Story 322: Beneath the Surface

The darkness was oppressive, wrapping around Zara like a suffocating shroud. She coughed as the dust from the collapse settled, her hand instinctively reaching for her weapon. The faint hum of distant machinery echoed through the cavernous space they had fallen into, but there was no sign of the Sentinel.

“Sound off!” Zara called out, her voice cutting through the eerie silence.

“Here!” Andre groaned from a few feet away, the glow from his wrist-mounted flashlight revealing his battered but intact frame.

Mia’s voice followed, shaky but determined. “I’m good. Just bruised.”

“Callum?” Zara asked, her heartbeat quickening.

“Alive,” Callum muttered from the shadows. “But I think I twisted my ankle.”

Zara exhaled a quiet sigh of relief and activated her tactical flashlight. The beam cut through the darkness, revealing a massive underground corridor. The walls were lined with intricate glyphs, similar to those on the creatures above, but these pulsed faintly as if alive.