."
He looked at Nathan. "And if they do ask—you tell them the truth. Josh came here to kill us. To burn us alive. We defended ourselves. And then he left."
Nathan was silent for a long moment. Then he nodded slowly.
"All right. We'll seal the seventh floor. Say there was a monster breach, that it's not safe. If anyone asks about Josh, we'll say he ran off on his own."
He met Jin's eyes. "But this—what you did tonight. It can't become the way we do things. If we start killing each other, we're no better than the things outside."
Jin inclined his head. "I agree. That's why I don't intend to do it again. But if someone comes for me or mine, I will end them. You should know that now."
Nathan held his gaze. Then he sighed.
"I'll get my people to seal the floor. You should get some rest."
He turned and walked toward the stairs, his guards trailing behind him. George lingered for a moment, looking at Jin with something like awe.
"You saved my life back then," George said quietly. "Helped me get my Summon when I was too scared to do it myself. I haven't forgotten."
"I know," Jin said. "That's why you came tonight."
George nodded. "I'll keep an eye on things. If anyone else gets ideas, I'll let you know."
He followed Nathan down the stairs, leaving Jin and his people alone on the seventh floor.
Lisa let out a long breath. "That went better than I expected."
"Did it?" Simon's voice was rough. He was looking at the balcony, at the darkness beyond. "We just killed six people."
"Six people who came here to burn us alive," Mark said. "I'm not losing sleep over it."
Simon didn't answer. He just turned and started walking toward the stairs, his shoulders hunched, his hands shoved deep in his pockets.
Jin watched him go. He knew what Simon was thinking about. Marcus. The boy was still missing, still hidden somewhere in the building. Josh had taken that secret with him to the courtyard below.
"We'll find him," Jin said quietly. "We'll search every floor if we have to. He's here somewhere."
Simon paused, but didn't turn around. "You promised me, Jin. Don't break it."
He disappeared into the stairwell.
Mark rubbed the back of his neck. "He'll be okay. He just needs time."
"We don't have time." Jin looked out the window at the fog pressing against the glass. "We need water. We need to know what's out there. And we need to find Marcus before someone else does."
He turned away from the window. "Get some rest. Tomorrow, we plan our next move."
As they descended the stairs, Jin's mind was already working. Josh's faction was gone, but the problems that had allowed them to grow—the desperation, the scarcity, the fear—remained. If he didn't address them, someone else would rise to take Josh's place.
And somewhere in the building, Simon's son was waiting, hidden in the dark.