Story 829: Apex Mutation

Darkness. Silence. A heartbeat pounding in her ears.

Evelyn gasped awake, her body aching from the explosion’s shockwave. She could still feel the heat licking at her skin, the scent of burning flesh and charred metal thick in her nostrils. Smoke filled the air, stinging her lungs as she forced herself upright.

Where was Mia? Lucas? Leon?

A groan came from nearby. Evelyn turned, squinting through the thick haze. Mia lay sprawled against a pile of debris, coughing.

“Evelyn…” she wheezed, blinking the soot from her eyes. “That was… completely reckless.”

Evelyn exhaled. At least one of them was alive.

She staggered to her feet, scanning their surroundings. They were somewhere deeper in the underground tunnels, the explosion having blasted them through a collapsed section of the facility. The air was thick with moisture, decay, and something… else.

Something wrong.

A wet, slithering noise echoed in the shadows.

Evelyn froze.

Mia tensed. She heard it too.