Ethan froze.
The whisper—low, mocking—wasn't in his head anymore.
It was real.
He turned sharply, knife in hand, heart hammering. His breath fogged in the cold air as his eyes darted across the ruined street behind them.
Nothing.
No golden glow. No shifting shadows.
But he knew what he had heard.
The others noticed his hesitation.
"Ethan?" Olivia whispered, hand hovering near her gun.
He didn't answer right away. His ears strained against the silence, searching for another hint of Adrian's presence.
Then—
A low wind stirred the dust around them. It carried a sound, just beneath the howl of the city's emptiness.
A laugh.
Faint. Almost amused.
Then it was gone.
Ethan's fingers curled tighter around his knife.
He wasn't imagining this.
And that meant Adrian… or whatever was left of him… wasn't done with them yet.
Approaching Blackwater University
They moved faster.
The weight of unseen eyes pressed against them with every step, but stopping wasn't an option. If there were answers anywhere, they'd be in Blackwater University's research labs.
As they approached, the outline of the ruined campus came into view—twisted metal, shattered glass, half-buried buildings.
It was worse than they expected.
"What the hell happened here?" Noah muttered.
"Bombing," Valerie guessed. "Probably an attempt to stop the outbreak before it spread."
Olivia scanned the ruins, uneasy. "Clearly didn't work."
Ethan didn't respond.
Because something felt wrong.
It wasn't just the destruction. It wasn't just the eerie silence.
It was the fog.
A thick, creeping mist had settled around the university. Too dense. Too unnatural.
It curled around the buildings, snaking through shattered windows and broken doors—moving as if it had a mind of its own.
And worst of all?
It wasn't there a minute ago.
The First Step Inside
"Do we go in?" Noah asked, voice tense.
Ethan hesitated. Every instinct screamed no.
But they needed answers.
"Yes," he said finally. "Stay close."
They stepped into the fog.
Immediately, the temperature dropped. A biting chill crept into their bones, their breath misty in the air.
Blaze let out a low growl, his fur bristling. Shadow flattened its ears, tail flicking aggressively.
Something was here.
Then—
Footsteps.
Light. Deliberate. Echoing from deeper inside the ruins.
The group halted. Weapons raised.
A figure moved through the mist ahead—tall, shadowed, just out of focus.
And then a voice—soft, knowing.
"I told you, Ethan."
The air froze.
The voice was unmistakable.
Adrian.
But the shape in the fog?
It wasn't human anymore.