Chapter 5: The Next Nightmare

One Month Later – Mark’s Group, The Last Hunters

The red sands of Mars stretched endlessly, the landscape littered with carapace corpses, remnants of battle after battle. Mark’s team had become legends among survivors, ghost stories whispered in hidden colonies—the humans who refused to flee, who had turned Mars into their personal hunting grounds.

But legends didn’t need rest. Legends didn’t bleed.

And Mark was bleeding.

His breath was ragged, his left shoulder torn from the last Sky Stalker attack. Sophie was already at his side, working quickly, her hands steady despite her exhaustion.

Sophie: "You keep pushing like this, and you’re going to get yourself killed."

Mark winced but didn’t pull away. "If we stop pushing, we’re already dead."

Jonathan stood a few feet away, his hammer resting against his shoulder, watching the darkness of a Martian cave ahead. He was still, listening. Something was in there.