( PH 2 )
(end of the flashback )
Rain fell endlessly over Astra City.
not violent,not loud,just cold persistent.
Like the city itself refused to sleep.
Red and blue emergency lights reflected across the wet streets outside.the neon advertisements above the buildings flickered weakly through the storm.cars moved below like distant ghosts beneath the midnight haze.and somewhere inside all that noise inside all that endless city light someone was dying.
The automatic doors of Synapse Medical Complex opened violently....,
"Move!"
Doctors rushed through the corridor.
Footsteps echoed sharply against the polished floor.
Machines beeped somewhere deeper inside the emergency wing.
A stretcher moved quickly beneath the white hospital lights.
Blood stained the edge of the sheets.
Rainwater still dripped from the girl lying there.
Anie ran behind them breathing uneven.heart pounding painfully against her chest.
"Sam!"her voice cracked instantly no response.
Samantha's eyes were barely open.
Her body trembled slightly against the stretcher restraints.not from cold from fear pure fear.
Anie had never seen her like this before.not even close sam was always louder than her.brighter the kind of person who filled empty silence naturally.even on bad days she smiled first.talked first laughed first.But now
there was nothing left of that girl.
"Vitals dropping!"
"Prepare stabilization!"
"Hurry!"
Doctors pushed through another set of doors.anie tried to follow but a nurse suddenly stopped her.
"You can't go inside."
"Please wait outside."
"No !"
Anie grabbed the door immediately.
"She's my friend!"
The nurse's expression tightened.
not cruel just tired,,
"We're trying to save her."
Save her that sentence sounded wrong somehow.because looking at Sam right now anie wasn't sure anyone could save her anymore.
The emergency room doors shut hard in front of her.
"THUD."
Silence hit instantly afterward.
heavy unnatural anie stood there breathing hard.rainwater still soaked through her clothes.
her fingers trembled uncontrollably.
And for the first time fear truly settled into her chest.not confusion,not worry
fear.
Because she still didn't understand what had happened tonight.only fragments broken pieces.
Sam's terrified voice on the phone.
heavy breathing static then a scream.
After that silence anie slowly stepped backward until her legs touched the wall behind her.then she slid down onto the floor.
The hospital corridor stretched endlessly ahead.white lights cold air
Machines humming somewhere far away.people passed occasionally doctors,patients,nurses.
But none of them felt real time felt distorted here.like the world outside had stopped existing.minutes passed
or maybe hours.anie couldn't tell anymore.her eyes stayed locked on the emergency room doors.waiting hoping
terrified .
Then the doors finally opened a doctor stepped out slowly.older exhausted.
Anie immediately stood up.
"How is she?"
The doctor didn't answer immediately.
and that silence alone already felt like an answer.
"…she's stable for now."for now,
anie caught that part immediately.
"What happened to her?"
doctor frowned slightly.
"…we're still trying to understand."
that answer sounded strange.
"There are injuries," he continued carefully.
"But… some of her symptoms don't make sense."
anie stared at him.
"What do you mean?"
The doctor hesitated.as if even he didn't know how to explain it.
"Extreme neurological stress."
"Hallucination responses."
"Unstable brain activity."
....
"And…"
he looked disturbed now actually disturbed.
"…certain physical reactions around her body."
Anie's chest tightened slightly.
"What reactions?"
doctor stayed silent for a second too long.
"…electrical interference.",,,,anie froze.
"The machines inside the room keep malfunctioning whenever her condition spikes."The corridor suddenly felt colder.
"She keeps repeating the same thing."
"What thing?"
doctor looked directly at her.
"She says something is coming for her."
Anie's breathing stopped for a moment.
"…what?"
"She's terrified of something."another pause.
"But no matter how many times we ask…" doctor's voice lowered slightly.
"She keeps saying the same words."
Anie swallowed hard.
"What words?"
doctor answered quietly.
"'They found me.'"
A chill moved through Anie instantly.
not imagination,not coincidence.
something deep inside her already knew sam wasn't lying.the doctor sighed tiredly.
"You can see her now."
Anie moved immediately.the hospital room door opened slowly.soft machine sounds filled the room.rain tapped gently against the large glass windows nearby.the city lights outside blurred through the storm.sam lay silently beneath the dim hospital lighting.
and seeing her like that hurt worse than Anie expected.bruises covered parts of her arms.small cuts marked her skin.
But it wasn't the injuries that terrified Anie.it was her expression sam looked exhausted.not physically,mentally.
Like something inside her had already broken.
"…Sam…"her voice came out weak.
Sam's eyes slowly moved toward her.
For a second they softened slightly.
"…you came…"
Anie immediately moved closer.
"Of course I came."
her throat tightened painfully.
"What happened to you?"
Sam didn't answer.
Instead,her eyes shifted nervously toward the room corners.
Toward the windows toward the darkness outside.
As if she expected something to appear there.
"…they'll come back…"
Anie frowned immediately.
"Who?"
Sam's breathing became uneven again.
"The Hunters…"
The word sounded wrong inside the quiet room.heavy,cold anie stepped closer.
"Sam… who are they?"
Sam slowly shook her head.
"You have to listen to me…"
Her voice trembled harder now.
"They're not normal…"
The monitor beside her suddenly flickered once.anie noticed immediately then again.
"bzzt "
The lights above the bed dimmed slightly sam's breathing worsened.
"They watch people like us…"
"Like us?"
Sam looked directly at her.
and for the first time anie saw genuine terror in her eyes.
"…Anie…"
...
"If something starts happening to you…"her voice cracked.
"Don't ignore it…" the machine beside her suddenly beeped faster.
"Sam calm down "
"They don't stop hunting."her breathing became unstable.
"They don't care who you are…"
The lights flickered harder now.
"bzzt bzzt "...
Anie grabbed her hand immediately.
"It's okay"
"No!"
Sam suddenly gripped her wrist tightly.
too tightly her eyes widened in pure panic.
"You don't understand!"the monitor spiked sharply.
Outside the room hospital alarms suddenly echoed.
Then for a brief second the glass windows trembled.Anie froze instantly.
Sam noticed it too.and somehow
that terrified her even more.
"…they found me…"
Her voice broke completely.
Tears slowly formed in her eyes.
"I didn't want this…"
"Sam…"
"I was scared…"
Those words hit harder than anything else.
Because for the first time sam didn't sound confused anymore.
She sounded tired like someone who had been carrying fear alone for too long.
"…I tried to tell you…"
Anie's breathing stopped guilt crashed into her immediately.
"I know…"her voice shook badly now.
"I know…"
Sam stared at her quietly then very slowly she smiled.a weak smile
painfully small.
"…you really are bad at listening…"
Anie laughed once through tears
broken unstable.
"Shut up…"
sam's eyes slowly lowered.
"…Anie…"
a pause long heavy then finally,,
"If one day…"her breathing weakened.
"…you start hearing it too…"the room lights flickered again.
"…run."the monitor suddenly screamed.
"BEEEEEEEEEP "!!!!!!!
Everything happened instantly afterward,doctors rushed inside.
Machines malfunctioned violently
lights flashed repeatedly.
"Move!"
"Heart rate crashing!"
"Clear the room!"
Anie stumbled backward in shock.
"Sam !"
But Samantha's eyes had already lost focus.still open,still terrified, and then
slowly they stopped moving completely.The monitor continued screaming endlessly. a single flat line stretched across the screen.cold,final
unchanging .
Anie stood frozen because somehow
even now it didn't feel real.
The rain continued outside the windows.the city lights continued glowing.people continued moving somewhere far below.But inside that hospital room time stopped.
and all Anie could hear was Sam's final word echoing endlessly inside her head.
"Run...!..".....