The dust hadn't settled before Valerie was already at work.
She knelt beside the smoldering rubble, laptop balanced on her knees, fingers flying across the keys. The data drive was still intact—but whatever was inside wasn't giving up its secrets easily.
Ethan wiped sweat from his brow. "Tell me something good."
Valerie didn't look up. "It's encrypted. Military-grade."
Noah groaned. "Of course it is. Why would anything be easy?"
Blaze sniffed the air, ears twitching. Shadow sat perched on a broken beam, tail flicking. Both were tense.
Ethan noticed. "They sense something."
Olivia adjusted her grip on her pistol. "Do we ever get a break?"
Then—the laptop screen flickered.
Valerie's eyes widened. "Wait… I think I—"
The screen flashed.
A voice cut through the silence.
"Access granted."
And then—a video began playing.
A Message From the Dead
A woman appeared on the screen.
Unlike the scientist from before, she was calm. Collected.
And… strangely familiar.
Her hair was silver, but her face was young. Her eyes—piercing. Intelligent.
She spoke softly.
"If you're seeing this… then you survived."
Valerie's breath hitched. "No way."
Ethan frowned. "You know her?"
Valerie nodded slowly.
"That's Dr. Evelyn Carter." She exhaled. "She's supposed to be dead."
Noah folded his arms. "I'm sensing a theme here."
Evelyn continued.
"You've destroyed the lab. That was expected. But Ascension is bigger than one facility."
A holographic map appeared on the screen.
Multiple red dots blinked across the country. Across the world.
Ethan felt his stomach drop. "You've gotta be kidding me."
Evelyn's voice turned sharp.
"You don't understand what you've unleashed. They were contained before. You've broken the seal."
Olivia's grip on her gun tightened. "She makes it sound like we made things worse."
Blaze whined. Shadow's fur stood on end.
Then—Evelyn's gaze seemed to shift.
As if she were looking directly at them.
"Come find me," she said.
The video cut out.
Valerie stared at the screen. "…Well, that's ominous."
Noah groaned. "Okay, great. So we destroyed one nightmare, and now we have to go chase another one?"
Ethan didn't answer immediately.
He looked at the map.
At the red dots blinking.
At the one location Evelyn had marked.
One word glowed on the screen:
"New Dawn."
Valerie closed the laptop with a snap. "Looks like we have our next destination."
Ethan inhaled.
"Then let's move."
Because if Evelyn Carter was still alive…
Then she was the only one who could tell them what happens next.