Chapter 5: A Ray of Light
The following nights found Ethan taking more precautions as the threat of Ernesh's assassins loomed ever closer. He took refuge in a dilapidated safe house on the city fringes and maintained radio silence except for emergency contacts. His comrades in the quarantine zone faced greater risks without him present to bolster security.
But Ethan's mission remained undone, and souls required saving even in these darkest hours. So each evening, under the cover of darkness, he ventured back into the sprawling metropolis, plagued still by the spreading contagion and its warping effects on victims. Compassion drove him against all reason to offer what aid and comfort he could wherever hope seemed lost.
One such nightly patrol led him down a winding alley choked with refuse. From an alcove emerged a gaunt, shambling mutely, skin sloughed away to expose raw muscle and fibrous tissue knotted beneath. Ethan paused cautiously, then recognized in those sunken eyes a remnant of humanity pleading silently for release.
He fished painkillers and sterile bandages from his pack, tending the afflicted one's wounds with practiced care despite the grotesque disfigurement. No mercy could be withheld from suffering, no matter the vessel. As the gauze was affixed, restoring a sliver of dignity, the wasted frame sagged limply, finally at peace.
Heavy footsteps scraped behind, and Ethan whirled alertly, his sidearm leveled. From shadows emerged a hulking brute altered near beyond recognition, yet its manner bore signs of sentience suppressed. It halted and lowered its arms submissively, as if recognizing an authority greater than its biological imperatives.
For long moments, soldier and mutant assessed one another, an understanding passing between them. Then the behemoth swung an arm, signaling for Ethan to follow, lumbering ahead into ever deeper depths of nightmarish squalor. They passed scenes that would break even the toughest spirit: victims strung flayed and disemboweled upon rusted iron gates, bodies piled rotting in alleys, infants keening weakly amidst the carnage.
At last, the brute paused before a barricaded storefront. Within could be heard piteous whimpers and prayers for deliverance. Ethan burst into gunfire to find a group of children and their protector huddled, terrified, in a corner, surrounded by the twitching, dissolving remains of some that had attacked but were driven back at the last.
After reassuring the group and tending wounds, he radioed Command, requesting an immediate airlift. The misshapen Samaritan remained by his side, keeping watch protectively until choppers swooped in under the cover of shadows to whisk the rescued to safety. Their guardian melted away, then into the night, their mission fulfilled.
In those small victories, Ethan found renewed purpose, sustaining him through each grim trial. His Bible offered solace as well, its divine words of hope, redemption, and perseverance in darkness reminding us that no torment could overcome the light of Christ within.
That night, as he rested in camp, a vivid dreamscape claimed Ethan: he stood again in the contaminated city under a blood-red sky, surrounded by countless souls wailing in anguish and affliction. Their twisted forms reached imploringly, only to find him unchanged, untouched by corruption.
A brilliant light shone then from on high, banishing the phantasms into nothingness. Ethan gazed up in awe as resplendent wings unfurled to reveal a glorious archangel descending with outstretched hands. "Fear not," spoke a voice like rushing waters, "for the Lord is with you. No plague or evil shall stand against the Lord's chosen!"
Ethan arose renewed and invigorated, understanding his mission transcended all personal cost. Salvation's promise sustained him for the trials ahead, and darkness' grasp could not stand against such radiant hope. The battle's end approached, and when dawn broke, he would walk boldly into the light.