Marc remained standing. Still. Hands in his pockets. Eyes locked on the charred façade of the university.
The fire was out. But the air still smelled of wet ash, and burned wiring, and the cold sweat of a nightmare survived.
Leo and Hugo had moved a little farther away to catch their breath. But Marc hadn't moved at all.
In front of him stood the San Francisco State Advanced Institute, or SFAI, a specialized branch built from an old public campus converted into a research hub.
"Established in 2043 as a center for interdisciplinary innovation. Renowned for its units in mechatronics, biotechnology, and experimental sciences…"
That's what the university's website had said. He still remembered it.
A center of excellence, yes. And of silence. Because everything important that happened there… was never published. Never shared. Even less explained.
"The perfect place to run experiments you don't want people to find out about."
Marc finally tore his gaze away. There is nothing more to get from the ruins. No one was left to find.
His eyes drifted to the skeleton of a vehicle parked at the far edge of the staff lot. An ordinary car, tinted windows, reflective stripes along the sides.
The guard's car.
Without a word, he bent down, picked up a brick, and hurled it violently at the windshield. Glass exploded into the humid evening air, cutting through the silence like a metallic scream.
He swept the shards aside with his forearm, unlocked the door, and climbed in. He reached under the dashboard, searching for the wires.
"An old model," he muttered, a nostalgic smirk tugging at his lips.
He grabbed the screwdriver from his bag strap and stripped the wires with quick, precise movements. No trembling. A spark. A sharp electric sigh. And finally, the engine coughed.
Then it started.
Hugo arrived right then.
"Seriously?" he exhaled, appearing beside the open door, hands in his pockets. "You're really going to steal the old guard's car?"
Marc didn't even lift his eyes. He kept checking gauges, lights, and fuel level. Then he replied in a flat voice:
"He won't need it… where he is now."
A brief silence. Leo, just arriving behind, looked away.
"It runs?" he asked hoarsely.
"Enough to get us out of here."
A few minutes later, the car drifted through San Francisco's major streets slowly, cautiously.
The city felt frozen. Ghostly. Yet somehow alive in bursts.
Fires smoldered in the distance. Shattered storefronts. Alarms wailing into the void. Here, a streak of magical light scarred the sky. There, strange silhouettes darted through the shadows too fast, too inhuman.
"Turn the radio on?" Leo rasped.
Hugo fumbled with the dashboard. An old button. Static. Interference.
Then a voice, chopped and trembled with fear.
The engine's drone barely covered the static. Hugo turned the dial slowly, trying to catch something comprehensible between the bursts of noise.
Then a voice emerged, broken, shaky… terrified.
"...all civilians in the Mission Bay area must proceed to immediate evacuation...… rapid response units are overwhelmed… critical situation in the Western District…"
Marc frowned. Leo leaned forward from the back seat.
Another channel. Another voice. More mechanical. More urgent.
"...structural breaches detected at 9:32 across multiple simultaneous sectors: downtown, waterfront, Haight Street, Golden Gate Bridge...… transit suspended… access restricted…"
Marc's grip tightened on the wheel.
"The bridge is blocked?" "Is the bridge blocked?" Leo inquired, feeling a sudden dip in his stomach.
Then, a final frequency was broadcast. Clear. Official. Too calm. Frozen calm.
"…repeat: in case of abnormal manifestations, immediately proceed to your nearest civil containment center. Any unsupervised movement will be considered out of protocol. Priority interventions have been redirected to government facilities."
A heavy silence filled the car. Even the radio dared not lie anymore.
No one said the word, but all three understood.
This wasn't a blackout. Not riots. Something else. Something prepared. Contained. Controlled… until it overflowed.
And no one was coming for them.
Leo sat up slowly, eyes passing over the streets once normal, now a theater of death.
"This… this isn't our city anymore," he whispered.
The road stretched ahead of them, empty and suffocating. Only the engine's rumble and the fading static dared to make noise.
Marc stared straight ahead, knuckles white on the wheel. Leo and Hugo watched through the windows, unable to look away from the chaos.
Flames, in the distance. A flickering streetlight. A moving shadow.
Then a rumble.
Soft at first. It seemed to blend in seamlessly with the engine.
Then louder. Closer.
Marc narrowed his eyes.
"Do you hear that?"
Leo looked up, tense.
"What is that?"
And suddenly—
The headlights.
A blinding white flash burst from the cross street.
A truck shot out of the alley at full speed, tires screaming, lights flashing. No horn. No warning.
Just a metal beast charging straight at them.
"MARC!" Hugo shouted.
Marc yanked the wheel with a pure reflex. The car leapt into the opposite lane, barely avoiding the head-on crash.
But behind them, another fleeing car appeared in the wrong direction. Too fast.
Too late.
The side collision slammed their world into a spin.
The car whipped into a full rotation, tires shrieking on burnt asphalt, before crashing into the truck's flank with a deafening metallic roar.
The world flipped. Light, noise, glass, and blood.
Then silence.
Hugo groaned, his head against the window.
"Fuck… guys, still alive?"
Leo opened blurry eyes. The smell of gasoline filled the air. Airbags sagged like torn balloons. The windshield was nothing but fractures.
"Marc…?"
Marc slowly blinked, hands shaking on the wheel.
"Yeah. Still breathing… not sure for how long."
Hugo pointed to the crushed bumper.
"We need to get out. Now."
A sharp sound answered him. A scraping like claw on metal. Another sound echoed from the truck.
The roof trembled.
Leo looked up, breath frozen.
"What… was that?"
Hugo paled.
"Oh shit…"
The answer came in a scream. Not human.
A guttural cry, raw and feral.
A creature burst out of the truck, shrieking. Twisted limbs, blistered skin, eyes like molten amber. It crawled across the metal, lifted itself
Then leapt.
Marc shoved the door open.
"OUT! NOW!"
They bolted into the street. Smoke and ash filled the air. Burned-out cars stretched across the intersection. Far away, unnatural green lightning split the sky, not storms.
And fire crept toward the car's fuel tank.
Just as the creature lunged at them—
An explosion. Followed by a roar of flame.
They spun around, the fire swallowing the truck.
"You think it's dead?" Hugo asked, staring at the blaze.
Silence. Then… something moved inside the fire.
A dark shape staggered through the flames. The creature crawled out, body charred, skin blistered, and white bone shining beneath molten flesh.
Each step left droplets of burning matter on the asphalt, blood mixed with tar.
Its face was no longer one. A gaping, twisted maw breathing wet heat. Its once-yellow eyes glowed a dull red, like dying coals ready to erupt.
Hugo stepped back, pale.
"Marc… please tell me you've got a plan."
Marc grabbed a bent chunk of bumper, raising it like a pathetic weapon.
"Yeah. Run."
They sprinted.
The creature launched itself, hitting the pavement with a blast of sparks. Its roar shook the nearby buildings.
Leo stumbled
The monster noticed.
Hugo shoved him aside, letting the beast charge between them.
Now the creature was between them and Marc.
And as if that weren't enough, another one appeared behind them, blocking the way out.
A grotesque biped, chest split open, pulses of light flashing under its skin.
They were trapped.
Marc gritted his teeth.
"Plan B!"
"There's a Plan B?!" Hugo yelled.
"No!"
Hugo grabbed a jagged metal bar. Leo lifted a rusted iron rod at his feet.
The first monster leapt, jaws wide with translucent fangs.
Leo struck with everything he had; the impact sent the beast back a meter, but it returned instantly, raging.
"Back!" Hugo shouted.
But the second monster lunged from the left faster.
It was about to strike when a sharp whistle cut the air. Then—BOOM.
The creature's leg exploded in a burst of blue fire.
Everything froze, even the beasts.
A burst followed, clean and precise, tearing the monsters apart.
They collapsed in the dust.
An armored vehicle roared around the corner, red lights flashing, military insignia gleaming. Soldiers in exoskeleton suits jumped out, weapons smoking.
A woman stood at their center.
Calm. Upright. Her eyes were as sharp as steel.
Spotlights swept the street.
A figure advanced, helmeted, tactical armor gleaming. Behind her, soldiers secured the area with swift, practiced movements.
"Gamma-3 Squad, secure the perimeter!" she ordered, voice firm. Then, stepping toward the trio covered in soot and blood:
"You're civilians? Identify yourselves."
Her voice was female, steady, and authoritative.
She removed her helmet. Short dark hair. Grey steel eyes.
Marc raised his hands, still panting.
"Students… from the Institute. We just… survived."
She stared at him. A long, assessing look.
"Then congratulations, students. You just survived a Class-C entity. Most need equipment to manage that.
Hugo blinked.
"A… class what?"
She ignored the question, signaling her men.
"We're evacuating. Now." Then to them:
"Captain Victoria Lang, Special Intervention Division. Come with me if you plan on staying alive."
She turned away, speaking into her comm.
"Lang here. Extracting three civilians, Delta-2 quadrant. Returning to base."
"Copy," crackled the reply.
A helicopter thundered overhead, wind sweeping dust across the street.
As they were escorted toward the vehicle, Hugo whispered to Marc, eyes still fixed on Victoria:
"I think we just met the boss."
Marc answered, dark-eyed:
"Or worse…the one who actually knows what's going on."
Leo, trembling, glanced at the burning corpses, then at Victoria.
"What are those things? Where did they come from?"
Victoria looked at the smoldering remains, then at him.
"You really want to know?" she said, her voice low, almost swallowed by the distant rumble shaking the air.
Before Leo could answer, a wet, guttural snarl echoed from the treeline. Then another. And another. Shadows shifted between the wrecked cars, large, hunched shapes creeping closer, eyes glinting like cold blades.
The ground vibrated under their steps.
She didn't flinch. Instead, she exhaled once, steadily.
"Figures," she muttered, almost annoyed.
Only then did she grab her helmet, lifting it with a calmness that felt unreal as the creatures closed in.
"Brace yourselves," she commanded, securing the helmet with a decisive snap. Her visor illuminated with tactical data.
"This is only the beginning of the operation."